Rational Number Project
Initial Fraction Ideas Lesson 18: Overview
Develop young mathematicians' ability to compare fractions with investigation into the number 1/2. After brainstorming a list of fractions equivalent to 1/2, children identify a pattern in the numerators and denominators that allows them...
EngageNY
Comparing Integers and Other Rational Numbers
The ninth installment of a 21-part module has pupils compare integers and rational numbers in decimal and fraction form. They match stories to number lines and compare values in the stories.
Rational Number Project
Initial Fraction Ideas Lesson 22: Overview
Have young mathematicians subtracting fractions in no time with this manipulative-based math lesson plan. Using their sets of fraction circles, students explore a number of word problems involving the subtraction of fractions before...
Scholastic
Pilgrim and Wampanoag Daily Life for Grades 6–8
Two slide shows, viewed side-by-side, permit middle schoolers to compare and contrast the lives of the Pilgrims of the Plimoth colony and the Wampanoags. Four videos take learners on virtual field trips to the Plymouth plantation. And an...
Poetry Society
Simile and Metaphor
Young poets use word cards to prompt a metaphor poem comparing to very dissimilar items.
Academy of American Poets
On Marilyn Nelson's Poem “1905”
Marilyn Nelson's poem, "1905," asks young scholars to compare and contrast George Washington Carver and Albert Einstein. After studying images of the two scientists and listing their observations, class members listen to several readings...
ReadWriteThink
What is Poetry? Contrasting Poetry and Prose
Introduce middle schoolers to the different strategies used when reading prose versus poetry. Groups use a Venn diagram and a poetry analysis handout to compare the characteristics of an informational text and a poem on the same subject...
National Endowment for the Humanities
"Sí, se puede!": Chávez, Huerta, and the UFW
"Sí, se puede!" Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta believed organizing farm workers and changing their working conditions were possible. Scholars examine provisions of the Bracero Program, videos, and the United Farm Workers' (UFW) work....
ReadWriteThink
Captioning the Civil Rights Movement: Reading the Images, Writing the Words
Scholars boost their knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement with a lesson that challenges writers, readers, and historians to analyze primary sources and caption their observations. By way of reading, writing, discussion, independently,...
Arizona Department of Education
Introduction to Integers
Welcome to the backward world of negative numbers. This introductory lesson plan teaches young mathematicians that negative numbers are simply the opposite of positive numbers as they use number lines to plot and compare single-digit...
Scholastic
Dear Miss Breed
This compelling plan based on the letters in the book Dear Miss Breed engages readers in learning what it was like for Japanese Americans following the attacks at Pearl Harbor. After reading the letters, young scholars will partake in...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
European Explorers
To compare how the Spanish, French, and English approached the exploration of North America, class groups examine primary source documents and become experts on one of four explorers: Francisco Coronado, Robert LaSalle, Samuel de...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Exploring at the Nanoscale
Nano-nano! Nanotechnology can seem like it's from another planet! After learning about this tiny technology, collaborative groups experiment with how smaller particles affect chemical reactions. They do this by immersing a whole and a...
Virginia Department of Education
Give or Take a Few
Young mathematicians extend their knowledge of rational numbers on a number line to graph inequalities by first using number cards to compare rational numbers. They finish by using similar reasoning to graph inequalities on a number line.
Illustrative Mathematics
Banana Bread
Show your future bakers how to choose the right baking pan by calculating the volume of a pan. The resource compares two pans, one with decimal edge lengths and is too small for the recipe and one that may work. Your number crunchers are...
Smithsonian Institution
Affirmation, Assimilation, and Acculturation: Middle School
Latin American culture is deeply embedded in American culture as a whole. From the Latin rock scene in San Francisco to the hip-hop world of New York, Latin American artists have influenced every genre of modern music. Learn about the...
iCivics
The "Federal" in Federalism
How are states in the United States related to each other? Does the government bind them together? Do states have different governments? After reading about federal power as a whole group, your class members will participate in a...
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Jupiter’s Relative Size
How do you properly illustrate the extreme size difference between two planets—Earth and Jupiter? With the help of jellybeans, of course! Create a scale model of Jupiter's mass compared to Earth using a fishbowl, 1,400 beans, and a dixie...
C-SPAN
14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause
Two Supreme Court cases, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education take center stage in a lesson about the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Class members research both cases to compare and contrast the rulings.
J. Paul Getty Trust
Looking and Learning in the Art Museum — Lesson 1
To prepare for a field trip to a local art museum, art class members journal their initial reactions to a reproduction of the work they will focus on during their visit. The whole class then considers the artistic elements in the piece...
Virginia Department of Education
Ground Zero
Don't harbor any negative feelings toward negative numbers. Scholars learn about different classifications of rational numbers, including negative integers. They also develop definitions of the opposite and the absolute value of a...
Curated OER
Get a Leg Up
Traveling through space is an amazing experience, but it definitely takes a toll on the body. After reading an article and watching a brief video, learners perform an experiment that simulates the effects of zero gravity on the human body.
TELEC
What's Your School Like?
S1 and S2 language learners practice the skills of predicting and scanning as they examine images and read the script of interviews with two young students.
Scholastic
The First Thanksgiving Feast for Grades 6–8
It's time for the feast! Young historians complete their study of the First Thanksgiving by completing an online activity, watching a slideshow, and examining a First Thanksgiving timeline. After answering text-dependent questions to...