Curated OER
Anonymous Card Delivery
Students brainstorm a list of people who would benefit from an anonymous card. They then make the card and deliver it. A journal will be created by them to record their feelings of how they felt doing this act and expecting nothing in...
Curated OER
Shapes at Work
Students use their classroom to look for various types of shapes. In their science journals, they record the shapes they find and identify those that can be used to solve problems or build structures. They share and post their sketches...
Curated OER
Internet Exploration of San Francisco
Students use the Internet for gaining information on a specific topic.
They identify a specific place or event in San Francisco history.
They summarize topic findings into a report to present to a small group and
also to be...
Curated OER
Revolutionary Women Portraits: Finding and Viewing New Perspectives
Middle schoolers identify and analyze portraits of Revolutionary-era women. Creating a concept web, they record the actions by women during the war to be made into a chart and timeline. They discuss the cultural and social expectations...
Curated OER
Relationships to Others
Students investigate aspects of a historical map drawn about 1721 by a Native American for presentation to the British governor of South Carolina, and draw maps of the classroom.
Curated OER
Constitution Day
Students discuss the need for rules in their community and classroom. Using this information, they identify the authority figures at their house, at school and in the community. They are read a book about following the rules and listen...
Curated OER
Private See Dispute
Students use their definition of "reasonable expectations" of privacy with regard to camera cellphones and digital cameras, to draft recommendations to send to Congressional representatives.
Curated OER
Figurative Language at Black Bayou Lake
Young scholars visit the Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge. They take digital pictures and make notes with information about the scenic life. Back in the classroom, they use the digital pictures to complete a figurative language...
Curated OER
The Infamous W Gang & Lonely H
Learners remember that the main purpose of reading is to comprehend what they have read as they read a section in their history book with the expectation that they answer questions at the end. They answer comprehension questions using...
Curated OER
Mystery of the Senses-Vision
Students view six optical illusions and explain why the visual system might interpret them the way it does. They explore how illusions distort our sense of perspective, because they deceive us into seeing what we expect to see. ...
Curated OER
The Function Box
Students look around classroom and identify any patterns they see, describe patterns and explain why they are patterns, use pencil to demonstrate arithmetic patterns by tapping, practice predicting patterns by using Function Box, and...
Curated OER
Addendum to the Written Curriculum: Measuring Solids
Students use standard rulers to measure the length of common classroom items - such as pencils, books, desk tops - in inches and centimeters, and measure weight in pounds. They also answer math questions, such as "How long is the front...
Curated OER
Time's Up
Students reflect on the events of the year 2000 by creating timelines that note memorable events in the news and in their won private lives. They combine individual timelines into a larger classroom timeline.
Curated OER
Vaulting Into Olympic History
Students explore history of the Olympics. They research and then create an 'Olympics Hall of Fame' for the classroom.
Curated OER
Getting Green for Christmas
Students examine their family's particular spending habits for a holiday they celebrate, research the financial expectations of retailers during the holiday season and at other times during the year.
Curated OER
Market Day
Learners visit their local grocery store and break into groups. Each group performs a different task while taking notes, and then returns back to the classroom to write about what they've witnessed.
Curated OER
What Would You Take to Sea? Instructions for Teachers
Students, who are teachers, discover the hazards facing sailors hundreds of years ago as they prepare a lesson to use in their classroom. They examine what each group of students will investigate, and how the findings will be discussed.
Curated OER
Living Longer
Students view a short video about diseases that are most common today and what ones were common fifty years ago. They examine demographic trends in developing and industrialized countries. They research life expectancy, birth rate and...
Curated OER
Your State's Architectural Scrapbook
Students examine architectural designs and styles found in their state and/or community and create scrapbooks that identify those specific traits. This middle-level art lesson can be adapted to work in a social studies classroom.
Curated OER
Mental Map Postcard
Students visit an outdoor setting and make a mental map of what they observe. They return to the classroom and create a postcard with specified elements such as a description of the land and the ecosystem. Students illustrate the...
Curated OER
Are There Other Neighborhoods Like Our Own?
Students investigate the possibility of life existing on other planets. They conduct research using a variety of resources. The instructional activity includes an overview that is used for classroom discussion practices. They tell the...
Curated OER
Enhancing Social Skills and Vocabulary through Photography
Students in a special education classroom identify pictures of various living things. In groups, they role-play different roles to help them with their social and communication skills. To end the lesson, they take pictures of different...
Learning for Justice
Beauty is Skin Deep
If you are in need of a lesson on tolerance or the impact of media, this plan could be useful. The class begins with a brainstorming session in which they reflect on their own experiences with bias based on appearance. Next, they...
Teaching Tolerance
Musical Movement Showcase
Young performing artists create a song or choreograph a dance to illustrate a theme in a text they are reading. Step-by-step directions are included.