One 17-ounce bottle of Cola requires around 46 gallons of water to produce. How is that possible? Young scientists learn about the hidden water used to produce everyday items. They research, discuss, and look for ways to reduce water...

Individually, words have power, but when added together, they can take on a whole other level of meaning. Readers learn about compound words in the 10th of 17 lessons of the Word Recognition and Fluency series. A script provides guidance...

What was it like to enlist as a soldier in the Civil War? By using enlistment papers, young scholars consider this question. After they've looked at the primary source and discussed it, they create a short story of a fictional soldier to...

Lend a helping hand! Scholars learn all about volunteering, viewing a PowerPoint presentation, completing a KWL chart, and discussing a service learning quote with a partner. Next, pupils select a volunteer project to complete. 

Find out the science behind ancestry testing! Investigators watch a video exploring how ancestry works before participating in a hands-on group activity. Scholars role play scientists while learning about testing protocols and test...

Learning to work together respectfully is one of those life skills learned through practice. The second instructional activity in the series has groups attempt to complete an activity and then discuss the obstacles they faced. Using what...

Miscommunication is often the basis of conflict. To improve their communication skills, pupils first review what they learned about assertive (as opposed to aggressive or passive) communication, role-play several scenarios, and...

The Resolving Conflicts module begins with a lesson plan about tolerance and learning to appreciate differences among people. Through a series of activities and games, middle schoolers learn that conflicts arise when people have opposing...

With their action plans in place, groups now develop a presentation to get others interested in their project. Scholars learn how to present themselves during a presentation and elaborate on and add visuals to their presentation. After...

A short social-emotional learning lesson teaches high schoolers how to show empathy toward others. After completing a short survey that has them assess their understanding of empathy, the class learns specific behaviors they can model to...

How do core values and identity contribute to citizenship and leadership? After engaging in a series of activities that explore core values, writers craft a children’s story that focuses on one value. They arrange to read their story to...

A cute folktale from Bali tells the story of Gecko, Elephant, and Buffalo, and Gecko's struggle to sleep. After reading Go to Sleep, Gecko, learners focus on comprehension questions, singing and learning about geckos, building...

Read the story The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog: A Folktale from Great Britain by Margaret Read MacDonald and choose from multiple activities to learn about the tale's theme—kindness. With so many options, your kind kids will...

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...

Learn about life in the Arctic while practicing how to graph and interpret data with this interdisciplinary lesson. Starting with a whole group data-gathering exercise, students are then given a worksheet on which they analyze and create...

How are a circle and triangle alike? How are they different? These are the types of questions children will answer while playing this fun geometry game. Including a variety of conventional and unconventional shapes, this activity allows...

It won't take young mathematicians long to learn how to measure length with this fun, hands-on activity. Working in pairs, children use Unifix® or snap cubes to measure and record the lengths of different classroom objects. To extend the...

Provide a meaningful context for learning about the division of fractions with this upper-elementary math lesson. Presented with a simple, real-world problem, young mathematicians work in small groups to develop visual models...

Kindness and empathy can be as important as reading comprehension skills, especially for younger learners. Reinforce both with a lesson based on Rolling Along: The Story of Taylor and His Wheelchair by Jamee Riggio Heelan. As...

During an Olympics year, the world joins together to celebrate athleticism, patriotism, and history. Learn about the Olympiads of the 20th century with a research project in which groups research one year's Olympic Games. They note the...

It's never too early to learn about grocery budgeting. Middle schoolers delve into the world of consumer math with a lesson that focuses on both healthy choices and real-world math applications. Groups work together to form a grocery...

What kind of experiment can your class do to how observe the environment effects on organisms? Groups design and conduct lab experiments to learn about the effects of the environment on aquatic organisms. Based upon knowledge gained...

Data, data everywhere. Challenge your class to begin thinking about data, the ways people collect information, and what we can learn from this data. Class members discuss sources of data and then individuals answer questions in the...

Build upon linear functions to learn about quadratics. The lesson introduces the concept of zeros for quadratic functions and makes the connection to the linear factors of the function. It presents quadratics in both graphical and...