Curated OER
Chocolate Chip Cookie Mining
To understand the impact coal mining has on the environment, pupils will extract chocolate chips from a cookie. Imagine the cookie is the environment and the chips are the coal. Instruct them to mine as many chips as they can, then have...
Curated OER
Turning the Tide on Trash: Marine Debris Curriculum
Six different lessons comprise this unit on marine debris. Science, language arts, social studies, and art projects make this an ideal interdisciplinary unit. The result will be well-informed future citizens who can help make a...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Simple Machines, Ben Franklin and the Technology of the 1700s
Benjamin Franklin was an inventor, and he was fascinated by the mechanics of machinery. Using a fun exploration, pupils examine simple machines from the pre-Industrial era. Then, they must identify and build their own using common objects.
Cornell University
What Is Rust?
Why do metals rust differently? Scholars experiment with metal combinations in a hands-on activity. They create unique environments with different metals and compare the rate and amount of rust for each.
Curated OER
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Here is a good lesson on butterflies and caterpillars. After listening to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, young learners put cards that depict the life cycle of a butterfly in the correct order. There are some good ideas for center...
Curated OER
The Drum
Students complete a variety of activities related to the folktale from India, "The Drum." They listen to the story and answer comprehension questions, construct a coffee can drum, and complete a phonics and matching worksheet.
Curated OER
Lift the Math Curse
Young scholars complete a variety of activities related to the book "Math Curse" by Jon Scieszka. They write a story about a day in their life that includes illustrations, fifteen math problems, the written story, and an answer key....
Curated OER
Writing About Art: Subjective vs. Objective
Explore objective and subjective writing in this interdisciplinary lesson plan, which brings language arts and visual art together. Middle and high school learners examine the sculpture Head with Horns by Paul Gauguin. They then analyze...
Curated OER
The World of Work
Students identify between appropriate and inappropriate behaviors at work. In this work behaviors lesson plan, students use a dictionary to define the related terms and visit various links to complete activities that define work place...
Curated OER
Hypothetical Heights
Students participate in an interdisciplinary lesson to discuss improvements that would make them want to return to a previously poor neighborhood. In this civics lesson, students work in a budget to make a plan to better their...
Carnegie Library
Creative Writing: Middle School Lesson Plan
Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing lesson. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers.
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Identity Lesson 7: Logical Fallacies
What are the effects of competition in an academic environment? The competition between the main characters in A Separate Peace motivates a series of activities that asks readers to take a stance on competition, and then to develop a...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Designing Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World
How do you convey someone’s creativity? Individuals answer the question as they design exhibitions to showcase the intellect and genius of Benjamin Franklin. After conducting research, classmates work in groups to try to capture and...
Curated OER
Rediscovering Forgotten Women Writers
Women's voices are becoming more prominent in the world of literature, but for centuries, this wasn't the case. Young historians research a woman whose writings are considered to be lost, out of print, or forgotten. They develop an oral...
California Mathematics Project
Model Solar System
The sun's diameter is 864,337 miles—challenge learners to create a scale model of the solar system that fits in your classroom. Scholars make conversions and work with scientific notation as they create the scale model.
Cornell University
Math Is Malleable?
Learn about polymers while playing with shrinky dinks. Young scholars create a shrinky dink design, bake it, and then record the area, volume, and thickness over time. They model the data using a graph and highlight the key features of...
Population Connection
Lessons From the Lorax
Is progress progressing too fast? So believes the Lorax, the eponymous character from Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. Young environmental science students read the book and debate the arguments of the Lorax and the Once-ler regarding the...
Curated OER
The Cleverest Thief
Third graders read the story The Cleverest Thief and complete language art activities to go along with it. Students complete activities including discussion, reading, writing, predicting, drawing, role playing, and sequencing.
Curated OER
The Cleverest Thief
Second graders explore a folktale from India. In this folktale lesson, 2nd graders read the book The Cleverest Thief and discuss how the monks felt in the story. Students complete a cloze activity sheet. There are several extensions...
Curated OER
Wales: An Interdisciplinary Unit
Students practice basic map and geographic skills as they compare Oregon to Wales. Students color map of Wales and Oregon using color codes to distinguish between land, water, and bordering nations or states, listen to stories and...
Curated OER
Are We Couch Potatoes or Busy Bees? Data Analysis of Physical Activity in School
Young scholars study practical data analysis within the constraints of the scientific method. For this data lesson students collect and enter data into a computer spreadsheet then create graphs.
Curated OER
Interdisciplinary Lesson Plan
Third graders study Thanksgiving. In this physical education and spelling lesson, 3rd graders play a race game by being the first group who can spell the word Thanksgiving first.
Curated OER
Native American Interdisciplinary Educational Unit
Students research various Native American stories and legends. They participate in reader's theater, write original legends, cook Native American foods, construct dioramas and view Native American art and artifacts.
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 6: Culture Clash
To prepare for a Quickwrite on the question, "How do different points of view create cultural conflicts?" class groups draw examples of religious, cultural, and political conflicts from Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible to use...