Curated OER
Personal Stories of the National Parks
Students explore historical information about U.S. national parks using the stories of Edward and Margaret Gehrke as a primary source document. In this United States geography, history, and literacy lesson, students view the diary...
Curated OER
3D Pumpkins
Students engage in a creative project to excite them to perform further research in to the concept of pumpkins and how they are grown. The construction of the pumpkin is done with scissors and construction paper. The lesson has an...
Curated OER
Microsoft Publisher Webpage
Young scholars format their narrative writing assignment by creating a Microsoft Publisher Webpage. In this narrative writing lesson, students visit the given websites to find a graphic for each page of their webpage that corresponds to...
Curated OER
Analyzing Folklore: Redwall
Brian Jacques’ novel Redwall provides the focus for a series of lessons involving the analysis of folklore. Adopting the persona of a character, groups write letters in the voice of their character, assemble a collage using Microsoft...
Curated OER
Ecology Integration Using IMovie
Amazing! Any 5th grader would be more than willing to participate in this project. Students are broken into groups, each group reads one book from a list of five. They use their book as the basis for choosing an animal and environment to...
Curated OER
The Tone Map
Poems are meant to be heard. Hearing a poem being read enriches one’s understanding of the tone and mood of the piece. Introduce your class to the sounds of poetry with a packet that not only details how to use poetry recordings in the...
PBS
Historical Perspectives: Coming Home from War
What do the homecoming experiences of soldiers who fought in WWII, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan reveal about the politics and culture of the US during the time period of each war? Young historians view The Way We Get By, which tells...
Curated OER
Family Tree Community Project
Fifth graders answer questions such as: Where does my family come from? What was it like for my ancestors to grow up as America developed? What differences in society were present then? What was similar to today? students conduct...
Curated OER
Egg Structure Project
Students investigate the physical structure of an egg and the functions of the seven parts. They create a diagram and discuss each part of the egg while looking for the information, Complete lesson materials are found at a website listed...
Curated OER
Central Valley Math Project
Middle schoolers study the Pythagorean Theorem. They describe what it means to square a number. Pupilsuse the Pythagorean Theorem to prove the sides of given triangles, and use geometric pieces of paper to create a right triangle and...
Curated OER
Computer Literacy Career Research Project
High schoolers write a two or three-page typewritten paper on a career of interest. They collect research materials from the library and Internet. They are also required to include at least four citations from a minimum of four different...
Curated OER
Survey Project
Eighth graders create a website using FrontPage. They use inserted forms to collect survey information and use Microsoft Excel and MS Word to create a presentation of the survey and the results.
Curated OER
Preventing Childhood Diseases Project
Second graders become informed advocates in the prevention of childhood diseases. This takes place during the Preventing Childhood Diseases Project.
Curated OER
Class Memory Book
Class members use digital cameras, computers, laser printers, and booklet making supplies to create their own page for a class memory book.
Channel Islands Film
The Legendary King of San Miguel: Lesson Plan 3 - Grades 9-12
The documentary, The Legendary King of San Miguel Island, introduces the fascinating tale of Herb Lester, his family, and their life on San Miguel Island. Viewers have an opportunity to expand their study of the island and of...
Knoxville Art Museum
Lee Walton: Codes in Drawings
Familiar with the systems-based sports drawing of experimental artist Lee Walton? If so, this drawing exercise if for you. Young artists observe an activity over time, develop a coded language for the activity, and then draw a...
Civil War Trust
Genealogy
The Civil War is undoubtedly a part of America's history, but could it be part of your pupils' history as well? Middle schoolers conduct research to discover a connection between their ancestors and the American Civil War. Whether...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Newspaper
One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...
Novelinks
The Devil’s Arithmetic: Personal Narrative Assignment
How can an unfamiliar place help you learn something about yourself? Use a narrative writing prompt as you culminate your unit on Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic. Kids consider the ways that, like the main character from the...
Channel Islands Film
Telling Your Own Story
After watching and discussing a video on the Voyage of Cabrillo, individuals craft their own origin story and design and build an artifact they feel best represents their history.
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 4
Foster's Rule? Allopatric speciation? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation, class members use Venn diagrams to compare endemic species on the Channel Islands with mainland related species. They then create a...
Museum of Disability
A Picture Book of Helen Keller
Teach your class about Helen Keller and her accomplishments with a reading comprehension lesson based on A Picture Book of Helen Keller by David A. Adler. As individuals read, they answer discussion questions about Helen Keller...
Curated OER
Creating A Classroom Newspaper
Students participate in a culminating project to create a classroom newspaper. They use the skills of prewriting, writing, revising, editing, drawing, and scanning. This is all done so that students can master all the facets of creation...
Curated OER
Teaching Writing on a Computer
Walk your young writers through the basics of typing and saving their work on a computer. Step-by-step instructions not only help you prepare classroom computers for this exercise but also provide specific instructions so that class...