Nebraska Department of Education
Stereotypes
Stereotyping leads to prejudice. That's the central concept in a instructional activity designed for eighth graders. After identifying the traits associated with different stereotypes, class members brainstorm actions they can take to...
Student Achievement Partners
"The Glorious Whitewasher" from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain with Mini-Assessment
It's the classic scene: Tom Sawyer is whitewashing a fence. Expose your learners to Mark Twain's humor while reinforcing reading comprehension. Eighth graders are encouraged to read and reread, achieving as much exposure to the text as...
EngageNY
Paragraph Writing Instruction
Writing a paragraph from details found directly in a text is the central focus of this thorough and explicit lesson plan. Using the stories Nasreen's Secret School and Rain School, third graders are lead step-by-step through the basics...
American Chemical Society
Production of a Gas - Controlling a Chemical Reaction
Though the publisher designated this unit for use with third through eighth grades, this particular activity would be best used with middle schoolers due to the specific measurement skills required. Basically, they set up the reaction...
Dream of a Nation
Creating Awareness through Action Oriented Writing and Research
Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth graders...
Curated OER
Classroom Builder
Students explore music theory by discussing a classic song. In this musical notation lesson, students listen to the song "My Favorite Things" and discuss and share their personal tastes with the class. Students practice writing notes on...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
B-A-G+E
Budding musicians discuss rhythmic notation and melody as they play a bar instrument or recorder. They use the notes B, A, G, and E to play a simple melody, and then they use those same four notes to turn a poem into a song. They play...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Rhythm Patterns
Fractions can be tricky. Why not have kids think of fractions like they think of eighth, quarter, and half notes? In teams, the class creates four-measure patterns with their percussion instruments. They need to explain their rhythm...
Curated OER
Body Percussion: Hambone
Students explore body percussion. They practice playing quarter notes and eighth notes separately, then quarter and eighth notes at the same time by different groups. They practice this exercise at different tempos.
Curated OER
Rhythm and Nature
Second graders listen to song "Listen to the Water," discuss nature sounds and importance of water to life, perform quarter and eighth notes from notation, play instruments in rhythm patterns of quarter and eighth notes, and write rhythm...
Curated OER
Dance is B.E.S.T.: Time
Learners demonstrate dance activities and rhythm activities to whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes. They clap and move to notes individually and in 16 count metric phrases. As they create different 16 count metric phrases and...
Curated OER
Music and Math
Young students are exposed to four types of musical notes - whole, quarter, half, and eighth. They practice clapping along with the notes on each slide. A little bit of math is mixed in with the music, in that each slide shows a pie that...
Curated OER
Jan Ken Pon
Fifth graders explore components of Japanese language, song, instruments, and music. Dotted eighth and sixteenth notes are practiced, the pronunciation of words for the song taught, and chords for tone chimes played in this lesson.
Curated OER
The Affect of Music on Visual Images
Eighth graders consider cross-curricular connections between social studies, singing, and current events. They listen to the song, "I Can't Cry Hard Enough." view scenes from September 11, then create presentations using images, a...
Curated OER
Conflict Resolution Lesson Plan
What is a bully? Romeo and Juliet's Act 3 Scene 1 gives eighth and ninth graders the perfect opportunity to explore bullying. After doing some Internet research on bullying characteristics, groups reenact the scene to decide who is the...
Curated OER
The Personal Letter: The Outsiders
After completing S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, eighth graders compose a personal letter to their teacher detailing what they liked about the novel and the activities assigned during the course of the unit. A clever way to get feedback,...
Curated OER
Grammar Re-review: Now You Teach Us!
Turn the tables on your language arts pupils by letting them be the teachers! With a list of grammatical topics to choose from (subject, adverbs, direct objects, etc), eighth graders plan a presentation to "re-review" the concept with...
It's About Time
Sounds from Vibrating Air
Take note, or notes, as the case may be. A scientific music lesson is the third in a set of eight covering waves and instruments. Scholars use straws, test tubes, and water to create various wind instruments. Then, they read and answer...
EngageNY
Why Stay with Whole Numbers?
Domain can be a tricky topic, especially when you relate it to context, but here is a instructional activity that provides concrete examples of discrete situations and those that are continuous. It also addresses where the input values...
EngageNY
The Long Division Algorithm
Two methods are always better than one! The eighth installment in this series asks pupils to convert decimals to fractions using two approaches. Individuals first use the more traditional approach of long division and then use reverse...
Curated OER
Showdown on the Frontier
Especially critical following a series of shootings in schools, theaters, and religious buildings, it's safe to say that we need to evaluate the current laws on gun control. Eighth graders read a New York Times article in order to better...
Teach Engineering
May the Force Be With You: Thrust
Force the plane through the air. The lesson introduces the force on an airplane that makes it go forward. Pupils learn how Newton's laws of motion apply to flight in the eighth segment of a 22-part unit on flight.
Curated OER
Studying STI/HIV
Eighth graders describe symptoms, effects, treatments, and prevention for chlamydia, HPV, herpes, gonorrhea, Hepatitis B and C, and HIV. They begin by answering provided background questions and get one's feelings about what they think...
Curated OER
Reading in Context: The Diary of Anne Frank
Step into the hopeful and tragic world of Anne Frank with this lesson on reading in context. After complete a variety of activities related to the first two scenes of The Diary of Anne Frank, eighth graders participate in a read aloud to...