Help your kindergartners develop counting skills using a 24 oz. plastic cup, counting manipulatives, and a paper plate. Start with a small group of learners and place a quantity of counting objects between the range of 5 to 10 into each...

Looking for a fun transition activity or game to play at the end of the day? Try a game that is very similar to charades but instead, every class member can play at once as performers! The activity also involves movement as a...

Now you see them, now you don't! This fun peek-a-boo activity engages young mathematicians in developing their ability to compose and decompose numbers. After being presented with a series of counters, children close their eyes while the...

Why do artists create? To solve a problem, of course. Young artists work individually and then in groups to create observational, imaginative, and narrative drawings in response to an assignment that requires them to employ all 16...

I bet I can cross the room without having the lights come on. Class members set up an experiment in which they try to determine what materials will mask motion detected by a sensor. Groups predict how materials will interact with...

There's no need to stay inside; get out of the classroom and create a scaled map of the solar system on your playground field! In collaborative groups, scholars identify the distance between the sun and other planets, place planet...

Teams design and build a windmill, under budget, that can lift an object. The groups evaluate and reflect on their own design, then on those produced by other teams. The goal is to determine which design is the most...

Present the class with a question on whether the water level of a pond will rise they take a large rock out of a boat and drop it into the pond. Groups come down on all sides of the question and try to justify their answers. The activity...

Focus on the conservation of energy, specifically looking at gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy, with a lecture that involves having friends throw light objects at each other to determine which has more kinetic energy and...

Messenger's sun shade measures 8 ft x 6 ft and will have temperatures reaching 700 degree Fahrenheit on the outside while maintaining a cool 70 degrees underneath. In the third activity of four, groups discuss the basic properties of...

Sugar cubes, collide! Groups design protection systems using bubble wrap to protect sugar cubes from being destroyed by falling batteries in the STEM lesson. They consider how the experiment relates to collisions in real-world...

Partners use materials to wrap three-dimensional objects to determine the formula for surface area. The groups use an orange to calculate the amount of peel it takes to completely cover the fruit. Using manipulatives, individuals then...

Positive and negative numbers are all around us. Groups read short story contexts and identify a rational number that represents the values in the context. They order the rational numbers and interpret statements of inequality.

The original drawing is eight units — how big is the scale drawing? Classmates determine the scale percent between a scale drawing and an object to calculate the length of a portion of the object. They use the percent equation to find...

Wait til your class gets their hands on this! Aspiring engineers design a working robotic arm in the fifth and final installment in a series of ocean exploration lessons. Pupils learn about the use of underwater robots in ocean...

Reach out and grab something. Given the task of picking up objects at least two feet away, pupils design and build a grabber. The last activity in a series of five challenges requires learners to use information about fulcrums and levers.

It's a classification sensation! Demystify why we classify using an inquiry activity that helps your class sort things out. Groups begin by classifying a variety of shoes before they research organisms and design their own dichotomous...

Ride the wave to an understanding of refraction! The first in a series of two inquiry-based lessons challenges learners to create transverse waves with two different types of springs. As their wave hits an object, they observe the change...

Do I stand or do I sit? The class plays a dice game where they must decide to either continue to stand and play or sit down and keep their points. After the game, groups discuss individuals' strategies and see connections to the...

Fourth graders combine art and history to assess the importance of the "Old 300." They explore a group of colonists that Stephen F. Austin brought to Texas as the first settlers and then create a time line of major events leading to the...

Following the six-step process for a talking sticks literature circle, group members choose a leader for the discussion, summarize the reading, discuss journal entries and questions, set reading goals, and write reflections. I think this...

Learners practice their number sense throughout the day. They practice their use and understanding of numbers in every part of the day. Students watch and listen to the teacher count students in class, sort themselves based on colors or...

Discover a world too small to see. In the lesson plan, young scientists learn about nanotechnology and brainstorm ideas for new applications of it. They perform an activity to determine how surface area changes when objects are made...

Does a tennis ball have energy? What about a bowling ball? Demonstrate concepts of different forms of energy forms and states with a variety of objects. Using the equations for potential and kinetic energy,...