Free Session 1 Sample: Dead Leaf Lab, Where Does the Dead Leaf Go? (5-LS2-1)

This free sample carries the opening of the Dead Leaf Lab, complete enough to run the first session with your class.

The lab is aligned to the NGSS performance expectations 5-LS2-1 and 5-ESS2-1 and runs as nonlinear inquiry-based learning. Students form a first idea, test it, and revise their claim as the evidence comes in. Sessions and activities flex by the state of understanding in the room, and the teacher guide shows how to adjust the order and the timing.

The full lab seals one dead leaf in a jar with damp soil and a second leaf in a jar on clean paper. Across about four weeks the soil leaf darkens, spots with mold, and comes apart at the edges while the paper leaf stays whole. Each student keeps the record, builds a model of where the leaf matter is going, and revises the model twice.

What is inside the sample:

The cover of the full lab

Page 3: Start Here, with the lab expectation printed in full

Page 5: the Lab at a Glance sheet, with the lab question, the five sessions and their times, the check-in calendar, and the materials list

Page 8: the Session 1 teacher guide

Page 19: Words for This Lab

Page 21: the See-Think-Wonder Sheet

Page 22: Student Journal A page 1

Session 1 runs 30 to 40 minutes and sets up the two test jars the class will check across four weeks.

The full lab runs five sessions with eight short check-ins and adds the twelve-card evidence set, the reading on the four spheres, a second journal, the class letter to the groundskeeper, the reference plate, two transfer task forms, and a scoring rubric with scored examples. It lists at $9.00 in this store.