Curated OER
Simple Machines
Have your class conduct research to learn all they can about simple machines. They use the web, take notes from a video, write a script, then make a film describing various simple machines found in real life. These videos are then...
John F. Kennedy Center
Folktale Theatre
Introduce your middle schoolers to a performance and movement activity that uses their favorite stories from fairytales and folklore. They practice basic acting skills, create dialogues with a partner, and then as guided practice,...
Macmillan Education
Teamwork
Learners develop self-awareness and discuss the importance of cooperation and communication through worksheets and hands-on, collaborative activities.
Conflict Resolution Network
Empathy
Children are naturally friendly and communicative, but often have a hard time expressing their emotions in a clear and understandable way. Help them hone their communication skills with a set of activities based on creating empathy,...
San Francisco Symphony
Quilt Making and Copland's Rodeo
Kids make quilts as they learn about pioneer life and the concept of tempo. The Aaron Copland piece, Rodeo is used to convey rhythm and tempo in music. As the children discuss tempo and rhythm, they also discuss what life was like for...
Curated OER
Decision Making
"What pressures are there for teens to become sexually active?" The class writes anonymous responses on paper. The teacher then reads them aloud and the response is discussed by the group. They then examine their personal life goals and...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Cultures
Using informational text to make cross cultural comparisons is a great way to build a global understanding and comparative analysis skills. With several handy worksheets and a Venn diagram the class will read to make cross textual...
Curated OER
Endangered Ecosystems
Reading comprehension and note-taking skills are practiced as young ecologists embark on this journey. Explorers visit a website where they will read about three ecosystems that are in danger. They use interactive programs to build a...
Curated OER
By Heart
To memorize, or not to memorize: that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the fear and anguish of committing a poem to memory, to endure the heartache, to shuffle off this fear, and face the stares of classmates with the hue...
PBS
African American History: Honored as Heroes
To gain an understanding of the treatment of African American soldiers during World War I, class members watch an excerpt from the History Detectives film, Our Colored Heroes, and then examine three recruitment posters from that...
Curated OER
The Titanic 3
Can survival rates on the Titanic be explained by the "women and children first" policy or did rescue procedures favor the wealthy? Use actual historical data to explore conditional probability and independent events with your class....
Curated OER
Academic Achievement
Academic goals can lead high schoolers toward bright futures. Get your class to think about where they want to be in 20 years and what they'll need to do to get there with this lesson plan. Learners fill out a brief questionnaire about...
Curated OER
Marvellous Mosaics
Introduce your class to the beauty found in Muslim mosques by engaging them in a culturally inspired mosaic art project. They view and discuss the nature of the mosaics found in mosques and then they use scraps of colored paper and black...
Curated OER
Choosing the Best Candidate
Who would win an election between Napoleon and Julius Caesar? Group your class up to analyze and discuss which of their given choices would make the best presidential candidate, given specific criteria. The potential candidate list...
Curated OER
The Viewing Tube
Looking for an excellent lesson that incorporates math, science, and technology? Groups of three students use a viewing tube to perform an experiment, and discover how to organize their data into an Excel spreadsheet. This is a...
Curated OER
Money Management Part III: Savings Accounts and Cash vs. Credit
Help your class understand the importance of saving and managing their money. Here is part three to a unit on credit, cash, and savings. Learners discuss savings accounts and the idea that a budget plan can help them avoid costly credit...
Curated OER
Liberty for All: Voices from the Revolution
Did the Declaration of Independence really intend to grant liberty for all? Get your class thinking about historical perspective with documents relaying the experiences of women, white men, and African-Americans during the Revolutionary...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Robot Basketball
Hold a free-throw shooting challenge in your engineering class! Each team must design a contraption that will fire off a "robot arm" or, more specifically, a catapult, to send a Ping-Pong ball into a basket. Use this as an opportunity to...
Curated OER
Cold War Conflict in Vietnam: The Vietnam-Era Presidency
Comparing and evaluating various media types is a great way to build critical analysis skills. Learners read about the Vietnam era presidency, specifically the foreign policy established by Johnson and Nixon. Then they compare several...
Intel
Lights, Camera, Reaction!
Excite classes with a STEM project-based learning lesson covering chemical reactions. Groups study the different types through simulations and hands-on activities. They pick one type (synthesis, decomposition, single displacement, double...
Curated OER
Primary Understanding and Use of Place Value
Explore place value and regrouping with your class. They develop awareness of several ancient number systems and how they differ from the base ten system commonly used today. They play "Chip Trading" with partners to practice addition...
Curated OER
Modeling: Having Kittens
Cats can't add, but they do multiply! Determine the number of descendants of a single cat given specific facts about cats and kittens. The lesson focuses on developing strategies for problem solving using both individual and group work....
Curated OER
Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan: "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy"
Your class examines F.D.R.'s speech for examples of repetition, alliteration, emotionally charged words, etc. They listen to the speech and interview a person who heard it delivered. They finish by writing an article about the experience.
Illustrative Mathematics
Sammy's Chipmunk and Squirrel Observations
Here is a fun project. Sammy observes a chipmunk and a squirrel to see how many holes each needs in order to stash the same number of acorns. Scholars could find the answer algebraically or create a table to analyze the...