Curated OER
Food and Your Body -- How to Maintain a Healthy Diet
Middle schoolers examine the different food groups on the food pyramid. In groups, they discover the proper amount to eat from each food group and how to prepare healthy meals. They keep a food journal and calculate the amount of...
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Who Gets to Invent and How Do Inventors Change Our Lives?
Young scholars examine the way various inventions have changed their lives. As a class, they create a timeline of the most important inventions during their lifetime and another timeline of how old they were when it was invented. ...
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Willie and Friends: Overcomers in the Land Stories by Faith Ringgold
Young scholars use puppets and plays to examine the role of African Americans throughout history. After being read a story by a puppet, they respond to each one in writing. Individually, they write a story about a place they have wanted...
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Making Connections: Exploring Our Brains through the Five Senses
Students record observations and create drawings and models of anatomy using their five senses. They describe the structures of a neuron and analyze each of their functions. They compare and contrast the typical structural features of a...
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The Influence of Jazz Music in Twentieth Century Art
Students examine the effect of music on society. While listening to music, they identify the beat, rhythm and write down their reaction to it. Listening to longer selections, they assign a color to the music and share it with the...
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Look Before You Think: How To Appreciate a Painting
Young scholars develop an elementary understanding of the history of art. They study the basic elements of a painting including perspective, composition, color, light and symbolism. They look at each selected painting and analyze it,...
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Maskerade, My Self, And No Other
Students examine themselves, discover their strong, positive attributes, and recognize areas in need of improvement (since each individual possesses strengths but all people have some weaknesses). They develop self-acceptance, trust in...
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Debunking the Myth of the American West
Students participate in a close reading. They examine the text closely for implied and hidden meaning, dissect the story to understand the text as a written craft, and discuss significant details and overall meaning of story. They...
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Documentarians of an Era: A Study of the Paintings of Thomas Eakins and Gustave Caillebotte
Students produce an object analysis of 'The Champion Single Scull'. They begin with description, proceeding to deduction, and finally providing speculation by interpreting the outward evidence of culture. They use a clipboard and paper...
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Genetic Engineering of Crop Plants
Students explore genetic engineering and it biological and ethical implications. By conducting experiments with genetically engineered corn and plain corn they determine the difference in taste. Students also discover the effects of...
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The Greening of Mars: The Changes Necessary to Sustain Life on Mars
Fifth graders discuss the currents conditions on the planet of Mars. In groups, they work together to develop a mechanism that allows for a balanced ecosystem to survive on the planet. After presenting their ideas to the class, they...
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Organic and Inorganic Recycling
Students examine their role in polluting the environment and discuss the importance of recycling. In groups, they place earthworms into compost piles to observe why they are considered natural recyclers. They also practice sorting a...
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African American Poetry: Family and Traditions
Learners are introduced to the elements of African-American poetry. As a class, they are read different types of poems to discover there are different styles of poems and practice rhyming words. They share information on their family...
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How Things Fly
Students will examine the physics of flight through using experimental inquiry. In this instructional activity, you'll introduce your students to the four forces of flight--drag, lift, thrust, and weight--through a variety of fun-filled...
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Teaching the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine":A Handout for ESL/EFL Students
Students inspire communication skills thru the lyrics of a song. Students watch and correlate the production of a fantasy film with speaking and listening skills. Students quote the themes from the video.
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Darwin's Obituary
Students read and analyze an obituary written for Charles Darwin. They make a list of facts about Darwin they learned from the obituary. Students compare Lamarack's theory to Darwin's.
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The Use of Myths in Science
Students examine folk tales to determine the basis for scientific myths. They demonstrate through the discussion of the folk tales that the perception of the world has changed as new information is gained. They write their own folk...
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Making Observations and Generating Hypotheses
Learners practice how to approach a problem scientifically. They use their senses to make a detailed description of a natural object and to generate hypotheses about the identity and features of the object hidden within a box.
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The Wonderful World of Waves (Wave Basics)
High schoolers define amplitude, wavelength, frequency, and period, calculate period given frequency, and calculate frequency given period, define crest and trough and locate both on diagram of wave, differentiate between latitudinal and...
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The Ruins of Pompeii: A Window into History
Sixth graders research the history of Pompeii and its destruction. Locate important geographical features of Rome. Gain insight into the past through archaeological interpretation. Synthesize historical information through imaginative...
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Genetic Analysis
Students formulate a hypothesis regarding the validity of the current status of the Arizona Hedgehog cactus as a distinct variety of cactus. They design a procedure to isolate DNA from the tissue of plants, given a list of chemicals and...
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Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students delve into primary research. In this Japanese Internment lesson plan, students make deductions about life in an internment camp by reading and comparing letters written to Clara Breed. Along the way, they consider the advantages...
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A New Set of Numbers
Sixth graders add and subtract positive and negative integers. In this integers math activity, 6th graders review the number line as a class, with students representing the numbers and moving in a positive or negative direction to find...
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Lady Sings the Blues
Students explore women and music in the 20th century. In this music lesson plan, students study the relationship between literature and music through The Color Purple and music by Ethel Waters, MA Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday,...