Curated OER
Asking the Questions and Questioning the Answers
What would you ask a presidential candidate if you had the chance? Bring politics to your language arts classroom with this instructional activity, in which young readers brainstorm questions they would have liked the presidential...
Curated OER
Couriers in the Inca Empire: Getting Your Message Across
Students examine how the Inca communicated over large distances. They locate the Inca Empire on a map, define key vocabulary terms, play the game, 'telephone,' and create a quipu to show the year they were born.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 1: On the Road with Marco Polo: A Boy in 13th Century Venice
Learners investigate Marco Polo's life as a young boy in 13th century Venice. They analyze maps, explore various websites, complete a chart and answer discussion questions, and create a travel brochure about visiting 13th century Venice.
Curated OER
Lions, Dragons, and Nian: Animals of the Chinese New Year
Students examine the major differences between earstern and western dragons and their association with the Chinese New Year. They view and discuss a video, read New Year poems, explore various websites, and create a lion mask.
Curated OER
Shaded Bottles
Learners draw, and then paint three-dimensional bottles to practice shading which shows shape and perspective. The step-by-step process for creating dimensional still life art is outlined, which makes teaching art an attainable task. Oil...
Curated OER
The Impact of Cultural Values in EArly Industrial England
Tenth graders analyze works from the period of the Industrial Revolution in England and identify the cultural values depicted and inferred that paved the way for the Industrial Revolution to occur at this time. They create captions that...
Curated OER
Desert Fever: A Student-Centered Approach to Learning About the Middle East
Explore the exciting and diverse geography, people, history, governments, and economies of the Middle East. Curious minds develop a basic vocabulary of Arabic terms and work with various materials to create an aesthetically pleasing,...
Curated OER
Twirly Whirly Milk
Student observe the effect soap (or detergent) has on the movement of food color in milk. Pupils observe the properties of solids and liquids while making butter. They read a poem, Shaking, and listen for ryhming words. Studdents...
Curated OER
Severe Weather is Spring Challenge
Young scholars research severe weather history in their hometowns, interview local meteorologist to find out their suggestions for disaster preparedness, inquire as to local school district's emergency plan, and create poster or Public...
Curated OER
Exploring Career Choices
Students complete a self-analysis exercise and choose a career to research based on the results. Students research their career using various resources including interview and internet research. They use the information gathered to...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Exploring Korea
A thorough and fun lesson on Korea! In groups of four (Social Chair, Historian, Translator, Travel Agent) class members research North and South Korea to determine a good location for an overseas institute for studying abroad. Once this...
Curated OER
Dissolved Oxygen and Respiration
Students are presented with the question, "Do plants that grow underwater use oxygen?" They create an experiment to test the presence of dissolved oxygen in the water using provided materials. Student experiments include a control jar as...
Curated OER
Triple blends 'scr'
This learning exercise explores the triple blend, 'scr'. First, learners use the given word dial to create different words starting with 'scr'. Next, they copy and complete 8 different sentences. Lastly, the class copies 4 yes or no...
Curated OER
Where in the World is Mrs. Waffenschmidt? #10
That traveling teacher is off again, and this time she's in a really cool place. The class reads through the clues found in the provided paragraph to determine her location. Where is she? Here's a clue: It was an ancient city that sat...
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
Petro Products
In this petroleum products instructional activity, students are given the components of crude oil and they graph the various products found in a 50 gallon barrel. Students complete an activity to determine if they have collected cards...
Curated OER
Screen Play
High schoolers examine the New York Times review of the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and explore the elements of scriptwriting. They read the article about the film adaptation screenplay and examine a sample...
Curated OER
An Era of Innovation
Research milestones from the past century. Transportation milestones have changed society, the economy, communication, and travel. Pupils research these changes in order to create a transportation exhibit showing the enhancements in...
Curated OER
Ramses The Great
Students investigate the statue that memorialized Ramses II. In this world monuments lesson plan, students research national and local monuments to find out if there are any controversies regarding their construction. Students then...
Curated OER
Speak Write! Understanding the Hidden Meaning of Words
"Can the connotation of a word or phrase create bias or prejudice?" The activities in this SMART Board lesson plan are directed toward this question, which will be sure to incite lots of opinions and ideas. The SMART Board file guides...
Curated OER
Design a Colonial Garden
Students explore botany by completing an art design activity in class. In this gardening history instructional activity, students identify the plants and crops utilized in the Colonial era for both food and medicine. Students utilize...
Curated OER
Growing a Native American "Three Sisters" Garden
Students explore plant life by creating their own gardens in class. In this food growing lesson, students discuss the types of gardening methods Native Americans used in order to keep healthy. Students plant corn seeds in their school...
Curated OER
Starting an Indoor Container Garden from Seed
Students create an indoor container garden. In this container garden lesson, students explore seed germination. Students discuss edible seeds.
Curated OER
So Much Water, So Little to Drink
Students explore salt and fresh water. In this water lesson, students investigate the amount of Earth covered by water. Students compare the amounts of salt water to fresh water. Students create a visual representation to aid comprehension.