Curated OER
Make a Community Almanac
Students gather geographic information about their community. They work together to create a community almanac.
Curated OER
Animals in the Almanac
Students practice using a World Almanac by completing the provided worksheet on animals.
Library Sparks
Reference Tools Vocabulary Challenge
Students love the opportunity of going to the library to jump into that one comfy chair in the whole room with a book, or be a lucky one to get to the computers before anyone else. But knowing how to locate books and other reference...
Curated OER
100 Questions
Gather around to play a game! Middle and high schoolers answer questions (provided here) using various reference materials. Bring encyclopedias and other reference materials to class, as each group has limited Internet access! An answer...
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Olympic Shadow Boxes
What a cool way to incorporate art and use reference materials. Learners use classroom reference materials such as almanacs, encyclopedias, and dictionaries to answer one of four questions, and then they use the information to create a...
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Organizing Info into Short Reports
The class brainstorms a list of prominent people from their knowledge of social studies. Groups of two pupils get together and select one of these people to research. They create five questions to research on their person and record them...
Curated OER
Bald Eagle Basic Skills Math Practice
Students solve basic skills math problems involving eagles. They read and discuss facts about eagles and view a video. They complete the Eagle Math worksheet and check their answers. They create additional problems and solve them.
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Reference Materials
After a class discussion where kids share how they find answers to their questions, learners explore the world of reference materials such as, an atlas, an almanac, and an encyclopedia. The Internet is also discussed as a way to access...
Curated OER
Declare the Causes: The Declaration of Independence
Students study the Declaration of Independence and the process our founding fathers went through to get it written and signed. They analyze other similar historical documents and draft and present their own declarations.
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Word Reference Materials
A class discussion on reference materials opens up a lesson on how to use these important resources. They discover that dictionaries, glossaries, and thesauruses are called word reference resources, and they practice using them. The...
National First Ladies' Library
The State Of The States
High schoolers engage in a study of the states as part of the United States while conducting research using a variety of resources. The focus of the study is the states that were part of the Union by 1890. Students create an almanac...
Curated OER
What's Your Reference
In this reference material worksheet, students choose the correct reference for each question given. Students discover the differences in the materials found in the dictionary, the almanac, the atlas, the newspaper, and the thesaurus.
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Vietnam Today
Students discover the Vietnam of today. In this research skills lesson plan, students identify what the country is like today. Students select projects from the provided list to complete and share with their classmates.
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Cite Your Sites
What information would you find in an almanac that you would not find in an atlas? What is the difference between a dictionary and a thesaurus? Using a Cite Your Sites worksheet on which they record their observations, groups participate...
Curated OER
Syllable Sleuth
Do your learners have what it takes to be a syllable sleuth? Have them try out their skills on this syllables activity, which begins by having students consider what resource is available to help them determine the number of syllables in...
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Happy Birthday!: Internet Research and Historic Events
Talk about intrinsic motivation! Begin where your students' natural interests lie -- with themselves -- and launch a variety of projects with this activity. Class members research important events that took place on their birthdays....
Concord Consortium
Leap Years and Calendars
How many birthdays do leap year babies have in a lifetime? Learners explore the question among others in a lesson focused on different calendar systems. Given explanations of the Julian, Gregorian, and Martian calendars, individuals use...
Curated OER
Synthesis of Information
Locating and synthesizing information is an essential part of the research process but can be overwhelming for many young writers. Eliminate some of the stress and confusion, this resource suggests, by separating these steps. To focus...
Curated OER
Chilling Predictions
Young scholars research and prepare an almanac on the Arctic. They examine the laws that attempt to provide jurisdiction over this area and consider how these laws be affected if geography of the Arctic continues to change due to global...
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Breezy, Chilly, or Freezing?
Students assess the factors which influence the sensation of being "cold" in a particular situation. They study the complexities in measuring temperature by reading and discussing the article "Beyond Brrr: The Elusive Science of...
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Prairie Restoration and Prairie Ecology
Students collect data as they identify and classify native prairie plants and insects. They create their own population study using a variety of sampling techniques to determine the population density of various species. Students...
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Ecological Decision Making
High schoolers, beginning individually and later in small groups use the decision making model to address the question of reintroducing the wolf into Yellowstone National Park. Each small group elects a spokesperson to report to the...
Curated OER
Benjamin Franklin - Master of Electricity The Kite Experiment and the Invention of the Lightning Rod
Students study Benjamin Franklin including who he was, what he invented and his experiment. In this inventive instructional activity students follow the steps of Ben Franklin and build a Leyden jar.
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Arkansas Geographical Facts
Students participate in class research and discussion to discover 10 geographical facts about the state of Arkansas. After finding these facts, students complete a book of Arkansas Geographical Records.