Cornell University
Beam Focusing Using Lenses
Explore optics using an inquiry-based experimental approach! Young scholars use a set of materials to design and build a unit capable of focusing a beam of light. They experiment with different lenses to determine the best approach to...
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The Life of a Veteran
Middle schoolers interview a veteran or he/her family to gather information about the person's life. They produce an iMovie that describes the veteran's military experience.
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Be the Poet
Learners work through a Haiku Organizer to determine the characteristics they use to write eight haiku poems on a theme that they choose. They design presentation folders of their completed work.
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Science: The Great Tree Hunt
Sixth graders participate in an online, cooperative project researching trees in their local environments for use in an online knowledge game. They take digital pictures of the trees, bark, and leaves. After completing their research,...
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Reviewing Good Playing Habits
The string section of your school orchestra can get a proper form make-over by incorporating this lesson. They reestablish proper playing form, posture, and sound as they compose an essay on how to maintain good playing habits during...
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A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution
Sit back, relax, and transport to 1787! This instructional activity on the Constitution begins with guided imagery of the Constitutional Convention. The class reads A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution in an interactive...
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Lesson Plan 5: Creating a Supporting Character
As a class, young writers learn how to develop a strong supporting character. They think and discuss a good friend they know, they use that friend as a basis for a potential supporting character. They create a supporting character as a...
Skyscraper Museum
Building a Skyscraper
Creating buildings that reach hundreds of feet into the sky is no easy task. The third instructional activity in this series begins with four activities that engage young architects in exploring the major challenges that are faced when...
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Word Reference Materials
A class discussion on reference materials opens up a lesson plan on how to use these important resources. They discover that dictionaries, glossaries, and thesauruses are called word reference resources, and they practice using them. The...
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How Do Adjectives Improve Writing?
Using adjectives to create vivid descriptions is the focus of exercises in this resource. A cloze reading activity asks class members to add missing adjectives to passages from Mark Teague's The Lost and Found. They then read Teague's...
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Mini-Lesson Planning for Inferences
Making inferences and drawing conclusions is a key component to successful active reading. Encourage your class to use context clues and prior knowledge to infer different elements of a story, including the setting, plot, and character...
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Learning Life Lessons through Fables
Explore a variety of fables to learn life's lessons through engaging stories. Add rigor to the learning process with activities that include matching a a fable to the story's moral, short answer exit slips, and a three-column graphic...
Education Outside
Creature Jeopardy!
After conducting research on a given scientific animal name, group members take a walk around their school and look for the specified animals in that classification. Then, they come back to their worksheets and create five creative clues...
EngageNY
Researching: Asking the Right Questions
Learners look over the iCare about the iPhone performance task and discuss how it relates to working conditions. They then review the research process and place focus on the step of asking questions. Finally, scholars ask questions to...
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Preparing the Soil
Students explore philanthropy through literature. In this service learning lesson, students consider character traits as they read Seedfolks. Students record their notes regarding the characters in the story of a community garden in...
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Aaron's Hair
Students listen to the story Aaron's Hair. They make predictions while listening to the story. They select where the /h/ sound is heard in the pictures that represent the word.
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Petroglyphs and Pictographs
Fourth graders make necklaces out of petroglyphs that they stamp into clay. In this petroglyphs lesson plan, 4th graders draw designs and explain where they come from as well.
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BOTTOMS UP?
Students view a Magic School Bus video that teaches about the digestive system. They create a life-size model of the digestive system.
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Dancing a Christmas Carol
Students explore dance. They analyze and outline the movements of the dance "Roger de Coverly" from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Students choose music and choreograph a dance similar to "Roger de Coverly." They perform the dance....
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Today is Monday Lesson Plan
Students practice the days of the week. In this week lesson, students listen to the story "Today is Monday" and discuss what food matches with each day of the week. The students put food cards out to match the story and draw these on a...
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Body Basics
Youngsters discuss the basics for appropriate bodily behavior in the classroom. This lesson addresses the importance of keeping one's hands to yourself, raising your hand when wanting to speak, and keeping your eyes on teacher when they...
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The Envelope Guessing Game
Students work with a partner by using the symbol bracelets from lesson #1. They that has the number #1 look at the object keeping it hidden from student #2. Student number 2 then ask questions in order to determine the qualities and...
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All About Me
Students examine who they are through the arts and sciences. They create a portfolio entitled, " All About Me."
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Special Places in Our Community
Students compare and contrast cities whether they are large or small, rural or urban. They use digital photography to take pictures of the different types of cities.