Whitewater Valley Railroad
Teaching and Learning with The Polar Express
Use a series of extension activities to enhance your class reading of Chris Van Allsburg's holiday classic, The Polar Express. From a biography of the author to filmed book reviews and research about the railroad, kids can take...
New York City Department of Education
How I Roll
There's a high likelihood for learner success in this set of probability problems and activities. From support activities that walk learners through joint and compound probabilities through the cumulative activity of planning to win...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: The Lost Boys of Sudan
Get deep! Teach scholars how to make connections between texts to deepen their understanding of a topic. Using the resource, pupils read and annotate a short informational text about Sudan's Civil War and refugee crisis. Next, they...
Blogger
Standard Form of a Linear Equation
Organize your learners with this well-laid-out note-taking printable. Note blanks are organized to allow for two strategies of graphing an equation given in standard form.
Sealy Independent School District
Substitute Teacher Toolbox
Substitute teaching can be challenging. You never know what you're going to find. Never fear, help is here in the form of a toolkit packed with great advice and practical suggestions.
Serendip
Evolution and Adaptations
Survival of the fittest isn't just for the movies! A five-part lesson explores several different species with known adaptations and analyzes them for their survival strategies. Using both video and research data, scholars draw...
EngageNY
Close Reading: Louie’s Change of Heart
Scholars read additional pages in Unbroken to discover more about Louie's character. Readers use turn-and-talk strategies to discuss character traits that describe Louie. They then answer text-dependent questions and cite evidence to...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Why Are Sports Important in American Culture?
What makes sports so special to many Americans? Scholars ponder the question as they participate in a gallery walk, immersing themselves in images and texts about sports. Pupils also complete a vocabulary strategies anchor chart to...
PBS
Terrific Trees
Engage in a shady activity to practice measurement techniques. Classes venture outside to collect measurements of various trees, using different strategies to measure the height, trunk circumference, width, and crown size. Then they...
K20 LEARN
It's All About Balance! Parallel Structure
I came, I saw, I conquered! Parallel structure, employed by writers even before Julius Caesar, is the focus of a lesson that teaches young writers the power of this rhetorical device. Class members analyze speeches by Dr. Martin Luther...
K20 LEARN
If I Had... Conditional and Subjunctive Sentences
Lines from popular songs are used to teach middle schoolers about conditional and subjunctive moods. Groups engage in a card sort activity to identify conditional and subjective sentences and then partners draft sentences of each type....
K20 LEARN
Sentence Structure in Siddhartha: Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex Sentences
While wisdom may not be communicated, knowledge of sentence structures certainly can. Teach young grammarians the power of syntax with a instructional activity that uses Herman Hesse's Siddhartha as a mentor text. Learners first rewrite...
K20 LEARN
The Anatomy Of A Story: Story Structure
Somebody. Wanted. But. Then. Introduce your classes to the structure that supports stories with a lesson that teaches readers how to identify the four basic components writers use to craft their tales. After identifying these elements in...
K20 LEARN
Summarizing and Sorting Details from an Informational Text: Identifying the Main Idea
Scholars participate in two activities that teach them to identify the main idea and key supporting details in informational text. Partners create a visual that reflects the main idea and key supporting details in an informational text...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 13
Readers of The Autobiography of Malcolm X continue their analysis of the methods Haley uses to show how Malcolm X is changing due to his exposure to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad.
Illustrative Mathematics
Christina's Candies
Help Christina figure out how many chocolate and lemon candies she has with a lesson on decomposing numbers. When presenting this context to the class, the teacher chooses the total number of candies and the number that are chocolate,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Running Around a Track II
On your mark, get set, GO! The class sprints toward the conclusions in a race analysis activity. The staggered start of the 400-m foot race is taken apart in detail, and then learners step back and develop some overall race strategy...
West Contra Costa Unified School District
Dividing Numbers
Three pages make up a reference page designed to help parents understand the concept of division. Division strategies are showcased using detailed descriptions and labeled examples.
Concord Consortium
Crazy Clocks
While a stopped clock is right twice a day, a fast or slow clock confuses people for weeks. Scholars observe a clock running slow and must correct it before observing a clock running fast and working it backward. Finally, a multi-step...
Space Awareness
Day and Night in the World
How do different parts of the world experience day and night? Introduce scholars to the concept of global citizenship while teaching about animal behavior with discussion of nocturnal and diurnal animals. Then, learners complete...
New York State Education Department
Global History and Geography Examination: June 2013
Is it time to improve test-taking skills? The assessment is a copy of a state test for pupils to practice strategies for taking exams. It covers subjects such as the Chinese Dynasty's and ancient Indian history. It is divided into...
McGill University
Peer Relationships
A nine-lesson unit introduces learners to strategies they need to develop healthy peer relationships. The scripted lessons focus on the etiquette of two-way conversations, sharing and turn-taking, good sportsmanship, and the...
Nemours KidsHealth
Healthy Relationships: Grades 6-8
Help middle schoolers develop healthy relationships with a series of activities that teaches them not only to recognize and protect themselves from unhealthy relationships, but also how to develop and maintain positive ones. In addition,...
American Chemical Society
Engineering a Floatation Device
Classes will definitely not be sinking after a buoyant instructional activity! A project-based assessment helps highlight the importance of prior knowledge as individuals design a floatation device for a cell phone. They use their...