American Institute of Architects
Architecture: It's Elementary!—First Grade
Build an interest and appreciation for architecture in your young learners with this fun 10-lesson art unit. Engaging children in using their five senses, the class first observes the environment around them, paying special attention to...
American Institute of Architects
Architecture: It's Elementary!—Fifth Grade
Young citizens construct an understanding of urban planning in this cross-curricular unit. Covering every aspect of city development from the political, economic, and social influences to sustainable building practices, this 10-lesson...
Curated OER
Teaching Science to English Language Learners
Use these hands on lesson plans to make science more accessible for English Language Learners in your classroom.
Curated OER
Activity Guide for Snow
Create a cross-curricular learning experience around a shared reading of Cynthia Rylant's book Snow. From writing poetry and a singing a song about snow, to creating paper snowflakes and solving math story problems, this resource uses...
Curated OER
Earth in the Solar System
A three-week unit designed to be completed in an elementary level, dual-language immersion classroom, this resource includes several lessons intended to introduce young learners to the solar system, the Earth and how the Earth compares...
Curated OER
Solar System
Explore the solar system in detail, from it's origins to its components. Visual data gathered by actual space missions has been used to create the images and animations on each page of this stellar electronic book about the solar...
Curated OER
Rainforest (Elementary, Social Studies)
Explore the rainforest with your class. Learners study the meaning of the word endangered, choose an animal to study, gather data, and discuss why the animal is in danger of extinction. This is a motivating way to have your class discuss...
Chicago Children's Museum
Simple Machines: Force and Motion
Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion, and...
Curated OER
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
Students dictate a story to the teacher. They practice key vocabulary. They be exposed to the language experience approach to writing. They watch a video as a listening exercise.
Curated OER
Whale Song Acrostic
What do whales sing about? Invite your class to imagine the thoughts of whales before writing acrostic poems on the topic. The plan blends together a bit of life science with plenty of opportunities for creativity and writing.
Curated OER
The Heart of the Matter
Upper elementary pupils learn about the blood transportation system and anatomy of the human heart. They fill in an outline of the human heart (not included) focusing on the flow of blood to and from the heart. Using stethoscopes, they...
Curated OER
The Díne (Navajo) Native American Tribe
Students participate in a variety of activities to become familiar with the Navajo Indians. In this Díne (Navajo) Native American tribe lesson, students understand where the Navajo tribe lived and find them on a map. Students discuss the...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Strangest Dream
Do words change or add meaning or interest to a work of art? The final lesson in a four-part series on the beautiful brain as a work of art focuses on art analysis. Scholars write a story about exploring art from the inside. Reflections...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Weather or Not, Seasons Change
Embark on a year long investigation of the seasons with this 10-lesson earth science unit. After being introduced to different types of weather and the tools used to measure it, young scientists perform fun hands-on activities that teach...
Curated OER
The Scientific Method
If the steps that you follow for the scientific method are as follows, this presentation can be useful: observation, question, hypothesis, method, result. Unfortunately, not every scientist or teacher uses the same terminology, The...
PHET
Energy Forms and Changes
Is the ice cooling down the water or is the water melting the ice? Here is a simulation that explores thermal energy transfer with iron, brick, and water. It demonstrates the flow of energy and what happens when each material is either...
Curated OER
Pick It Up!
Young scholars investigate recycling by creating receptacles that can hold trash or recyclable items. In this graphic design lesson, students encourage their classmates to help save the environment by using a recycling receptacle they...
Curated OER
Webbing the Food Chain
Students compose a visual representation of the food chain cycle using Inspiration educational software.
Curated OER
World-Water Hero
Students make up a superhero. In this water quality lesson, students create a superhero with super powers that can improve water quality and availability.
Curated OER
The Extinction and Rediscovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
An incredibly thorough, and well-designed lesson teaches youngsters about the presumed extinction and rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas. Learners discuss the environmental factors that led to the birds disappearance....
Curated OER
Into the Wilderness: Habitat vs. Development
By studying the once-assumed extinction, then rediscovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, learners look at the physical changes that have occured in habitats throughout Arkansas. This outstanding lesson is chock full of terrific...
Curated OER
Life Cycle of a Butterfly: Kidspiration
Second graders view a video about butterflies and recall its life cycle. They will also complete a Kidspiration slide show to illustrate the life cycle of a butterfly and study a word list of butterfly vocabulary to include in their...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Brain Inspiration
"Neuroscientists consider Cajal as important to their discipline as Einstein is to physics." The first of four lessons has scholars view Santiago Ramon y Cajal's drawings of neurons. They reflect and respond to the art through writing...
Curated OER
Oceans
Students become aware of the differences between ocean water and lake water by smelling, tasting and seeing. They distinguish between land and bodies of water on a globe and gain increased awareness of oceans and life.