Curated OER
Modeling: Having Kittens
Cats can't add, but they do multiply! Determine the number of descendants of a single cat given specific facts about cats and kittens. The lesson focuses on developing strategies for problem solving using both individual and group work....
Frontline
Obama's Deal
Government classes benefit from examining how a bill passes through Congress, while they focus on the compromises made by Obama's administration regarding health care reform. This includes an online video and a couple of handouts. The...
Perkins School for the Blind
Circle Time
Oftentimes children or teens with one or more disability are reluctant to participate in whole-group activities. Foster good participation, verbal expression, and social skills through daily circle time activities. Each day you and your...
Scholastic
Selecting Favorite Poems From Historical Poets
Here is a poetry instructional activity that begins with a free-association activity focused on the word voice. Learners each sit alone for a moment and make sounds that express how they are currently feeling, and then turn to their...
Curriculum Corner
“I Can” Common Core! 3rd Grade Math
Help third graders make sense of the Common Core math standards with this simple checklist. By rewording each standard as an I can statement, children are provided with clear goals to focus on as they participate in math lessons.
Curated OER
Defensive Strategy Hockey Lesson Plan
Here is a nice set of hockey drills focused specifically on developing and enforcing a defensive strategy. The document includes the "Three Rules of Defense," a suggested warm-up and cool-down, and a few videos and professional sources...
Olomana School
Mixtures and Solutions: Paper Chromatography Experiment
Why does some ink bleed through paper, and other ink doesn't? Practice some paper chromatography to separate the colors from a pen with an interactive experiment for middle and high schoolers. Learners use a variety of solutions to track...
NASA
Engineering Design for Human Exploration
What would it take to live on the lunar surface? Small groups build model rockets in order to simulate launching a habitat into space and rebuilding it. Divide the class into groups to design and build a model of a lunar habitat. The...
Syracuse City School District
Greek and Latin Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes
How can adding a prefix or suffix to a root word create an entirely new word? Study a packet of resources that focuses on Greek and Latin roots, as well as different prefixes and suffixes that learners can use for easy reference.
Computer Science Unplugged
Kid Krypto–Public-Key Encryption
Class members have an opportunity to experience how to use a public key to encrypt information and a private key to decrypt it. Groups create their own public key and encrypt information then develop private keys to decrypt this...
C-SPAN
Presidential Candidate Research
Don't let the young citizens in your social studies class get all their election information from inflammatory commercials and arguing pundits. Use a lesson plan from C-SPAN to guide class members through an election season with a...
EngageNY
Modeling an Invasive Species Population
Context makes everything better! Groups use real data to create models and make predictions. Classmates compare an exponential model to a linear model, then consider the real-life implications.
Balanced Assessment
Plenty of Pentagons
Why are only four colors needed to color webs from regular pentagons, not five? An assessment task requires young mathematicians to first construct regular pentagons using a compass and straightedge, then has them consider a shape formed...
Teach Engineering
Club Function
Let's get the herd to follow the rules. The activity associated with the second lesson in the unit introduces the class to the definition of a function. Individuals must gather in groups of zebras and rhinos defined by the general...
NOAA
Importance of Deep-Sea Ecosystems – The Benthic Drugstore
You never know what you will find next in the deep sea ecosystem. So far, scientists have found items that work as anti-tumor agents, anti-inflammatory agents, agents that stop uncontrolled cell division, and much more. The lesson begins...
Missouri Department of Elementary
The Successful Student: Let’s Review for Better Achievement
Study skills, time management skills, and test taking-skills are important attributes for both the classroom and the real world. Focus on these learning skills in a lesson that reviews how to be a good student and make better grades.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Weather or Not
What is the difference between weather and climate? This is the focus question of a lesson that takes a deeper look at how weather data helps determine climate in a region. Using weather and climate cards, students decide if a statement...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Faces of Climate Change
How does climate change affect you? First in a three-part series, the activity focuses on how individuals living around the world are affected by climate change. Individuals take on the role of a given character and share their...
Science 4 Inquiry
The Classification of Living Things
It's a classification sensation! Demystify why we classify using an inquiry activity that helps your class sort things out. Groups begin by classifying a variety of shoes before they research organisms and design their own dichotomous...
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Empathy
Scientists discovered empathy is a learned behavior, not an instinct or inherited behavior. The second lesson in a 12-part series focuses on teaching empathy, an important life skill. Scholars use discussion and role playing to practice...
EngageNY
Speaking and Listening Skills: Practice
After reviewing their resources from the unit, scholars participate in multiple group discussions with a World Café activity. During the discussions, they share ideas about their focus questions pertaining to Canada's natural resources...
Curated OER
That's Moor Like It!
How do modern adaptations of Shakespearean plays relate to their original source material? Middle and high schoolers focus on Shakespeare's play Othello and its screen adaptation "O" to explore how modern film adaptations of Shakespeare...
Curated OER
The Eyes Have It: Learning About Cultures Using Photos
Young scholars focus on determining what the characteristics of culture are. They look for these characteristics in a set of photos. They complete a worksheet imbedded in this plan.
Curated OER
Fur Trading
Students take on a role such as a farming community, hunting community or a trading post. They decide which products they focus on and then trade with the other groups.