PBS
Hemingway Educator Guide
A 17-page Educator Guide is designed to support classroom discussions of Ken Burns' documentary on Ernest Hemingway. The guide includes background information on Hemingway's life, the themes found in his works, essential and discussion...
Smithsonian Institution
The Birth of an Icon: Learning and Performing the Origins of the Drum Set and Early Jazz Drumming in New Orleans, Louisiana
Bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, cymbals. Perched behind their drum sets, wielding their drum sticks and wire brushes, drummers lay the grove and are the heartbeat of a band's performance. A dynamic instructional activity introduces...
Pulitzer Center
The Paradise Papers: A Lesson in Investigative Journalism
The Paradise Papers, a year-long research project from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) exposed how political leaders, business people, and wealthy individuals used offshore entities to avoid taxes and hide...
Nemours KidsHealth
Keep Your Brain in the Game: Grades 3-5
Boost physical activity as well as concept proficiency with brief bursts of movement. Before taking a test, scholars vote on five exercises to complete from a set of 8 cards. After two minutes, learners begin their work with heightened...
Greater Good Science Center
Nurturing Gratitude From the Inside Out: 30 Activities for Grades K–8
Teach the importance of showing gratitude at any age with a teacher's guide comprised of thirty activities. Browse the extensive table of contents to find the array of exercises designed to meet the needs of your learners. Scholars take...
C-SPAN
Historical Presidential Campaign Announcement Analysis
Using the announcements of presidential candidacies, pupils consider how contenders make their initial arguments to the public. A worksheet helps structure collaborative work to analyze 10 video clips. Writing prompts allow for extension...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Becoming US President
It's that time of year, and the year. Once again the race is on for the White House. It's important that young voters, and would-be voters, understand the process for becoming the United States President. Class members research the...
Facing History and Ourselves
The Challenge of Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias makes it difficult to overcome our preconceived notions of others. That's the big idea in a lesson plan that teaches learners strategies to recognize and question their biases.
Facing History and Ourselves
Transcending Single Stories
The focus of the second lesson in the Standing Up for Democracy unit is on the power of assumptions based on a single experience or point of view. Class members begin by journaling about assumptions others make about their identity based...
EngageNY
Grade 5 Math Module 1, Topic D, Lesson 10
Take a little bit away. The 10th section of an 18-part unit introduces subtraction of decimals. Scholars use a place value chart like they did with addition of decimals to organize and represent the problem. After using the place value...
EngageNY
Grade 5 Math Module 1, Topic D, Lesson 9
Introduces addition of decimals by using unit notation to represent the problem. Pupils use a place value chart to decompose the numbers and then add before connecting to the standard algorithm.
EngageNY
Grade 5 Math Module 1, Topic C, Lesson 8
Go another round on rounding. Pupils refine their learned rounding skills in the eighth installment in an 18-part unit on decimals. The lesson takes away some of the previous scaffolding to encourage scholars to use the procedures that...
EngageNY
Grade 5 Math Module 1, Topic B, Lesson 6
Which is bigger? The sixth installment in an 18-part series covering decimals provides a lesson on comparing decimals to the thousandths. Teachers use place value to help class members compare and order decimals. Instruction encourages...
EngageNY
Grade 5 Math Module 1, Topic B, Lesson 5
There is more than one way to write a number. The lesson plan provides teachers with a way to teach reading and writing decimals to thousandths using standard, expanded, and unit forms. Pupils work through in-class and homework...
EngageNY
Grade 5 Math Module 1, Topic A, Lesson 4
Convert with exponents. The fourth lesson in a series of 18 uses powers of 10 to convert within the metric system. Scholars use their fourth grade knowledge of conversions to write and use the conversion factors containing exponents....
EngageNY
Grade 5 Math Module 1, Topic A, Lesson 3
The activity introduces exponents as a way to write powers of 10 and to associate those powers with place value. Pupils practice writing powers of 10 with exponents along with multiplying numbers by powers of 10. The resource is the...
EngageNY
Grade 5 Math Module 1, Topic A, Lesson 2
What are the place value patterns? An informative lesson plan helps scholars build upon their knowledge of place value to see patterns when multiplying and dividing by powers of 10. Classmates begin the second installment by reviewing...
EngageNY
Grade 5 Math Module 1, Topic A, Lesson 1
Extend the place value system. The first lesson plan in a series of 18 extends the place value system to millions through thousandths. Using place value charts, pupils see how the value of a digit changes as it moves places. Teachers use...
Literacy Design Collaborative
A Pale Blue Dot: That's Here. That's Home. That's Us.
21st-century learners live in such a visual world that many are unused to letting their minds imagine the picture that words create. An excerpt from Carl Sagan's lecture, "The Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space,"...
Pace University
Grade 6-8 Living Things
What characterizes a living thing? Scholars explore the concept during a differentiated instruction unit on living things. They perform lab experiments to determine how animals adapt to stimuli, watch videos and learn about...
Purdue University
Field Trip Snack Holder
Is light related to insulation? An informative hands-on STEM activity demonstrates how light affects temperature. First, the class investigates how light passes through different mediums and how that relates to temperature. Then,...
Purdue University
Simple Machines – Dog Gone It!
How can people use simple machines to solve real-world STEM problems? Learn about simple machines using a hands-on, project-based learning activity. First, pupils investigate and evaluate simple machines. Then, they receive a task that...
Cornell University
Polymers: Instant Snow
Is it easy to make snow? Scholars use critical thinking skills as they investigate the concept of polymers by making snow. The class tests several different variables and takes measurements over the course of several days. They then...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Franklin’s Fair Hand American Journalism
Scholars know him for his role in the American Revolution, but Ben Franklin was also a journalist and printer. Learners investigate his standards for what was fit to print using primary sources—including writings where Franklin explains...