Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Early English Settlements History Detectives
Young historians play the role of history detectives as they investigate some primary source texts and images related to the early colonization of America, The Jamestown Settlement, and the Mayflower Compact.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Onset and Rime, Sound Detective
Play letter sound detective with your class, and snoop out sounds, onsets, blends, and rhyme. In pairs, children take turns choosing a card from the pile; as they sound out part of the word, their partner attempts to figure out which...
Curated OER
Spelling Detective
Put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and become a spelling detective! Scholars hunt down the spelling errors in a short passage of a high-interest current events text. Here is a great way to develop editing and reading skills.
Curated OER
Do you know your Hats Quiz
In this hats activity, students look at pictures of hats and choose which name fits the hat best. Students complete 20 multiple choice questions.
Curated OER
Mystery Lessons
Learn about mysteries with your readers. They will investigate plot, basic elements of mystery, famous characters, and become familiar with genre vocabulary. Bring in props and mystery books to begin and then have learners create story...
Curated OER
Iggy the Penguin
Take your young word detectives on a hunt for the /i/ sound. Use the tongue twister about Iggy the penguin to help learners identify the target sound. Then learners are given several words, and they have to use their detective skills to...
Curated OER
Exploring the Mystery Genre
Young scholars determine the story elements of typical mystery stories including characters and plot structure. They look at vocabulary that is common to mystery stories before reading and responding to mystery chapter books. Working in...
Curated OER
Organism Detectives
First graders take a nature walk and search for organisms. They use magnifying glasses to see things that live on or near the surface of the Earth in land, air, and water.
Curated OER
Word Detectives!
Students recognize the short vowel e in written and spoken language. Through matching activities, students discriminate the short vowel e from the long vowel o. They associate the phoneme with its letter representation and identify the...
Curated OER
Life Science: DNA Whodunit?
Young scholars role play an honorary detective to assist in solving a crime committed. They investigate by a bank robbery and interview eyewitnesses using their Crime Investigation Notebook and clues from an eyewitness account from the...
Curated OER
Methods of Collecting Information
Third graders examine a bag or box of soil containing items that they dig for. Their task is to become detectives to make conclusions about the area from which the items came as real archaeologists do.
Curated OER
Abra-kadabra-kazam /a//a//a/, POOF!
First graders discover that each letter of the alphabet has a sound then detect the /a/ sound represented by the letter a. They pretend to be magicians and say, "Abra-kadabra-kazam! POOF!" emphasizing the /a/ sound and then repeat an /a/...
Curated OER
Classroom Triangles
Students use bearing measurements to triangulate and determine objects' locations. Working in teams of two or three, students must put on their investigative hats as they take bearing measurements to specified landmarks in their...
Curated OER
Author's Purpose
Fourth graders read the book Talkin' About Bessie and write a paragraph about the author's purpose. In this author's purpose lesson plan, 4th graders include examples from the story.
Curated OER
The Mysterious Plant Caper
Students investigate the basic parts of plant and that plants are living things which require water, air, light and nutrients for survival. They do this through a series of scientific experiements and multi-curricular hands-on activities.
University of Florida
Phonological Awareness: A Sound Beginning
Choose from a variety of phonological activities to complement a reading lesson. The guide goes through the basic components of good phonics instruction focusing on sound types, levels of phonological awareness, assessment methods, and...
Virginia Department of Education
Weather Patterns and Seasonal Changes
Get your class outside to observe their surroundings with a lesson highlighting weather patterns and seasonal changes. First, learners take a weather walk to survey how the weather affects animals, people, plants, and trees during...
University of Colorado
Is There Life on Earth?
To find life on another planet, scientists look for gases (atmosphere), water, and temperatures that are not extreme. In this activity, groups of pupils become "Titan-ians," scientists who want to explore Earth for possible life forms....
Kenan Fellows
Designing and Analyzing Data Collected from Wearable Devices to Solve Problems in Health Care
Wearable devices have become more the norm than the exception. Learners analyze data from a sample device with a regression analysis in a helpful hands-on lesson. Their focus is to determine if there is a connection between temperature...
Curated OER
Are You an Animal Safety Sleuth?
Young scholars identify animal behaviors that are unsafe and react appropriately to the warning signs. In this animal safety lesson, students discuss animal behavior in uncertain situations. Young scholars make flip cards for younger...
Curated OER
Change Agents
Third graders experiment with three erosive change agents. They do an observation log, which they present to the class through a song, poem or skit.
Curated OER
Inquiry Lesson
Students explore the poetry of William Blake and the historical context that he presents. A story is analyzed and evaluated in order to solve a puzzle. The political commentary of the poetic piece is examined in this lesson.
Planet e-Book
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby has become one of the most iconic novels in American literature. An eBook allows readers to access the full text of the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. With the original words and paragraph breaks intact, new generations...