Curated OER
How Advertisers Persuade
This plan centers around the article "How Advertisers Persuade," although it is not included in the instructional activity itself. Get your class thinking about advertising, appeals, and techniques that companies use to get their...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Virus Hunters: Epidemiology of Nipah Virus
Who actually goes looking for a virus? Expose your class to the high-stakes life of an epidemiologist on the trail of the Nipah virus. Pupils engage in a short video, then examine how scientists predict, model, and find the source of...
Scholastic
Pilgrim and Wampanoag Daily Life for Grades 6–8
Two slide shows, viewed side-by-side, permit middle schoolers to compare and contrast the lives of the Pilgrims of the Plimoth colony and the Wampanoags. Four videos take learners on virtual field trips to the Plymouth plantation. And an...
Scholastic
Voyage on the Mayflower for Grades 6–8
Imagine living in the hold of a sailing ship for 63 days, enduring rough seas and autumn storms. As part of a study of the voyage of the Mayflower, class members examine an online resource that details life about the ship, watch a slide...
Scholastic
The First Thanksgiving Feast for Grades 3-5
Scholars examine the first Thanksgiving through books and interviews while they complete a KWL chart. Pretending they are part of the feast, learners craft a scrapbook page that features images related to their experience. Pupils reflect...
NASA
Science Fiction Story
A instructional activity allows you to go back in time and see the big bang actually happen. Bazinga! In reality, pupils research the Big Bang Theory and theorize what it would be like to go back in time and see it happen....
Curated OER
Red is the Word!
Through the use of stories, artwork, and the KidPix program, youngsters explore the color word red, and engage in activities around the word. Teaching kindergartners about the color words can be so much fun. This could be adapted for any...
Curated OER
Christmas Candy
Here is a tasty topic for a lesson: Christmas candy! Third and fourth graders research classic Christmas candies, then create their very own! They write a descriptive paragraph about their candy, then use KidPix to create an illustration...
Curated OER
Get in Shape with Geometry
Using geoboards, computer programs, and hands-on manipulative materials, elementary schoolers engage in a study of two and three-dimensional geometric shapes. This lesson is chock full of good teaching ideas on the subject, and the...
Curated OER
The Perfect President
Students advertise for the perfect president. In this presidential duties lesson, students determine the attributes that the ideal president should have and then write job descriptions for the role.
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.3
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech, "I Have a Dream," is one of the most famous in United States history, but why was it so effective? Ask your class to determine the answer to this question. While the resource includes a description of...
Novelinks
Tuck Everlasting: Bio-Poem
Learn about the characters of Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting with a character biopoem. Readers fill in a poem format to detail the character traits of Winnie, Jesse, Miles, and Mae, and share their finished poems...
Code.org
Practice PT - The Internet and Society
Speaking of the Internet. The culminating lesson for the unit on the Internet challenges pupils to prepare short, two-minute speeches on an issue facing society. The pupils chose from three topics that connect the Internet and...
University of Minnesota
Connect the Neurons!
Create a neuron frenzy as your pupils play the part of the neurons. An engaging lesson creates a human chain of neurons that pass cotton balls posing as neurotransmitters. Scholars learn about pre- and post-synapses as they complete...
University of Minnesota
Neurotransmission Model
Don't lose your marbles — you'll need them for a lesson on neurotransmission. Young scholars build a neurotransmission model using marbles, beads, rubber bands, string, and other elements. After studying specific neurotransmitters,...
College Board
Reading—Synthesis and Paired Passages
Good readers make connections between texts. The SAT regularly assesses the ability to make those connections using paired reading passages, a topic discussed in an official SAT practice lesson plan on synthesis. During the lesson,...
Serendip
How Do We Sense the Flavors of Food?
We taste with our taste buds, so why do flavors change when we have a stuffy nose? Scholars experiment with taste testing while holding their noses and then while smelling. They record their observations in pairs and come together to...
Scholastic
The First Thanksgiving Feast
Following an online activity, scholars listen to a read-aloud of If You Were at the First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma. Pupils discuss their family traditions and complete a T-chart comparing the holiday then and now. Collages are made to...
Scholastic
The First Thanksgiving Feast for Grades 6–8
It's time for the feast! Young historians complete their study of the First Thanksgiving by completing an online activity, watching a slideshow, and examining a First Thanksgiving timeline. After answering text-dependent questions to...
Scholastic
Voyage on the Mayflower for Grades 3-5
Following an online activity, scholars complete a Grafitti Wall in which small groups write words and phrases on chart paper pertaining to Pilgrims, the Mayflower, and Thanksgiving. Pupils perform a close reading then answer a series of...
Curated OER
I Can Build It.....Yes I Can!
Kindergartners listen to a story read by their teacher, then use magnetic shape pieces to construct simple designes. They "build" their own house using pre-cut paper shapes. This age-appropriate lesson would be an excellent choice for...
Curated OER
Legendary Life Cycles
Upper elementary historians research a legendary person who had an impact in the the history of the United States. Learners research the life of their person of choice, and construct a legendary timeline using computer software which...
Curated OER
The Nine Planets
A solid lesson on teaching the nine planets in our solar system is here for you. In it, young scientists learn the correct order of the planets, and they choose one of the planets to do a research report on. They must come up with five...
Curated OER
Patriotic Symbols of the United States
Young historians take a close look at the most famous patriotic symbols of the United States and determine what they actually stand for. Symbols such as Uncle Sam, The Statue of Liberty, The Bald Eagle, and The Liberty Bell are studied....