K20 LEARN
Untwining And Intertwining: Chemical Reactions
What happened when the chemistry teacher told a bad joke? There was no reaction! A creative take on the traditional reaction types lesson invites learners to draw their own conclusions about how compounds and elements combine. Groups...
Curated OER
Bud Not Buddy Pre-Reading Activity
Before you embark on reading Bud Not Buddy with your class, have them imagine they are in Bud's shoes. They must prioritize which of 13 items listed on a printable worksheet they would take with them to survive as a Depression-Era...
Bantam Books
The Martian Chronicles: K-W-H-L Activity
Prepare your class for a unit on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with an activity that works for pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading. Learners fill out a K-W-H-L chart to reflect on what they already know, what they'd...
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Can you judge a book by its cover? Decide who and what Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is about with a prediction activity. Before reading the first three chapters of the book, kids answer questions based on their interpretation of the...
Bantam Books
The Tempest: Fishbowl Discussion Strategy
Readers learn together with a group discussion activity. As they read William Shakespeare's The Tempest, high schoolers prepare for a fishbowl discussion in which three or four learners sit in the middle of a large circle and have a...
Curated OER
Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes
A carefully crafted three-day instructional activity integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The...
Street Law
The Challenge of Selecting an Ideal Supreme Court Nominee
Nearly every president has had the opportunity to name a nominee to the United States Supreme Court. But what makes someone an ideal candidate to become a Supreme Court justice? High schoolers test their prior knowledge about the Supreme...
Arts Midwest
The Joy Luck Club: Culture and History
Explore San Francisco's Chinatown in a instructional activity about the first few chapters of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Kids research Chinatown on the Internet and create a virtual tour of the neighborhood, including the foods,...
Project Maths
The Unit Circle
It's not just any circle—it's the unit circle. The fourth lesson in the series is an introduction to the famous unit circle. While working through a series of activities, young scholars learn the components of the unit circle and how to...
Project Maths
Introduction to Trigonometry
The topic of trigonometric ratios is often covered with loads of rote memorization baked into the activity. This activity set, however, leans more on using similar triangles and discovery learning to help young geometers develop a deeper...
Curated OER
A Look at Exclusion Through Improvisation
Building a realistic understanding of the trials Jews suffered during WWII isn't always easy. This plan employs student constructed dramatic freeze frame scenes to help build a deeper understanding of Jewish Ghettos, concentration camps,...
Give and Let Live
Blood and Transplant: Blood
Why is blood donation so important, anyway? Science and health classes across multiple grades benefit from an in-depth look into the need for and process of blood donation. With an emphasis on presenting the topic in a non-threatening...
Curated OER
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: K-W-H-L Strategy
Ah, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer! Before your class reads this classic novel, encourage them to activate prior knowledge and build interest in the book with the KWHL strategy. Directions for walking your class through this strategy are...
Curated OER
United States History Pretest
Have your U.S. history class engage in pre-assessment activities at the beginning of the school year. They activate prior knowledge to answer questions. They also use information about particular topics to fill in a graphic organizer....
Global Publishing Solutions
Exploring New York City
Your class members will get up close and personal with the Big Apple in this fantastic lesson, which introduces learners to not only the concept of a city, but also provides a thorough overview of New York City itself and its unique...
NASA
Discovering Some of Your “Yardsticks” Are Actually “Meter-sticks”
The Milky Way gets great reviews on Trip Advisor — 100 million stars. The activity allows scholars to rethink their assumptions and prior knowledge. Pupils observe a set of two lights at equal distance and brightness, but they believe...
EngageNY
Linear Transformations Review
Time for matrices and complex numbers to come together. Individuals use matrices to add and multiply complex numbers by a scalar. The instructional activity makes a strong connection between the operations and graphical transformations.
Curated OER
Bronze Bow
Explore ancient Rome through reading The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare. Readers activate prior knowledge by examining objects that relate to the story and predict the significance of the items. Their curiosity is aroused through...
Curated OER
Seeing Art in Historical Context: An Activity to Promote Visual Literacy
Students consider works of art in their historical context. In this art in historical context activity, students are encouraged to think about and record their prior knowledge of the historical period and to make inferences about the...
Curated OER
Great Expectations: DRTA Strategy
A Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy for Great Expectations scaffolds and guides readers as they begin Dicken's novel. Step-by-step directions are provided, as are chapter one pair-share questions, a prediction worksheet,...
NASA
Things Are Not Always What They Seem
Science is magic that works. Magical color-changing beads and a coffee can that follows voice commands are just two examples of magic tricks that rely on science. After completing a hands-on activity and an experiment investigating the...
Curated OER
A Leader's Lifetime and Legacy
In this instructional activity, students consider their prior knowledge about Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and consider the immediate events surrounding his death. They then create timelines and write papers examining his political...
Curated OER
Candide: A Herber Readiness Activity
“Everything will end up okay if you believe hard enough.” “People create their own luck, good or bad.” Prior to reading Candide, class members respond to an anticipation guide that focuses on the issues of optimism, prejudice, and class...
The New York Times
Kiev in Chaos: Teaching About the Crisis in Ukraine
Provide a historical context for the political unrest between Russia and Ukraine that began in late 2013. Learners review their prior knowledge and chronicle new understandings with a KWL chart, watch a video explaining the Ukrainian...