California Academy of Science
Carbon Cycle Role Play
Anytime you make concepts clear with role playing or hands-on experience, it's a win for the whole class. Ping-Pong balls are used to represent carbon in a carbon cycle role-play activity. In small groups, children first discuss what...
Curated OER
Polygon Division Models
Students use polygons to explore division. They use pattern blocks to represent whole numbers and fractions. They discuss divisors, factors, dividend and products. In groups, students present models and solve problems. They justify their...
Center for Civic Education
Lesson 1: Who Can Vote in the United States?
The purpose of this first lesson in a series of five about enfranchisement and suffrage is to determine what class members already know, or think they know, about voting and voter registration. Groups...
Illustrative Mathematics
Doubling Numerators and Denominators
Understanding the meaning of fractions is a challenge for many young learners. These two questions examine what happens when the numerator and denominator of a fraction are doubled. Consider allowing young scholars to discuss their...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles" by Francisco X. Alarcón
After sketching an essential person and reading an article, scholars read the poem "In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles" by Francisco X. Alarcón. They listen to the poem in English and Spanish and record lines that stand out to them. Small...
Curated OER
Get a Leg Up
Traveling through space is an amazing experience, but it definitely takes a toll on the body. After reading an article and watching a brief video, learners perform an experiment that simulates the effects of zero gravity on the...
Curated OER
Fractions
Students determine that a fraction is a part of a whole or part of a group. They write and read fractions and solve various fraction problems. They create their own fraction problem using colored candies for their classmate to solve.
Virginia Department of Education
Simply Radical
Simplifying is radical, dude! After reviewing how to simplify square roots of whole numbers, scholars consider how to simplify square roots of algebraic monomials. Also taken under consideration is how to simplify cube roots of whole...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Strategy: Call of the Wild
Here is a strategy for groups to contribute to whole class vocabulary development. Teams (based on seating rows) work together to look up dictionary definitions of words from upcoming sections of the book (though previous sections seem...
Curated OER
Estimating Solutions to Word Problems
Fourth graders explore number sense by completing word problems in class. In this estimation lesson, 4th graders define terms such as sum, difference, estimate and best. Students complete estimating worksheets based on the concept of...
Curated OER
Mrs. Katz and Tush
Students read Patricia Polacco's Mrs. Katz and Tush before comparing Jewish heritage with Black history using a Venn Diagram. They complete the diagram either as a whole group or in a small group setting. Next, they sample the Jewish...
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
A Statistical Study of the Letters of the Alphabet
Students gather appropriate information for simple statistical analysis. Then they will calculate probability working with a piece of literature that makes this lesson ideal for teaching across the whole curriculum.
Curated OER
"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle"
Seventh graders read Sherlock Holmes silently and work together to demonstrate an understanding of the story. They participate in small group and whole class discussions and analyze Holmes' method of deducing details about an object and...
Curated OER
What's the Title?
Third graders engage in a whole group activity with the teacher. They use their knowledge to complete an assessment sheet in which they determine the main idea of several mini stories. They complete a 'Main Idea Worksheet' imbedded in...
Curated OER
Where Did We Go on Holiday This Year?
In this differentiated whole-group activity worksheet, students list all the places they visited over the summer, record the places on a flip chart, calculate the distances on a road map and graph the data they collect.
Curated OER
Colors, Characters, & Clues: White Socks
Learners examine the process of making inferences. They define inference, view a Powerpoint presentation, and as a whole group locate clues in the pictures of a short story, locating written clues to reinforce their conclusions.
Curated OER
The Five Food Groups
Do you eat a balanced diet? Help your learners determine how healthy they are with a fill-in chart that will help them track their food intake. The grid provides color-in stars children can mark when they eat their meats, dairy, fruits,...
Curated OER
"In a Grove" and "Rashomon" by Akutagawa
Students read and analyze the short stories, "In a Grove," and "Rashomon," by Akutagawa. They discuss the samurai warrior culture, watch a short video, take a quiz, participate in whole-group discussions, identify similes and metaphors,...
Curated OER
Is Shep Sherman Innocent or Guilty?
Students participate in a whole group discussion about what Shep Sherman is being charged with? They discuss if they think he is innocent or guilty? They observe while the teacher writes their thoughts on the board and then they...
Childnet International
Self Esteem
To middle schoolers, there's nothing worse than being excluded from a peer group. Developing important self-esteem skills can not only get them through awkward adolescent times, it can carry them through the rest of their lives as...
Childnet International
Peer Pressure
What do you do if someone you like wants you to do something you don't want to do? A series of activities, including discussion, videos, role-play, and poster projects, demonstrate the most effective ways to withstand peer pressure online.
Shodor Education Foundation
Estimating With Fire
Watch the damage from a forest fire in this interactive simulation activity that challenges learners to estimate the burn area using different approaches. Learners are given a worksheet to track the different burn patterns and practice...
Rational Number Project
Initial Fraction Ideas Lesson 22: Overview
Have young mathematicians subtracting fractions in no time with this manipulative-based math lesson plan. Using their sets of fraction circles, young scholars explore a number of word problems involving the subtraction of fractions...