Curated OER
Light but Strong: A Lesson in Engineering
Aspiring space engineers design a rocket launch platform together to explore materials. The platform needs to be lightweight so that it can be transported easily, but super strong so that it can support the weight of the rocket and its...
Curated OER
Rainy Day Physical Education
Out of ideas for what to do with your PE class on a rainy day? Look no further, as this document has over 50 great ideas for indoor activities! Each activity is clearly explained, is engaging, and will give your youngsters a much-needed...
Staten Island Zoo
The African Savanna
Are you thinking about taking your class to the local zoo? Kids of all ages love visiting exotic animals in order to learn about biodiversity, habitat, and animal adaptations. Here is a 44-page activity guide that provides educators with...
Harper Collins
If You Take a Mouse to School
If you give your teacher a book, she'll probably want an activity guide to go with it. Have fun learning with a wonderful selection of hands on activities created for the book, If You Take a Mouse to School. Each activity focuses on...
Curated OER
Character Tea Party
A tea party in Wonderland? An East Egg brunch with Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and Nick? Breakfast with Miss Havisham, Lady Macbeth, and Abigail Williams? Or dinner with Andre, Hamlet, and Randle Patrick McMurphy? Class members select a favorite...
Curated OER
Bugs
This is not just a worksheet, but an entire set of activities and worksheets that can accompany any unit on bugs or insects. Little learners will hone early math and literacy skills as they create mini-books, discriminate between big and...
Possibilities
Disability Awareness Activity Packet
When you have an inclusive classroom it is important to help your general education students understand their peers with disabilities. This packet provides information and activities to assist elementary-aged children in building a...
Baylor College
Moving Air
In lab groups, young scientists place aluminum cans with a bubble-solution cap into different temperatures of water to see what size of bubble dome forms. As part of an atmosphere unit in preparation for learning about convection...
Baylor College
Heart and Lungs
With a partner, youngsters measure their pulse and breathing rates, both at rest and after running in place for a minute. While this activity is not novel, the lesson plan includes a large-scale classroom graphing activity and other...
Baylor College
Dust Catchers
In class, your emerging environmentalists construct dust catchers. They take them home for a week or two, and then bring them back into class to examine under a magnifier. From this activity, they learn what makes up dust and that...
Baylor College
There's Something in the Air
Clever! In order to compare indoor and outdoor dispersal rates for the movement of gases and particles through air, collaborators will participate in a classroom experiment. Set up a circular grid and set students on lines that are...
Baylor College
What Is a One Part Per Million Solution?
Water may appear to be crystal clear, but there could be dissolved substances present. Lab groups make a one-part-per-million of a food coloring solution to demonstrate this concept. As part of an outstanding unit about water, this...
Baylor College
Can Nutrients in Water Cause Harm?
Ecology candidates culture pond water organisms over a few days time, then they experiment to find out how increasing nutrients affects the population. As part of a unit on water, this exploration gives your class an understanding of how...
Baylor College
What Makes Water Special?
Get close up and personal with a drop of water to discover how the polarity of its molecules affect its behavior. Elementary hydrologists split and combine water droplets, and also compare them to drops of oil. Much neater than placing a...
Baylor College
What Dissolves in Water?
One of water's claims to fame is as the universal solvent. Young physical scientists experiment to discover which materials dissolve in this special compound. You could never be more prepared for teaching this lesson than by using this...
Baylor College
Using Heat from the Sun
Let's heat things up! This simple experiment demonstrates for students the important role the sun plays in providing the earth with energy. Place one cup of water in direct sunlight and one in shade, then take measurements in order to...
Baylor College
Modeling Earth's Atmosphere
Life on Earth is made possible by the unique composition of its atmosphere. Working collaboratively, a scale model is created as young scientists learn about the different layers of gas that surround the planet. Cards are included that...
Baylor College
Measuring and Protecting Skin
Several subjects are addressed within the context of a science lesson about the sun's ultraviolet rays. Elementary earth scientists consider protection of the skin with sunscreens (health), estimating and measuring surface area or an...
Baylor College
People and Climate
Model how the sun's energy strikes the planet and help your class relate it to a climate map. Assign small groups an individual climate zone to discuss. They reflect on and research how humans survive in the assigned climate and write a...
Illustrative Mathematics
What is a Trapezoid? (Part 1)
Challenge your class to construct a definition for trapezoids. Looking at four examples and four non-examples, students individually create definitions and use them to classify an unknown shape. Allow for small group and whole-class...
Illustrative Mathematics
Fractions and Rectangles
Visual models are excellent teaching tools when explaining equivalent fractions. Looking at a rectangle cut into twelfths, students first identify the shaded fraction, and then explain whether the fraction is equal to one-fourth....
Illustrative Mathematics
Listing Fractions in Increasing Size
Increase the depth of your class's fractional number sense with this number-ordering activity. Given four fractions, each with different numerators and denominators, young learners are asked to place them in order from smallest to...
Baylor College
Finding the Carbon in Sugar
In session one, demonstrate for your class how a flame eventually goes out when enclosed in a jar in order to teach that oxygen is required for combustion. In session two, class members then burn sugar in a spoon to observe how it...
Baylor College
Fuel for Living Things
During a three-part lesson, learners make a cabbage juice pH indicator and use it to analyze the waste products of yeast after feeding them with sugar. The intent is to demonstrate how living organisms produce carbon dioxide, which is...