Curated OER
New Year's Hat
Students create New Year's Eve hats in this fun and safe art project for the elementary classroom. The lesson is ideal for a pre-Holiday Break activity or can be adapted to celebrate any holiday or special occasion in the classroom.
Curated OER
Outlining Main Ideas and Details Adapted from: Expository Writing by Tara McCarthy
Middle schoolers examine articles from a number of sources to determine their main ideas and details, and discuss them as a class. Using a worksheet, they practice outlining a report after watching a teacher demonstration of the...
Curated OER
Graph Those Stickers!
Students graph fruit. In this graphing lesson students create a graph using fruit label stickers. Students place a sticker on the graph when the fruit has been consumed.
Curated OER
Putting It Together in Writer's Workshop
This lesson about writing can be taught in small groups or large group settings. They examine basic writing techniques and practice using them to improve their writing.
Cornell University
Non-Newtonian Fluids—How Slow Can You Go?
Children enjoy playing with silly putty, but it provides more than just fun. Young scientists make their own silly putty using different recipes. After a bit of fun, they test and graph the viscosity of each.
Curated OER
Snow Globe Family
Kindergartners sequence the parts of a story using a snow globe as a setting. They will listen to Snow Globe Family and retell the parts of the story noting the beginning, the middle, and the end. Then they will make their own snow...
Heritage Foundation
Voting and the Constitution
How difficult was it for everyone to get voting rights? Understanding voting rights and the fight to get them for everyone in the United States can be tricky for some learners. However, they are clarified after engaging in the...
Curated OER
Goals and Perseverance
Define the word perseverance to have learners understand why it is important in reaching goals. Young scholars research how Martin Luther King needed perseverance to accomplish his goals. They write acrostic poems using the word...
Odell Education
Making Evidence-Based Claims: Grade 6
In order to make evidence-based claims, one must be able to draw explicit information from text. From here, learners take that information, analyze the text to develop a deeper understanding, and connect with the information in order to...
Curated OER
Clowning Around: Drawing
Kids create a clown out of shapes. They work to show emotions while practicing their drawing skills. Pupils use circles, triangles, squares, oil pastels, and their imagination to draw, color, and decorate a sad or happy clown. Tip: Have...
Curated OER
Active and Passive Sentences
Work with active and passive voice in several different sentences. Fifth graders learn the difference between active and passive voice, and change nine sentences from passive to active and vice versa. Great practice in your writing unit!
Museum of Science
Balloon Racers
Watch those balloon cars go! Scholars build racers that run using the power of balloons and conduct races with the cars. They learn about Newton's third law of motion and how it applies to their balloon racers.
Curated OER
Writing Pourquoi Tales
Complete research on Pourquoi tales and then lead your students in creating their own. This lesson accompanies another on Pourquoi Tales on our site and deals more with the writing process. Your class will put the tales together in a...
Dream of a Nation
Solution Debate
Class members choose a current social, political, environmental, or economic problem presented in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, research this problem and a variety of suggested solutions, before...
Dream of a Nation
Congressional Debate
Should junk food be banned in schools? Should the US open its borders to all immigrants? Should the US impose term limits for the House of Representatives and for the Senate? Using Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas...
Curated OER
Pen and Ink Drawing
Learners hone their drawing techniques to create a nature-inspired piece of art. They practice hatching, cross hatching, stippling, and shading. They discuss how each method is better suited for creating specific elements in nature such...
Japan Society
Japanese Architecture for High School Students
Japanese architecture is rich in symbolism and culture. Critical thinkers engage in three activities intended to expose them to the beauty of Japan. They read through the book, Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki and watch the...
Curated OER
Classroom Learning Activity Rubric
Are you effectively integrating technology into your classroom activities? Based on the SAMR model, here is a rubric that will help you consider important standards by which you can measure your instructional practice, such...
What So Proudly We Hail
A Lesson on Benjamin Franklin’s “Project for Moral Perfection”
Benjamin Franklin identified 13 virtues that he felt would strengthen his character if he could focus on each one. A thorough lesson explores high schoolers' personal values in the context of their lives, and compels them to strive for...
Curated OER
AZTEC TILES
Pupils observe the shapes and lines that make up Aztec sculpture, study Pre-Columbian art as they discover the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas. They create a small-scale Aztec tile using pasta. Creative, clever and engaging.
Curated OER
Alphabet Poems
Develop fluency with a variety of works. Help kindergartners use multiple strategies to understand text and decoding. They will create an alphabet poem book on Kid Works 2 to illustrate and write their own poem. In the end, they will...
Curated OER
Introducing Topographic Maps: Guiding Students from Concrete Models to Graphic Representations
Students interpret topographic maps and infer human activity as it is influenced by the landscape.
Curated OER
Accordion Fold Book
You can use these basic instructions to create a book using the accordion fold. This project can be used alongside nearly any other lesson. Have kids fold a book to create a science journal, chapter-by-chapter book summary, to house a...
Curated OER
Salt of the Earth: A Caddo Industry in Arkansas
Middle schoolers explore the history of the Caddo Salt Industry found in Arkansas. Along with learning about how salt deposits formed in Arkansas, learners study the process of salt production and how valuable salt is as a natural...