NASA
Touchdown
Individuals design and build a set of shock absorbers to protect their astronauts when they land. Using a limited amount of supplies, pupils build a system that will keep two large marshmallows from flying out of a cup when it lands...
Nevada Outdoor School
Let It Snow! Let It Melt!
Winter weather offers a great opportunity to teach young scientists about the states of matter. This activity-based lesson includes a range of learning experiences, from experimenting with the rate at which ice melts...
Do2Learn
Organizer Tree
Help your pupils organize their thoughts, gain a greater understanding of a topic by laying it out clearly, or plan for writing with this graphic organizer. Learners can write in three larger topics and then two subtopics for each.
Chicago Children's Museum
Simple Machines: Force and Motion
Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion,...
State Bar of Texas
Tinker v. Des Moines
Freedom of speech allows anyone, even those in school, to say and do what they feel—right? The 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines serves as the backdrop for a study on First Amendment rights. Scholars use a short video along...
Curated OER
Ecology of the Savanna-Forest Boundaries in Central Brazil
Students explore photosynthesis. For this photosynthesis lesson, students label parts of photosynthesis and take notes. Students conduct experiments on leaves, make observations and record their findings.
Curated OER
Monthly Cost of Living - Food
Students determine how much they would need to feed a family for a month. They plan meals and use Internet grocery stores to find the cost of individual food items. They brainstorm in small groups to come up with 1 weeks worth of menus.
Curated OER
Finding the Area and Perimeter of Polygons
Seventh graders practice finding the area and perimeter of polygons. In this polygon area lesson, 7th graders brainstorm shapes and take a walk to locate shapes. Students record properties of shapes and use various shapes to make a...
Curated OER
Letter Sound and Letter Combination Accuracy: Sound Matching Adjectives
Kindergartenrs explore English by analyzing images in a picture book. This lesson on the parts of speech calls for young learners to view a picture book in class and describe characters, settings and objects with adjectives. Then, as a...
Curated OER
Appetizing Adverbs
Have your class construct an adverb wheel. Learners brainstorm adverbs to modify the verbs they use to describe how they will eat a doughnut hole. They then use the wheel to help them write creative sentences.
Curated OER
The Sound of…Poetry!
Scritch, scratch, scritch. It's the sound of pupils writing poetry! Focus on sensory language and onomatopoeia with a writing instructional activity. After listening to some sounds, learners examine a couple of poems that include sound...
Curated OER
What is a Philanthropist?
What does a philanthropist do? Help your class explore philanthropy using character development and literacy ideas. Learners will define and give examples of philanthropy, listen to The Lion and the Mouse, discuss how the characters help...
BW Walch
Creating and Graphing Linear Equations in Two Variables
This detailed presentation starts with a review of using key components to graph a line. It then quickly moves into new territory of taking these important parts and teasing them out of a word problem. Special care is...
Curated OER
Thesaurus Power
Give your class the advantage of Thesaurus Power! They will use a thesaurus to understand word meanings and relationships. They focus on how a thesaurus functions and how it gives the entry word, definition, synonyms, antonyms, and part...
Food Project
Trace The French Fry
How does locally grown produce sold at a farmer's market compare to a more complex industrial system in the way they each affect the environment, people, and the economy? Pupils explore the different types of food systems and how they...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Conflict Mediation – Part 1: Getting Ready
Two scholars walk into a room arguing, what is happening? Peers observe the two actors in preparation for a whole-class discussion about conflict. Learners establish a conflict, name the three approaches—passive, aggressive, and...
Curated OER
Class Memorial
What is a memorial and what should it look like? Learners will choose what they believe is important to remember about September 11 and how it should be displayed. They work in groups and brainstorm details about the memorial and present...
Teach Engineering
The Grand Challenge: Fix the Hip Challenge
It may be time to get to know the skeletons in your family. The first lesson in a series of 5, introduces the class to the concept of osteoporosis. The class members brainstorm possible causes and whether the family should be concerned...
Curated OER
Flowers for Algernon: RAFT
Should Charlie undergo an operation to increase his intelligence? A mini-lesson for a unit on Daniel Keyes novel Flowers for Algernon uses a RAFT activity, which prompts students to write a letter to Charlie's doctors explaining why they...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 12
What happens when a tenuous grasp on sanity begins to slip? Compare Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and Emily Dickinson's "I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain" with a lesson plan focused on developing a common central idea. High...
Curated OER
Ink Analysis
High school chemistry class members become "detectives for a day" and use the concept of paper chromatography to analyze a note left at the scene of a crime. Pupils test the ink on the note with a solvent, such as isopropyl alcohol, to...
Teach Engineering
Challenges of Laparoscopic Surgery
Get some laparoscopic training without the pain with an activity that challenges class members to find out what it is like to perform laparoscopic surgery. Teams perform three different tasks and quantify their performance. The...
University of Minnesota
What's the Deal? Addiction Card Game
Addiction is a big deal! Playing a game of cards helps learners understand the concept of addiction. Through their analysis, they examine the potential for addiction and how it varies for each individual.
Curated OER
Geography of Mesopotamia
Students write a letter. In this irrigation lesson, students review how humans and the environment can interact with each other, learn new vocabulary words having to do with Mesopotamia, learn about irrigation and view maps of...