Curated OER
African Popular Music
Students explore popular music of West Africa. For this musicians lesson, students complete listening tasks that challenge them to analyze the music of Oumou Sangare, Angelique Kidjo, and Baaba Maal.
Curated OER
Diversity
Students access prior knowledge of the five senses and relate to students with disabilities. In this people with disabilities lesson, students research and use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast famous people and their...
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Japan: Images of a People
Students learn the geography of Japan and its location in reference to the United States.
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Pocahontas (Matoaka)
Middle schoolers explain how Pocahontas contributed to the people of Jamestown. They relate her actions to the core democratic values. They also infer about the effect of her actions.
Smithsonian Institution
Watching Crystals Grow
Amazing science can sometimes happen right before your eyes! The class gets cozy as they watch crystals grow. They use Epsom salts, rocks, and food coloring to create crystals. They'll observe the entire process, documenting every step...
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Revolutionary Money
Examine paper money from the American revolution! Historians study the paper bills and discuss the history of money. How has money changed over the times? Activities are included.
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Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students examine letters of Japanese-American children during internment in World War II. They discover what it was like in the camps and how they were treated once they were released. They also view photographs of the camps.
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Create a Classroom Exhibit: Rocks and Minerals
Students bring in rocks and minerals from home. They observe them and describe them carefully, completing a worksheet. Finally, a classroom exhibit is created.
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Plants and Animals, Partners in Pollination
Students participate in multiple hands-on activities to explore reproduction and pollination. In groups, using a cotton swab and powder, students simulate being pollinators and plants. They name the parts of the flowers and the function...
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Rocks and Minerals
Students bring rocks and minerals from home to investigate in the classroom. In this rocks and minerals lesson plan, students observe all the rocks and minerals brought into the class and answer 7 questions about the features of the...
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Under the Spell of Spiders
Learners examine spiders. In these spider lessons, students will view spider images and live spiders to determine physical characteristics, habits, and habitats. Learners will examine fantasy and folklore about spiders to create and...
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"ART ZOO 'Blacks in the Westward Movement', 'What Can You Do with a Portrait', and 'Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass'"
Students study black history, examine portraits and portrait making and create their own portraits, and investigate their natural environment. This humanities lesson provides a text that can be used to teach lessons in black history,...
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How Size Shapes Animals
Students investigate how size affects large and small animals differently. In this animal lesson plan, students determine how size affects different animals by constructing their own animal out of marshmallows. Once students create...
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Fossils Footprints Across Time
Learners examine fossils to understand how they are formed and how they give information about geological history. In this fossil instructional activity, students research and write about fossils and make models of different fossil...
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Minerals, Crystals, and Gems
Young scholars discover the relationships between minerals, crystals and gems. They bring in rocks that they find at home, in the schoolyard, etc. and examine them and attempt to identify them. They set up a classroom exhibit that...
Curated OER
Lift and Drag: Principles of Flight and the Soaring Imagination
Students construct models of early gas balloons and gliders. In this balloon and glider lesson plan, students create models of early gas balloons and gliders, discover how the forces of lift and drag effect aircraft in flight, and put...
Curated OER
Building Bridges: Living in a Diverse Society
Students participate in various activities that help them build esteem, and explore racism. In this multicultural lesson plan, Students increase their awareness of, and appreciation for, cultural differences and similarities. This...
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"War of the Worlds": A Broadcast Re-Creation
Why did Orson Welles' 1938 Broadcast of a adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds cause such a panic? To answer this question, class members listen to the original broadcast and research the panic that resulted. They then engage...
Curated OER
Spy on a Spider
Students view slides or live specimens to name and describe the distinguishing features of groups of arthropods, especially spiders and insects. They complete worksheets, observe webs and then search for and record where spiders can be...
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Local Heroes
Students investigate heroes in their community by presenting a story of a true hero to their class. In this storytelling lesson, students interview a local person who has performed a heroic deed and create a presentation with Windows...
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Valentine's Day
Student's research the history to Valentine's Day. They take an online quiz and then think about all the different meanings of love. Sharing of ideas is involved within this lesson plan. They ponder on how emotions can be expressed in...
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24 Hour Party Robots
Students read an article about robots and social behavior. As a class, they write down new vocabulary words they are unfamilar with in the article. In groups, they discover what all the words have in commom and identify the type of...