What makes a good question? Middle schoolers explore the use of questioning through QAR, the question answer response strategy, while reading Where the Red Fern Grows. They learn about the four types of questions: right there, think...

Accompany instruction and the celebration of El Dia de los Muertos with a loaf of Pan de los Muertos. Here, scholars measure ingredients precisely to create tasty bread, write a remembrance for someone who has...

Uncover the science behind the beautiful phenomena of rainbows with a simple demonstration. Shine light through different-sized containers of water as young scientists learn that rainbows occur when visible light is split up into its...

Humans are quickly depleting Earth's fossil fuels and locating them is becoming increasingly difficult! Layered muffins are used for models as young geologists take core samples in order to determine the presence of oil. Consider first...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Only 10 percent of an incandescent bulb's energy is used to create light; the remaining 90 percent is heat. In the unit of activities, young chemists examine energy through hands-on activities, videos, discussions, and...

How did the Great Depression affect children? Sometimes studying the Great Depression means only studying about how it affected adults, however, relating the experiences of children and peers their age to themselves may make the...

Break down a quick conversation in Spanish. After the teacher presents the vocabulary, the class heads to the computer lab, where class members can watch a brief interactive video. The visual is one clip separated into four clearly...

Explore the wonderful world of earthworms as your class learns about the requirements of animal life. After building soda bottle terrariums, students observe worms over the course of a couple weeks, building an understanding that all...

What better way to learn about plant life than by creating a class garden? Young botanists start with a brief discussion about radishes before planting seeds and watching them grow. To determine the importance of water,...

Immediately capture the attention of your class with the smell of freshly popped popcorn in the sixth lesson of this series on the needs of living things. Young scientists first use their senses to make and record observations of...

Blow some bubbles and learn how living things need air in the eighth lesson of this series. Young scientists investigate this important gas by observing bubbles and monitoring their own breathing. A simple and fun activity that raises...

Home sweet home. Humans, birds, beavers, ants, we all need a place place to rest and keep us safe. In the ninth lesson of this series, the importance of shelter is discussed as the teacher reads aloud the book Tillena Lou's Day in the...

As a demonstration or as a hands-on activity, your class watches as the combination of vinegar and baking soda produce carbon dioxide gas. The intent of the lesson is to help youngsters understand that gases occupy space. It is included...

"Ode to la Tortilla" and "Ode to Joy"? Sure! Use Gary Soto's poem to introduce learners to the ode format. After examining the descriptive words Soto uses, class members study a poster of Ludwig van Beethoven, suggest words that describe...

What types of government programs are designed to improve economic inequity in the United States? Introduce your learners to government programs, such as low-income housing, Social Security, and Medicaid, how they work to improve...

Welcome to the backward world of negative numbers. This introductory lesson plan teaches young mathematicians that negative numbers are simply the opposite of positive numbers as they use number lines to plot and compare...

Bring together a study of two major scientific topics with a lesson on the relationship between pollution and evolution. With the help of a PowerPoint presentation, hands-on activity. and class demonstration young scientists learn...

What kind of organisms are living in the stream? After an explanation on how to use a dichotomous key, groups of three to four use the keys to identify macroinvertebrates from a local freshwater stream. Using the the concept of...

Young historians view and analyze photos and documents from WWII that are related to blood transfusions and blood plasma. A demonstration of correct and incorrect blood donors visually shows the importance of knowing blood...

Everything from adding an overlay to uploading images to navigating the software, teachers become apt at using Google Earth™ in the classroom to create Earth Science lessons.