Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Put Me in My Place: Using Alphanumeric Grids to Locate Places

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students practice locating points on a large wall grid and create and label a neighborhood map. In this geography lesson, students spell and discuss places as the teacher places them on the map. They discuss the concept of an...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Planning A Railroad Online Lesson

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students plan a route across Donner Summit using topographical maps in order to understand the challenges involved in constructing the railroad in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In this history lesson plan, students first discover how to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Theatre Lesson Plan: Finding Your Way

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders identify story elements in familiar stories from their lives. In this story elements activity, 2nd graders act out familiar activities  by following directions. Students read a story and discuss the story elements....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Hopi Indians

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders read and look at maps of the Hopi Indians and compare and contrast their lives with the Hopi Indians. In this Hopi Indians lesson plan, 4th graders learn about different cultures and answer short answer questions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Listen to the Land

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Young scholars discover how we use land. They gain insight into the way we use the land, both for benefit and consequence. Students explore how to 'listen to the land' as they make decisions on how it should be used and the consequences...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Finding Your Way

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students work in small groups to practice basic map skills. They take turns giving directions and tracing a path from one location to different destinations on the map.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

CHARTING THE COURSE

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students uses atlases, maps, and Web resources to determine the distance, driving time, and amount of money they need to make the trip (estimates should include hotel/motel stays, meals, and souvenirs).
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Priceless Collection

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students read and discuss the background of plants, seeds, and gene banks and grow seeds on their own. In this seeds lesson plan, students also use maps to identify seed banks and research plant farmers.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

World Projections

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students identify map projections and examine polar maps. In this map skills lesson, students use a flat world map to identify various projections and calculate the distances between locations by using a map scale.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ancient Mediterranean Lands: Greece

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students study maps and structures of Ancient Greece and realize how these structures impact times. For this structures lesson plan, students view the structures of how Ancient Greece was put together and discuss how these structures...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Trailblazers - Now and Then

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students, working in pairs, use maps to determine the most efficient routes between two cities. They research which route would have been used by early trailblazers. They present a first person account of one of the trailblazers place in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Weather Page: Comparing Data

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students analyze data from maps. In this comparing data activity, students use comparative and superlative statements to draw comparisons among the weather in different American cities based on USA Today weather maps.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Watershed Investigations

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the components of a watershed and the factors that affect it. They read a topographical map and use geometry to determine the area of a watershed. Students estimate the volume of a body of water and perform runoff...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Direction March

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students participate in a game that explores map reading skills and intermediate directions. The teacher turns over a direction card for each player or team and announces the move, and they move towards a designated cardinal or...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Night of the Twister

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Pupils use reading strategies for Night of the Twister. In this reading strategies lesson, students name five major catastrophes and books about each. Pupils complete a vocabulary section, make inferences and predictions, read the story...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduction to the Globe

For Teachers K - 4th
Students investigate how to use a globe. In this map skills lesson, students define what a globe is and locate the various continents on the globe. Students are also asked to locate the four oceans on the globe.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Taste of Blackberries

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders participate in a shared reading of Doris Buchanan's, A Taste of Blackberries. They read about grief in the loss of a best friend and examine the skills of a responsible family member.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Arthur's Birthday

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students investigate birthdays.  In this literacy cross curriculum lesson, students listen to the book Arthur's Birthday by Marc Brown.  Students re-read the book orally, graph birthdays, design a word search, and create...
Lesson Plan
Pennsylvania Department of Education

Analyzing Key Ideas and Details in Nonfiction

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students explore nonfiction texts. In this language arts lesson, students read a nonfiction text and make predictions. Students identify facts and opinions in the text and draw conclusions as they read.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where in the World is Flat Stanley?

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders analyze the proper form of a friendly letter and send flat Stanley letters all over the United States. In this letter writing lesson, 2nd graders read the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and create their own Flat...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Metrics And Measurements

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers engage in a study of measuring distances between geographical locations on a map. They are able to define and use the map scale in conjunction with the metric system. For this lesson they make their own maps and measure...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Map Coordinate Bingo

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students play a bingo-type game to locate cities by coordinates. They explain the use of orientation on a map and identify cities in the western hemisphere. They compare road maps, shutttle images, and a CIR image and obtain an...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Helping Right Whales - Right Now

For Teachers 4th - 5th
In this whales worksheet, young scholars answer eight questions referring to the right whales found in the Atlantic Ocean. Students read a map to answer three questions and five questions are multiple choice.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Countries and Cultures

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders choose a country associated with a family member and research its location, government, language, economy, history, holidays, foods, sports, and famous people. They write to inform using this data and draw a map identifying...