Differentiated Instruction Teacher Resources

Urban communities are the focus of a series of lessons created to meet specific needs using differentiated instruction. A pre-assessment designates scholars into three groups based on their ability level. Small groups take part in...

Differentiated instruction through leveled learning contracts boosts scholars' knowledge of volume and capacity. Participants split into three groups based on ability and interest before choosing three activities from their learning...

Take a tiered approach to studying waste. The lesson uses Earth Day to present differentiated instruction around using circle and bar graphs. Each group gets a cube based on their tiers and works collaboratively as well as individually...

Why are our national parks important? Scholars research the national parks and explore the basic ecology of these areas in a differentiated instruction unit on ecology. They learn about ecosystems, food chains, symbiosis, and biomes. The...

How has Earth changed over time? Pupils explore the topic in a differentiated instruction unit on the geological time scale. After a pre-assessment to gauge knowledge, class members divide into groups based on their ability levels and...

Alternative energy sources are becoming increasingly important. Learners have the opportunity to explore alternative energy sources using a differentiated instruction unit. They group together based on ability levels, assign roles to...

Your young architects use the Internet to research tall structures or sky scrapers to help in the design of their scale drawings. This is lesson one of three in which learners design, build, and test model skyscrapers for seismic safety....

Based on the poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by Irish poet William Butler Yeats, this resource is well constructed and guides learners through examining the Yeats poem (rhyme, meter, content) to composing a poem of their own about a...

How many days until summer? Find a special day, and use this activity to determine how many days, weeks, hours, even seconds until it arrives! There are three levels of difficulty, which can provide differentiated instruction with...

Differentiate instruction with a unit focused on community helpers. A pre-assessment levels scholars into three groups. Learning contracts offer participants the choice of activities to complete and show what they know about specific...

Do students really need to be taught how to read cartoons, comic books, and comic strips? Yes. Just as they need to learn how to read other forms of graphic text such as diagrams, photos, timetables, maps, charts, and tables. Young...

To launch a study of civil rights, class members brainstorm rules and expectations of behaviors at home, in school, in the workplace, and in sports. They then look at civil rights cases and examine the rules embedded in these cases. 

Introduce high schoolers interested in animation programming to fundamental programming concepts so that they can plan and write simple programs.

Learning to recognize the importance of the features of information text (i.e., titles, subtitles, endnotes, sidebars, etc.) is the focus of a reading activity designed for middle schoolers. Learners examine how these text features...

Media texts convey both overt and implied messages. As part of their study of media, class members analyze the language, form, techniques, and aesthetics in a variety of media texts.

Just as no man is an island, no country is totally independent of other countries. To understand the impact of individual consumer decisions on the global natural environment, class groups consider how the stuff they...

The interactions between the Coureurs de bois (runners of the woods) and the First Nation Peoples as they engaged in the fur trade are the focus on this Canadian history exercise. Kids select learning centers based on their learning...

What causes people to move from one place, one city, or one country to another? Using the provided migration questionnaire, learners interview family members about the factors that cause them to be pushed from an area or pulled to...

What constitutes an effective apology? After considering a series of scenarios, class members develop criteria for an effective apology and then use these indicators to evaluate Canada's Prime Minister Harper's apology to former...

Fourth graders explore notable Nebraska. In this lesson on the history of Nebraska, 4th graders will use primary sources to research people of events from Nebraska's history. Students will create a presentation to share their findings....

Fifth graders examine the industrial revolution. In this industrialization activity, 5th graders explore the concept of mass production via the assembly line. They then create an assembly line which demonstrates its costs and benefits...

Who do your scholars imagine when they think about the civil rights movement? If only a few faces come to mind, this lesson will expand their concepts of the movement's leaders. Learners examine an image of the 1963 March on Washington,...