EduGAINs
Go H2O! Investigating Residential Water Systems
Before your learners excuse themselves to get a drink at the water fountain, prompt them to think about where that water comes from. A middle school science lesson encourages groups to research their community's source of drinking water,...
Museum of the Moving Image
AdMaker, Obama vs. McCain, “Fundamentals” (2008)
Truth is often left on the cutting room floor when political ads are produced. After viewing the 2012 backfire ad, "Fundamentals" that takes John McCain's comments on the US economy out of context, class groups edit the audio and...
Space Awareness
Let's Map the Earth
Before maps went mobile, people actually had to learn how to read maps. Pupils look at map elements in order to understand how to read them and locate specific locations. Finally, young cartographers discover how to make aerial maps.
Country Music Hall of Fame
Ray Charles and Country Music
Ray Charles used the pain and adversity from his life to influence an entire genre of American music. Learn about the musician's daily life, struggles and success, and powerful musical style with a thorough resource.
University of Minnesota
Connect the Neurons!
Create a neuron frenzy as your pupils play the part of the neurons. An engaging activity creates a human chain of neurons that pass cotton balls posing as neurotransmitters. Scholars learn about pre- and post-synapses as they...
Curated OER
Illuminating Climate Change: Connecting Lighting and Global Warming
High schoolers analyze energy usage and connect energy usage to fossil fuel consumption. In this global warming and pollution lesson plan, students what fuels are used to generate electricity and how much CO2 each fuel produces, then...
Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Science Fiction
Sixth graders explore the components of science fiction in a science and literacy lesson. As they define and record definitions of the term on the board, learners identify a text as science fiction using the terms they have...
Curated OER
Poetry In the World Around Us
Students engage in a lesson which is designed as a literacy connection to science lessons on the effects of water on plants. This lesson uses an excellent Reading Rainbow episode on the effect of drought, and then rainfall, have on the...
Curated OER
Connection Stems
Learners connect their lives to a story or nonfiction text. In this reading connections lesson, students make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections as they complete connections stems based on a story.
Curated OER
Math Really Does Connect to the Real World
Students listen to parent speakers who discuss how they use math in their professional or personal lives. They take notes and write business form thank you letters.
Curated OER
General Lesson Plan for Documentary Lens
Use this general lesson guide to inform your instruction surrounding a documentary. The lesson is made up of five activities. The activities are intentionally general because they are designed to adapted for specific films. While the...
Curated OER
Anne Frank and Louisiana - There is a Connection!
How is Louisiana connected to the Holocaust? After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, eighth graders complete a research report about a survivor of the Holocaust who currently resides in Louisiana. Though the idea is a good way to...
Virginia Department of Education
Media Literacy and Persuasive Writing
Investigate ways to persuade by introducing learners to the three rhetorical appeals (Pathos, Logos, Ethos). Pupils receive a worksheet for their definition development of the terms and coinciding vocabulary words. The activity continues...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Lactose Intolerance: Fact or Fiction
Around the world, about 2/3 of adult humans are lactose intolerant. Scholars work in small groups to discuss a few statements about lactose intolerance. Then, they watch a video on the topic and readdress each statement. Whole-class...
Curated OER
Star Reading
Learners of all ages discover the importance of reading fluently by viewing celebrities reading children books and telling about their personal paths to fluency. They participate in a fluency reading routine that connects them with a...
Road to Grammar
Techonology
Technology is a hot topic, so why not discuss it with your English language learners? There are three viewpoints from students included on this page, along with vocabulary words and ten tech-related questions to discuss.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Stalking the Genetic Basis of a Trait
Need an a-maize-ing lesson to show your class how regulatory genes work? If you use the well-written resource, they'll be all ears! Biology scholars discover the gene responsible for the evolution of the modern-day corn plant through a...
Curated OER
Measurement and Conversion of Units in a Recipe
In a cross-curricular measurement and literacy instructional activity, your class will identify and compare cooking measurement instruments. They read a recipe and sequence a set of similar instructions in which the steps have been mixed...
Curated OER
Main Idea in Informational Text
Individuals complete a pre-assessment to gauge their ability to determine the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction text. They examine a new piece of nonfiction reading by looking at the table of contents, headings, and index...
Curated OER
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Students explore the 5 themes of geography. For this cross curriculum literacy and geography lesson, students listen to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, and make a list of the needs of the people in Chewandswallow....
Teach Engineering
Engineering Brainstorming
Here is a lesson that offers a great hybrid of forming new skills and using current knowledge to come up with a plan. The class brainstorms information they would need to know or already know about hybrid vehicles. They then group...
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Unsent Letter
Have you ever wanted to tell a character what you really thought of him or her? Use a instructional activity based on Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter to encourage learners to write a letter in response to a character's...
Curated OER
Literacy: Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth
Students explore language arts by analyzing a children's book in class. In this vocabulary instructional activity, students read the book Slowly, Slowly, Slowly... by Eric Carle. Students identify the characters, setting and plot of the...
Curated OER
Activity Plan 2-3: Outdoor Picture Math
Students match images of objects to their real counterpart. In this play-based matching instructional activity, children explore the playground and match real play equipment with what is seen in pictures. Lesson includes a language...