Curated OER
The Art of Science: Gravity
Through a series of experiments and demonstrations, fifth graders will learn about gravity. They will make predictions, drop various objects, write down their observations, and try to understand gravity through balance. This lesson seems...
Curated OER
Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe: What is Beautiful?
Learners consider the notion of beauty and what impact the media and popular culture have on it. In this cross curricular lesson, students examine print ads, write down and share their thoughts on them. Then learners form literary groups...
Curated OER
Overland Trails To The West
Consider the political, physical, and geographical factors that led to and marked the Westward Expansion. Learners will track the various routes developed during the 1800's. They create a first person journal describing what they see,...
Curated OER
Math Series
Even though this activity is just a simple review of estimation, it is a fast and easy way to explore this topic. Young mathematicians estimate the number of items contained in two jars and discuss their answers. Afterwards, they can use...
Poets.org
Ghosts and Spirits
Connect poetry to a naturally kid-friendly topic: ghosts! Draw on your class's prior knowledge of the paranormal to help them access the classic poem "Haunted House" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. After a fun warm-up activity describing...
Curated OER
Radio Program #3: Company Towns
Students analyze the characteristics of company towns. They locate former company towns on a map. Students classify the perspectives of residents of company towns. Creative writing unfolds within this lesson.
Curated OER
Explaining Factors Causing Conflict and Cooperation
Students discuss what causes conflicts amongst groups especially pertaining to Native American tribes. In this conflicts lesson plan, students have discussion questions that they verbally answer and write in a journal.
Curated OER
Exploring Volcanoes
Fifth graders use the ERIC database to find information on volcanoes. At the end of their research they present their findings, draw a volcano, and write bout what they found interesting about it. They also classify and categorize the...
Curated OER
Creating a Consumer-Awareness Information Campaign
Students work across grade levels to research and design a community awareness campaign on the benefits of purchasing fair trade chocolate. They develop print advertisements, conduct research, write letters, make posters and prepare oral...
Curated OER
Civil War Letter
Pupils put themselves in the shoes of American Civil War soldiers. For this Civil War lesson, students compose letters to their families from the the perspective of soldiers in the war.
Curated OER
Interative History Notebook Mini-lesson
High schoolers respond to Holocaust literature. In this interactive history lesson, students select quotes from chapter 1 of Elie Wiesel's Night and reflect on their meaning as they record their thoughts on poetic, prose, comic. or...
Curated OER
Fifty Years: From the Little Rock Nine to the Jena Six
Students discuss how the issues surrounding school integration have changed since the Little Rock Nine entered Central High School. They discuss the recent events in Jena, Louisiana. Students write a letter to a school administrator...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Survival Diaries
Pupils are able to compose a dialectical journal entry which analyzes information presented in a text. They are able to compose a creative journal entry which develops characters, presents events in logical order, and includes sensory...
Curated OER
What's On Your Plate?
Students explore the use of sensory details in writing. For this journal writing lesson, students write four journal entries after group discussion about a variety of topics such as their weekend, poverty in the United States, and...
Curated OER
How We Have Changed!
First graders practice using their writing skills. They create memory books through the use of daily journal writing questions of the day. Students respond to story prompts and write autobiographies of themselves and another classmate.
Curated OER
Journal Entry: What You Want To Buy!
Third graders write a one page paper about what they would like to purchase given the savings techniques. They write down what the object is that they are going to buy, how they are going to earn money to purchase this object, and what...
Virginia Department of Education
Weather Patterns and Seasonal Changes
Get your class outside to observe their surroundings with a activity highlighting weather patterns and seasonal changes. First, learners take a weather walk to survey how the weather affects animals, people, plants, and trees during...
Virginia Department of Education
Absolute Value
Your birthday can be more than just about presents; it can even teach about absolute value. The class investigates absolute value as the distance from zero on a number line. Plotting birth months and comparing each birth month to July...
Virginia Department of Education
Sales Tax and Tip
Don't forget to tip your server. Future consumers learn how to calculate sales taxes and tips. Pairs use actual restaurant menus to create an order and determine the total bill, including taxes and tips.
Virginia Department of Education
Independent and Dependent Variables
Investigate the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Individuals begin by identifying independent and dependent variables from different problem situations. Then, using specific guidelines, they create posters...
Curated OER
Environmentally Friendly
What can your pupils do to promote better conditions for wildlife? After researching issues around wildlife management, class members use the Internet to locate three different organizations devoted to protecting wildlife. They then...
National History Day
“Saving the Bear”: The Russian Expeditionary Force of World War One
How have Russian politics affected countries on a global stage? The discussion of the Russian Revolution and World War I begins with an analysis of primary resource letters. Learners finish with a project where they create a timeline of...
Curated OER
Studying Pillow The Book
Learners investigate the content of The Pillow Book. They conduct research and complete journals about the readings. There are target questions to guide the writing and reflection process.
Curated OER
Extended Families
Students examine the various combinations that contemporary extended families take on. They identify how strong communication skills are important to the health of the family after reading a an excerpt from a first-person fictional journal.