Students use their five senses to describe what's in a mystery bag. In this senses lesson plan, students use a graphic organizer to collect words for a sensory poem.

Students explore the parts of the body that are used to develop the five senses. They conduct a nature walk. Students identify the things they see, hear, smell, and touch. They create a graphic organizer to organize their answers.

After completing an assessment task where they express numbers as the difference of squares (i.e., 9 = 5^2 – 4^2), class members note any patterns that they see in the problems.

Number patterns can seem mysterious. Help your learners unravel these mysteries as they complete an intriguing task. Through examination, collaborative groups determine that they are able to produce all integers above a certain...

Watch as your class makes the transition from pupils to researchers! A well-designed lesson has scholars pick a solar wind characteristic to research. They then collect and analyze official data from the LANL website. This is the...

Students investigate the sky.  In this weather and clouds instructional activity, students observe the sky and write journal entries using their five senses to describe what they see.  Students observe, identify, and write...

Students use their five senses to experience different types of rocks. In groups, they compare and contrast the information they collected. They observe rocks in their local community and describe their uses to the class.

Students describe objects using only their sense of touch. In this lesson on describing characteristics, students use only their sense of touch to describe an unseen object in a box. This lesson can be used an an introduction to plant...

Explore the effect of outliers through an analysis of mean, median, and standard deviation. Your classes examine and compare these measures for two groups. They must make sense of a group that has a higher mean but lower median compared...

Doubling a network or combining two networks is quick and easy when utilizing matrices. Learners continue the network example in the second instructional activity of this series. They practice adding, subtracting, and multiplying...

Would you work for a penny today? Use this activity to highlight the pattern of increase in an exponential function. Scholars compare two options of being paid: one linear and one exponential. Depending on the number of days worked, they...

Sixth graders explore scientific observations by analyzing a group of data. In this fingerprint identification lesson, 6th graders identify the reasoning behind fingerprinting and create their own ink fingerprints. Students discuss the...

Students explore visualizing stories by completing a graphic organizer. In this reading strategy lesson, students read the story Pecos Bill by Steven Kellog and identify the setting, main characters and their interpretations. Students...

Using geoboards, computer programs, and hands-on manipulative materials, elementary schoolers engage in a study of two and three-dimensional geometric shapes. This lesson is chock full of good teaching ideas on the subject, and the...

The battle of the sexes? Scholars first examine data on hurricane-related deaths and create graphical displays. They then use the data and displays to consider whether hurricanes with female names result in more deaths than hurricanes...

Eighth graders identify the Great Lakes, and describe the habitat of life of a loon. They are able to point to and explain one of the major river systems that enters the Great Lakes with a focus on the Clinton River and the food webs...

Explore the unique characteristics of polymers. A complete lesson begins with a presentation introducing polymers. Following the presentation, young scientists develop a laboratory plan for creating substances using polymers. They...

Model geometric concepts through a hands-on approach. Learners apply similar triangle relationships to solve for an unknown side length. Before they find the solution, they describe the transformation to help identify corresponding sides.

Scholars first complete an assessment task on writing linear equations to model and solve a problem on a running race. They then take part in a card matching activity where they match equations and graphs of lines to diagrams of fluid...

Learners explore measurements by analyzing geometric shapes. In this surface area lesson, students identify the terms volume, weight, perimeter and area in order to find the requested measurements of specific polygons. Learners utilize...

Get your class out in the environment for hands on math activities. In this wetlands lesson, learners transplant native plants, calculate how much soil is needed, and perform math activities based on this experience. They then make...

Am I making any money? Help learners determine if their fictitious soda stand is turning a profit. They graph linear equations using the slope and y-intercept and identify the best price to use to sell soda. They identify the domain and...

Kindergartners listen to a story read by their teacher, then use magnetic shape pieces to construct simple designes. They "build" their own house using pre-cut paper shapes. This age-appropriate lesson would be an excellent choice for...

Young mathematicians utilize video, the internet, and hands-on learning experiences in order to recognize that fractions aren't as "scary" as they first appear, and that we use them every day in our lives. The hands-on activities in this...