Curated OER
Designing More Effective Packages
Students make an environmentally sound package. In this packaging lesson students examine various types of modern packaging. The problem of waste is discussed leading into a discussion of waste reduction. The students choose an item that...
Curated OER
Frontier Life Story
Students undertake a similar (but not quite as drastic) adventure as that of Frontier House as they explore the day-to-day realities of frontier life through a Laura Ingalls Wilder story, and reflect on which time period suits them...
Curated OER
Gray Whales
Students listen to the book, Lagoon Tour: Whale Watching at Laguna Ojo de Liebre and discuss the photos, vocabulary and captions. They create a scrapbook, tourist brochure, travel journal, or a song about whales.
Curated OER
Look to your Dreams
Young scholars explore the life and Surrealist art of Salvador Dalí identify and discuss imaginative, impossible or unexpected elements in Surrealist artworks.
Curated OER
Life Cycle of Butterflies
Students identify ways plants and animals make changes related to the seasons, specifically focusing on the life cycle of butterflies.
Curated OER
Jet-Setting Pets!
Students select a pet they are interested in and identify things they could do in another location in the world. They research the pet and the location noting activities to do there. They create a presentation to share with the class.
Curated OER
Whale Portfolio
Students culminate their study of right whales by designing a portfolio of their work. They illustrate the facts they studies and design an informational brochure about the right whale that can be used as a resource by others.
Curated OER
Setting Goals for Success
Students set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Action Oriented, Realistic, and Time-framed) goals to guide their educational journey. These goals are written down and placed in the student's portfolio.
Curated OER
Whale Form and Function
Students identify similarities and differences in specializations of morphology among a variety of cetaceans and approximate the reasons for these specializations.
Curated OER
Poetry in Weather
Young scholars observe and identify the various types of clouds. They compare clouds to clouds on a chart, and in small groups compose and present a group poem about clouds and weather.
Curated OER
Philanthro What?
Pupils discuss what it means to be a philanthropist and how important philanthropists are to the community. They discuss the tradition involved in philanthropy and create a show and tell "Philanthropy Teaching Quilt" using the various...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Web
Third graders watch as their teacher demonstates how to make a web of vocabulary words. After listening to a story, they are given a list of new descriptive vocabulary words. To end the lesson, they create their own word web using one...
Curated OER
Bio
Students define their goals, aspirations, and strategies for attaining based on the goals and aspirations of Keith Haring. In this goals lesson plan, students hypothesize goals and solutions on how to get there.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: A Storm of Ideas
The first step in writing an informational text on the topic of students' choice is helping the student choose a topic of interest. Students will brainstorm ideas that will be possible final topics.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Small Moment With an Important Person
A writer's workshop idea where students brainstorm a list of people who are important to them as well as one or two times they remember being with each person. Students then use these ideas to write about a small moment with someone who...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: And the Author Is...using Digital Tools for Writing
Empower learners to recognize that they are thinkers and writers! They will collaborate on a writing piece to brainstorm, organize and publish ideas with a digital tool. This lesson highlights different website creations as examples of...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Haiku Starter
A printable, two-page graphic organizer to help students brainstorm ideas and write a rough draft of a haiku. Directions on how to use this type of graphic organize as well as lists of teaching ideas and related resources are also provided.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Personification [Pdf]
A graphhic organizer to help students brainstorm ideas for personification. A blank copy as well as a completed example are provided.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Great Lists Inspire Great Writing
A writer's workshop idea where students work together to brainstorm a list a possible writing topics to use throughout the year. Idea lists for primary and intermediate students are provided.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Story Starters: Powerful Sentences
In this lesson, students will click a button that will help them generate ideas for story development. Students can click several times, if needed, until one of the ideas is interesting to them. [Requires Adobe Reader.]
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Showing Plots & Conflicts
In this lesson plan, recommendations from Ralph Fletcher's book called Live Writing will be used as a teacher reference. Students will write introductions to three different stories in their writer's notebooks, but each type of conflict...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Voice Building Poetry Lesson: Four Metaphor Poetry
Inspired by Mem Fox's Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge which includes four metaphors for memory, this writing prompt asks learners to think of an original abstract noun. Students will brainstorm details as they come up with ideas for...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix:"oh, That's Good!" "No, That's Bad!"
How can something that is good, be bad and something that is bad, be good? Inspired by the pattern and concept in Margery Cuyler's picture book That's Good! That's Bad!, students will brainstorm a sequence of related events as the story...