NOAA
Fishy Deep-sea Designs!
Oceans represent more than 80 percent of all habitats, yet we know less about them than most other habitats on the planet. The instructor introduces the epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic, twilight, and midnight zones in the ocean....
Curated OER
Seed Transport
Students explore botany by completing KWL worksheets. In this seed transportation lesson, students define a list of vocabulary terms associated with botany and seedlings before completing worksheets based on assigned text. Students...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Faces of Climate Change
How does climate change affect you? First in a three-part series, the activity focuses on how individuals living around the world are affected by climate change. Individuals take on the role of a given character and share their...
Curated OER
Snow Cover by Latitude
Students create graphs showing the amount of snow coverage at various points of latitude and compare graphs.
Curated OER
The Times and Life During the California Gold Rush
Fourth graders read about the era in their history books, write in their journals revolving around the Gold Rush, making crafts such as newspapers, and also play the part of the Forty-niners.
Curated OER
Identify Purposes of Text
Set a purpose for reading informational texts with this reading lesson. To find the central idea of a text, young readers turn titles and subtitles into questions to help them understand the text. They complete a T-chart for the lesson,...
Achievement Strategies
Unit/Chapter Design Template
A thorough lesson plan template allows teachers to design balanced and standards-based lessons for any grade. The template includes spaces for unit vocabulary and concepts, objectives, and additional resources.
Concord Consortium
Other Road
Take the road to a greater knowledge of functions. Young mathematicians graph an absolute value function representing a road connecting several towns. Given a description, they identify the locations of the towns on the graph.
Curated OER
Six Day War
Learn about the diverse perspectives involved in the Six Day War by having learners examine and annotate presidential speeches given by the three nations—Egypt, Israel, and the United States—at the heart of the conflict and producing...
Curated OER
Comparing Northwest Native American Communities
Young scholars review how to use the database from previous lessons. Using the information, they identify the historical and environmental effects on the people living in the Pacific Northwest. They examine the various Native American...
Curated OER
Regions: Meet the Experts Presentation
Students gather information and create a web site on prairies and plains using a variety of resources, including the internet.
Curated OER
Deep Blue: Exploring the Deep Ocean
Students examine landforms. In this social studies lesson, students bounce a beach ball around in order to discover that seventy percent of the Earth is covered in water. Students
Curated OER
A World of Favorites
Investigate young scholars' favorites worldwide by having them create and publish a questionnaire to gather information about students' favorites. They will conduct research about a continent, create three web pages and a chart...
Curated OER
Geology Rocks
Students discuss information relating to Illinois geology. They examine top mineral resources in Illinois to find detailed information about geodes and where they can be found. Students complete geode lab to explore external structure of...
Curated OER
Travelogs
Pupils make travelog journals to send to acquaintances in other states in order to receive mail in return. They make scrapbooks with the return mail they receive.
Curated OER
ExplorA-Pond: 1st Grade Shapes
Young explorers review the basic shapes (circle, triangle, square, rectangle) and practice putting them together to make new shapes. Given an outline of a pond, they recreate it by combining other shapes.
Curated OER
Why Vote? A Public Awareness Campaign
Students examine the structure of local government and determine why citizens vote. In this civics lesson, students listen to a lecture about the structure of local government and then encourage others to exercise their right to vote.
Curated OER
Cite Your Sites
What information would you find in an almanac that you would not find in an atlas? What is the difference between a dictionary and a thesaurus? Using a Cite Your Sites worksheet on which they record their observations, groups participate...
Curated OER
River Research
Students use the internet to research the streams and rivers found in Illinois. Using the information, they identify and describe the rivers and streams along with the physical characteristics of a river ecosystem. They share what they...
Curated OER
Measuring Activities
Students measure using both metric and standard measures. They convert from one standard to the next while measuring distances in their home or classroom.
Curated OER
My Community: Then and Now
Middle schoolers compare and contrast their community to what it was like 50 years ago. They research various aspects of their community and compare and contrast with what it is like now. Students present and discuss their findings.
Curated OER
Genetics
Students create a checklist of traits common in all of their families. Uisng a table, they compare and contrast their family members to non-family members. They also review dominant and recessive traits and discuss how knowing about...
Curated OER
Trip to the Greenbrier
Tenth graders explore the Greenbriar Resort. In this budgeting lesson, 10th graders plan and calculate the cost of trips from their home to the Greenbriar Resort.
Curated OER
Weather Reporter
Fourth graders generate an oral presentation on the weather. In this weather lesson, 4th graders watch the weather for a week and record the data on a chart. Students give a weather report at the end of the week.