Curated OER
Wagons Ho! Hard Times! Hard Choices!
You have just hit the lesson plan jackpot! This isn't just a instructional activity, it's a ten-day unit covering westward expansion, pioneer life, and the Oregon Trail. Activities include baking, model building, role-play, newspaper...
Curated OER
It's Your Opinion
Everyone has a different opinion about the characters they read about in books. Have your class explore forming an opinion and finding evidence to support it as they read and discuss what they think about a particular character. They...
Close Up Foundation
Rights Auction
In an engaging activity on universal and unalienable rights, learners work in groups to establish a democratic nation and determine what principles they want to protect to ensure a democratic society. They conduct a "rights auction" in...
Curated OER
Two Squares are Equal
This problem is sure to get your young mathematicians thinking. The idea sounds simple: one equation, solve it as many ways as you can. This is meant to get at a deeper understanding of solving quadratic equations, including some more...
Science 4 Inquiry
The Last Supper: Identifying Macromolecules
Why do medical examiners always state the contents of a person's stomach? Scholars learn about the importance of macromolecules through a case study of stomach contents. They perform multiple tests to determine a conclusion before they...
Science 4 Inquiry
The Monster Mash
Young scientists create monsters by applying their knowledge of transcription and translation. They randomly find the DNA, assign it a codon, and build monsters piece by piece.
Science 4 Inquiry
Let's Get Moving
Rivers top the list of causes of erosion over time. Scholars experiment with wind, water, and ice reshaping sand. They connect the simulations facts about erosion and deposition to understand unique landforms such as the Grand Canyon and...
Science 4 Inquiry
Maintaining Mass
Can you disprove the law of conservation of mass? Pupils observe the teacher weigh each part of a reaction. Then, the teacher weighs the result of the reaction and everyone sees that the products do not equal the reactants. Then they...
National Security Agency
Place Value - Butterflies Floating Place to Place
Learn about butterflies and place value in a series of interdisciplinary lessons! With several worksheets that reference butterfly facts in word problems, kids can practice science and math in one activity. Additional worksheets are...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Unit 1 Math Vocabulary Cards (Grade 4)
Use a set of 12 math vocabulary cards intended for fourth grade mathematicians. The topics of the cards include mostly place value concepts. Each sheet contains two cards; one with the word printed in bold text, and the other with...
Cornell University
Atomic Bonding
Explore the connection of surface area to bonding within atoms. Learners complete lab investigations to model changing surface area with different sizes and concentrations of atoms. A flour fireball demonstration follows the labs to...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Using Polygons to Represent Fractions
Explore the world of fractions by using pattern blocks to show how different shapes can divide a hexagon. Elementary schoolers work in groups to complete these problems and to answer questions. Later, they work complete an independent...
Curated OER
Drop it or not?
Students explore fractions. In this fraction activity, students play an interactive game and use manipulatives to practice working with fractions.
Curated OER
Geometric Abstraction
Students create an abstract work of art that is made by repeating geometric shapes and lines, write concise instructions to reproduce the work of art and reproduce someone else's artwork via written instructions.
Curated OER
The Food Guide Pyramid
Students examine each level of the food pyramid and how many servings they should consume during the day. They study the important nutrients associated with each category of the food pyramid.
Inside Mathematics
Squares and Circles
It's all about lines when going around. Pupils graph the relationship between the length of a side of a square and its perimeter. Class members explain the origin in context of the side length and perimeter. They compare the graph to the...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Year 4: Julius Caesar and Imperial Rome
The study of the life of Julius Caesar can be divided into three parts: his early life and military successes, his reign as dictator, and the rise of the Roman Empire after his death. Young scholars demonstrate their mastery of the facts...
Curated OER
Delve Into the Metaphorical Mind
There are many ways to teach metaphors — all are gold to our young learners.
Curated OER
Seeing Dots
Your algebra learners interpret algebraic expressions, in order to compare their structures, using a geometric context. They also discern how the two expressions are equivalent and represent a pattern geometrically and algebraically.
DePaul University
Contrast and Evaluate Fact and Opinion
How can you tell when an author is expression an opinion or stating a fact? Use two short reading selections to emphasize the difference between a statement that you can prove and one that you can't. The first passage explains food...
West Contra Costa Unified School District
Divisibility Rules Justified
How do you know if a number is divisible? Instructors first prove the divisibility rules for three and four and then class members use this modeling to prove given divisibility rules for eight and nine either individually or in...
Curated OER
Introduction to Symbolism
Your young readers might know that the stars on the American flag symbolize the fifty states, but what symbols best represent who your students are as people? Use this SMART board presentation to guide learners through an activity about...
Charleston School District
Operations with Exponents
It just multiplies out. The lesson provides the rules for operations with exponents and keeps them as positive integers in the lesson. Videos explain the rules for the operations with exponents while working out examples.
Inside Mathematics
Magic Squares
Prompt scholars to complete a magic square using only variables. Then they can attempt to solve a numerical magic square using algebra.