University of Southern California
Discovering Plants
Students construct a small greenhouse and plant lima beans. They read books about plants, tend the lima bean seedlings, observe and record plant growth, taste a variety of plants and maintain plant journals.
Curated OER
Let's Explore Patterns
Second graders define the word pattern and other related vocabulary. They create a pattern independently. Students recognize and extend patterns. They explain how repeated patterns are made. Students explore several patterns on a...
Curated OER
The Seasons of the Year
Students learn about the four seasons. They collaborate in pairs, publish a book, and share with the class. They also brainstorm and collaborate with each other providing literacy skills through listening, speaking and writing activities.
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Introduction to Night by Elie Wiesel
Students research background knowledge of the Holocaust using Internet websites and the video Seared Souls as preparation for reading Elie Wiesel's Night. In this Night activity, students visit websites for Holocaust vocabulary,...
Shodor Education Foundation
Triangle Area
While the lesson plan focuses on right triangles, this activity offers a great way to practice the area of all triangles through an interactive webpage. The activity begins with the class taking a square paper and cutting in in half; can...
Curated OER
Write Right!
After watching part of a Club Write Kids video and discussing the editing process, each group of learners writes a letter to a favorite author. They ask for a copy of a page of manuscript that has gone through the editing process. Prior...
Curated OER
Living in a Geometrical World
Learners participate in a series of hand-on, online, and multimedia activities to examine 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional shapes. They describe common geometric solids. They construct rectangular prisms using straws and ribbon.
Curated OER
Making Connections between Robert Frost's Life and His Poetry
Become acquainted with Robert Frost's life in order to allow your class to fully appreciate how his background influenced his poetry. They analyze specified poems in relation to theme, setting and the use of imagery.
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The Amazing Ant
Students explain that ants are an important element of nature's balance. Ants eat many insects and are food to other animals. They watch a video and conduct hands-on activities that give them an excellent overview of the ants role in...
Curated OER
All in the Family
Students use data to make a tally chart and a line plot. They find the maximum, minimum, range, median, and mode of the data. Following the video portion of the lesson, students will visit a Web site to test their data collection skills...
Curated OER
Writing a Newspaper Article
The perfect resource for a beginning journalism teacher or someone designing a journalism unit, this activity prompts young scholars to write a newspaper article. It covers all aspects of the writing process, such as a guided warm-up...
Recorded Books
Teacher's Guide: The Pinballs
Dive your class into the novel The Pinballs by Betsy Byars with the support of this reading guide. Including short answer questions, a multiple choice comprehension quiz, and extension activities, a variety of materials are provided for...
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How did rice first come to America?
Students discover how rice first came to America. In this rice history lesson, students discuss how a boat captain gave people a bag of rice seeds for fixing his ship. They draw a picture of a ship and create pictures that show how the...
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Weatherman Phil
Third graders examine the life of a groundhog and their role in predicting weather. They write a postcard or a letter to Punxsutawney Phil on the Internet.
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Can You Swim in Chocolate Water?
Third graders discss water pollution and its affects on animals. They watch a demonstration using a plastic fish in a fish bowl in which various types of water pollution are illustrated.
Curated OER
Am I Am I Prime?
Seventh graders determine if a number is prime or composite. In this determining if a number is prime or composite lesson, 7th graders use a website to help find all prime numbers between 1 and 100. Students use a website to find...
Curated OER
If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War.
Learners investigate major characters of history that are represented in children's literature. They conduct research using a variety of resources and each character is put into a class book as a presentation. The character includes a...
Curated OER
Time, Talent, Treasure, and Economics
Students examine and trace the origin of an item of clothing. They write, illustrate, and publish a book describing the trade flow that brought their item of clothing to the United States.
Curated OER
What's Hatching in Kindergarten?
Students identify oviparous animals. They brainstorm a list of animals that lay eggs, read "Chickens Aren't The Only Ones" by Ruth Heller and then add to the list. Students complete a booklet that shows an egg and an oviparous animal.
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Triangle Explorer
Students calculate the area of triangles using a variety of materials including computer applets.
Curated OER
Area Lesson Plan
Students manipulate a variety of materials and computer applets in order to explore area and the units used to measure it.
Curated OER
The Slave Trade
Students map and explore a possible slave trade route. For this slave trade mapping lesson, students calculate the distance and amount of time it would take for African slaves to arrive in America.