Curated OER
Using Context Clues
Middle schoolers receive a handout that lists the five types of context clues. The class divides up into groups of three or four, and each group chooses five unfamiliar words. They write a multiple-choice question for each of their five...
Curated OER
Making a Magical Story
Fourth and fifth graders use their knowledge of developing character, dialogue, and setting to produce an original story. An excerpt from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is used as inspiration to get everyone's creative juices...
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
Relationship with Nature
After a class discussion that focuses on kinship and extended family, young learners explore how Native Americans have lived in clans and other forms of extended family divisions. Pupils also see how Native Americans relate to the...
Education Outside
Chard Tabbouleh Raps
Pupils work with homophones and heterographs found in a recipe for tabbouleh wraps. They work together in groups to perform the tasks necessary to create this Middle Eastern dish, then they get to enjoy it. A fine lesson that combines...
NASA
The X-1 Paper Glider Kit
After reading an interesting account of how the X-1 aircraft was designed, built, and utilized, young engineers try their hand at constructing a paper glider version of the airplane. They cut out the plane out of a nicely designed...
NASA
The Wright Quest
A very impressive lesson plan on the Wright brothers and their place in aviation history. Learners discover many fascinating facts about the Wright brothers and their trials and errors regarding flight. Best of all, they get to build a...
Curated OER
Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System
Wow! What a lesson plan! Six terrific activities are described in great detail, in this 31-page document! Learners will model and explain cloud formation, sketch and identify certain cloud types, calculate and compare incoming and...
NASA
Precipitation
Here is a fabulous collection of lessons for your emerging meteorologists! In them, learners will utilize satellite data to determine distribution of rainfall, research global rainfall patterns, and utilize their knowledge to propose new...
Curated OER
Weather: A Global Awareness Tour
Upper graders and middle schoolers make up a scenario of planning outdoor concert locations for their favorite musical group. They do this by looking into the weather patterns in a variety of tropical regions. They research where and...
SeaWorld
Shark!
Here is an impressive collection of lessons on sharks. In them, pupils undertake a serious study of sharks, their habitats, their social structure, and how humans adversely impact their existence. These lessons effectively integrate...
Curated OER
England: Discover a World of Culture and History
England is a very interesting country full of cultural and historical geography. Here is an impressive collection of lessons that will familiarize your students with England's cultural and historical geography. The activities presented...
Curated OER
Map Exploration
Are you looking for a terrific lesson on map activities for your second graders? Then, this resource is for you! The activities range from decoding, to fill-in-the-blank, to read-and-search. There is a website activity related to maps...
Desert Discoveries
Invent - A - Saurus
Fourth graders get to invent their own dinosaur! This is done by using a very clever worksheet embedded in the plan. The worksheet leads them through naming their dinosaur by having explanations of the Latin terminology that is used with...
Curated OER
Energy Jeopardy
While science Jeopardy games are a dime-a-dozen, this one has some pretty unique categories that are still relevant to a middle school physical science curriculum. The topics include: leading nations, famous Americans (who invented...
Curated OER
Modern Day Pyramids
Students investigate the ways in which ancient technologies - six types of simple machines and combinations - are used to construct modern buildings. As they work together to solve a design problem (designing and building a modern...
Curated OER
A House is a House for Me
Students evaluate the impact climates have on the building of structures. They research the different types of materials used to build houses in various climates and build small models of houses which are tested against different climates.
Curated OER
Descending to the Challenge: Developing Documentaries About the Deep Ocean
The video clip that comprises the warm up is not available, but the related article from The New York Times and the movie trailer for Aliens of the Deep are, leaving enough material to make this a fascinating instructional activity on...
Curated OER
Harnessing Solar Energy
Middle schoolers discover the properties of light (radiant) energy from the sun by experimenting with solar collectors, cookers, and calculators. After a lecture/demo, students create their own solar collectors and test their efficiency.
Curated OER
Interpreting the Evidence
Students find out about the social changes that caused the collapse of important ancient civilizations in Central America, Mesopotamia, the southwestern United States, and western Africa.
Curated OER
'Hunger Games' Science: Investigating Genetically Engineered Organisms
In The Hunger Games novel and movie, a futuristic, dystopian society is the setting. In it, a genetically engineered bird escapes control of the government. Using this as a starting point, teenagers examine the realistic possibility of...
Curated OER
The Transfer of Energy 2: Electrochemistry
Students study about electrochemistry by increasing their understanding of electron transfer and its role in chemical changes. They explain that energy appears in different forms. Heat energy is in the disorderly motion of molecules.
Curated OER
Urban Ecosystems 5: In Defense Of Cities
Students explain that while cities have unattractive features, the density of human life enables energy efficiency, mass transit, recycling, and other benefits which are difficult or impossible in rural areas. This is the fifth in an...
Curated OER
What Can I Do?
Students identify how they are feeling and deal with feelings constructively. In this conflict resolution lesson plan, students explore their feelings through discussion. Students read and complete the What Can I Do? e-sheet. Students...
Curated OER
Where Are the Dinosaurs?
Young scholars view videos and websites and create finger puppets and hatchable eggs. In this dinosaur instructional activity, students view video clips and a website to introduce the dinosaurs. They do a finger puppet play and create...