Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Life In A Nest: Exploring Life Cycles With Bird Cams
Why read about it when you can watch it happen? Bird cams make it possible for learners to experience the life cycle of a bird in real time! An engaging set of lessons provides activities to connect their learning to bird cam...
Agriculture in the Classroom
"Steer" Toward STEM: Careers in Animal Agriculture
Think like an engineer and an agricultural scientist over the course of 12 lessons in a STEM based unit. Young scientists take on the roles of animal physiologists, animal geneticists, agricultural engineers, animal nutritionists,...
Curated OER
"The Soil Around Us" Project
Young geographers collect samples of different kinds of soil to match to the soil terms in Barry Rudner's rhyming book Filet of Soil: dirt, mud, dust, soot, etc. They start a glossary for the project on index cards or large sheets...
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Amazing Birds
What's so amazing about birds? Find out just how amazing birds are with a physics of animal behavior unit created by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Have learners explore and tap into their observational skills and notice how birds fly, what...
Curated OER
Planning a Government
Demonstrate the complexities of running a government with this group activity. Young politicians are arranged into small groups and become leaders of a hypothetical country (outline of country provided). Groups must outline 6 (listed)...
Broward County Public Schools
Force and Motion
Get the ball rolling with this upper-elementary science unit on forces and motion. Offering over three weeks of physical science lessons, this resource is a great way to engage the class in learning about simple machines, friction,...
US National Archives
WWII: Western Europe 1939-45 – Invasion
Without the benefit of history, Western Europe in the 1940's had no idea what was about to befall them. Class members use primary sources, including political cartoons, videos, and internal documents, to analyze how much of a threat...
National Park Service
Fire Ecology on the Rim
An engaging unit on wildfires includes three sections, including a background section with eight lessons and five activities, a field experience section with 13 lessons and five activities, and a conclusion section featuring an...
Curated OER
A Healthy Heart is a Happy Heart
Students demonstrate their perception of what it means to have a healthy heart. They comprehend what each individual needs to do in order to ensure health and how to prevent heart disease.
Curated OER
Analyzing Two or More Nonfiction Texts
How does recognizing the author's purpose help you draw conclusions about a topic? Using two articles (both are attached), learners brainstorm why each author wrote each article. Are their purposes similar or different? Learners use a...
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
Simple Machines
Simple doesn't mean useless. Individuals learn how simple machines benefit the user by changing the amount of effort. A seven-lesson unit begins with an overview of simple machines and then incorporates activities that allow the user to...
Curated OER
Believe It...Or Not
Students critically analyze data regarding climate changes using a glossary of terms generated by examination of climate related articles. They examine and graph climatic data, and discuss, hypothesize and test apparent discrepancies in...
Learning to Give
Your Place in the Community
Learners identify their beliefs and values and compare how these values relate to those of their community. They then determine how their values affect the roles they play in different situations. A quiz about values and beliefs...
Curated OER
The Chemistry of Fertilizers
Students use a series of hands-on labs and activities, practice problems, discussions and writing assignments, students investigate about fertilizer chemistry as they break compounds into ions, make a fertilizer and test various...
Curated OER
Exploring Polygons and The Greedy Triangle
Excellent lesson plan! Anne Linehane's geometry story, The Greedy Triangle, offers an opportunity to practice forming various types of polygons with your learners. Using elastic bands (or Chinese jump ropes),...
Curated OER
Reading a Local and National Weather Map
Students practice reading a national and local weather map. Using this information, they work together to make predictions about the weather for the next few days. They discuss the use of symbols and maps as a class and discuss how...
Curated OER
A Review of Lessons and Options
Students participate in a number of activities that reinforce the knowledge they have learned from previous units over waste management.
Curated OER
Life of a Mission - From Beginning to Now
Students research the history of a Spanish mission. They create a timeline showing the major events of the mission. They complete a worksheet to end the lesson.
Echoes & Reflections
Jewish Resistance
Resistance to the Holocaust took on many forms. Learners explore the passive and active resistance of Jewish people who continued their practices and observances, as well as organized resistance against the evils of the Nazis. An...
Curated OER
Complete Metamorphosis
Learners use a map and colored pins to plot the migration path of Monarch butterflies. They use data found at the Journey North website. Commas are also used in the activity to show how they are put in a series of words using butterfly...
Curated OER
The Tibetan Plateau
Young scholars discuss the characteristics of the biosphere, with a focus on the Tibetan Plateau. They participate in a question and answer period discussing biomes and climate patterns. They compare and contrast different ecosystems.
Curated OER
World of the Pond
Field trip! The class will review what they know about organisms that dwell in freshwater ponds, then trek down to the old water hole to collect specimens for examination. This includes several web links, useful tips, and an excellent...
Curated OER
Manufacture of Ground Beef
Students study the proper temperature and technique to cook ground meat safely. They examine the critical control points when ground beef is being processed.
Curated OER
Using Information Resources: Lesson 2
Middle schoolers are introduced to the various information resources. Individually, they practice skimming the table of contents, glossary and photographs in the excerpts. To end the lesson plan, they identify key words and answer...