Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment
Managing Influences and Making Decisions
Does patience help people become more responsible? Class members explore the topic with a What's It To Do With Me? quiz to assess their personal responsibilities. They engage in a whole-class discussion about pros and cons of instant...
Curated OER
Close Reading of “The Necklace”
Designed for teachers, this 12-page packet uses passages from Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" to model how to design activities that encourage close reading of complex text.
Museum of Disability
Taking Visual Impairment to School
What is the world like when you can't see, or when your vision is impaired? Learn about how Lisa communicates with the world around her with Taking Visual Impairment to School by Rita Whitman Steingold. Learners answer...
Curated OER
Volcanoes: First Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Introduce young geologists to types of volcanoes during the pre-lab. First graders explore how different liquids flow with an experiment on viscosity to simulate how different types of lava flow. Next, they learn...
Institute for the Professional Development of Adult Educators
Using Context Clues with Signal Words
When you come across an unfamiliar word in a text, do you skip it and move on? Practice using context clues to identify words you don't know with a thorough set of language arts lessons. The resource reinforces close reading and critical...
Michigan State University
Create an Animal
Think beyond the animals and habitats we've already discovered and allow scholars to dream up their very own habitat and an animal that lives there. Class members present the new habitat and animal on a poster alongside an...
US Department of State
Reader's Theater: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing...
K5 Learning
George Washington and His Hatchet
America has a long history of presidents with an affinity for the truth, from Honest Abe to George Washington and his cherry tree. A short passage features Washington's infamous hatchet and confession, and includes four comprehension...
NOAA
To Explore Strange New Worlds
It's time to boldly go where your class has not gone before! The introductory lesson in a five-part series takes young oceanographers aboard the NOAA Ship Okeanos to begin a study of ocean exploration. The lesson includes a comparison of...
Curriculum Corner
February Bell Ringers
Use a set of 30 writing bell ringers to get through the month of February. Writers tap into and write about how February makes them feel, what it smells like, and all types of celebrations that occur during the month.
Science Matters
Formative Assessment #3
Thirteen short-answer questions follow a brief food web activity in a formative assessment designed to test knowledge of ecosystems and the energy that flows through them.
Reed Novel Studies
One-Eyed Cat: Novel Study
The Great Depression was a devastating period in American history that lasted for an entire decade. Using an enlightening novel study, scholars uncover additional facts about the era. They also write quatrain poems focusing on themes...
Curated OER
The Adventure of Negative clue and Alice World
Students read the story "The Adventure of the Negative Clue" and design an Alice World for the story's setting. In this reading analysis lesson, students read the story and complete a story map. Students use the Alice program to design...
Curated OER
Mapping Constellations
Students become familiar with constellations. In this space science lesson, the teacher introduces constellations by showing students the star patterns and reading myths. Students, observe the stars nightly, then choose one constellation...
Curated OER
The Journey to Civil Rights
Young scholars explore Civil Rights. In this Civil Rights lesson, students read about Ruby Bridges and define the words segregation and supremacy. Young scholars make a timeline of important events in Civil Rights and write a paragraph...
Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Science Fiction
Sixth graders explore the components of science fiction in a science and literacy lesson. As they define and record definitions of the term on the board, learners identify a text as science fiction using the terms they have...
Curated OER
Officer Buckle and Gloria; How to Stay Safe
Students listen to the teacher read a book about a police officer and his trained dog and make connections to their own personal safety habits. In this safety instructional activity, students create a classroom bulletin board of safety...
Curated OER
Retelling and Summarizing
Having students use a rubric to score a piece of writing is an excellent practice. They read a passage titled, "Firefighters," and discuss different summaries that were written about it. They evaluate several summaries then score them...
Curated OER
Mr. Potato
Students identify the nutrients found in potatoes and the process of growing a potato plant. They role-play the potato life cycle, view a flannel board story, plant grass seeds in potatoes, and play hot potato.
Curated OER
Heavy: The Story of Metal
Students describe and learn about the development of Heavy Metal in American music and compare different sub-genres of metal, including Hair Metal and Teeth Metal and understanding music in relation to history and culture.
Curated OER
The Medium is the Message: Covering the Final Chapter of the Elian Gonzalez Story
Learners discuss the case of Elian Gonzalez and collaborate in small groups to act as editors in assigning facts, quotes, and details to be included in a newspaper article. They judge the accuracy of their predictions.
Curated OER
Stories in the Sky
Students discover the concept of combining constellations and tall tales. In this tall tale lesson plan, students compare constellations to tale tales. They create their own tall tale and constellation.
Curated OER
"An American Story" -- The Responsibility of Citizenship
High schoolers identify examples of philanthropy in a movie. They explain how philanthropic acts contribute to the common good. They discover their rights and responsibilities on being a citizen of the United States.
Curated OER
Little Stories - Women in the 36th Parliament
Students develop visual literacy skills. They evaluate, organize and communicate information.