Students examine collections. In these real-world collections lessons, students examine and describe buttons and shells. Students will then sort, classify, and graph items according to various indicated descriptors.

Students investigate how the forest affects their daily lives by creating a concept map.  In this ecological lesson, students create a concept map linking the forest to the many things they use each day.  Students take a field...

Students read Everybody Cooks Rice and discuss birthday celebrations around the world.   In this cultural differences lesson plan, students discuss the Chinese symbols by birth years.  Students create a graph by...

First graders read the book The Great Pet Sale to learn about economics and advertisements. In this economics lesson plan, 1st graders read the book The Great Pet Sale and define related vocabulary words. Students compare prices to find...

Students summarize their weekly class activities by writing a newsletter.  In this journalism lesson, students create a multimedia presentation for their parents based on the classroom events that took place during the week....

Learners discover the coin denominations of U.S. Currency.  In this money instructional activity, students read the book Deena's Lucky Penny, then complete a coin matching activity using the Internet.  Learners also read Shel...

Students identify patterns. In this pattern lesson students discuss what makes a pattern. They find a pattern hidden in the classroom. 

This lesson, focused on profile writing and its unique characteristics, considers the profiles developed in the film The Soul of a Man while also asking students to consider other profiles they are familiar with and to write some of...

This lesson shows how the blues can be used to enable students to explore gender divisions in the United States, both in the past and the present. Most blues songs are about the relationships between men and women, as are many songs in...

This lesson plan examines both the content and form of lyrics in blues songs. In addition to highlighting the basic musical form of a blues song, it also addresses the use of floating verses in blues music, both within the context of the...

In this instructional activity learners will learn about finding the blues in a variety of musical styles. They will investigate instances of the blues form heard in mainstream pop music, along with exploring the musical styles of two...

What ultimately influences a musician's creations? Is it the time in which he/she lives, his/her personal experiences, the music of the time and previous times, or the image the artist hopes to convey? This lesson explores these...

This lesson focuses on how the blues both operates as poetry and informs the poetry of many prominent African American poets. Young scholars consider the poetic devices and recurring themes in blues lyrics and the significance of the...

This lesson enables students to gain a broader awareness of the basic blues scale and the harmonic structure of the standard blues progression. Students will be given introductory exercises on blues improvisation and will also...

This lesson enables teachers to use blues music to explore the history of African Americans in the 20th century. By studying the content of blues songs, students can learn about the experiences and struggles of the working-class...

This lesson enables teachers to use blues styles and performers to think about various geographical regions of the United States. By studying different blues styles from the Mississippi Delta, Texas, and the Piedmont region of the...

First graders explore shapes. In this geometry instructional activity, 1st graders make shapes with geo-boards, use play-dough to make three-dimensional figures, and make a shape book using pre-cut shapes.

Students explore counting money. In this money counting and gingerbread house construction lesson, students use a calculator to determine how much and what type of candy they can buy given 25 cents.  Students construct gingerbread...

First graders write a time book. In this writing and telling time lesson, 1st graders learn about the concept of time using a Judy clock. Students read a book about a ladybug and look closely at the time on the clock.  Students then...

First graders listen to Shapes and The Greedy Triangle to identify and describe examples of geometric shapes.  In this geometric shapes instructional activity, look for geometric shapes in real world places.  Students make a...

First graders examine how to sort concrete objects by their attributes. In this sorting lesson plan, 1st graders listen to Gray Rabbit's Odd One Out by Alan Baker, and discuss the actions of the main character. They practice sorting...

First graders read the story One Monday Morning and create picture graphs based on the number of teachers, boys, and girls that would visit the prince. In this data lesson plan, 1st graders interpret tables and graphs with the help of...

First graders complete activities with the story One Monday Morning in the Macmillan/McGraw Hill Textbook. In this data lesson plan, 1st graders read the story and gather data to create a picture graph. They read the graph and...

First graders investigate worms, collect and analyze data. In this worm and data lesson, 1st graders listen to Chick and Duckling from the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill reading series. They conduct experiments with worms, collect simple data,...