Curated OER
Identifying Career Interests in the Volunteer and Government Sectors
Here is a great way to give your class a real-life job experience, while also serving the community. They explore a variety of volunteer opportunities to build career interests, gain work experience, and help their community grow. This...
Administrative Office of the US Courts
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
Freedom of speech is not always free. Scholars investigate how the First Amendment provides for the right to express opinions. Through the court case Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, they analyze free speech using primary documents—and hopefully...
Curated OER
Can You Find It?
Plan a Parts of a Book scavenger hunt. Begin by giving your young adventurers a book, and asking them to find the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents. After a discussion of the purpose of each of these items, class members...
Curated OER
Natural Selection Simulation
Students simulate the changes in a natural population of birds or other species. They establish baseline data of population fluctuation for a closed population with a stable food supply. They graph the data to complete their mutations.
EngageNY
Designing Your Own Game
Your classes become video game designers for a day! They utilize their matrices, vectors, and transformation skills to create and design their own game images. The complex task requires learners to apply multiple concepts to create their...
US National Archives
WWII: Western Europe 1939-45 – Resistance and SOE
Germany seemed to be unstoppable in the early years of World War II, but the tireless and sacrificial work of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) helped to steer the war in another direction. After exploring primary source documents,...
Curated OER
Teaching "Theme" with Children's Literature
In this exercise, learners examine the difference between a theme, topic, and moral. After a class discussion on the definition of literary themes, the instructor reads The Cello of Mr. O by Jane Cutler. Next, individuals analyze the...
Curated OER
The Human Body: Five Types of Human Cells
Learners explore the human body by completing a graphic organizer. In this living cells lesson, students analyze a human body cell's chart and discuss the parts of a cell and what they do for our bodies. Learners complete a graphic...
Curated OER
Sense, Sensibility and Sentences: Examining and Writing Memorable Lines
Involve your readers in finding works of literary genius. Have each individual write down compelling sentences that they read or hear, whether in a newspaper, advertisement, book, movie, song, or any other place! Once each person has a...
Curated OER
Child Literacy
Students read information on the importance of literacy and complete a worksheet. In this community service lesson, students evaluate children's literature and practice reading fluency. Students spend two hours per week reading to...
Curated OER
Introduction to Physical Science
Students discuss Newton's laws of motion. In this motion lesson plan, students watch a video that explains Newton's laws. They play a marble game and watch for laws of motion and force.
Curated OER
Learning to Interview
An authentic and engaging way to practice literacy skills, this lesson calls for young language arts pupils to conduct interviews with classmates and family members. First, pupils watch as the teacher models the interview process with a...
Curated OER
Habitats: Cactus Hotel
A reading of Brenda Z. Guiberson’s, Cactus Hotel, launches a study of animal habitats. Working with parent volunteers or teacher aides, groups travel outside the classroom to select a habitat, take digital pictures, and incorporate the...
Curated OER
Building a Butterfly Garden
Learners plant a garden which will become the habitat for butterflies as they go through their life cycle. In this life cycle lesson, students grow plants that attract butterflies and feed caterpillars in order to observe the...
Curated OER
Class Soup
Youngsters identify the ingredients in a can of vegetable soup and record a recipe for the soup. They volunteer to bring in soup ingredients, graph the quantities of each vegetable in the soup, and make the soup with help from parents....
Curated OER
School Advisory Panel
How would you choose three students from your class to be on a school panel that would represent a fair and representative view of opinions? This brief activity offers four different sampling methods to choose from and asks for...
Curated OER
Food on the Map
Students work together to examine the tastiest towns in the United States. After discovering the names of the equipment, they identify the seven continents. They take a survey and locate the cities and states of the foods mentioned.
Curated OER
Ben Franklin's Inventions
Students discover the life of Benjamin Franklin by studying his inventions. In this biography lesson, students identify the inventions of Benjamin Franklin and their impact on society today. Students create a commercial in an...
Curated OER
Chairs, Chairs, Everywhere...
Students generalize about a variety of designs of inventions. Students respond to a variety of visual designs. Students become aware of the multitude of design variations in everyday objects.
Curated OER
Explore More About Bottle Construction
Students explore Green Construction. In this lesson based on the experiences of Peace Corps volunteers, students gain insight into alternative construction in Guatemala. They examine the pros and cons of using alternative building...
Curated OER
Rock On!
Fourth graders make models of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks out of different types of candy and cookies.
Curated OER
A Simple Block and Tackle Pulley Demonstration
Young scholars investigate the scientific concept of mechanical advantage. They construct their own system with the use of a simple broomstick. Then the demonstration is done to show how the mechanical advantage is used to move a load.
Curated OER
The League
Students explore the concept of civic virtue in a democratic state. In this democracy lesson plan, students listen to John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech, read selections on democracy, and discuss the importance of civic rights and...
Curated OER
Water, Water Everywhere
Students monitor a local creek. For this environmental water lesson, students conduct an environmental study of a local creek by monitoring the temperature and water quality over a period of time, then submit data to the Global Water...