Conneticut Department of Education
Instructional Strategies That Facilitate Learning Across Content Areas
Imagine 28 instructional strategies, appropriate for all subject areas and all grade levels. Directed Reading-Thinking Activities (DRTA), Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) activities, KWL charts, comparison matrixes, classification...
Smithsonian Institution
A Ticket to Philly—In 1769: Thinking about Cities, Then and Now
While cities had only a small fraction of the population in colonial America, they played a significant role in pre-revolutionary years, and this was certainly true for the largest city in the North American colonies: Philadelphia. Your...
Council for Economic Education
Out of Africa: Why Early Humans Settled around the World
Why would someone want to leave home? The age-old question is at the center of a thought-provoking activity. Scholars consider why humans move around the world both during pre-historical times and today using a PowerPoint, reading on...
National Park Service
Hibernation-Migration-Fascination
What's the difference between hibernation and a good nap? Find out with an engaging life science activity that compares the hibernation habits of grizzly bears and marmots. After learners read an informational passage about each mammal,...
Minnesota Literacy Council
Introduction to Historical Thinking
Christopher Columbus: hero or villain? Prepare class members for the debate with activities that asks them to think critically about how history is reported.
Curated OER
Using Social Studies in Five Shared Reading Lessons: Geography
After several short 15-minute mini-lessons, your learners will gain an understanding of the characteristics of a non-fiction text. Using the book Map It by Elspeth Leacock, your class will become acquainted with non-fiction terms...
Curated OER
Breaking News English: East Asia Summit
In this East Asia Summit instructional activity, students read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion...
iCivics
Constitution Day
Celebrate Constitution Day, September 17, with an activity that asks class members to identify the responsibilities of the three branches of the U.S. government.
Novelinks
Man's Search for Meaning: K-W-H-L Strategy
Prior to reading Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, class members use the provided worksheet to list what they know about the Holocaust, what they want to know, and how they will find the information they seek. After...
Curated OER
Water Wars
Students investigate the water wars taking place in Ethiopia. In this global issues lesson, students research the water shortages in East Africa. Students participate in a discussion that requires them to put themselves in the shoes of...
US Holocaust Museum
Deconstrucing the Familiar
Collaboration and complicity. Class members examine a series of photographs and consider how active participation and passive complicity represented in the photos contributed to the Holocaust.
National Endowment for the Humanities
On This Day With Lewis and Clark
Walk in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark as they discover the wonders, beauty, and dangers of the American frontier. After gaining background knowledge about Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase, young explorers use primary...
Facing History and Ourselves
Confirmation and Other Biases
As the investigation into the reporting of the events in Ferguson, Missouri, continues, class members consider how bias influences perception, how the tendency is to collect evidence that supports preconceived notions. The big idea...
Curated OER
Across the United States- Home Learning Activity
In this home-school United States map worksheet, students work with a family partner as they study a map of the United States. They talk about the states they have visited, play a game by giving each other clues about states, and write...
Curated OER
Setting Goals for the Coming School Year Home Activity
In this setting goals home-school worksheet, students work with at family partner to set three school goals for the coming school year. They decide what they need to do to achieve those goals. They write about their plan to achieve those...
Curated OER
Compass Rose Directions
Second graders use cardinal and intermediate directions to locate places on maps and places in the classroom, school, and community. They draw a setting map of "Little Red Riding Hood." Students give five steps of cardinal or...
Curated OER
Maniac Magee: Problematic Situation
As part of their reading of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, class members consider what it would take to survive living on their own. Using the provided worksheet, individuals list their needs and decide where they would...
Pulitzer Center
"Voices from Haiti": Using Poetry to Speak up for a Cause
Explore a real world use of poetry with your class! Young language arts pupils consider the concept of advocacy and how journalism, photography, and poetry can raise awareness for a cause. They read several poems about individuals...
Random House
Mapping Skills
Spark interest and enhance your pupils' map skills using Matteo Pericoli's book, See the City: the Journey of Manhattan Unfurled. Through Pericoli's illustrations and text, learners explore the East and West...
Learning to Live
Attributes of a Civil Society
What makes a society civil? High school freshmen search for examples of justice, kindness, peace, and tolerance in news media and brainstorm how they can promote these attributes in their schools, communities, and world. The well-rounded...
Anti-Defamation League
Shirley Chisholm: Unbought, Unbossed and Unforgotten
A 13-page packet introduces high schoolers to a lady of amazing firsts. Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress, the first Black woman to run for President of the United States, and a leader of the Women's Rights...
Council for Economic Education
How Neolithic Farmers Increased Their Standard of Living
How do people improve their economic situations? While many learners may not consider questions about how many crops to grow in ancient times were economic decisions, a hands-on activity encourages individuals to make these connections....
Curated OER
Water Wars
Students investigate the water wars taking place in East Africa. In this global issues instructional activity, students watch video clips and read selected articles about the water shortages in East Africa. Students estimate their own...
iCivics
The Fourth Branch: You!
Take time to remind your young learners of the valuable understanding that each branch of the United States government is really composed of other citizens. The reading material and worksheets of this resource cover the importance of...