If you're reading Jan Brett's The Umbrella, a presentation featuring the animals from the story is an excellent way to augment your lesson. Featuring gorgeous photographs of rainforest animals, as well as Spanish phrases and English...

Do words change or add meaning or interest to a work of art? The final lesson in a four-part series on the beautiful brain as a work of art focuses on art analysis. Scholars write a story about exploring art from the inside. Reflections...

Take your class on an out-of-this-world adventure with this fun engineering design lesson. Working in small groups, young scientists design, build, and test crew exploration vehicles using some creativity, teamwork, and...

Take your science class on a hypothetical field trip to Mars with an engaging astronomy lesson plan. After first learning about NASA's Mars rover missions, young scientists plan their own scientific investigations of...

Bugs are creepy, crawly, and beautiful! Explore the world of colorful bugs with a presentation about bugs that are different colors. With red ladybugs, yellow caterpillars, and purple dragonflies, the presentation is sure to delight and...

Small groups place sand and ice in a covered box, place the box in the sunlight, then observe as evaporation, condensation, and precipitation occur. These models serve as miniature water cycles and demonstrations of the three phases of...

With a partner, youngsters measure their pulse and breathing rates, both at rest and after running in place for a minute. While this activity is not novel, the lesson plan includes a large-scale classroom graphing activity and other...

What was the most significant tool used by the Chumash? How did the environment make the tool possible? What group behaviors allowed the Chumash be be successful for thousands of years? After watching West of the West's documentary Once...

"Neuroscientists consider Cajal as important to their discipline as Einstein is to physics." The first of four lessons has scholars view Santiago Ramon y Cajal's drawings of neurons. They reflect and respond to the art through writing...

It's time to roll up those sleeves and get a little dirty in the second lesson of this series on the science of food. Investigate where plants and animals get the minerals they need to live in this two-part exploration of soil. First,...

Traveling through space is an amazing experience, but it definitely takes a toll on the body. After reading an article and watching a brief video, learners perform an experiment that simulates the effects of zero gravity on the...

When astronauts get hungry in outer space, they can't just call and have a pizza delivered. In order to gain an appreciation for the challenges associated with space travel, young learners are given the task of selecting,...

You may not be able to take a field trip to the moon, but that doesn't mean your class can't study moon rocks. Using graham crackers as the moon's bedrock and powdered donuts as micrometeorites, young scientists simulate...

The health effects of mercury exposure if the focus of the first of three activities about the properties of metals. Pairs research mercury to write, prepare, and share posters, articles, or PSAs with the class. 

Is losing cultural traditions the cost of social progress, or should people make stronger efforts to preserve these traditions? High schoolers watch a short film about the native Yup'ik people in Alaska and how they handle the shifts in...

What is the cost of change? Roberto Guerra's photo essay "La Carretera: Life and Change Along Peru's Interoceanic Highway" asks viewers to consider the impacts of the 1,600 mile-long highway through Peru and Brazil that connects Pacific...

Students discuss the meaning of "hogging" something, and speculate on the origin of this phrase. They attempt to guess the contents of a shoe box (without looking inside). Students view feed grains and discuss animals that eat these...

Fourth graders examine the history of the tortilla and extend the study across the curriculum. In this history of the tortilla activity, 4th graders research the background of the tortilla, determine the ingredients, and work with the...

Learners read, write about, and cook with rice in this home economics lesson. They reflect on the experience eating rice at home or in other ethnic foods.

Young scholars engage in a literature study in order to address the concept of exploring the culture of Puerto Rico. The lesson looks at the culture through the eyes of two children. This helps students to connect to the content of the...

Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the allocation and finding of water resources. The location of different settlement areas is considered as one looks how the water is distributed. They map some of the early Spanish and...

Students are introduced to the terms related to the water cycle in their native language. In groups, they describe the steps of the cycle using different materials found in their art classroom. They describe how energy helps water...

Third graders study butterflies and their migration habits. They track butterfly migration and communicate via e-mail with students in Mexico where the butterflies migrate. They write letters to the students in Mexico, as well.

This detailed lesson, designed to integrate mathematics, science and language arts, explores the world of the spider. Through a variety of learning activities, students will learn about spider characteristics, their life cycle, their...