Core Knowledge Foundation
Volume 1 - A History of the United States: Precolonial to the 1800s
Volume One of the 299-page Core Knowledge History of the United States covers events from the Precolonial Period to the 1800s.
University of Minnesota
Ethics of Dissection
There's an elephant in your classroom. That's right — a big, awkward elephant named Dissection. Sure, you'd like to talk about him ... but how? Whether you're a seasoned teacher or fresh out of student teaching, the topic of dissection...
University of Minnesota
Memory Items
Ready to have an "unforgettable" time in science class? Try a fun and insightful activity, suitable for a wide age group of learners. Explore how human memory works when pupils try to remember objects they've seen before comparing the...
Core Knowledge Foundation
The Civil War
A 48-page Student Reader focuses on the Civil War. Scholars gain information from a text that explores when, why, and where the Civil War occurred, as well as important people such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Abraham...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Civil Rights Leaders
A Student Reader focuses on Civil Rights leaders. Scholars read or listen to an informational text about Susuan B. Anthony, Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, and...
C3 Teachers
Black Women Writers: What Gets Black Women Heard?
Zora Neal Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou are featured in a guided inquiry unit. High schoolers research the lives and works of these and other Black women writers and craft an argument, using evidence from their research, to...
C3 Teachers
2020 Protests: Is There Anything New about the 2020 Protests?
Are marches and protests an effective form of resistance? That is the question high schoolers seek to answer in this inquiry lesson as they compare the 2020 protests to historical ones. Researchers use Venn Diagrams to compare images...
C3 Teachers
Celebrity Social Responsibility: Does Celebrity Require Social Responsibility?
Is much required of those to whom much is given? That's the central question asked of middle schoolers in this lesson. Scholars consider the actions of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Colin Kaepernick, Lady Gaga, and others who have taken...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 1
A unit focuses on prewriting skills. Over 10 days, young scholars practice drawing lines and shapes, use play dough to build shapes, and track from left to right. Pupils put their sense of hearing to the test by listening for words in...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 2
Kindergarteners practice prewriting skills in a 10-day unit. Young scholars blend sounds and syllables, build shapes with playdough, write shapes on paper, and trace their names.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 3
A 14-day unit focuses on letter-sound correspondence. Each day explores a different new letter and its spelling. Scholars participate in activities, practice hand motions for blending, complete worksheets, and do a reading assessment.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 4
Fifteen lessons make up a unit that focuses on letter-sound correspondence. Beginning readers examine letters and their sounds. Scholars complete a review, an engaging activity, watch teacher modeling, and practice concepts. Lessons are...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 5
A unit designed for kindergarteners builds letter-sound correspondence in preparation for reading. Over four weeks, young scholars build proficiency in recognizing and matching the sound of 9 letters. They take that knowledge to read a...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 6
Throughout 15 lessons, scholars explore four and five-sound and rhyming words, closely examining initial and final consonant sounds, and begin reading the text independently. Each lesson follows a similar routine; an introduction to...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 7
A unit consists of seventeen lessons that examine six new consonant digraphs. Lessons review past concepts, introduce sounds and spelling, and offer differentiated instruction in small groups. Learners begin reading a decodable story and...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 8
A unit introduces 14 double-letter spellings for consonant sounds and seven tricky high-frequency words. Over four weeks, young scholars participate in daily spelling and word reviews, guided practice, and complete skills practice....
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 9
This unit explores uppercase letters and tricky high-frequency words. Over 23 lessons, scholars review decodable and high-frequency words, examine and practice writing uppercase letters, and work with a new tricky high-frequency word....
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 10
A six-week unit wraps up kindergarteners' skills practice in beginning reading skills. Twenty-nine lessons focus on long vowel sounds and 11 tricky high-frequency words. Scholars participate in warm-up activities, introductions to sounds...
K20 LEARN
OPTIC - A Reading Strategy Recipe: Visual Literacy
A visual literary lesson provides learners with OPTIC (Observations, Predictions, Themes, Inferences, Conclusions), a reading strategy to help them understand and interpret visual and written texts. Scholars practice the strategy with a...
K20 LEARN
Move, Flip, and Slide! Building Relationships and Community In the Classroom
Here's a fresh take on those first days of school introductions. Learners use Flipgrid to create a video that introduces themselves to their classmates. The richly detailed and carefully scaffolded lesson provides specific directions for...
Curated OER
Changemakers Lesson Plans
Teens and tweens are invited to become changemakers in a five-lesson unit, asking them to investigate and share what they have learned about exemplary, contemporary Native Americans. They gather facts about their research subject, record...
K20 LEARN
Word Warriors: The Code Talkers of Oklahoma
The battle between code makers and code breakers has been going on for centuries and is a key tool of warfare. The contributions of the Native American Code Talkers of World Wars I and II are celebrated in a lesson that features a...
K20 LEARN
To Ban or Not to Ban? Intellectual Rights and Responsibilities: Banned Books, Censorship Part 2
After examining different perspectives on book banning, scholars select a book from a list of frequently banned books and research the controversies surrounding it. They then craft an argument about their chosen book, including arguments...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Presidents and American Symbols Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
Scholars look into the country's current president, past presidents, the White House, Washington D.C., and the Declaration of Independence. They identify the flag, the Statue of Liberty, as well as Mount Rushmore and the significance of...