San Diego Unified School District
On-Demand Persuasive Writing Samples
Young writers complete a timed persuasive writing assignment in which they argue for a club they would like to see established at school, and are then provided with real student samples of responses.
Columbus City Schools
It’s All Relative
Are the people on the other side of the world standing upside down? Pupils discuss the relationship between movement and position words. The unit explores the concept of reference points through animation, modeling, photography, and more.
Columbus City Schools
The Mystery of Earth’s History
Every living creature can leave a fossil record, yet most fossils belong to extinct organisms rather than ones currently living. Scholars learn about dating rock layers, fossils, and the environment of the past. Pupils understand that...
Columbus City Schools
Heredity: Traits, Genes, Alleles
If you knew people would pay extra for a bald dragon, could you pick which parents you should breed in order to get the highest number? The unit examines heredity and genetics through breeding dragons, mice, dogs, and tries to figure...
Science 4 Inquiry
The Ups and Downs of Populations
Life has its ups and downs ... especially if you're an animal! Biology scholars engage in a population study through an inquiry-based lesson. Pupils work together to explore the factors that affect deer populations, then examine the...
Columbus City Schools
What’s Up with Matter?
Take a "conservative" approach to planning your next unit on mass and matter! What better way to answer "But where did the gas go?" than with a lab designed to promote good report writing, research skills, and detailed observation. The...
Columbus City Schools
It’s Electric!
Shocking! Who knew so many great ideas existed for teaching middle schoolers about electricity? Find them all within this energetic framework. You'll light up at the variety of printable and web-based resources within! After building...
CK-12 Foundation
Greatest Common Factor Using Lists
By creating a list of factors for two numbers, it is easier to see the greatest common factor. Each question in an interactive resource asks pupils to identify the greatest common factor for the numbers 24 and 36 in several different...
Columbus City Schools
Diversity of Living Things
Here's a topic classes can really dig—the fossil record. Use the well-organized and thoughtful road map to take eighth graders back in time to unearth the answer. Learn how our climate has changed, and how organisms have changed along...
Channel Islands Film
Eminent Domain
After viewing the documentary The Last Roundup, a documentary about the transitioning of Santa Rosa from a privately own island to a National Park, class members debate the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment that permits the...
Channel Islands Film
Arlington Springs Man: Lesson Plan 1
Learning to craft quality questions is a skill that can be taught. Class members use the Question Formulation Technique to learn how to create and refine both closed-ended and open-ended questions. They then view West of the West's...
Curated OER
Reader's Theater
Young scholars act out and interpret the story for their peers. They study the simplest form of an organized reading to a more elaborate activity involving props, costumes, or a reinterpretation of the narrative into another art form.
Curated OER
The Columbian Exchange
Students examine the process of the Columbian Exchange. In groups, they create a poster showing the good exchanged and the people affected. They note the impacts of the Exchange on the world and present their poster to the class to end...
Curated OER
Pattern Matching
First graders examine how to determine the lines of symmetry in pictures, shapes, and patterns by completing the lessons in this unit. They make patterns that show a line of symmetry and describe it using their own language.
Curated OER
Using Tens Frames To Build Addition And Subtraction Facts To Ten
Students review the basic addition facts through ten. They use tens frames to show number patterns and number families. They also form subtraction facts to ten using dot patterns on a quinary frame. Given a number sentence they find...
Curated OER
Book Review
In this book review worksheet, students respond to 9 short answer questions that require them to elaborate on a book they read, draw a scene from it, and reveal whether or not they would recommend it to a friend.
Illustrative Mathematics
Irrational Numbers on the Number Line
There are four irrational numbers that participants need to graph. Pi(π), -(½ x π), and √17 are easy to approximate with common rational numbers. On the other hand, the commentary describing the irrational number 2√2 is not clear. It...
Curated OER
Analyzing Visual of Samson and the Lion
What strategies do historians use for interpreting visuals? This simple worksheet lists four questions that learners can use to approach and analyze historical photographs, fine pieces of art, etc., as well as an opportunity to apply the...
Curated OER
Character Sketch
Students view a PowerPoint presentation about Character sketches, and write a four paragraph character sketch. Emphasis is placed on topic sentences having one main idea per paragraph and elaborating. They study and discuss ways to write...
Curated OER
Wanted: New Authors!
Eighth graders write a short autobiographical sketch and produce an author page to be used throughout the year with their writing. They take digital camera photos and produce a PowerPoint slide show with their photos and information.
Curated OER
Reaction Time 2: Zap!
Students show how skills can improve through practice and awareness, using a reaction-time activity that focuses on both visual and auditory responsiveness.
Curated OER
Teeter Totter
Students explore the two types of spotted sandpipers. They create a puppet show using the spotted sandpiper from Puerto Rico and the spotted sandpiper from Alaska. Students research the habitats of the two sandpipers.
Curated OER
Russian Boxes
Sixth graders find the scale factors for length, area and volume. They identify the center point of an enlargement and place similar objects to show a negative enlargement. They report the results of an exploration of scale factors in a...
Curated OER
Tessellating Art
Fourth graders create artwork showing their own unique tessellating shapes. They apply the symmetries of a regular polygon and describe the reflection or rotational symmetry of a figure or object. They share their art work with the class.