PBS
House Warming
Things should heat up during a hands-on lesson exploring solar energy. An enlightening activity challenges young scientists to design a structure that collects solar energy efficiently. They keep track of temperature data over time and...
PBS
Terrific Trees
Engage in a shady activity to practice measurement techniques. Classes venture outside to collect measurements of various trees, using different strategies to measure the height, trunk circumference, width, and crown size. Then they...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Notes and Graphic Organizer for a Letter to a Publisher
It's the halfway point! Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment to showcase their knowledge and skills so far. They create a graphic organizer, write an opinion about how their athlete created a legacy, and then record the best reasons...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Metamorphoses and Genesis: A Comparison of Creation-Flood Stories
Creation and destruction. Scholars use a Venn diagram to compare the creation story in Ovid's The Metamorphoses with that in the book of Genesis. Pupils then note differences between the two texts and offer suggestions for why the texts...
K20 LEARN
Many Trails of Tears: The Era of Indian Removal
Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. All were forced off their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States as part of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Young historians research the tribes' reactions to this removal and...
K20 LEARN
We've Got Character! Literary Analysis: Characterization
How authors bring characters to life and make them believable is the focus of a lesson on characterization. Readers closely examine passages from To Kill a Mockingbird and Dreamland Burning, noting details that reveal the character's...
Curated OER
Teaching Responsibility
For this responsibility worksheet, students complete a true/false checklist about being responsible and complete discussion questions after viewing a referenced video. Suggestions for writing and students activities are also given.
Curated OER
Problem and Solution Lesson
Students explore problems and solutions in literature. In this literature lesson, students identify problems and solutions in short guided and independent reading samples. Students also discuss characterization techniques used to develop...
Curated OER
Auschwitz Episode Guide: Factories of Death
High schoolers examine Hitler's "Final Solution." They watch and discuss a PBS documentary, read handouts, conduct Internet research, and read and discuss a personal memoir.
Curated OER
Financial Security
Students take an economic angle on social security, working in small groups to create a reader's guide to the program and the current debate.
Curated OER
First Things First: Using the Newspaper to Teach the Freedoms of the First Amendment
Students use the newspaper as a tool to make connections about what the five freedoms guarantee in the First Amendment. In this first amendment lesson plan, students analyze events in the newspaper to form conclusions about the freedoms...
Curated OER
The Roots of Religion: Teacher’s Guide
Students explore ancient cultures. In this ancient religions lesson, students study the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia they watch "Garden of Eden" and discuss their impressions. Students then research Sumer and prepare...
Curated OER
How to Use Technology to Teach the Water Cycle
Students answer six content-related questions on reproducible information sheets. They predict how the jury vote at the end of the trial.
Curated OER
Reciprocal Teaching: Aunty Misery
Fifth graders investigate the qualities of a good reader by participating in a role play with the provided scripts. They focus on the five main strategies of good readers -- predicting, clarifying, questioning, summarizing, and...
Curated OER
Teaching with Primary Sources Across Tennessee: Debunking Civil War Photographs
Students analyze photographs and texts using primary source analysis. In this primary source lesson students determine whether the photographs and text are truthful.
Curated OER
Viewing Guide for The Ponder Heart
Students conduct research through library and Internet resources. They research in a multidisciplinary fashion, and make creative leaps in their analysis and interpretation of the novella.
Curated OER
Eating the Rainbow: A Student's Guide to Healthy Foods That Grow
Third graders examine the nutritional value of different foods. In this health science lesson, 3rd graders create a daily log of the foods they eat and categorize them. They plan a healthy menu for their family.
Curated OER
Energetic Energy: A Child?s Guide to Responsible Energy Use
Students explore how energy transforms into heat. In this energy lesson students create models and find a need for fuel to make a Stirling engine.
Curated OER
Scientific Method Study Guide
In this scientific method worksheet, students answer questions about the various steps of the scientific method. They distinguish between the variables in an experiment and between a hypothesis and a theory.
Curated OER
Night Golf Classroom Guide
Students read the story "Night Golf" and respond to questions that enhance their comprehension of the book's message. In this reading lesson, students participate in a literature circle to explore reading passages. Students personalize...
Curated OER
Teaching Child Safety
Students explore safe and unsafe choices in different environments. In this safety lesson students discuss safety rules they know. The teacher reads the students different scenarios and the students decide if it is a safe behavior or an...
Curated OER
Teaching Six Big Ideas in the Constitution
Students debate the constitutional principles of the United States. In this U.S. government lesson, students examine the meaning of the text of the U.S. Constitution and analyze other primary documents of the era. Students prepare for...
Curated OER
Teaching About the Hydrosphere
Eighth graders are introduced to the Earth's hydrologic system including the cycling of water in the atmosphere and the movement of water on the surface of the planet using the Great Lakes watershed as an example.
Curated OER
Teaching Kids about the Environment
Fifth graders identify the species of plants and animals found in an environment. They compare these findings to plant and animal species found in an unlike environment. Students acquire and compare soil samples from the two sites chosen.