Library Resources Teacher Resources

Investigate popular scientific claims and gather evidence to defend or argue against an author's stance. Writers synthesize information and compose their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in the weekly "Science Times"...

Middle and high schoolers solve a riddle about the appendix, and explore the paradox surrounding this organ. They research other human body organs to create a paper model of the human body, and write riddles highlighting identifying...

Lead your class in a discussion about how they believe money influences politics. After reading "Go Ahead, Try to Stop K Street" from the New York Times, they evaluate the claims in the article about the current lobbyist scandal in...

Research the necessary components of a planet that supports life after reading the article "All of a Sudden, The Neighborhood Looks a Lot Friendlier" from The New York Times. After finding their information, middle and high schoolers...

Examine ways in which historic places and landmarks represent significant themes and events in American history. Then create theme-based travel guides for related historic locations. This lesson requires informational reference materials...

Discover Oklahoma's first farmers. Read about 14 different agriculture workers and their contribution to Oklahoma's farming. After reading, have your class complete several activities such as researching an agriculturist, writing a...

Students research a state and then design a quarter for it. They use dough or foil to create the coin! students explore state quarters that have already been issued by the U.S. Mint. Their quarter is for a state that hasn't had one...

Working in cooperative groups, young scientists research and report on how undersea volcanic activity may benefit marine ecosystems. There are many links to websites that you can use to stimulate curiosity or for pupils to use for...

Harness the power of algebra to solve problems. Young mathematicians learn to work out multi-step problems by applying algebraic techniques, such as solving equations and proportions. They use tape diagrams to model the problem to finish...

The ABC book format is used to organize information found in a Holocaust research project. Class members use the library and/or online resources to collect information and organize their findings under key terms, places, or names. Before...

Trailblazers forge the path into uncharted territory, they establish a precedent for others to follow. Young historians research trailblazers in Congress using primary and secondary sources to profile outliers that changed the face of...

Go on an electronic field trip. Discover Spanish-speaking countries through Internet exploration. Young scholars participate in a whole group discussion to general knowledge about the location, cultural background, independence and...

Using your school's media center, internet research, and a SMART board, 7th graders research a chosen poet and write a research report. Additionally, 7th graders explicate one poem by the poet within their report. Several resource links...

The 1960's marked shifts in American culture, politics, and policy. Your class groups up to research a series of primary source documents resulting in a timeline and a 15 minute oral presentation. Active learning all the way.

Every political system has advantages and disadvantages. To gain an understanding of these differences, groups investigate the political system of another country—oligarchy, monarchy, dictatorship, parliamentary—and prepare a...

Students complete a timeline. For this peanuts lesson, students read A Short Peanut History and use this resource to make a timeline of the history of the peanut. Students can grow peanuts in the classroom or make various peanut recipes.

Students study a playground safety checklist, conduct a safety check of the schoolyard and/or local playground and write a report about their findings, # present the report to school or community leaders

A lesson on the holiday known as Boxing Day is here for you. In it, middle schoolers read a passage about the history of the holiday, then complete some reading comprehension worksheets embedded in the plan to reinforce what they have...

Brainstorm lists of celebrations with which your class are familiar. This lesson can be adapted to many different grade levels as they research ethnic and religious occasions/events celebrated by people around the world, and present...

Students study and discuss the section of the Constitution that refers to the executive branch. They write a new section or clause describing a new duty for the president of the United States. Students define the word power and proposal.

Offer learners a step-by-step process for approaching unknown words with this PowerPoint presentation of vocabulary strategies, which details how to use context clues and word parts (roots, prefixes, suffixes), as well as encourages...

“What do you think life is like at the South Pole?” After responding to this journal prompt, class members read and discuss the New York Times article, “At South Pole, New Home for a New Era.” Using resources available from the Times’...

What is technical knowledge? The class explores what technical knowledge might mean to an Olympic athlete. They catalog the different types of information that athletes would need to compete in various Winter Olympic sports and develop...

Analyze and make inferences from the information used by linguists to construct the evolution of languages. They research different dating techniques to explain how scientists infer age with evidence.