Students, working in small groups construct scale models of the planets and solar system. They examine images of Mars and discuss what might have caused the features. They record facts about their planetary research in their journals and...

This hundreds chart is missing some numbers! Your scholars fill them in (92 are missing), and then they challenge themselves with a chart that looks a bit different. Using the same 10 x 10 layout, the second chart is filled with letters,...

Elementary schoolers are given an overview of the baroque, classical, romantic, and modern periods of music. They focus on the lives of Beethoven and Mozart; two of the greatest composers of all time. After listening to samples their...

Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is a thing with feathers” is the focus of a series of activities that model for learners how close reading can lead to understanding. The whole class plays with the metaphor, groups talk about the author’s...

An exercise in finding the area of polygons by decomposing into triangles and composing into rectangles is the focus of this resource. Make several copies of the worksheet for each participant. Ask learners to use colored pencils to...

Kindergartners practice the important skill of placing things in their correct categories. They must discern between items of clothing and items of food. The use of the Inspiration 7 educational software is effectively used in this...

As a review of persuasive techniques, groups develop a one-sentence slogan designed to entice others to purchase a produce or adopt a point of view. The group then craft a storyboard for a commercial for their product.

Using the scientific method, and bubble gum, learners conduct a motivating experiment. After conducting a series of tests involving bubble gum, they graph and analyze their results. This is the type of activity everyone loves.

Duke Ellington, jazz, and jive kick-off a fun and creative lesson on responding emotionally to music. The class will learn about jive talk used in the 1920s and the life and music of Duke Ellington. They'll listen to a selection of his...

Assemble a great lesson on assembly lines. In the first installment of a nine-part technology/engineering series, future entrepreneurs learn about the manufacturing process, specifically about the assembly line and cycle time. The lesson...

Find similarities in seemingly unlike organisms. The second instructional activity in a series of 12 builds the concept of a taxonomy and explores the use of a dichotomous key. Learners begin in part one by attempting to group a set of...

Lost an electron? You should keep an ion them. Young chemists learn qualitative analysis in the second lesson plan of an 11-part chemistry series. After observing reactions of simple salts, the teacher provides pupils with unknown...

In this ecosystems worksheet, students use illustrations and descriptions of four ponds to determine the order of succession. Students complete 8 fill in the blank questions and 5 short answer questions.

Fourth graders act out and write original narratives. In this theater meets writing lesson, 4th graders work in groups to create original narratives; after students act out their story, they write it down as a narrative.

Start by defining the word sitcom with the goal of launching a discussion. What exactly is a sitcom? How is a sitcom different from sketch comedy, drama, and reality television? Class members give examples, remember storylines...

Delve into Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan with close reading and evidence-based, text-dependent questions. Part of a unit series, this well-sequenced, Common Core designed instructional activity draws on material from the...

Determining a theme or central idea is greatly emphasized in the Common Core standards. Target that skill though big metaphors and central symbols in Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Help your class reach the standard through...

US history classes explore constitutional rights as they relate to court cases involving teens. Your class must already be familiar with the Bill of Rights before beginning this series of exercises. In preparation for a debate-style...

Students investigate early African civilizations. They create Kufi hats, musical instruments, pottery and African masks, sing songs, play African studenT games, and participate in a feast and tour of a museum where their artwork is...

High Schoolers use the TI-83 calculator to produce a sequence, explore patterns and find a linear or quadratic equation for a given pattern. They use inductive reasoning to make conjectures about patterns. They find the Y-value of a...

Students review the Show Don't Tell method of writing haiku poetry. They practice distinguishing poetic language from academic language and create poems based on images, not explanations.

Students read and analyze Truman Capote's autobiographical short story, "A Christmas Memory." They discuss writing styles, conduct Internet research on Truman Capote, write a book review, and write a short story based on one of Truman...

In this magnetic reconnection worksheet, learners solve seven problems using the data and graphs from the THEMIS satellite constellations, which show a series of events triggered by a magnetic reconnection. Students interpret the data in...

Students learn about how robots are programmed to play games. They then construct robot applications (basic computer codes) for playing tic-tac-toe comprised of if-then logic sequences. Students then compete in teams using their...