Students design dashboards for vehicles in 2020. After researching past and current trends in vehicle design, they sketch alternatives and select one to draw with computer-assisted design software (CAD), labeling all the components. With...

Extracting oil is more difficult than many think! Learners work together and get hands-on as they represent oil companies drilling for oil by simulating oil extraction using beans. They identify the challenges faced in using...

Groups work together to design a lighthouse, from designing and drawing the wiring diagram, to creating prototypes of the switch and circuit, to envisioning and building a scale model along with a blueprint. By including different...

Learners read both fiction and nonfiction books with desert themes. Then they write desert stories and reports, reviewing texts for information to include in writing. Students also design desert scenes with details and setting elements...

Fourth graders combine art and history to assess the importance of the "Old 300." They explore a group of colonists that Stephen F. Austin brought to Texas as the first settlers and then create a time line of major events leading to the...

Why is visual literacy so important in understanding Maus? Introduce your class to basic elements of graphic novels with a game of pictionary. A list of 13 words are included, but you could potentially add some World War II-related...

Students explore oceanography by researching the great barracuda.  In this animal life lesson, students read several vocabulary terms dealing with ocean life and examine a drawing of a barracuda.  Students examine the many...

Comparing the more modern film Ten Things I Hate About You to The Taming of the Shrew leads to an understanding of how Shakespearean plots can be applied to modern-day situations and characters. As a culminating activity, groups select a...

Students discover African musical rhythms by performing Ancestral Spirit Dances.  In this musical lesson, students research Willis "Bing" Davis and the abstract work he created.  Students listen to Yoruba drum music and...

Second graders interpret and transform drawn lines into locomotive movements. In this improvised movement lesson, 2nd graders draw a line on a piece of paper and use the elements of dance to interpret and transform their draw line into...

Learners examine elements of Greek tragedy, specifically Oedipus Rex, and role play performance in Greek theatre. Students then draw their own theatre masks to be displayed in class.

Find an answer to the age-old debate of whether life exists on Mars. Groups determine criteria to help look for signs of life on Mars. The activity has the class simulate testing Martian soil samples for signs of life before drawing...

Fifth graders contrast and compare ancient Greece to the U.S.A.  In this Greek History lesson, 5th graders investigate the buildings and designs of ancient Greece, as well as their democracy and government.  Students answer...

Students design a program to make an automated vehicle perform a specific task. In this robotics instructional activity, students play the role of scientists competing to win a factory's contract. They present their algorithm to class.

Sixth graders develop basic band skills through in-class instruction, individual practice, and the Essential Elements band method. Instruction is teacher-led with examples and drill/practice. National Standards for the arts are...

Fifth graders explore the concept of waste management. In this recycling lesson, 5th graders discover the history of waste management and discuss how the U.S. should respond to the issue of ever-increasing waste.

Students review types of polygons and list several examples of each. They assume the role of a landscape artist interviewing for a job. They create sketches of their plans for six polygonal gardens and write an expository paragraph...

Eighth graders create scenes that might have existed if the American Revolution had not taken place. They use information they have gathered to plan, produce, and present a variety of products from the perspective of a British citizen in...

Students participate in a WebQuest in which they must determine which amusement park is the "median priced" park. Students visit park websites to accumulate prices for parking, activities, restaurants, and gift shops.

Young scholars dress and act as selected characters from Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". They identify each other and make predictions about the upcoming chapters based on their observations about the characters.