Students map watersheds to find their boundaries.  In this watershed activity students map and then give their "watershed address."  Students show the trail from stream, larger stream to oceans.  Students describe the...

After reading an article, "Cameras Capture a 5-Second Fireball and Its Meteorite's Secrets," space science superstars use the  triangulation method to determine the location of a distant object. In-class activities and homework are...

Pretend that you've been dropped onto a mountain, in the middle of nowhere,  and all you have to find your way is a topographical map and a compass. Could you find your way to the nearest town? Orienteering teaches the skills of map...

While this lesson focuses on a study of the Hudson River, it could be used as a template for a discussion of map skills, converting measurements, and plotting a route. The lesson includes vocabulary and other resources to make it a...

Help first graders gain an understanding of the beginnings of our nation by learning more about Christopher Columbus. They begin by listening to a read aloud of Christopher Columbus and His Voyage to the New World (another title...

Ninth graders construct a weather map. For this meteorology lesson, 9th graders construct a weather map using contour lines and temperature.

Charon, the largest of Pluto's moons, was discovered in 1978. Lesson is a walk through of how to solve for the phases of Charon. It uses two different points on Pluto and takes into account the tilt of the pole, the rotational axis, and...

Start a whole new life in a land known as the Wild Wild West! Learners analyze maps, personal accounts, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, songs, and video clips to uncover life under the Homestead Act. Using their new skills, class members role...

Ever wonder what drones are doing high above us in the sky? This article gives your class an insight to what those robots in the sky are doing. After reading an article on drone technology, pupils are prompted to respond to a...

Has United States military intervention in the conflicts of other countries always been warranted? After reviewing a brief background on contemporary US conflicts and reading articles describing the civil war in Syria, your learners...

Young geographers discover not only how to read and recognize coordinates on a map, but also gain a deeper understanding of latitude and longitude and how climate changes can vary significantly across latitudes.

Accompany the African folktale, Anansi the Spider, with a collection of five lessons, each equipped with supplemental activities. Lessons offer multidisciplinary reinforcement in English language arts, social studies, science,...

To better understand the migrant experience during the Great Depression, pupils analyze two primary resources: photographs by Dorothea Lange and a U.S. Map that shows the Dust Bowl. They compare and contrast Lange's images to Steinbeck's...

How did the struggle for Civil Rights during the 1950s transform American society and politics? Why are American schools integrated today? Class members explore these essential questions by examining a series of primary and secondary...

What's the least number of colors needed to color a U.S. map? The lesson begins by having pupils view a video clip on continuous and discrete phenomenon, then launches into an activity reminiscent of Zeno's paradox. A separate video...

Defying death. Defying those who want to do harm. Defying genocide. Pupils research the events in Rwanda to gain an understanding of what it takes to survive a horrific event like a holocaust. They use video, time lines, and Holocaust...

Is the wolf from "The Three Little Pigs" really big and bad, or is he just misunderstood?  To analyze the effect of point of view, middle schoolers read Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and evaluate the...

What is a community? Find out with a lesson that sheds light onto the different types of communities—school, local, and global. Scholars read informational text detailing the life of a young girl from Cape Verde and take part in a...

Class members will dig this activity that has them trying their hand at recovering artifacts. Groups are assigned a section of a sandbox, carefully uncover the artifacts in their section, and then develop theories about who might...

Click on this link and find two animated graphics of the pumping human heart. The path of blood-flow is listed in steps. The connection to the "teacher lesson plan information" does not work, but there are other links to superb resources...

Your shoes get a lot of mileage in familiar places. Represent the places you have traveled the most with an art project based on a print of Indian People Wear Shoes and Socks by Juane Quick-to-See Smith. Kids trace their shoes and...

Archaeologists have discovered a cache of Native American relics. They want to preserve these relics by removing them from the rapidly eroding site to a lab where they can be studied. Native American traditions demand that the items...

Students distinguish geographic features using Ptolemy's map of the world.

Students look at maps. In this map lesson, students listen to the book My Map Book by Sara Fanelli and they see the difference between human characteristics (buildings, etc.) and natural characteristics (rivers, etc.).  They...