New York City Department of Education
Project Based Learning
After reviewing the information included in this resource, you will be an expert in both the definition of project-based learning and how to implement it with your class. Discover and explore thorough explanations, detailed examples, and...
Madison Public Schools
Journalism
Whether you are teaching a newspaper unit in language arts, covering the First Amendment and censorship in social studies, or focusing on writing ethics in journalism, a unit based on the foundations of journalism would be an excellent...
Curated OER
Designing a Crew Exploration Vehicle
Take your class on an out-of-this-world adventure with this fun engineering design lesson plan. Working in small groups, young scientists design, build, and test crew exploration vehicles using some creativity, teamwork, and...
Boward County Public Schools
Hoot Activities
If you're looking for engaging, cross-curricular, inquiry-based activities and projects to support your class reading of Carl Hiaasen's Hoot, you've come to the right place!
Colorado Unit Writing Project
Simple Machines
Planning an elementary science unit has never been simpler! These twelve lessons guide young scientists through an exploration of simple machines and their many uses in the real world before asking them to apply their learning in the...
Joy Uzarraga
Famous American Research Project
Designed specifically for lower elementary pupils, this is a great biographical research project in which students research a famous American, and then design creative poster boards to help them "become" the famous American they have...
Education Outside
Brassica Fried Rice
Here's a delicious way to engage fourth graders into working with fractions. Kids chop brassica or cruciferous vegetables, measure the required ingredients, and add them to cooked rice to produce a delicious treat.
Weekly Story Book
Folk Tales and Fables
Pages and pages of engaging activities, worksheets, and writing projects on teaching folktales and fables await you! You don't want to miss this incredible resource that not only includes a wide range of topics and graphic organizers,...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
The Backpack Travel Journals
Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record interesting...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Mummies in the Morning Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics
Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...
Curated OER
Writing Portfolio: An Autobiography Assignment
An extensive portfolio project encourages your kids to reflect on their personalities with multiple writing assignments. From activities on extended metaphors to writing about an important day in their lives, kids explore the way they...
Captain Planet Foundation
Which Plant Is Which?
Learn about dichotomous keys, plant identification, and how to care for the planet with a lesson that includes several hands-on and innovative activities. Kids go on a plant scavenger hunt and classify the plants that they find...
Captain Planet Foundation
P is for Poppies
Explore the way local farming and rationing helped the war effort in World War I with a lesson plan on gardening. After learning about trench warfare, reading "In Flanders' Field" by John McCrae, and studying poppies, kids discuss the...
Captain Planet Foundation
Frog Garden Party! Toads and Triangles in the Math Garden
It's frog party time! With frog banners, frog juice, and a triangle hunt, your garden party is sure to be both entertaining and educational. The lesson plan connects geometry, earth science, and delicious snacks to teach kids about...
Captain Planet Foundation
Energy Flow in the Garden
How can you tell what an owl has eaten? Study the food chain and flow of energy in an ecosystem by dissecting an owl pellet and noting the bones found inside. Additionally, the instructional activity includes a game about consumers and...
Captain Planet Foundation
Worm Your Way Out of This
How can you provide healthy soil for your garden? Study worms, bacteria, and other microorganisms in a lesson about decomposition and organic compost. After discussing what you know about worms and watching a video, watch what worms do...
Captain Planet Foundation
Solar Cooking Race
Study heat transfer with activities that focus on how heat energy works. Using a solar cooker, ice cubes, and heat transfer bracelets, kids experiment and record what they find by keeping ice cubes cold and vegetables hot.
Captain Planet Foundation
Shape Shifters in the Math Garden
Combines mathematical measurement with gardening skills. Third graders hunt for worms in the garden and try to find the longest one. They also measure and weigh vegetables that they harvest from the garden, measure rainfall amounts, and...
Wordpress
Behind the Music Project
Authors write about what they know, and that does not exclude songwriters. Invite partners to explore the story behind a song. They analyze and discuss the lyrics, conduct research online, create a poster, and put together a two-minute...
Curated OER
Evernote
Here is an app version of a powerful tool that allows you and your students to have one place where you can capture, organize, and share items in multiple media formats. The different uses for this app are as varied as your ideas and...
Exploratorium
Exploring Tessellations
Kindergarten through second graders explore tessellations. Pupils learn a little bit about the history of tessellations, then get to construct one of their own by using worksheets embedded in the plan. They use two shapes in their...
Exploratorium
Geometry Scavenger Hunt
One of the nice things about geometry is that it's all around us. The lesson presented here has elementary schoolers go out to the playground to identify and name a variety of geometric shapes. They perform a "geometric scavenger hunt"...
Exploratorium
Exploring Tessellations
Looking for a good lesson on tessellations for your elementary schoolers? This one looks to be quite good! Pupils discover that a tessellation is any pattern of repeating shapes that cover a surface without overlapping or leaving any...
Exploratorium
Soda Can Mirrors
Here is an entertaining and illuminating lesson on morphed images. Middle schoolers make cylindrical mirrors by wrapping soda cans in reflective mylar. First, they try to determine what the images are that are embedded in the plan by...