Curated OER
Act-It-Out Columbus Boat
Young scholars investigate the trip Christopher Columbus took to the new world. In this U.S. History lesson, students create a fictional ship from cardboard and construction paper simulating the ship Columbus used to get to the New...
Curated OER
Pay It Forward Project
Create a list of random acts of kindness and have your class perform them during a designated week. Learners will also participate in a project centered around being kind to others. Each grade chooses their kindness project, and then...
Curated OER
Meet Your Neighbor: Action Verbs
Get your kids moving on the first day of school! This action verb activity doesn't have to be used as an ice breaker, but it sure will work as one. Simply place pairs of cards face-side down on the carpet, each with an action verb...
Curated OER
Hop To It!
Students determine patterns. In this mathematics lesson, students act out a skit, play a sequence game, and complete patterns. Students use problems solving skills.
Missouri Department of Elementary
How Do I Act Like a Friend?
Familiar puppets set the stage for a thoughtful discussion about friendship. To show what they know, scholars role-play scenarios. Peers offer a thumbs up when they view positive character traits exhibit good friend behavior.
West Virginia Department of Education
An Act Worthy of Reward
John Brown is considered by many to be a martyr for abolition and civil rights. The resource covers an important event in West Virginian history, the raid by John Brown, as a standalone that discusses Brown's last words and his reaction...
Curated OER
Save Our Past -- Act It Out
Fourth graders identify and examine the importance of civic responsibility and the result of losing many archeological sites in Texas. In groups, they are given scenerio cards and act out each scene for the class. They also write a...
101 Questions
Best Triangle
What makes an equilateral triangle equilateral? It turns out it's much more than just the side lengths! Learners analyze four different triangles to determine the best equilateral triangle. They create a formula that they later use to...
101 Questions
File Cabinet
Take the resource out of the file cabinet. Young mathematicians estimate the number of sticky notes it would take to cover the surface area of a file cabinet. They answer a set of questions on how the number of sticky notes would change...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Acting Out Respect and Compromise
Puppets showcase the importance of being a good friend. Following a discussion about positive character traits, scholars create a paper-bag puppet and role-play scenarios with a peer.
DiscoverE
My Friend Robot
Can you do better than a robot? Teams write instructions for a hypothetical robot to build a structure. They test their instructions by acting them out to see if they produce the desired structure.
Curated OER
Lesson: Urs Fischer: Your Choice: Reality or Illusion?
Young analysts write a comparative essay, but about what? They compose a paper based on several critical discussion about reality and illusion, and how both are blurred in art. They analyze several theatre pieces that exemplify Brechtian...
Curated OER
Save the Lofty Trees
Save the Lofty Trees, by Leslie Mills, provides the text for a study of the roles of animals and humans in the forest. Richly detailed, the plan offers two approaches to the play: as a scenario for children to imagine what actions would...
Teach Engineering
Thrown for a Loop
Round and round it goes. Class members observe a current carrying loop in a magnetic field and calculate its associated torque. They then apply what they have learned to example problems to solve for the torque and to calculate the...
101 Questions
Volcano
This resource will blow your mind! Young mathematicians estimate the rate of volcanic lava flow by watching a video. They apply the rate formula to determine how long it would take the lava to reach a city. Let's hope everyone gets out...
101 Questions
Bubble Wrap
Let your lesson pop by using the resource. After watching a video of a man popping a square piece of bubble wrap, young mathematicians determine the time it would take to pop other pieces of bubble wrap with given dimensions. The...
101 Questions
Square Partitions
Challenge your classes while developing their problem-solving skills. A square is divided neatly into four equal triangles by its diagonals until one diagonal is moved from a vertex to the midpoint of one side. Now, scholars must devise...
Primary Resources
Drama Warm Ups and Circle Games
Circle games, energetic games, calming games, exit games. Whether used as ice breakers, warm ups, or exit strategies, or used in drama classes or content areas, the 28 games detailed in this packet deserve a spot in your curriculum library.
Curated OER
Great Expectations!
Second graders participate in a game that focuses on appropriate and inappropriate behavior for second grade. They draw a game card and read it out loud, and students discuss and identify the behavior as appropriate or inappropriate....
Colorado State University
What Makes a Gas, a Greenhouse Gas?—The Carbon Dioxide Dance
Investigate a heated topic in environmental science. Scholars team up to play the parts of gas molecules in the atmosphere. As the teacher moves about, acting as the electromagnetic wave, learners react as their molecules would to the...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Character Clovers
Build a classroom community with a lesson that uses character clovers to examine scholars' roles. Following a whole-class discussion, participants list four roles they play and accompany it with the character traits that go along with it.
Curated OER
Living With Rules
Young children explore the concept of the Golden Rule in this fun primary grade lesson. To begin, the class sings the song "The Lion and the Mouse" before discussing what the Golden Rule means and how it applies to daily life. This...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Finding the Positive
To instill the importance of a positive classroom community small groups create a collage out of magazine clippings that highlight three characteristics of self-awareness. Written examples accompany the finished product. Groups turn in...
Teach Engineering
Tools and Equipment (Part 1)
Looking for the best inclined plane for the job? Groups calculate the theoretical mechanical advantage for four different inclined planes. They determine the actual mechanical advantage by measuring the amount of force needed for the...