Learning Standards Alignments
Class Descriptions
Online Lessons & Activities
The educational activities on our website complement the environmental education courses taught at Hard Bargain Farm Environmental Center (HBF), while incorporating science, reading and math. Please use them to help prepare your students for their trip to HBF.
We have organized the lessons by topics that are universal and of value to teachers and students everywhere.
Use the tables below to browse by topic or by class taught at Hard Bargain Farm.
Please let us know () if you enjoy using our activities with your students .
Topics |
Lessons & Activities |
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| Renewable & Nonrenewable Resources |
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| Flow of Energy & Matter |
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| Adaptations |
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HBF Class |
Lessons & Activities |
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| Habitat Hike |
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| Farm Life Exploration |
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| Rivers in Action |
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| Fish Adaptation |
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| Bird Watching |
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| Down to Earth |
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| Up a Creek |
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| Hunter-Gatherers |
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| Corn |
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Classified Information:
Students learn the basic concepts of classification by sorting imaginary creatures to create an identification key in "Creature Feature", then, move on to using a key to classify and identify some of the local species of fish here at Hard Bargain Farm in "Fishin' for a Name".
Recommended as a preparation or follow-up activity for Bird Watching, Fish Adaptation, Habitat Hike, and Up A Creek courses at Hard Bargain Farm.
Cow In and Out Game: In this fun and informative activity, students learn the "ins" and "outs" of cattle. The "Cow In and Out Game" requires students to decide what goes into the cows, and what comes from them by sorting a variety of items.
Recommended as a preparation activity for any of the agriculture courses offered at Hard Bargain Farm, especially for younger students.
Ecosystem Food Web Mural: Freshwater Marsh In this classroom activity, students conduct research and present information on organisms in a specific ecosystem; then assemble their information to create a food web mural. Recommended as a preparation activity for Habitat Hike, Up A Creek, Bird Watching, and Fish Adaptation field studies at Hard Bargain Farm.
"Let's Take a Dip" is a virtual dip netting activity. Students get to "virtually" catch the kinds of organisms they might find when they really dip net here at Hard Bargain Farm. Students will make predictions, collect, organize and compare data and practice the principles of the scientific method.
Recommended as a preparation or follow-up activity for Habitat Hike, and Up A Creek courses at Hard Bargain Farm.
Take Out the Trash helps students learn how to Rethink, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in order to become better environmental stewards. Activities include packing a "Trash Free Lunch" online, comparing and ranking lunches, "Trash Sorting", and analyzing their lunch trash data collected during the field trip.
Recommended as a preparation activity for any of the courses offered at Hard Bargain Farm.
Plant Identification is an interactive lesson that helps students learn plant identification and classification using a dichotomous key. Plant keys provide a systematic way to identify plants. This activity uses a visual key is based on leaf shapes, margins, and their arrangement on a stem.
Ways of a Watershed: What in the world are watersheds? This interactive online lesson defines what a watershed is, and follows a single raindrop on its journey from the sky to the ocean.
Recommended as a preparation activity for any of the courses offered at Hard Bargain Farm, especially Habitat Hike, Down to Earth and River's In Action.
Water Cycle: Water on the Move allows students to explore the water cycle through a series of interactive lessons. Recommended as a preparation activity for any of the courses offered at Hard Bargain Farm, especially Rivers in Action and Down to Earth.
Where's the Corn? This classroom activity introduces students to the importance of corn in our society by having them discover that corn products are unexpectedly found in numerous foods. Recommended as a preparation activity for Farm Life Exploration, Corn: From Ancient Ways to Now-A-Days, and Hunter-Gatherers field studies at Hard Bargain Farm.