Protect Earth's Resources Activities for 5th Grade Science

The Kesler Science Protecting Earth's Resources 5E Lesson provides a comprehensive, editable unit designed for engaging, differentiated environmental science instruction aligned with NGSS 5-ESS3-1. This low-prep lesson supports multimodal, student-led learning in digital or printable formats, offering maximum flexibility for classroom and virtual settings.

Students explore how human activities impact Earth's resources and ways to protect the environment using science understanding. The unit includes differentiated resources, Spanish translations of key materials, and student-choice projects.

The lesson follows the well-researched 5E Model: Engagement features class discussions and vocabulary activities; Exploration includes a differentiated nine-station lab combining hands-on activities, reading comprehension, research, multimedia content, categorization exercises, written responses, and visual representation; Explanation offers editable PowerPoints and interactive notebook templates in both English and Spanish; Elaboration provides student-choice projects; and Evaluation includes STAAR 2.0-aligned assessments, review questions, and worksheets. Bonus extension activities challenge early finishers, ensuring continuous student engagement and mastery.

Engage your students with this interactive, student-led station lab designed for 5th-grade Earth science, aligned with NGSS standards. Students will independently explore how communities use scientific ideas to protect Earth's resources and environment through eight engaging, differentiated stations featuring hands-on activities, videos, readings, illustrations, research, and writing tasks.

Stations include Explore It! (hands-on experiment or digital manipulation), Illustrate It! (visual learning through drawing), Read It! (reading comprehension with differentiated passages available in English and Spanish), Watch It! (educational videos), Organize It! (card sorts or digital manipulatives), Write It! (short written responses), Research It! (web-based exploration), Assess It! (formal assessment activities), and Challenge It! (extension activities for advanced learners).  

This comprehensive resource supports both classroom and virtual learning, with digital files compatible with platforms like Google Classroom, MS Teams, Schoology, and Canvas. Remote-friendly options include interactive digital activities and online answer sheets. This engaging, easy-to-implement lab promotes discovery, critical thinking, and personalized learning experiences.

This Protect Earth’s Resources Student Choice Projects lesson aligns with NGSS standards, giving 5th grade students multiple ways to demonstrate their understanding through creative, personalized projects. Students choose from six diverse options outlined on a detailed project page or can design their own project. Each project includes an editable rubric suitable for teacher, peer, or self-assessment, covering vocabulary, concepts, presentation, clarity, and accuracy.

The lesson supports differentiation through two versions of the project page, offering modified choices to aid students who require remediation and flexible combinations to challenge advanced learners. Projects utilize common classroom materials such as paper, markers, scissors, and basic crafting supplies, with many activities adaptable for digital completion. Teachers can easily customize assessments to meet diverse classroom needs.

This 5th Grade Earth Science Interactive Notebook is essential for teachers seeking to maximize student engagement when teaching elementary earth science concepts. It is versatile for traditional classrooms, 1:1 digital settings, or distance learning, providing both digital and paper versions. Digital resources feature interactive PowerPoint files compatible with Google Slides, MS Teams, Schoology, and Canvas, reflection pages, note-taking spaces, teacher answer keys, and modified versions for students needing accommodations. The paper resources include blank templates, pre-filled versions for absent or modified instruction students, and color photos demonstrating template usage.

Topics covered include the brightness of the Sun and stars, observable patterns of the sky, Earth's spheres, the distribution of water on Earth, protecting Earth's resources, sedimentary rock and fossil fuels, changes to Earth's surface, weather and climate, the water cycle, Earth’s rotation, and the Sun, the Moon, and Earth. These notebook templates also integrate seamlessly into Kesler Science 5E Lessons.