PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Environment
A fiction and nonfiction text, The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry and I See a Kookaburra! Discovering Animal Habitats Around the World by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page begins a learning experience in...
University of Southern California
Deconstructing Genocide: The Ultimate Crime Against Humanity
There are eight stages of an atrocity known as genocide, and it's important to understand how they are represented so we can fight against it in the future. As young historians watch video clips of ten Jewish Holocaust survivors'...
Baylor College
Fungus Among Us
In order to learn that mold spores can be found in the air, observers grow bread mold and make observations for a few days. Afterward, they participate in a class discussion to arrive at the knowledge that bread spores are present in the...
Berkshire Museum
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: Sorting Through Personal Choices
Raise children's awareness about the importance of conservation with this hands-on science lesson. Start by breaking the class into groups and having them collect trash from around the school or local park. Students then use the provided...
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Moon Flip Book
Watch an entire month flash before your eyes with this fun phases-of-the-moon flip book activity.
Teach Engineering
Earthquakes Living Lab: Finding Epicenters and Measuring Magnitudes
Pairs use an online simulation to determine the epicenter and magnitude of an earthquake. Using real data about the earthquake's maximum S wave amplitudes, they then determine the magnitude. The resource provides a great career...
University of Colorado
Strange New Planet
The first remote sensors were people in hot air balloons taking photographs of Earth to make maps. Expose middle school learners to space exploration with the use of remote sensing. Groups explore and make observations of a new...
Penguin Books
Teacher's Guide: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
A teacher's guide for Kindred provides instructors with a wealth of materials to enrich either a full-class reading or independent study of Octavia E. Butler's popular science fiction novel. The activities are designed to...
Beverly Hills High School
French Revolution
What led up to the French Revolution? Middle and high schoolers explore the factors that contributed to the storming of the Bastille on July 14th, 1789, as well as the events following that fateful day, with a presentation on the French...
Curated OER
The Physics of Sound: How We Produce Sounds
First graders construct a KWL chart on sound. In this physics instructional activity, 1st graders describe different ways to produce sound. They explain how sound waves propagate.
Illustrative Mathematics
High School Graduation
An exercise in finding the approximate time that a name would be called at a graduation. Estimating time may be difficult for some of the class, so this resource would not be a good choice for learning this standard. It does end with a...
Curated OER
Petri-fied of Bacteria
Young scholars examine the existence of bacteria all around them and consider the roles, both positive and negative, that bacteria play. Over a period of several days, students conduct an experiment in which they predict, determine, log,...
Curated OER
Back to School Writing
Students compile a daily journal to improve their writing skills. In this writing skills lesson, students use a picture to help them write on a daily basis. Students write reflectively each day to improve their writing skills.
Curated OER
Telling Time as an Everyday Use of Numbers
How can we estimate time? Have your young mathematicians make a clock. Then they compare and contrast types of clocks. They practice writing times in two different ways and make a book about telling time.
Curated OER
American Women Who Shaped the Civil Rights Movement Explored Through the Literature of Eloise Greenfield
Examine the women who contributed to the Civil Rights movement. In groups, children read excerpts of writings from Eloise Greenfield and research the women she mentions using the internet. To end the lesson plan, they create a timeline...
Curated OER
Career Education for Early Elementary Grades
It's never too early to connect children with the real world meaning of their work. A series of four one-hour sessions, plus a field trip, make up this unit on college and career readiness for first and second graders. After viewing a...
Curated OER
Games for Probability: In-Class and Powerball Simulation
Your soon-to-be statisticians play a game to understand the difference between independent and dependent experiments and probability. They draw colored cubes from a bag and then, by either replacing the cube in the bag, or not, for each...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Understanding China: The Prospects for Democracy in China
This document provides useful information for a unit on democracy in China. While it does not include detailed activities, it does have a list of democratic principles, and important facts about China that facilitate understanding of its...
Curated OER
Speak Write! Understanding the Hidden Meaning of Words
Students investigate connotation and denotation as a basis for greater examining of language. They identify the literal meaning of words and explore the greater implications and impact of word usage.
Education World
Every Day Edit - Sarah Childress Polk: First Lady
In this everyday editing instructional activity, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about Sarah Childress Polk. The errors range from punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and spelling.
Indiana University
World Literature: "One Evening in the Rainy Season" Shi Zhecun
Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...
Prestwick House
Speak
Speaking your mind and standing up for yourself is the message of Laurie Halse Anderson's novel Speak. Readers review key details about characters, setting, and plot points with a crossword puzzle all about Speak.
Education World
Every Day Edit - Author Virginia Hamilton
In this editing activity, learners correct grammatical mistakes—including punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar—in a short paragraph about author Virginia Hamilton.
Science Education Resource Center
Compare and Contrast deciduous and evergreen tree leaves to aid in tree identification
Boost observational skills and get to know the difference between deciduous, coniferous, and evergreen trees with a lesson that challenges scholars to compare, contrast, identify, sort, and draw their findings.