University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Strangest Dream
Do words change or add meaning or interest to a work of art? The final lesson in a four-part series on the beautiful brain as a work of art focuses on art analysis. Scholars write a story about exploring art from the inside. Reflections...
Curated OER
Spelling Relay
Looking for a way to review and practice spelling words that's fun and creative? Use this spelling relay activity for any grade level. Using three spelling lists, ranging in difficulty, teams of young spellers choose words from the lists...
Curated OER
Grade 2: Exploring Place Value
Creative problem solving is fun and helps kids conceptualize content. They use grid paper, manilla paper, and markers to cut, draw, and show given double-digit numbers as many ways as they can.
Curated OER
The Flat WSD Students
Students engage in creative writing and performance using Flat Stanley. After reading Flat Stanley your class summarize their understanding and then create a flat image of themselves. Students then brainstorm ideas of how they would...
Curated OER
Encouraging Students to Embrace Their Inner Author
Everyone is a writer! Youngsters compose an original piece of writing. In this writing lesson plan, they come up with their own idea for a piece of writing, revise it, and then publish it with illustrations. This lesson plan includes...
Curated OER
Scary Short Story Writing Lesson
There's nothing like the prospect of writing a scary story to get your middle schoolers' writing juices flowing! In the lesson presented here, pupils listen to scary short stories read to them by the teacher. Then, a discussion ensues...
Curated OER
Texture Hunts and More: Madonna and Child with Saints
Students investigate different painting techniques by studying classic works of art. In this art history lesson, students observe the famous Madonna and Child with Saints painting and describe the texture and images they notice....
Curated OER
"Snapshot" Exercises & Sensory Detail Word Bank
Read a sample of creative descriptive writing to your science class. Discuss how writing can be used to record and communicate observations that scientists make. Reading selections and thought-provoking questions are suggested. Also...
University of Minnesota
Neurotransmission Model
Don't lose your marbles — you'll need them for a lesson on neurotransmission. Young scholars build a neurotransmission model using marbles, beads, rubber bands, string, and other elements. After studying specific neurotransmitters,...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Early American Novel: Exploring the Emergence of a Genre
Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its...
Anti-Defamation League
10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...
Curated OER
Sportsmanship Rap Songs
Using this creative lesson idea, your class can explore music with a message. Upper elementary learners create their own rap song to express their feelings about physical education and sportsmanship. The resource includes an...
Curated OER
Be the Change: Core Values
How do core values and identity contribute to citizenship and leadership? After engaging in a series of activities that explore core values, writers craft a children’s story that focuses on one value. They arrange to read their story to...
Mascil Project
Closed Greenhouses
Controlling the efficiency of a greenhouse is a mathematical task. A collaborative project challenges learners to create an efficiency plan for a closed greenhouse. Using algebraic equations, they consider a set of constraints, design...
Curated OER
A Second Visit To Old Sturbridge Village-The Story Tour
Students conduct research on 1830s families and early New England culture. They conduct research on the Old Sturbridge Village website, participate in an online chat with a costumed interpreter, and continue to develop possible plots to...
Curated OER
Advanced Art – Cultural Place-setting Still life
Upper graders view a series of films that depict rituals or celebrations as they occur in different cultural settings. They conduct a cultural investigation about one culture, brainstorm and research objects that have cultural or...
Curated OER
Image Transfer and Printmaking With Clay and Under Glazes
What a creative lesson plan! Learners make sushi dishes using printmaking methods. They use a variety of techniques including those involving under glazes and clay. There are instructions and pictures to make this process easy for...
Curated OER
Arctic Writing
Fifth graders analyze photographs in order to write descriptively. In this descriptive writing activity, 5th graders use the Internet to research and view photographs of the arctic. Students use descriptive language to write...
EngageNY
Analyzing Data Collected on Two Variables
Assign an interactive poster activity to assess your class's knowledge and skill concerning data analysis. The teacher reference provides solid questions to ask individuals or groups as they complete their posters.
EngageNY
Are All Parabolas Similar?
Congruence and similarity apply to functions as well as polygons. Learners examine the effects of transformations on the shape of parabolas. They determine the transformation(s) that produce similar and congruent functions.
EngageNY
Making Fair Decisions
Life's not fair, but decisions can be. The 17th installment of a 21-part module teaches learners about fair decisions. They use simulations to develop strategies to make fair decisions.
Illustrative Mathematics
Naming the Whole for a Fraction
How many different ways can you represent a whole? In a picture that represents six parts (two of which are shaded), learners are asked to label the parts appropriately to show how three different mathematical interpretations can be...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Representing Trigonometric Functions
Discover the classic example of periodicity: Ferris wheels. Young mathematicians learn about trigonometric functions through Ferris wheels. They match functions to their graphs and relate the functions to the context.
Dream of a Nation
Big6 Research Project
Do research projects at your school look like a class of eighth graders staring at a blank screen? Use the Big 6 research method to guide middle schoolers through the process of finding a topic, searching for and evaluating sources,...