Curated OER
Where Does It Come From?
Do you or your learners know where apples or potato chips come from? If not, you will after this instructional activity. To explore careers in agriculture, learners first examine the importance of agriculture to our nation. They view...
Curated OER
What Every 4-H Leader Should Know
Designed as an overview of the benefits of a 4-H program, this presentation, created by faculty from Purdue University, would provide a terrific introduction. Those who are interested in starting a 4-H group or club could explore the...
National Wildlife Federation
Green Green Revolution
School budgets don't have a lot of extra money, so when students propose saving the district money, everyone jumps on board. The first instructional activity in the series of 21 introduces the concept of an energy audit. Scholars form an...
Curated OER
When Art's a Craft
What would it be like to restore modern works of art? By acting as modern art conservators, learners assess the first-hand difficulties faced in restoration efforts. In addition, they create modern art pieces from random materials. Then,...
Curated OER
Designing Experiments - Overview
Students explore the concepts that enable them to design and conduct sound scientific experiments. They critique a faulty experiment and become familiar with some of the criteria of a good experiment. They conduct their own experiment.
Curated OER
A Personal Journey
Learners will share ideas about class mobility. They create a timeline that chronicles milestones in their own lives, and synthesize their learning by writing personal essays about their class status and aspirations for the future.
Curated OER
Egyptian Cartouche
Sixth graders demonstrate their knowledge of Earth clay construction by creating, inscribing, and glazing an earth clay Egyptian cartouche. The lesson culminates with learners sharing their knowledge of key terms in the lesson through...
Curated OER
Ecosystems and Remote Sensing
Middle schoolers obtain remote sensing data to compare and contrast global biomass data with global temperature data.
Curated OER
Flexi-Cut Collagraph Printmaking
Young artists practice the process of collagraph relief printmaking. The results from this simple art instructional activity are stunningly beautiful! This is an easy to learn, and fun process for the students to engage in. Clear,...
Curated OER
Trey and Dave go to Africa: Music
Trey from Phish and Dave from the Dave Mathews Band took a trip to Africa to explore music, culture, and history. Your class watches this episode from VH1's Music Studio to understand how African culture and music have influenced modern...
Curated OER
Who Cares for the Land?
A very thorough lesson plan focuses on what plants need to grow and stay healthy. There are excellent reading activities and worksheets included in this fine plan. A terrific way to introduce a unit on plants and their needs.
Curated OER
SuperShapes, Part 1; "Tri"ing Triangles
An outstanding lesson on triangles awaits your math scholars. Learners focus on the triangle, which is the strongest of all polygons. They see the role that triangles play in the design of buildings, and learn about triangle...
Curated OER
Seeing is Believing - Or Is It?
Here is a great science lesson. It extends the concept of vision into the area of optical illusions, perspective, and tessellation. This well-designed plan has tons of great activities, utilizes interesting video, and should lead to a...
Curated OER
Is That Measurement Stuff For Real, Life?
Fifth and sixth graders engage in a series of activities which show them the importance of using different types of measurement strategies. One of the primary goals of the lesson is to show learners that measurement is helpful in many...
Curated OER
Be Specific, Go West To The Pacific
Fifth and sixth graders follow Lewis and Clark from St. Louis to the Pacific and back again. They read online journal entries made by Lewis and Clark to gather information. The official Lewis and Clark website is used by learners to...
Curated OER
Assessing the Traits: What is Good Writing?
Students examine samples of writing and discuss the score it received. They brainstorm what qualities make a good writer and stories.
Curated OER
The Volcano Factory
Collaborative groups work together to report on the volcanic activity leading to island formation and construct models to demonstrate the process. Consider having each group present their project to the rest of the class. There are many...
Ocean Explorer
Living with the Heat
Young oceanographers study the Submarine Ring of Fire, which is a series of deep-water volcanic vents that come up from the ocean floor. Learners take a close look at the unique ecosystems that are associated with these areas, how these...
Desert Discoveries
Sizing Up Dinosaurs
Here is a terrific activity in which learners compare their size to the size of actual dinosaurs. Using the magic of the overhead projector and a transparency of the outline of a dinosaur skeleton, pupils can see how big these animals...
Curated OER
Teaching the Instruments of the Orchestra to Young Students using the San Francisco Symphony Kids’ Website
Using the San Francisco Children's Orchestra web site, first graders build listening and instrument identification skills. Each child wears head phones, listens to ID, and finds various instruments on the included worksheet.
Curated OER
Using Poetry As Inspiration for Composition
A reading of Robert Frost’s "The Road Not Taken" launches an interdisciplinary study of the connection between the meters of a poem and a melody. After identifying the number of beats in each line of the poem, young musicians use...
Curated OER
Japan: Land of the Rising Sun
Students locate Japan on a globe, name the major physical features, and describe the physical environment. They survey the differences and similarities between the life and culture of Japanese young people and American young people.
Curated OER
Is That Legal? A Case of Acid Rain
Develop an environmental case study! Elementary learners discover how a case study is used as an analysis tool. The goal of this activity is to show pupils how techniques of persuasion (including background, supporting evidence,...
Memorial Art Gallery
Learning to Look, Looking to Learn - Peeling Onions
Lilly Martin Spencer's "Peeling Onions" is the subject of a series of exercises that model for learners how to use the elements of art to read a painting. A series of worksheets focus viewers' attention on how Spencer uses...