PLS 3rd Learning
A Place to Hang Your Hat
Kids get real about moving out and living on their own. They review landlord/tenant laws, discuss housing options and then check the classified ads. Individually or in pairs, they research housing options and discuss topics such as...
Code.org
Practice PT - Design a Digital Scene
The final performance task for the unit requires class members to utilize what they have learned to create a personal digital scene. Groups work together to develop a scene and then, using top-down design, break the scene into...
Curated OER
Happy Birthday!: Internet Research and Historic Events
Talk about intrinsic motivation! Begin where your learners' natural interests lie -- with themselves -- and launch a variety of projects with this activity. Class members research important events that took place on their...
Curated OER
Microbes Are Everywhere - Biology Teaching Thesis
Students are able to list at 3 rules for operating in a laboratory and to explain why each is important. They are able to identify problems with laboratory scenarios presented by the teachers. Students execute a lab protocol using...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Relationships…Going Up While Growing Up
The final activity in a series of five that focus on developing the interpersonal skills required to develop and maintain positive relationships asks class members to identify their best friend-making skill. Individuals share these...
Missouri Department of Elementary
A Stranger Among Us
The final lesson plan in the R.E.S.PE.C.T series asks eighth graders to expand their vision beyond the walls of the classroom and to consider how they can promote acceptance and respect of others within in the global community. "A...
PLS 3rd Learning
Budget Basics
Prepare young adults for life with various budgeting activities. Exercises include identifying fixed, variable, and discretionary income, and creating a budget based on a realistic projected income. The required website allows teachers...
Curated OER
Career Assessment Workbook
Planning a career assessment unit? Download this workbook and you are all set. Job seekers identify work-related values, set goals, and plan the steps necessary to achieve those goals. It is also important to consider obstacles that they...
Arizona Department of Education
American History Impact of the Women’s Movement
Take a look at important images that depict the women's suffrage movement, the support for the Equal Rights Amendment, and wage equity for women over the last two centuries. As class members work through a lesson on...
Curated OER
Colonial Identity
Students research and discuss the origins of the American colonies and explore how colonists were still influenced by English culture. As a follow-up project, students produce a portrait of an individual.
Curated OER
“Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Readers not only identify aphorisms in Emerson's "Self Reliance," but also find evidence of transcendental elements contained in the essay. They also demonstrate consistency...
Cornell University
Predicting Chemical Reactions
Prove the Law of Conservation of Mass through a lab investigation. A well-designed lesson asks groups to combine materials and monitor indicators for chemical reactions. Measuring the mass of the reactants and products allows individuals...
Curated OER
Who are the Co-pilots in My Life?
We could all use some support when making big changes or decisions in life. That's why this lesson focuses on identifying co-pilots to support their college dreams. Kids fill out a worksheet. Then they discuss who will or can be...
Curated OER
"Old 300"
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...
Curated OER
Surviving or Thriving with Roommates
Living on your own is hard, especially when you have to live with roommates. Discuss the importance of shared living situations and how to make them as good as possible with your class. They brainstorm what makes a good roommate, ways to...
Ontario
Reading Informational Text
Learning to recognize the importance of the features of information text (i.e., titles, subtitles, endnotes, sidebars, etc.) is the focus of a reading activity designed for middle schoolers. Learners examine how these text features...
Museum of Tolerance
The Price of Personal Responsibility
A reading of Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention," Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" launch a discussion about the price one is willing to pay to...
Museum of Tolerance
Just What Kind of American Are You?
Your parents were both in different countries. You were born in the US. Documents and application forms ask you to identify your racial or ethnic classification. Which box do you check? Class members collect documents...
Curated OER
Portraits, Pears, And Perfect Landscapes: Investigating Genre in the Visual Arts
Differentiate between the various genres in the visual arts world, particularly in Western painting. Your class can view and discuss, in small groups, paintings published on the National Galleries website. Then each student individually...
Smithsonian Institution
A Life in Beads: The Stories a Plains Dress Can Tell
Young learners discover how the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes preserved native culture through the making of traditional dresses, identifying the resources used to make the dresses and discussing behind the meaning behind some...
Curated OER
Sexual Health Care
Why is it so important to get examinations of the breasts and genitalia? It could be a matter of a life or death situation. Better to be a little embarrassed, or a little uncomfortable, than the alternative of having an undetected...
Curated OER
Measurement and Variation
Examine the concept of variation through observation and measurement. Middle schoolers will study a peanut and record any distinguishing characteristics visible as well as sketch their peanuts and describe them in writing. Their peanut...
Crabtree Publishing
Remarkable Lives Revealed
Six lessons make up a unit all about biographies. Scholars read about a remarkable life while taking notes and identifying characteristics of the biographical genre. Readers examine the tale's obstacles, accomplishments, and sequence of...
Curated OER
A Place at the Table
Twelfth graders set up a formal table setting in their classroom. Individually, they identify the proper serving or eating utensil for the various courses of a meal. To end the lesson, they discuss and role-play proper table manners and...