Here's a fresh approach that combines research, business and personal letter writing, and creative story telling. Student groups research different decades in the life of a famous Japanese astronomer. They then craft a decade fact sheet,...

Do military recruiters plan to visit your campus? If so, the visit presents an opportunity for class members to engage in a series of action projects. Class members interview recruiters, propose a PTA meeting to discuss the pros and cons...

Here is a full-fledged investigation of light waves, the electromagnetic spectrum, and element spectra. Physicists research a scientist that contributed to our understanding of the behavior of light. They take notes on your lecture, and...

These are four classic activities used for instructing upper elementary electricians. The first involves experimenting with the Van de Graaff generator. The second is a series of hands-on experiences with static. In the third activity,...

Chemistry and earth science meet in a lesson on carbon dioxide emissions. After reading about atmospheric problems caused by using fossil fuels, science stars balance equations for the burning of different alkanes. They compute the...

If 71% of our planet is covered with water, why do we need to bother conserving water? Find out with these activities designed for middle and high school environmental scientists. From reading articles to solving crossword puzzles, to...

Put your feet up and grab a cup of coffee before going through this extensive field work unit plan! Based on folklorist studies of traditional culture and ethnography, several activities focus on topics such as cultural sensitivity;...

There are six word exercises provided here, although they're not necessarily linked together. The first short practice asks learners to give compound words that use the list of words provided. The second asks learners to identify...

Study words and word choice with this resource. Although the presentation is overwhelming, several topics are covered here. Alliteration, root words, parts of speech, and word meanings are just some of the topics! There's also a...

A great activity for scaffolding critical thinking about mathematical concepts. This resource provides students with a brief explanation of multiples followed by 29 practice problems which gradually increase in difficulty. Several tables...

Although the focus of this worksheet is the neutron, you cannot talke about them without also dealing with protons and electrons! Chemistry kids fill in a table of 14 elements, identifying the mass, atomic number, isotopic symbol, and...

Although the directions say to view a PowerPoint, it is not necessary in order to complete this assignment. Six fill in the blank questions survey the periodic table of elements. A chart follows in which, given the element symbol, young...

Although there are only 16 questions here, this chemistry handout makes a terrific unit assessment. It queries youngsters on the properties of ionic and covalent compounds, relates bond length tho stability and enrgy, compares polar and...

Explore polygons with your elementary learners. Divide the class in 12 to configure the polygon puzzle before them. They list the attributes of each type of polygon they see, and if there's time, they jump on the interactive website...

Although written for middle schoolers, there is no reason that a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader could not also learn about food chains through the dissection of owl pellets. After you introduce the topic, learners complete an owl research...

Use two of the most common signal words to teach your learners how to predict what might happen next while reading texts. Although there are many, but and because are the signal words selected for this sheet. Consider pointing out how...

Although this lesson is based on “Final Word,” Craig Wilson’s USA Today column, the strategies could be adapted to any local columnist. After reading three articles independently, groups share observations about content and style used by...

Use pictures and manipulatives to develop vocabulary with your beginning language learners. This plan can be used with foreign language learners (although you'll have to provide the vocabulary), English language learners, or a young...

Who, what, when, where, why, and how. This current events worksheet uses the traditional news article format and asks reviewers to record information included in a self-selected, current events article. Class members then use the...

Good question are the heart of great discussions. To prepare for a book club discussion, introduce young readers to the characteristics of good conversation-starting questions. Practice crafting questions for a text the class has...

A guide to recreating all the phases of the moon out of Oreo cookies with varying amounts of cream filling.  Although a simple activity, there are more involved questions requiring moon cycle and phase comprehension and leading...

Future geneticists use base pairing rules to build DNA and RNA polypeptide strands, and then explain both transcription and translation. Although the chains themselves are a little blurry, there is plenty of room in them for learners to...

Youngsters read about the bond between some animals and humans and how animals help us out. Unusual examples are given: honey-guide birds, dolphins that shepherd fish for fishermen, landmine-locating rats, and piranhas that give...

Assign each group of 3-4 upper elementary engineers to a different type of transportation fuel. A background information page is provided to get them started with researching their assigned fuel. Each group then produces an exhibit...