Curated OER
Save the Lofty Trees
Save the Lofty Trees, by Leslie Mills, provides the text for a study of the roles of animals and humans in the forest. Richly detailed, the plan offers two approaches to the play: as a scenario for children to imagine what actions would...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Text-Dependent Short-Answer Quiz—The Effects of Natural Disasters
Readers complete a mid-unit assessment by reading the text How Do Hurricanes Form? They answer text-dependent questions about hurricanes with short answer and sequencing. Learners then participate in a read aloud and text chunking...
Curated OER
Microscope Mania
Students examine parts of a microscope and how to use a microscope at five lab stations. They identify parts of a microscope by describing the differences between low power and high power. They visit Internet sites (included in the...
Curated OER
DNA on Stick
Students experience a "hands-on" activity to get visual evidence of the physical nature of DNA and the process of DNA purification. They explore one method of chromosomal DNA isolation and DNA extraction.
Curated OER
Fred's Fun Factory
Round and round and round she goes. Where she stops, nobody knows. This activity uses a common arcade game of chance, the spinning wheel, as a platform for computing expected values, interpreting results, and applying this knowledge to...
Curated OER
Critically Surfing the Web
The New York Times article “Online Diary,” launches this study of websites and how to assess them. Richly detailed, the lesson plan includes warm-up activities, procedures, journal prompts, discussion questions, and links to valuable...
Curated OER
Technical Merits
What is technical knowledge? The class explores what technical knowledge might mean to an Olympic athlete. They catalog the different types of information that athletes would need to compete in various Winter Olympic sports and develop...
Curated OER
Round-Robin Reading Quiz
Small groups of learners read text round-robin style, and then work individually to answer three questions based on the text. Next, they share their questions and responses and add ideas from the group. The reading strategies detailed...
Curated OER
Komm mit! Our Vacation
Students study the German language. They research in small groups and create a Power Point presentation, write an essay with 15 sentences in German, prepare a food or wear a costume, and give an oral presentation.
Curated OER
Cite Your Sites!
The New York Times article “Lessons in Internet Plagiarism,” launches a look at how the Internet has increased the prevalence of plagiarism. The richly detailed lesson includes warm-up and wrap-up activities, discussion questions,...
Curated OER
Design a Resort: Italian Villa
Students work in a group to design a travel brochure and television commercial for an Italian resort. They role-play having inherited a large sum of money and buying an Italian villa to turn into a resort. Students research geography,...
Curated OER
Leaves: All-Natural Solar Collectors
Take a good look at tree leaves and notice the adaptations for collecting solar energy. Pupils trace the margins of five different leaves onto graph paper and count the number of squares covered. They then relate this infomation to the...
Scholastic
Holes Match 'Em Up Challenge
Upper graders read the book Holes as a class or by themselves. In groups, they identify symbols and discuss how they are connected among the many plots in the story. They create a timeline in which they sequence the main...
Curated OER
What Makes Our Community Special?
Explore websites, complete research, and use technological tools to create a final multimedia presentation on what makes a community special. Learners of all ages work with a partner to research an interesting aspect of their community,...
Curated OER
Chapter Tableaux: Visualizing The Call of the Wild
Do your young readers have difficulty visualizing what they read? Although the activity described here is for The Call of the Wild, the strategy could be used with any narrative. At the conclusion of each chapter of Jack London’s novel,...
EngageNY
Revisiting Big Metaphors and Themes: Revising and Beginning to Perform Two-Voice Poems
Now that your class has read all of Esperanza Rising, take the time to tackle big metaphors and themes. Pupils will participate in an activity called Chalk Talk, in which they circulate around the room in small groups and add...
Virginia Department of Education
Developing an Essay: Word Choice
Grading essays after reading a novel written by a lyrical master (think Nabokov, Morrison, Chabon) is a deflating experience. Why can’t your student’s display the same skill in diction as your favorite writers? Because you did not use...
Scholastic
Pilgrim and Wampanoag Daily Life for Grades 6–8
Two slide shows, viewed side-by-side, permit middle schoolers to compare and contrast the lives of the Pilgrims of the Plimoth colony and the Wampanoags. Four videos take learners on virtual field trips to the Plymouth plantation. And an...
Curated OER
From Light to Dark and Back
Experiment with light and dark in a series of interactive activities that lead up to reading and writing poetry. Class members have the opportunity to observe their feelings while sitting in the light and dark and to play with shadow...
Poets.org
Love as a Two-way Street
Create an abundance of understanding, as your high school learners learn to analyze multiple love poems. Part one of this resource has learners define what love is, examine art that reflects the love between Robert and Elizabeth...
Curated OER
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
Here’s a 19-page Things Fall Apart teacher resource packet from the UK that includes background information on Chinua Achebe, the culture of the Ibo people before and after colonization, and activities designed to prepare learners for...
EngageNY
Writing: Drafting Body Paragraphs and Revising for Language
Begin the drafting phase of the writing process with a lesson plan focused on logically writing three body paragraphs. Then, revise the writing to make it more formal after a teacher-directed mini-lesson plan. Each paragraph highlights...
iCivics
Why Government?
Why do people create governments? Where did we get our ideas about government? This is a fantastic introductory lesson for your American government class that begins by reviewing the philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke in...
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: “Report on Manufacturers,” Annals of Congress
Invite your learners to take a look at life during the term of United States president George Washington through analysis of an interesting primary source. The document summarizes American manufacturing capacities, as detailed...