Curated OER
Water Fun
Students examine uses for water. In this water lesson, students discuss how they use water. As a class students make a PowerPoint by naming one swimming safety rule. Students compare and contrast fishing for fun and fishing for survival.
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Role Models
First graders identify heroes by researching their family history. In this personal heritage lesson, 1st graders define the term "hero" and the characteristics that represent it. Students research family resources and family trees in...
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Favorite Sports and Athletes: an Introduction to Sports Media
Even young children watch sports and like team logos and products. It's never too early to think critically about what's onscreen. This exercise develops awareness that media communicate values (i.e. who participates in sports and who...
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How Weather Affects Our Lives
English learners practice basic weather terms from listening to two books. They keep a daily weather record for two weeks to record the type of weather, as well as the high and low temperatures for each day. Next, they complete a simple...
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Reader's Theater: Presenting Asian Folktales
Students, working in groups, rewrite Asian folktales as Reader's Theater scripts. Depending on grade level, they visit Websites and copy assigned stories. Students then perform their versions for classmates.
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
Relationships to Places
Young historians take a look at how the Indian tribes of California promoted a mindful relationship between people and the land. They begin to understand how the Indians were champions of conservation, and at preserving the natural...
Lee & Low Books
First Come the Zebra Teacher’s Guide
Accompany a reading of First Come the Zebra written and illustrated by Lynne Barasch with a teacher's guide equipped with before reading, vocabulary, and after reading activities. Additional social studies, science, music, art, math, and...
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What is your language?
First graders read a book and recognize words from the book and write sentences based on the book about language. In this language lesson plan, 1st graders also say yes and no in another language.
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Ethnic Folklore in Your Classroom: Traditions, Tales, and Treasures from Tijuana to Timbuktu
Young scholars create their own festival. In this folk life lesson plan, students research their folklore history by interviewing their parents and grandparents, organizing the data found, and presenting that material to the class. Young...
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"Here Comes the Train"
Students read and explore the story, The Little Engine that Could, by Watter Piper.
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Weather and Climate
Students identify the words plain and climate and discuss what would happen if it never rained. Students identify and interpret the weather in Poland and create a web illustrating various weather patterns. Students write a 4-line poem...
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Schools of the Past and Present
First graders take a look at schools of the past and present, and try to conjure an idea of what schools of the future will look like. After taking a walk around their own school and taking note of the buildings and the things that are...
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Everybody Cooks Rice
Students read the book, "Everybody Cooks Rice," and they participate in activities pertaining to the book. They identify countries mentioned in the text and locate them on a world map. They use an atlas to identify the climatic...
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Sports and Hobbies
Students explore vocabulary related to sports and hobbies. They consider their interests in sports and hobbies in relation to other students. They discuss music and describe a piece of music using simple adjectives.
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The Hat
Honing reading and communication skills through the theme of farm animals is the focus of this instructional activity. Students read a book about Scandinavian farm animals and complete prediction journal activities. They complete a...
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An Analysis of Jim Crow Laws and their Effects on Race Relations
First graders analyze the role of the Jim Crow laws on race relations. As a class, they are segregated based on the color shirt they have or some other simple criteria and wear either a square or circle sticker representing the majority...
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Creating Comic Strips
Students create comic strips to communicate ideas that cannot be expressed through words alone.
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Cruzin' to the Arctic
Young scholars, in groups, study life in the Arctic Region and connect their own life experiences to the experiences of students in the Arctic.
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Improving Elementary Reading Literacy
Students enhance their literary skills through phonemic awareness. In this reading development lesson, students read several storybooks and analyze the phonetics, vocabulary, and overall story. The students then rewrite what they have...
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Identify the Element of Line
Students explore the element of "line." In this beginning art lesson, students listen to the book Harold and the Purple Crayon, then describe the types of lines Harold drew. Students identify straight lines, jagged lines, curvy lines,...
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How Do I know That a Book Is Just Right for Me to Read?
Students choose a book for reading. In this language arts lesson, students take steps to evaluate a book for free reading. Students make a list of words found in the book that they are unfamiliar with.
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Santa Claus Around the World
Students investigate how students in various countries celebrate their winter holiday traditions, locate various countries on a map, and draw and tell about various Santa Claus legends.
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America Moves Out!
First graders analyze the events of early American exploration. This is a unit resource for teachers in which there are six lessons about the American Western exploration and expansion. Within each instructional activity there are...
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Hatching Chickens
Students observe chicks hatching from eggs. In this science lesson, students view a video to develop an understanding of the proper care and needs of eggs and live animals. This is a great precursor activity for hatching eggs in class.