Curated OER
Trading Traditions: Based on the American Samoa Quarter Reverse
Students investigate U.S. Currency by researching American Samoa. In this monetary unit instructional activity, students define the reverse and obverse of a coin while completing a currency related worksheet. Students identify American...
Curated OER
Mystery Recipe Lab
Pupils engage in a lesson that is concerned with the concept of cooking a new recipe. The book "Cook-a-Doodle-Doo" is used to create the context for the lesson. They use the ingredients and recipe in the lesson and work in groups in...
Curated OER
Theatre Lesson Plan- Tableau (part 2)
Young scholars explore tableaux. In this social studies and fine arts cross curriculum lesson, students work in groups of four to create "frozen" stage pictures (tableaux) representing vocabulary and concepts from a "From Farm to You"...
Curated OER
Money Management
Students role play buying and selling items. In this economics lesson, students are given play money with which to purchase items, as well as value their own items for others to buy. Each student in the group works together to decide...
Curated OER
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Students explore the 5 themes of geography. In this cross curriculum literacy and geography instructional activity, students listen to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, and make a list of the needs of the people in...
Curated OER
Photo Quilt Square
Build creative thinking and organization skills with a beautiful quilting project. Young photographers use a digital camera and computer to create photo transfers, which they will use to create a photo quilt square. They sew or embroider...
Curated OER
The Very Busy Spider
Youngsters explore visual arts by participating in a geometry identification activity. They read the book The Very Busy Spider and identify the techniques spiders use to create webs. Have you ever noticed that their webs are geometric...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
A Geography Lesson
Fewer and fewer people have a strong grasp of world geography, but this activity helps students understand geopolitics by creating their own original historical map. The activity requires selecting a country from the list provided,...
Curated OER
Labor Unions and Strikes
Teens explore economics by listening to a labor history lecture and an excerpt from Looking Backward, by Edward Bellamy. A detailed outline is provided for the lecture, along with follow up and assessment questions. In groups, they...
National First Ladies' Library
The Gilded Age
Students investigate the economic events that caused such a separation between social classes in the United States during this time period. Then they design financial and social models with the goal of closing the gap between the super...
Learning to Give
Africa - The Great Southland
Applying the five themes of geography, preteen explorers develop a visual aid for younger learners in celebration African American History Month. They investigate the political, geographic, economic, and social aspects of the continent...
Curated OER
I Want To Be an Entrepreneur
Students define the word entrepreneur as they create a business. In this economics lesson, students understand the elements of creating a successful business and record them. Students create a commercial for their businesses.
Curated OER
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Students read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Joffee Numeroff with their teacher, discuss the concept of cause and effect, and create their own story boards for a class story.
Curated OER
Global Conflict: Kashmir
Students analyze different maps of the region. They create a timeline of the area in dispute, focusing on the creation of Pakistan, Indi and Kashmir and previous conflicts between Pakistan and India over Kashmir. Students construct a...
Curated OER
Forecast Sunny and Warm
Students explore the concept of philanthropy. For this service learning lesson, students participate in hands-on activities that replicate building a foundation and providing for future generations.
Curated OER
The Berenstain Bears Trouble with Money
Students will explore good and services, income and saving listening to the story The B. Bears Trouble With Money. In this early economic lesson, students discuss what it means to earn money doing services and save money to buy goods. ...
Curated OER
Algebra I Project: Make Your Own Business
Students explore the concept of algebra in real world situations. In this economics instructional activity, students design, plan, run, and evaluate a small business. Students will create a product, market the product, and try to make a...
Curated OER
The Dietary Guidelines (2010)
In a mini-lab, the class will prepare Hawaiian Haystacks to eat. A note-taking worksheet is included for learners to use during a PowerPoint presentation about six basic dietary guidelines. Most of the time required for this activity is...
Curated OER
Look for Patterns: Quilts in Two Faith Ringgold Stories
Author Faith Ringgold uses quilts to illustrate her books Tar Beach and Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad. In this integrated trio of activities, young scholars read stories, identify and create patterns, and design quilt squares of...
Curated OER
"Planet" Vacation
Students research a location of their choice using the internet. They list the characteristics of the location and why they chose it as their ideal vacation spot. Using maps, they pinpoint their destination and trace their route. They...
Curated OER
Virtual Field Trip
Are we there yet? Young trip planners learn about their state and plan a trip. They will select sites to see in three cities in their state, and record associated costs in a spreadsheet. While this was originally designed as a...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Isn’t It Exciting? (The American Industrial Revolution and Urbanization)
America was built on the ingenuity, work ethic, and foresight of our ancestors. Sixth graders learn about the complex Gilded Age in American history, including the prominent inventors and captains of industry, and how they all connect...
Dream of a Nation
Big6 Research Project
Do research projects at your school look like a class of eighth graders staring at a blank screen? Use the Big 6 research method to guide middle schoolers through the process of finding a topic, searching for and evaluating sources,...
Curated OER
Donut Dinero
Students set up a classroom currency exchange and explore the idea of bartering to get what they want. They create a monetary unit that is based on fractions and multiples of a standard unit, and compare this system to the U.S. monetary...