Curated OER
Fruit or Vegetable?
Watermelon is a vegetable? A tomato is a fruit? Believe it or not, this debate is decades old. Groups examine rulings by the US Supreme Court, the USDA, and state statutes before developing their own criteria to use when labeling...
Curated OER
Dalai Lama Peace and Conflict Resolution
Students explore philosophy by researching the Dalai Lama. In this peaceful living lesson, students discuss the Dalai Lama and his unique views of the world before reading the story Can You Say Peace? Students answer study questions...
Civil War Trust
Transcribing Civil War History
Primary sources are valuable for understanding the context of historical events, but the diction and dialect in these documents can be difficult to understand. Middle and high schoolers participation in a transcription process in which...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Kate Chopin's "The Awakening": No Choice But Under?
The first in a series of three resources designed to accompany a reading of Kate Chopin's The Awakening provides readers with background information about Chopin, Creole culture, literary realism, and women's suffrage.
Curated OER
Hoot: Vocabulary Squares
Study the vocabulary from Carl Hiaasen's Hoot with an activity featuring synonyms and antonyms. Kids fill in a graphic organizer for each word, prompting critical thinking as they find additional ways to put the word into context.
School Improvement in Maryland
Affirmative Action
Do the government's affirmative action policies promote equity in the United States? The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and affirmative action policies come under scrutiny in an activity that asks class members to...
Channel Islands Film
Dark Water: Lesson Plan 3 - Grades 6-12
After watching the documentary Dark Water about a traditional Chumash ceremony and reading a Chumash origin story, viewers are asked to create a coat of arms and to craft an essay that details a family tradition or their own origin story.
Busy Teacher
The Phantom of the Opera
It's no masquerade! If Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera is part of your curriculum, check out this three-page packet loaded with suggestions for before, during, and after reading activities.
Curated OER
The ABCs of Getting and Keeping a Job
Students explore qualities necessary in keeping a job. In teams, using each letter of the alphabet, students brainstorm important job skills and attitudes. They associate skills in getting a job with skills in keeping a job. Team...
Curated OER
Guide Words
Third graders investigate guide words. For this library lesson, 3rd graders investigate guide words in reference materials and complete an alphabetizing worksheet.
Curated OER
Navajo Code Talkers
Students research information about Navajo Code Talkers on the internet to explain their significance in World War II. Students access dictionary of words used in the secret code. Students create messages, using the Navajo words...
Curated OER
Pasta Research
Third graders read the story STREGA NONA together as a class and discuss what they know about pasta. They each receive pieces of pasta to glue down on construction paper and write beneath each one what they think it looks like.
Curated OER
Vocabulary of Ancient Rome (Grades 6-8)
Students define ancient Roman vocabulary using the dictionary writing sentences. They write sentences for each word that use the words in their original and contemporary contexts.
Curated OER
Selecting the Right Source and the Right Tool for Information Needs
Students review information sources and match tasks up with resources, i.e. definition with a dictionary. They decide on a research topic and find as many places or people or types of materials they can use to find information on that...
Curated OER
Medieval Mathematicians and Whimsical Windows
Third graders demonstrate their mathematical knowledge of symmetry and reflection using congruent geometric shapes while working as an artist and mathematician looking at a medieval-styled stained glass window.
Curated OER
Our Savage Planet in the News
Students explore extreme earth phenomenons. In this savage planet lesson, students explore and report on various types of severe weather and earth phenomenons using the Internet, a word processor, or other multimedia device.
Curated OER
Medical Terminology
Pupils analyze specific medical terminology. In this medical terminology lesson, students research medical terminology and write properly grammatical paragraphs on each word including the scientific term, nursing and general...
Curated OER
Country Landform Brochure
Third graders create brochures that include landforms, natural resources and pictures of a country that has been researched or studied in class.
Curated OER
Dragonwings
Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the literature study of Dragonwings. They write about the story from the perspective of a reader that is well informed towards the last chapters. Students also find target vocabulary and...
Curated OER
"Julie of the Wolves"
Fifth graders research life in Alaska and compare life there to their lives in this lesson. They read "Julie of the Wolves." They research through the novel and other reference books facts about the Alaskan climate and geography. They...
Curated OER
Civil War on Sunday
Third graders read "Cvil War on Sunday" together and discuss characters, setting, problem and resolution. They determine facts from fiction used in the story and research drummer boys in the Civil War or Clara Barton using the Internet....
Curated OER
Publishing an Alphabet Book
Students research, write and publish an A,B,C book based on research of their own.
Curated OER
It's Raining Cats and Dog: Studying Idioms
Seventh graders determine the literal and figurative meanings of idioms and research the history of idioms. In this idioms activity, 7th graders read two books by Fred Gwynne and select two idioms from the texts to research. Students...
Curated OER
Coastal Landforms
Students explore landforms. Using the internet, students research the main landforms. They define landforms and download images into a word document. Students create their own picture-dictionary.