Peace Corps
Community
What is a community? Find out with a activity that sheds light onto the different types of communities—school, local, and global. Scholars read informational text detailing the life of a young girl from Cape Verde and take part in a...
Discovery Education
Hurricane Force
It's important to make sure houses can withstand winds. A hands-on activity has learners create a structure out of household materials. They use a fan to simulate hurricane-force winds to see if their structures can withstand the...
Curated OER
Wappo Houses
Third graders examine the housing construction of the Wappo tribe. They research the types of materials used by other tribes and observe the types of materials used to build houses today.
Curated OER
Alike and Different
Second graders listen to a book about how farms feed the world. They discuss elements of rural life. They listen to a story about the suburbs and discuss elements specific to a suburban community. They listen to a story about city...
Rainforest Alliance
Knowing the Essential Elements of a Habitat
To gain insight into the many different types of habitats, individuals must first get to know their own. Here, scholars explore their school environment, draw a map, compare and contrast their surroundings to larger ones. They then write...
Workforce Solutions
Reality Check
Talk about a reality check! High schoolers complete a lifestyle survey indicating their preference for housing, entertainment, etc., and then calculate the salary required to support those choices. Finally, they research the types of...
Poets.org
Ghosts and Spirits
Connect poetry to a naturally kid-friendly topic: ghosts! Draw on your class's prior knowledge of the paranormal to help them access the classic poem "Haunted House" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. After a fun warm-up activity describing...
Curated OER
Size It Up: Map Skills
Compare information from a US population cartogram and a standard US map. Learners draw conclusions about population density by analyzing census data a population distribution. They discover that census data is used to apportion seats in...
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
The Zarkah Stone
Astronomy stars read the account of the Zarkah meteorite that struck thickly populated Park Forest, Chicago in 2003. In doing so, they differentiate between meteors, meteorites, and meteoroids. They will also be able to explain...
Curated OER
Adequate Standard of Living: Children's Rights
Students and parents participate in a variety of activities designed to explore the issue of every person's right to adequate housing. They make butter, make models of different types of housing, read books, discuss the rights and...
Curated OER
School House Rock! Science Rock
Students use common household and classroom objects to generate static electricity and study its effects. They discuss the video Science Rock CD called Electricity, Electricity. The video explains many things about electricity.
Curated OER
The Rumpelstiltskin Story
Why didn't Rapunzel's hair stop growing? Why did it take the fairy godmother so long to intervene in Cinderella's affairs? Young writers consider unanswered questions like these and compose news articles investigating the true story...
Humanities Texas
A President's Vision: Franklin D. Roosevelt
This poster goes well beyond any traditional learning exercise in allowing learners to analyze a variety of primary source documents related to the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Curated OER
Traveling aroud Our Town
Young scholars are asked to describe to a partner how he or she walks to school or the bus stop. They are shown on the overhead an one-inch grid paper, and at the intersection of two lines on the grid paper, students are shown a house...
Curated OER
Yummy Apples!
Students discuss apples and how they are grown. They listen as the teacher reads "Apples," by Gail Gibbons. Students discuss the story. They view several different types of apples and compare their characteristics. Students taste several...
Curated OER
Engineering: Simple Machines
Fourth graders participate in activities to examine how simple machines help build things. They identify the six types of simple machines. They discover how simple machines where use historically to build pyramids and how they are still...
Curated OER
Ant Arcitecture
Students create pages of a classroom book on the different structures that ants build. They view and discuss a video on ants then, in small groups, research a type of ant shelter. They relate the shelter to the environment in which the...
Novelinks
The Good Earth: Question Answer Response Strategy
Readers of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth craft and answer "Right There," "Think and Search," "On Your Own," and "Author and You" questions.
Youth Leadership Initiative
Selecting a President: Primaries and Caucuses
What is a party caucus anyway? And what part do caucuses play in the primaries? Everything future voters need to know about the four stages in the presidential selection process is provided by this resource. The 2012 US Presidential...
Agriculture in the Classroom
Six Kinds Do It All
Teach young engineers that all machines, no matter how complicated or complex, are made up of just six simple devices with this hands-on physical science lesson. Using the included templates, students first create paper models of...
National Council of Teachers of English
Acrostic Poems: All About Me and My Favorite Things
Budding poets create two acrostic poems, one for their name and another using a word of their choice. Over the course of five days, scholars compose, revise, publish, and share their work with their peers.
Read Write Think
Poetry Portfolios: Using Poetry to Teach Reading
Over the course of five periods, scholars create a poetry portfolio. They begin with a reading of the poem, Firefly. With a focus on vocabulary, learners reread the poem then look for sight words and other skills.
Curated OER
The Indian Way of Life
Pupils examine how Native Americans developed their lifestyles and houses based on geographic location.
Curated OER
Nest Watch
Pupils describe the nests of three common birds. They build a specific type of bird nest, using the same materials a bird would use. Students build a nest platform to attract a nesting pair of osprey. They observe, record, and submit...