Miama-Dade County Public Schools
Patriot Day September 11, 2011
While many of our learners may recognize the date of September 11, 2001 in the United States, most will not be able to personally recall what transpired. On Patriot Day, introduce your young learners to the events, aftermath, and...
Missouri Department of Elementary
What Is Comfortable and Uncomfortable Touch?
Two stuffed animals open a lesson that examines two types of touch. Scholars discuss the difference between comfortable and uncomfortable touch. They offer examples then brainstorm ways an individual can keep safe from uncomfortable...
Missouri Department of Elementary
What Are Safe and Unsafe Drugs/Medicines/Objects?
Encourage responsible decision-making while boosting sorting skills with a lesson that looks at safe and unsafe situations. Scholars use two bags, one happy the other sad, to sort scenario cards. After a thorough examination,...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Are You Balanced?
Balance scales create a strong visual of how an individual prioritizes one's self alongside their commitments to the community, school, and home. Scholars complete a graphic organizer then discuss their findings with their peers. A...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Opportunity Knocks, But It Costs, Too!
Sixth graders practice six steps to effective problem solving. Working with the school counselor, class members are presented with a scenario that requires them to make a decision. Individuals then write a reflection in which they...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Keep Finding the Positive
Group members take on roles to create a positive classroom community. Learners perform their role—leader, recorder, presenter, timekeeper, encourager, and collector—in preparation for a formal presentation of their positive thinking...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Be a Problem Solving Star
Encourage scholars to problem solve everyday frustrations using the STAR method. Using the acronym, learners remember to stop, think, act, and review. Participants begin with a math analogy in which they problem-solve to find the correct...
Missouri Department of Elementary
What Does Respect Look Like in School?
What does it mean to be respectful? Scholars complete a self-assessment worksheet to determine just how respectful they are. Next, they choose three items from the survey and write plans for how to improve in those areas.
ReadWriteThink
Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure
A picture is worth a thousand words, but a comic strip combines both images and words for the ultimate narrative effect. After reading The Three Little Pigs and deciphering the plot elements, elementary readers work through four...
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment
Festivals of Light Hanukkah
Five sessions make up a lesson on the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. After reading and teaching young historians the history of the Jewish holiday, learners explore the celebration through hands-on activities and collaborative learning.
Boys Town
Teaching Social Skills, Creating Successful Students “Following Instructions” and “Listening”
With the help from learning games and holiday-themed coloring pages, scholars learn the importance of listening carefully and following directions. Coloring pages celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving. Learning games include Simon...
Curated OER
Hooray for Hand-Me-Downs!
Youngsters learn how "hand-me-downs" can help save money while practicing math word problems with this fun learning center activity.
Skyscraper Museum
What is a Skyscraper?
Skyscrapers are amazing feats of architectural design that create the iconic skylines of the world's biggest cities. Young architects explore the defining characteristics of these monstrous towers with the first lesson in this four-part...
All for KIDZ
Building Relationships: The Orphan of Ellis Island
Family and friendship are two very important themes of the historical fiction novel The Orphan of Ellis Island by Elvira Woodruff. From video clips and writing prompts to reader's theater and family interviews, this resource provides...
Anti-Defamation League
Identity-Based Bullying
What is identity? What is bullying? What is identity-based bullying? After discussing these questions as a class, pupils engage in partner discussions before participating in a small group activity to act out bullying scenarios. Then,...
Smithsonian Institution
A Ticket to Philly—In 1769: Thinking about Cities, Then and Now
While cities had only a small fraction of the population in colonial America, they played a significant role in pre-revolutionary years, and this was certainly true for the largest city in the North American colonies: Philadelphia. Your...
Missouri Department of Elementary
I’m Thumbody!
Positive and negative thinking is the focus of a lesson that boost self-awareness. Beginning with a whole-class discussion, scholars brainstorm what positive thinking looks and sounds like then compares and contrast the two types of...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Fred Seibel, the Times-Dispatch, and Massive Resistance
A instructional activity challenges scholars to analyze editorial cartoons created by Fred Seibel, illustrator for the Times-Dispatch, during the Massive Resistance. A class discussion looking at today's editorial pages and Jim Crow Laws...
Curated OER
Our Classroom Constitution
Develop a system of classroom rules created by the kids, for the kids with this three-part lesson series on the US Constitution. After learning about the structure of the Constitution and the government it established, young scholars...
Smithsonian Institution
Art to Zoo: Life in the Promised Land: African-American Migrants in Northern Cities, 1916-1940
This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...
Skyscraper Museum
Changes in a City Over Time
Investigate the growth and development of New York City with the final instructional activity in this four-part series on skyscrapers. Learners first explore the concept of urban growth by looking closely at a series of three paintings...
Oklahoma Bar Association
Into Which Caste Have You Been Cast?: India's Caste System
What was it like to fit into a certain class with no choice in the matter? Learners experience the caste system in a role-play activity, work individually on handouts to enhance their learning, and participate in an evaluation activity...
US Institute of Peace
Understanding the Levels of Conflict
Conflicts can quickly get out of hand—which is why it's important to understand the four different levels of conflict. An important lesson plan lays out the definitions of personal, local, national, and international conflict before...
Smithsonian Institution
Hidden George Washington: Word Search with a Twist
Learners identify significant people, places, events and milestones in George Washington's personal and professional life. They complete crossword using facts about George Washington.