Smithsonian Institution
Engaging Students with Primary Source
Young historians learn how to analyze various forms of primary source documents. The colorful packet is packed with all you need to engage kids in this essential skill.
Stanford University
Lunchroom Fight II
To determine who should be suspended for a lunchroom fight, groups must source, contextualize, and corroborate the testimonies of various participants and witnesses.
Portland Public Schools
Opinion: Persuasive Essay Unit Introduction
Opinion, audience, purpose. Fourth graders are introduced to the three characteristics of persuasive writing in the third unit of a year-long writing program. The 98-page packet is complete with plans, model essays, graphic organizers,...
Portland Public Schools
Launching Writing Workshop Unit Introduction
Launch a year-long writing program with a narrative writing unit that introduces young writers to the systems, routines, and procedures of the writing workshop.
Dick Blick Art Materials
No-Blender Pulp Painting
Like finger painting, this project is very tactile. Kids tear tissue paper into small pieces, add water, and mix up a pulp that can be pressed onto a canvas to create a colorful, textured painting.
Dick Blick Art Materials
Insoluble Paintings
Insolubility and density? Yup, it's art class, of course. To create insoluble paintings that continually move and change, kids mix water-based paint with mineral oil and seal the mixture in laminating pouches.
Dick Blick Art Materials
Simple Suminagashi
Go ahead. Spill the ink! Combine the study of art, social studies, and science with a Suminagashi (spilled ink) activity that produces "unique and unreproducible" works of art.
Dick Blick Art Materials
Painted Story Quilt
Creating story quilts is a great way to combine art, social studies and literature. Kids select a story, a published one or one of their own, to illustrate, paint on a canvas square, embellish, and mount on a felt backing.
Dick Blick Art Materials
Artist’s Challenge Coins
Make 'em, trade 'em, share 'em. Kids create artist's challenge coins to celebrate personal achievements, as mementos, or as encouragement. Originally designed for service personnel, these coins are a great way to recognize achievement.
Dick Blick Art Materials
Start with a Circle...
The Golden Ratio. The Divine Proportion. Yup. It's math and art blended into one colorful activity. Young artists combine colored tissue paper circles and parts of circles to create geometric patterns. As a bonus, kids get to figure out...
All Things PLC
Cultural Shifts in a Professional Learning Community
Talk about a quantum shift in educational thinking. The shift in attitudes toward the fundamental purposes, the shifts in the use of assessments, the shift in the response of educators when students don't learn, the shift in the work of...
Curated OER
Silly to Serious Cards and Panels
What are the unwritten rules of formality in different social situations? Help learners identify when it is the appropriate time to be silly, funny, or serious with this collection of illustrated panels and cards.
Northeast Foundation for Children, Inc.
Schedules and Routines: Grade 5
Before diving head first into the year's curriculum, take time to establish clear routines and procedures for your classroom. Starting with how to set up a class schedule that meets the needs of fifth grade learners, this sample chapter...
Dick Blick Art Materials
“Decalcomania” Glue Paint Symmetry Prints
Who knew you could paint with glue? After first adding liquid water color paints to bottles of white Elmer's glue and applying them to paper, students of all ages are then challenged to use their imagination and creativity to draw in...
Attentance Work
Teaching Attendance: Everyday Strategies to Help Teachers Improve Attendance and Raise Achievement
Build a culture of attendance with the help of this 7-page toolkit loaded with suggestions for specific things you and parents can do to improve attendance, and in turn, raise the achievement of learners. Included are suggestions for...
Journey of a Substitute Teacher
Group and Partner Posters
Partners and Groups become acronyms on these posters that encourage kids to respect others, stay on task, participate actively, ask questions, and more when working with others.
Scholastic
Spin-a-Story: Writing Prompts Chart
"But I don't know what to write about!" Now, there's a very familiar complaint. And here's a very creative solution. Young authors are given a writing prompt chart, spin three wheels that provide suggestions for the who, what, and where...
Ms. Mariely Sanchez
New Teacher’s Survival Guide
An amazing amount of information is packed into this 44-page packet. Everything from how to avoid first day jiggers to planning first day activities, from personal and classroom safety tips to how to break up fights, from classroom setup...
Discovery Education
Mood Music!
Grouchy? Sad? Here's a great resource that shows kids how music can be used to lift their spirits. Kids collect and chart data on the effects of music on emotions. After analyzing the results of their experiment, they develop their own...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Voices of the Revolution: Challenge Activities (Theme 3)
Paul Revere, Mercy Otis Warren, James Forten, Henry Knox. The voices of the American Revolution come alive in this enrichment packet designed to challenge learners who have mastered the basic concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt...
John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
JFK Challenge
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. And so begins your invigorating, innovative learning experience in the JFK Challenge app! Learners choose from two "missions" and...
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy
For decades Bloom's Taxonomy has helped to guide educators' approach to instruction, but as times change and students change, so too must the methods for teaching evolve. Introducing teachers to the new revised Bloom's Taxonomy, this...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Stitch It Up!
Ever think about combining the art forms of painting and embroidery? Then this art instructional activity is right up your alley! Given a piece of white cloth, young artists first create a grayscale painting and then highlight certain...
Curated OER
Making Regolith
You may not be able to take a field trip to the moon, but that doesn't mean your class can't study moon rocks. Using graham crackers as the moon's bedrock and powdered donuts as micrometeorites, young scientists simulate the creation of...