National Endowment for the Humanities
Scottsboro Boys and "To Kill a Mockingbird": Two Trials for the Common Core
Here's a must-have resource for anyone reading To Kill A Mockingbird or using Harper Lee's award-winning novel in a classroom. The packet contains Miss Hollace Ransdall's first-hand, factual account of the trials of the Scottsboro Boys,...
Curated OER
All the News That's Fit to Click: Analyzing New York Times Design
Explore the New York Times, online and in print. Partners take the roles of reader and monitor while each peruses the newspaper. Discussion questions compare the online version to a hard copy print edition. Links provide comparison of...
Curated OER
About Life: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange Going to the Promised Land
To better understand the migrant experience during the Great Depression, pupils analyze two primary resources: photographs by Dorothea Lange and a U.S. Map that shows the Dust Bowl. They compare and contrast Lange's images to Steinbeck's...
Curated OER
Langston Hughes Was a Dreamer Too
Encourage your pupils to imagine their own dreams for the future. After studying three poems by Langston Hughes and listening to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech, young poets craft their own dream stanza.
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Ruta Sepetys
Historical fiction novels give readers a chance to step into someone else's shoes. An educator's guide from Penguin Common Core Lesson Plans provides resources to accompany three historical fiction novels written by Ruta Sepetys: Between...
Curated OER
Take a Deep Breath: Air Today, Air Tomorrow
This is the introductory lesson in a series about air quality. Why is it so important that we breathe clean air? How can we make sure we're keeping our air clean? A discussion is the central idea of the lesson, and example questions are...
Science Matters
Slip Sliding Along
The San Andreas Fault is the largest earthquake-producing fault in California. In the seventh lesson in the 20 part series, pupils create maps of California, focusing on the San Andreas Fault system. The comparison of where...
West Contra Costa Unified School District
Connecting Fractions and Rational Expressions
Teach class members to work with rational expressions using their knowledge of fractions. The lesson plan starts with a warm-up of rational expressions at four different levels of complexity. The different levels continue throughout...
Curated OER
Boolean Algebra and its Application to Problem Solving and Logic Circuits
Introduce learners to the concept of Boolean Algebra. In groups, they are given real life situations in statements and make conclusions. They will use the statements to form compound statements. To end the lesson, they use the compound...
Curated OER
Introduce: Comparison and Contrast
Class discussions can really make concepts come to life. The class discusses the differences between compare and contrast, read a book, then talk about ways they can compare events or characters in the story. Good leading question are...
Center for Learning in Action
Density
Explore the concept of density within states of matter—gases, liquids, and solids—through a group experiment in which young scientists test objects' texture, color, weight, size, and ability to sink or float.
Curated OER
Using Cross-Genre Comparisons to Find the Message in Hip-Hop
Students analyze two cross -genre songs written in the early 1980s for lyrical content and social commentary. They consider the artistic merit of hip hop music in today's culture.
Curated OER
Compare Whole Numbers to 100
First graders compare whole numbers that range in number to 100. In this number comparison lesson, 1st graders use number cards to help them order numbers. Students determine which numbers are greater and which are smaller than the given...
Curated OER
Number Line Snacks: Compare Numbers to 10
Kindergarteners put Cheerios or cheddar fish on two number lines (up to 10 each) and identify which number the snack pieces indicate. They compare numbers after eating a few of each snack, and get an introduction to addition and...
Curated OER
Who's Got Game? The Lion or the Mouse?
Discuss bullying, folk tales, and more using this resource. Learners read the story The Lion and the Mouse by Toni and Slade Morrison, engage in cause and effect activities, make predictions, and discuss bullying. This is a motivating...
American Press Institute
Newspapers in Your Life: What’s News Where?
Big news isn't necessarily newsworthy everywhere! How do journalists decide what to cover with so much happening around them? A instructional activity on media literacy examines the factors that affect the media's choice of stories to...
Curriculum Corner
Guest Teacher Plans: Grade 6
Taking a day off of school can feel like a lot more work than going because of the time and effort that goes into making sub plans. Make your life easier with a daily plan for a guest teacher designed to meet the needs of sixth...
Curated OER
A Tall Ship and a Star to Steer Her By
Learners create a water transportation device powered by wind. In this wind power lesson, students research transportation concepts after reading the poem "Sea Fever" by John Masefield. Learners design the fastest sailboat they can...
Curated OER
Fossils 2: Uncovering the Facts
Students determine what types of information can be determined by looking at fossils. In this fossil instructional activity, students examine facts about and images of the Tyrannosaurus Rex at an assigned web site. They apply their...
Virginia Department of Education
Prokaryotes
Lead your biology class on a cell-sized adventure! Emerging scientists construct models of prokaryotes, then design an experiment to properly grow a bacterial culture. They conclude the activity by viewing the culture under a microscope....
Curated OER
Little Pig, Little Pig
First graders compare versions of the Three Little Pigs. In this comparison lesson, 1st graders read several version of the Three Little Pigs and compare the situations, characters, settings, solutions, emotions and costumes. ...
Curated OER
Applied Science - Science and Math Lab
Learners make a prediction. In this applied science lesson, students guess the number of items in a jar. Learners create a bar graph to show the predictions and the actual amounts.
Curated OER
Entertainment and Recreation in the Early Twentieth Century and Today
Eleventh graders research entertainment and recreation in the early twentieth century using primary sources and the book From the Hidewood, by Robert Amerson. They compare the rural experience of the time period to the national...
Curated OER
Endocrine And Reproductive Systems
Learners investigate the hormonal levels that are created with the endocrine system and tie it to the act of sexual reproduction. The lesson discusses how the respiratory system is organized as a comparison to the endocrine system which...