Curated OER
Plant Part Exploration: Stems
Explore water transport in plant stems using this fun experiment! Your scientists will start by reading Stems by Vijaya Bodach. Then, activate prior knowledge about plant stem functions and water transportation....
Center Science Education
Feeling the Heat
What is an urban heat island? Middle school meteorologists find out by comparing temperatures at different locations on campus. They relate their findings to what might be happening in a concrete jungle and how it impacts local weather....
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Campaign
The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...
Curated OER
Tallying Local Species to Learn About Diversity
Using this thoroughly-written plan, you can have your junior ecologists exploring local biodiversity. They take a journal outdoors to tally the species that they see. An article is included along with comprehension questions. The author...
Curated OER
Ready Set Go Woah: KWL for Ender's Game
Readers of Orson Scott Card's award-winning science fiction novel, Ender's Game use the provided KWL worksheet to list what they already know about war, what they think they will learn in reading the book, the new information they...
Google
Adventure on the High Seas
Ahoy there! A fun computer science lesson challenges pupils to write a program that creates an ocean wave. They then develop stories to accompany their projects. All of this takes place within the Scratch coding program.
Curated OER
Question - Answer
Learners use the comprehension strategy question-answer to improve reading comprehension. They read a passage out of their textbook, and the teacher models the question/answer strategy by asking about key points mentioned in the reading.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan for Nonfiction Comprehension: Posing Questions
Students practice writing questions on a selected topic. Students discuss questioning skills. They browse through books and magazines, review their textbooks, watch a film, or participate in a similar experience that will provide some...
Curated OER
Reading Through Rainforests
Students investigate the concept of the rainforest through the use of nonfiction texts. The teacher reads to the class to give some information. Then they read their own books to find further information and perform the follow activities...
Curated OER
Elementary Article: What's a Short Circuit?
Students read an article about short circuits. In this science reading comprehension lesson, students read about short circuits and study the diagram to learn more about electricity and energy.
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Question Answer Relationships
Asking questions about what you're reading is an effective way to connect with the text. After kids read passages from Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter, they identify questions about the passages as Right There, Think and...
Curated OER
Rachel's Life is in a Hole
Explore how lack of access to water impacts peoples' lives in poor countries. Through text reading and discussion, middle schoolers are presented with the story of a young girl who lives and functions with limited water resources. They...
Curated OER
The Stolen Smell
Second graders read the story The Stolen Smell and participate in many language arts based activity connected to the story. They participate in discussions, vocabulary work, analyzing the story, public speaking, illustrating pictures,...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan for The Little Red Hen
Cultivate young performers while teaching them about helping one another with this interactive storytelling lesson. Elementary schoolers read or listen to the story The Little Red Hen by Mike Lockett and then act out the story while...
Rainforest Alliance
Knowing the Essential Elements of a Habitat
To gain insight into the many different types of habitats, individuals must first get to know their own. Here, scholars explore their school environment, draw a map, compare and contrast their surroundings to larger ones. They then...
Science Matters
Potential and Kinetic Energy
Everything has potential energy; learning to use it is the key to understanding all types of energy. Scholars learn the difference between kinetic and potential energy. They then apply the concept to drawing examples of both types...
Society for Science & the Public
Easter Islanders Made Tools, Not War
When studying artifacts, especially tools, how do archaeologists determine what the devices were used for? In what ways might researchers' previous experiences influence their perception of an artifact? An article about researchers'...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "Heart to Heart" by Rita Dove
Take heart! Here's a lesson that will encourage learners to notice details. After listening to Sarah Vaughan singing "My Funny Valentine" and noting how the word heart relates to Valentine's Day, scholars observe a human heart image....
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to Counting by 7s
Everyone takes a different journey through grief. A series of lesson plans for the novel Counting by 7s introduces readers to the main character who loses her parents in a car crash. Discussion questions and writing prompts combine...
EngageNY
Tracing the Idea of Fish Depletion: Chapter 1
Would you, could you? Scholars read World without Fish and focus carefully on the use of the words could and would. They chunk the text into smaller sections and write annotations on sticky notes to help with comprehension. To...
Illinois State Board of Education
Common Core Teaching and Learning Strategies
Here's a resource that deserves a place in your curriculum library, whether or not your school has adopted the Common Core. Designed for middle and high school language arts classes, the packet is packed with teaching tips, materials,...
Curated OER
Finding the Good Stuff in What We Read
Students work to develop comprehension strategies. They focus on three rules for summarizing: getting rid of extra information, organizing, and finding the main idea. Through modeling and then guided practice, they apply these rules ...
Curated OER
Science in the News
Students explore science in the news through articles, magazines, and internet news sites. They select articles, read them and summarize them to identify the audience that would care about their topics. As they present their articles...
Curated OER
Read, Write and Talk
Fourth graders explore electricity by reading a story in their class. In this research technique lesson, 4th graders read a Magic School Bus book together and decide which elements of the story are the most important when asked about...