Curated OER
Soil Erosion
Students examine how erosion is affected by the composition of the soil and the slope of the land. They look at plant roots, rocks and land slope as experimental factors. They complete the associated worksheets before discussing their...
Curated OER
Creatures of the Skies
Students create a bird identification game. In this classification activity, students work in pairs to collect information about a specific bird. They use a bird field guide to aid in the research. They challenge other students in their...
Curated OER
Genre Study
Third graders develop an understanding of genre by participating in small- and whole-group activities. In addition, they practice presentation and specific listening skills. This lesson assumes students have been regularly exposed to a...
Curated OER
The Odyssey Lesson 1
Students explore Greek mythology. In this ancient culture and introduction to The Odyssey literacy lesson, students complete a worksheet accessing their prior knowledge about Greek mythology. Students listen to a passage about the Trojan...
Curated OER
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Here's an illustrated Of Mice and Men worksheet that asks readers to respond to five short answer prompts and complete 4 graphic organizers designed to be used prior to reading, while reading, and after reading Steinbeck's Of Mice...
Science Matters
Island Fox Outreach
Off the coast of California lives a wild animal called the Island Fox. Experts discuss the importance of the Island Fox to the Channel Islands and the balance the fox creates within its ecosystem. The lesson concludes with a reading of...
Curated OER
Examples for Socratic Questioning: Climate And Solar Radiation
High schoolers explore the various controls on the amount of solar radiation received at different parts of the Earth's surface by participating in a whole class discussion. They respond to prompts that lead them to conclusions about ...
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 4: Rational Functions
Time to study the most sensible function — rational functions! The seven-lesson unit develops the concept of a rational function through a connection to rational numbers and fractions. Scholars graph functions, solve equations, and...
Curated OER
Problem Solving: 100 Board Logic Problems
Get mathematicians engaged with number terminology using this puzzle activity! Learners determine the selected number from a hundred board by eliminating numbers using clues. As a group, each learner has a specific role, outlined in the...
Curated OER
Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban: KWHL Strategy
J.K. Rowling's world of wizards and magic focuses on some topics that relate to our own society, especially in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Have kids complete a KWHL chart (what they know, what they want to know, how...
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Jupiter’s Relative Size
How do you properly illustrate the extreme size difference between two planets—Earth and Jupiter? With the help of jellybeans, of course! Create a scale model of Jupiter's mass compared to Earth using a fishbowl, 1,400 beans, and a...
Novelinks
The Tempest: Anticipation Guide
Begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest with a helpful anticipation guide. Learners read ten statements that connect to the play's literary themes, and note whether they believe the statement is true or false.
US Environmental Protection Agency
A Mock Town Meeting on a Proposed Tank Farm
Intended as a follow up to the Protecting Your Drinking Water activity, young environmentalists use their assessment of the a hypothetical town's water supply to debate the installation of underground chemical storage tanks. With...
Curated OER
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man: Anticipation Guide
A fan of anticipation guides? This resource not only offers directions on how to craft such a pre-reading activity, but also provides a model for Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Night to Life is Beautiful
After reading Elie Wiesel's Night, watching the movie Life is Beautiful, and researching World War II, class members write a comparison essay on the book and film. This includes a prior knowledge activity, discussion in whole and small...
Perkins School for the Blind
Circle Time
Oftentimes children or teens with one or more disability are reluctant to participate in whole-group activities. Foster good participation, verbal expression, and social skills through daily circle time activities. Each day you and...
Computer Science Unplugged
The Poor Cartographer—Graph Coloring
Color the town red. Demonstrate the concept of graph theory with a task that involves determining the least number of colors needed to color a map so that neighboring countries are not represented by the same color. Pupils...
Curated OER
Sexual Health and Hygiene
By examining harmful health and hygiene practices, teens will be able to determine what is best for their body. Advertisers for health/hygiene products will also be evaluated for "best interest" criteria. The class will begin by...
University of North Carolina
Reading to Write
Silly journal and essay prompts may be fun to write, but they don't model the kind of writing needed for college papers and standardized tests. The 15th part in a series of 24 covers the concept of reading to write—during and after...
Illustrative Mathematics
Representing Half of a Circle
Geometric shapes make great visual models for introducing young mathematicians to the concept of fractions. Looking at a series of four circles, students are asked to determine whether or not one half of each circle is shaded. To support...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Discovering the Pythagorean Theorem
Young mathematicians join the ancient order of the Pythagoreans by completing an assessment task that asks them to find the area of tilted squares on dot paper. They then look at patterns in the squares to develop the...
Science Matters
Crawly Composters
Get your hands dirty with an interactive lesson plan that showcases the process of decomposing and returning nutrients back into the soil. After building a compost pile, pupils regularly observe the...
CCSS Math Activities
Smarter Balanced Sample Items: 6th Grade Math – Claim 3
Communication is key. Eight sample items show how important communication and reasoning is for sixth grade mathematics. Part of the Claim 2-4 slide show series, the presentation uses concepts from fifth and sixth grade to illicit...
Curated OER
Identifying Themes in Children's Literature
Identifying themes in literature is the focus of the language arts lesson plan presented here. Learners read short pieces of fiction and practice the skill of identifying the themes present in each one. The bulk of the lesson consists of...