Facing History and Ourselves
Taking a Stand: Models of Civic Participation
How does an individual take a stand for a principle or belief? what skills are required to do so? What are the challenges and risks in doing so? Class members study examples of individuals engaging in such activities and then identify...
Curated OER
Welding
Students are introduced to the career of welding through a video and conduct a brainstorming session on careers. They identify components of the workplace in their chosen career field and develop a list of potential job sites in the...
Curated OER
Halloween Tales
Students work in groups to brainstorm and generate a list of Halloween characters, descriptive terms, and action words. Individuals choose a pre-determined writing prompt to enter into a Word document and complete the story using the...
Curated OER
LET'S GET ORGANIZED
Young scholars use organizational skills and involve youth in the planning of their school and home recycling project. They brainstorm to find the most efficient way to set up a recycling collection system
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing
Students create a descriptive paragraph about themselves and use a PowerPoint template to add a picture. Students participate in a brainstorming session of descriptive words to use for their paragraph before beginning their assignment.
Curated OER
How Much, How Fast, How Far?
Young scholars investigate the concept of the number one million. In this number concepts lesson, students read the book How Much is a Million? and brainstorm questions, such as "how many leaves are on a tree" and "how many hairs are on...
Curated OER
Telling A Story
Young scholars brainstorm all the possible scenarios that would help them tell a story in detail with the whole class and with partners. They create web outlines to create a name story and then illustrate it with creative grammar usage...
Curated OER
All About Our Town
Pupils explore brochure writing. They work in groups to brainstorm and categorize important places in their community. In addition, they gather information from the Internet, take pictures using a digital camera, and create a community...
US Mint
Symbols in My Eyes
Explore the hidden meanings behind the images on US currency with this elementary school lesson on symbolism. Starting with a class discussion about symbols, children go on to brainstorm different objects that represent the Unites States...
Curated OER
Cutting Expenses
Students explore budgeting. In this finance and math lesson, students brainstorm ways in which households could save money. Students view websites that give cost reducing ideas. Students complete an expense comparison chart and use the...
ReadWriteThink
Word Recognition Strategies Using Nursery Rhymes
As a class, scholars read the poems, Humpty Dumpty, Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater, and Jack and Jill, in order to identify words with the same ending sound. Using their rhyming skills, learners brainstorm additional words from word...
Curated OER
Digital Storytelling
Scholars of all ages can use the various tools of technology to construct and illustrate a story. Utilizing this resource, learners work with a partner to brainstorm and draft a story based on personal experience. They use computer...
Curated OER
Teaching “Level of Difficulty” through Close Reading, Reflection, and Performance
What makes a poem difficult? Explore that topic and more with your class as you work through the lesson plan detailed here. Using materials from Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest, individuals or small groups examine poems...
ReadWriteThink
Looking for the History in Historical Fiction: An Epidemic for Reading
Combine informational reading skills with fictional text in an innovative historical fiction lessons. After reading a fictional text related to diseases, class members read non-fictional text to gain knowledge about specific infectious...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 1: Unit Introduction
To launch a unit study of the concept of diversity in World Literature, class members compare Chinua Achebe's essay, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness" and Richard Rodriguez's essay, "The Chinese in All of Us: A...
EngageNY
Solving Percent Problems III
What happens when combining percentage discounts? The last lesson in a series of 29 introduces the idea of combining discounts one after another. Pupils wrestle with the claim that to find the total discount, they need to only add the...
Cornell University
The Science of Snowflakes
Who can grow the best crystals? Challenge class members to develop strategies for enhancing growth in the crystals. Through a lab investigation, learners study the properties of crystals and test the effectiveness of different growth...
EngageNY
Tables of Equivalent Ratios
Don't table the discussion on equivalent ratios — do it now! Scholars create tables of equivalent ratios to represent contextual problems. Pupils go on to use the tables to answer questions within the context. The instructional activity...
Social Media Toolbox
A Look at Social Media Policies
Should school news publications use social media if their district is against the use of social media in school? Pupils ponder the policy, then examine their publication's plan in parts seven and eight of a 16-part Social Media Toolbox...
Missouri Department of Elementary
“Re-Solutioning”: Practice Brings Out Our Best
Seventh graders create and perform a skit that demonstrates their conflict resolution skills. They begin by examining the process of crafting a performance and review what they have learned about conflict resolution. Next, they...
Missouri Department of Elementary
The Quest for Magic Minutes
A "Magic Minute" activity asks class groups to develop a commercial to advertise a way to turn a time-waster into a time-saver. Ad groups begin by brainstorming time-wasters and then problem-solve was to turn them into time-savers. After...
Curated OER
Watery World
Students brainstorm to develop resource/reference charts for later use. they are introduced to Microsoft Word and to an internet movie site. They use prepared chart headings, to respond to questions posed on each chart such as: Where do...
Curated OER
Making Picasso Faces
Third graders read stories about Picasso and see pictures of his work. Students brainstorm all the different kind os faces that one can make (clown, alien, etc...). They then get two pieces of drawing paper to make two different faces...