Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Watching Crystals Grow

For Teachers 5th - 8th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Create a World

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students combine imaginative powers with known map-making techniques to create a whole new world.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Revolutionary Money

For Teachers 4th - 12th
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. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Boomerang

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students explore the concept of boomerangs. In this boomerang activity, students throw homemade boomerangs at different angles to record maximum distance and if it returned or not. Students collect their boomerang data then create a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Around the World

For Teachers K - 5th
Students discuss the major geographical and cultural differences in the world. In this social science lesson, students pretend they are traveling and research information about where they wish to stay by finding information about the...
Unit Plan
Curated OER

We've got the whole world in our hands

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students explore spatial sense in regards to maps about the globe. In this maps lesson plan, students label oceans, locate the continents and poles, follow directions, and explain the symbols on a map.
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Yo-ho, Yo-ho a Viking's Life for Me

For Teachers 3rd
Students complete a unit of lessons on the Vikings. They analyze maps, read and discuss myths, summarize the main ideas from resource materials, watch videos, sing a song, draw a picture to illustrate Norse mythology, and define key...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tree of Life

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Students explore the importance of the tropical rain forest in different cultures. Through a cooperative game, they locate countries that are known for their forest resources. Students discuss the similarities and differences of various...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Way of Water in the World

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore problems and design solutions in relation to water issues. In this interdisciplinary lesson plan, students play an interactive game in order to explore global water issues to create solutions for the water problems in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Why Koala Has A Stumpy Tail

For Teachers 1st
First graders read the story Why Koala Has A Stumpy Tail and complete language arts activities with it. Students have discussions, read, write, spell, and act out the story.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students describe the complementary relationships between pollinators and the plants they pollinate, identify adaptations that flowers have developed to "encourage" pollination, and create and draw their own "designer" flowers.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mineral Scavenger Hunt

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students complete a scavenger hunt worksheet as they find examples in their classroom, at home, etc., of minerals. Excellent worksheet!
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Create a Classroom Exhibit: Rocks and Minerals

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students bring in rocks and minerals from home. They observe them and describe them carefully, completing a worksheet. Finally, a classroom exhibit is created.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Letters from the Japanese American Internment

For Teachers 4th - 12th
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.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Tough Nut to Crack

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Children, based on a set of criteria, evaluate the quality of pecans. They research recorded history of pecan trees as well as how their seeds moved across western Missouri into southeastern Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Mexico. In...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Makes a Tropical Rainforest Special?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine the characteristics of the tropical rainforest. Using a map, they locate the rainforests found around the world, continents and the equator. Using the internet, they research the various layers of the rainforest and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plants and Animals, Partners in Pollination

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Learners 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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rocks and Minerals

For Teachers 5th - 8th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Under the Spell of Spiders

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students examine spiders. In these spider lessons, students will view spider images and live spiders to determine physical characteristics, habits, and habitats. Students will examine fantasy and folklore about spiders to create and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"ART ZOO 'Blacks in the Westward Movement', 'What Can You Do with a Portrait', and 'Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass'"

For Teachers 7th - 8th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Westward Movement

For Teachers Pre-K - 8th
Students study the westward movement through examining stamps. In this westward movement lesson plan, students draw conclusions, determine cause and effect relationships and examine the westward movement of the United States by...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Size Shapes Animals

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fossils Footprints Across Time

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Young scholars examine fossils to understand how they are formed and how they give information about geological history. In this fossil lesson plan, students research and write about fossils and make models of different fossil types.The...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Going...going...gone? Tropical Rainforests-How They Work, What They Do for Us, What's Being Done to Them...

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders explore the Tropical Rainforest and come to understand what it is and how it affects the ecosystem. In this rainforests lesson, 6th graders write about the Tropical Rainforest, imagine they are in the Tropical Rainforest,...

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