Curated OER
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
How do artists affect and how are artists affected by the time periods in which they live? Learners examine the life and work of controversial and influential cultural artist Patti Smith as they seek answers to this essential question....
Curated OER
Poems: calligrams
Have fun with shape poems! First and second graders write calligrams that add to the meaning of their poems. Great for your poetry unit or if you want to combine poetry and art lessons.
PBS
The Impact of Genetically Modified Seeds
What is all the fuss about genetically modified foods? PBS provides this resource designed to supplement the documentary Food, Inc. to help learners investigate the benefits and controversies of genetically modified foods...
Curated OER
Mathematical Treasure Hunt
The hunt is on! Young mathematicians follow clues and complete a series of ten math puzzles as they try to crack Dr. Integer's code and find the location of his hidden treasure.
Curated OER
The American Cowboy
Middle Schoolers produce a class newspaper about the American cowboy and the times in which he lived with illustrations, feature stories and advertisements typical of the times. This is an ambitious, yet worthwhile project for youngsters...
PBS
U.S. Agricultural Subsidies and Nutrition
Most young people don't spend a lot of time thinking about why some foods cost less than others. This resource uses clips from the documentary, Food, Inc. to explore the impact of agricultural subsidies on nutrition, health, and the...
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Eruptions: Old Faithful Geyser
How long do we have to wait? Given several days of times between eruptions of Old Faithful, learners create a graphical representation for two days. Groups combine their data to determine an appropriate wait time between eruptions.
Curated OER
Penny Basketball: Making Sense of Data
Explore four web-based interactive sites to develop a baseline understanding of statistics. Learners play a series of penny basketball games and collect data regarding their shooting statistics. Groups decide who is the "top" penny...
Curated OER
I'm a Changed Pig - Personal Narrative
Young writers explore character arcs, conflict, and narrative in this complete and ready-to-use lesson plan from Scholastic. As a class read The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig and discuss the dramatic change the pig...
Curated OER
I Hate to Complain but your Cheese Stinks
Students read and discuss the "fractured" fairy tale "The Stinky Cheese Man". They imagine that they are in the fairy tale and write a letter of complaint concerning the Cheese Man and how he stinks up the town.
Curated OER
Challenging Stereotypes: A New Look at Old Age
Combine a lesson on the elderly with grammar instruction. Before viewing a series of provided video clips, class members brainstorm a list of words related to senior citizens and organize these words into categories that correspond with...
Curated OER
Pumpkin Play
Have you ever examined a pumpkin and estimated the number of lines it has? In this math lesson plan, students count the actual number of lines, record and graph the results. They investigate the circumference, weight and buoyancy of the...
Curated OER
Exploring Geometry on the Sphere
In this geometry worksheet, students define important vocabulary dealing with circles. They measure cricles to the nearest degree. There are 11 word problems to be solved.
Curated OER
Reading Charts
How well can your third graders interpret data from a chart? Use this straightforward worksheet to reinforce problem-solving skills. After reading a school schedule, pupils answer ten questions about the information in the chart. A great...
Curated OER
I'm a Changed Pig
Introduce your class to fairy tales with this instructional activity. After reading the fractured fairy tale, "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig," third, fourth, and fifth graders write a personal narrative as a response to the...
Curated OER
Antonyms, synonyms and homophones
Shed light on what antonyms, synonyms, and homophones are. In this lesson, upper elementary schoolers create pairs using an antonym, a homophone, and/or a synonym. Then they play an antonym matching game.
Curated OER
Evaluating Information on Food Labels
What kinds of foods include corn? Corn syrup? Start by viewing a clip of Food Inc. with your middle or high schoolers. Then, study a list of corn-derived ingredients, encouraging your class to see how many food products contain corn. A...
Curated OER
Real-life Problems, Money, and Weight
Solve five word problems involving money and weight. After studying the example at the top, which demonstrates how to write out the equation in a word problem, fourth graders work on adding large numbers in money and measurement. Here is...
Curated OER
Kid City, USA
What a model community would look like? Get your kids talking with an activity that allows them to create their own town. After printing out a "fold out village," groups of students use a variety of resources to help them build an actual...
Curated OER
Magazine Project
Groups of students create magazines that contain stories and images of one aspect of the ocean, and ocean life. The expectations for the final products are quite high, so this lesson will require some effort to properly implement. A...
California Academy of Science
The Emperor Penguin's Egg
Here is a game intended for use at home that could easily be adapted to the school environment. The class reads an informational story about emperor penguins and then they watch a clip from the film, March of the Penguins. They focus on...
Stanford University
Voices of the Struggle: The Continual Struggle for Equality
As part of a study of the Civil Rights Movement from 1868 to the present, class members examine first person narratives, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, and other significant events in civil rights history....
Media Literacy
Once Upon a Time
Robert Munsch's The Paperbag Princess and Jon Scieszkafrom's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs launch a discussion of the role of stereotypes in stories and movies.
Curated OER
The Great Depression and New Deal
Elementary pupils are introduced to the Great Depression as a critical period of hardship in United States history. They engage in collaborative assignments researching the Dust Bowl, the New Deal, US presidents, and presidential libraries.