US National Library of Medicine
Drug Use and Abuse: Past and Present
Pick your poison: tobacco, alcohol, opiates, cocaine, or marijuana. An online exhibition launches a research project that asks groups to select one of the five drugs and gather information on how the use of the drug and the regulations...
Curated OER
NFL Home Field Advantage?
Does the home team have the home field advantage in football? Class members look at a graph that displays wins at home and wins on the road for each NFL team from 2002–2012. Then they answer eight word problems that look at the...
Curated OER
The Pearl: Found Poem
It's hard to beat the beauty of John Steinbeck's prose, so borrow a little of it to form your own found poetry. After kids finish Chapter One of The Pearl, they select the most evocative and vivid words to create found poems.
Rainforest Alliance
How Do Jaguars and Howler Monkeys in Belize Depend on Us?
How does weather play a role in the lives of land and sea creatures? Find out with a lesson plan focused on habitats and the ways animals from different homes are connected. Here, learners explore how the life of a jaguar and...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Vocabulary Activity
Talk about a menu! Who would have thought SAT prep could be so delicious? Treat your class to a full course of SAT words with a timed activity that asks groups to create clues for dishes on their bill of fare. Distained veggies anyone?...
Civil War Trust
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address may have been four score and seven years ago, but its message is still as relevant today. Young historians explore the context of the famous speech, as well as its central theme and argument, before discussing the...
Novelinks
Walk Two Moons: Story Impressions
Story chains connect literary concepts, reinforce context clues, and even help learners predict what's coming next! Using words from the next chapter of Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons, middle schoolers craft story chains to...
US Institute of Peace
Becoming a Peacebuilder
"Be the change you wish to see in the world!" The 15th and final lesson in a peacebuilding series uses this quote from Gandhi to prepare pupils for their own action projects. Individuals research a global issue, then brainstorm a method...
Google
Google Translate
Not sure how to translate a word, phrase, or paragraph? No worries. Simply paste in, type, or dictate your text, select the initial and desired language, and up pops your translation. Better yet, the app will read the text to you in most...
Prestwick House
Teaching Shakespeare: Sonnet 73
It's that time of year to consider how Shakespeare selects his images and structures his Sonnet 73 to develop the meaning of the poem. Class members examine the rhyme scheme, the indented lines, the conceit, and the images used in each...
PBS
Arguing over Area
With the help of the Area Officers and Perimeter Patrol, you learners will develop a better understanding of area and its relationship to perimeter. First, they view a video clip from Cyberchase, and then they visit a website to...
Curated OER
Ecosystems
A critical look into the structure and function of ecosystems is here for young learners as a series of lessons and worksheet activities. Topics covered include land-based and marine ecosystems, connections to the water cycle, food...
TED-Ed
A-rhythm-etic. The Math Behind the Beats
Your learners will dance in their seats as this talented drummer connects math to music in a short video clip. Clayton Cameron shows how math puts the "cool" in various genres of music, including jazz, hip-hop, pop,...
Read Works
Edison Tried and Tried Again
How many times did it take Thomas Edison to invent a successful working lightbulb? Young learners read a short passage about this famous inventor and his determination in getting an idea to work successfully. Then, pupils respond to four...
Polar Trec
Where in the World Is Our Teacher?
Kirk Beckendorf, a middle school teacher, joined researchers at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica to help maintain automatic weather stations. The lesson plan encourages pupils to track his travels around the region. They connect with...
K12 Reader
Geometric Shape Names
Combine math and language arts in the same lesson with a reading passage about number prefixes in geometric shapes. After reading several short paragraphs about the different prefixes used in shape names, kids answer five comprehension...
Illustrative Mathematics
Size Shuffle
In the eyes of children the world is a simple place, objects are either big or small. This simple activity aims to expand the comparison language of young mathematicians as they use the words taller and shorter to compare their...
Federal Reserve Bank
Little Nino's Pizzeria
Engage your youngsters in basic economics by connecting the terms to dessert and pizza! After a discussion about intermediate goods and natural resources, learners read and connect a pizzeria to economic terms.
Kenan Fellows
What Element Would You Be?
Primo Levi wrote a collection of short stories comparing his life from Italy to Auschwitz to elements in the periodic table. Pupils read an excerpt from his book and research the characteristics of various elements. Then, they make a...
Novelinks
Zach’s Lie: Multi-Genre Writing Assignment
How do people solve problems in healthy ways? Writers explore a topic of interest in their multi-genre writing assignment exploring Zach's Lie. The final resource in a series of seven includes multiple scaffolds and organizers for...
NASA
Lava Layering
Take the old baking soda and vinegar volcano to the next level by using it to study repeated lava flows over time, examine geologic features on Earth and Mars, and speculate about some of the formations on Mars.
Illustrative Mathematics
Number of the Day
Daily routines not only help to manage classrooms, they can also provide learners with rich opportunities for learning. This activity supports young learners in developing their number sense by counting up the school days on a class...
Reed Novel Studies
Little House In The Big Woods: Novel Study
Author Laura Ingalls Wilder takes readers back to the good ole days. In Little House in the Big Woods, she tells scholars about a family living in the woods during the 1870s. While reading, they complete sentences with vocabulary words,...
TRAIN Educational & Community Services
Multicultural Activities
From catching stars developed by African pygmy tribes to chop stix pick-up or the Hanukkah dreidel, use this list of diverse multicultural activities to help your learners draw connections to unique cultures of the...