Curated OER
Cleaning Up With Decomposers
Students read and discuss decomposers and how they affect the environment. In this decomposers lesson plan, students also discuss how engineers use decomposers to help the environment.
Teach Engineering
Breathing Cells
Pairs work together to determine whether unknown solutions are either acids or bases by using a red cabbage indicator solution. After determining the general pH of the unknown solution, classmates blow into the same indicator after...
Kenan Fellows
Terrarium in a Bottle: Modeling the Atmosphere, Greenhouse Effect, and Water Cycle
You've heard of farm to table ... but what about farm in classroom? Junior agriculturalists embark upon a two-week journey into the science of growing things. Based upon the classic terrarium in a two-liter experiment, the instructional...
Reed Novel Studies
Dolphins of the World
Pair a novel study of Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell with a presentation on dolphins. The 37-slide PowerPoint shows different types of dolphins all around the world, includes a brief description of each, and provides a photo...
Curated OER
Life Cycle of Trees
Turn your students into young tree-tectives with this fun science investigation into the life of trees. To begin, a class volunteer gets dressed up in a tree costume as the different parts of trees are introduced. Then, the class learns...
Universal Press Syndicate
The Mini Page: Make It a Good New Year
The New Year is a time for reflecting on the previous year in order to make resolutions and set goals for self improvement. With multiple suggestions towards becoming a better classmate, student, friend, and healthy person, the resource...
Curated OER
What Do I Want To Be When I Grow Up?
Students divide careers into clusters. In this vocational technology lesson plan, students prepare a PowerPoint presentation of one of the six career clusters. Working in small groups, students organize a variety of careers into the...
Curated OER
Where the Red Fern Grows
Students read Where the Red Fern Grows and create a "story box" for the final project. They are encouraged to dress like one of the characters from the book as they present their story box to the class.
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: List-Group-Label Strategy
Help your learners navigate the vocabulary of Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori with a lesson on categorizing words. After coming up with a list of things that grow from the earth, learners decide which categories each words belong in.
Curated OER
NASA Plans Moon Base
Students react to statements about the moon, then read a news article about NASA's plans to build a permanent base on the moon. For this space science and current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion and a...
Workforce Solutions
Discover Your Interests
For many high schoolers, what they want to be when they grow up can be very intimidating. Here's an activity that gets them thinking about their interests and how they might connect these interests to future jobs. After watching a short...
California Department of Education
What’s the Market for My Labor?
Is it easy to find a job I'll love? Show scholars the importance of understanding the labor market with part three in a five-part series of career and college readiness lesson plans. After learning important vocabulary, learners track...
The New York Times
Trouble in the Hive: Researching the Decimation of Honeybee Colonies
Teach your class about colony collapse disorder and foster discussion about causes and solutions for the honeybee problem. Class members read and discuss an article and participate in one of two detailed activities about pollination and...
California Academy of Science
Fresh Solutions: Design Thinking Challenge
How do people transport fresh water long distances to ensure everyone has access to it? The final lesson in the 10-part Fresh Solutions unit encourages individuals to design their own solution, or solutions, to that very problem. Groups...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Campaign
The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...
Council for Economic Education
Employment Data: Is the Economy Healthy?
Low unemployment is an indicator of a healthy economy—right? Current employment data and research leads scholars on a quest to find the true health of the economy. They analyze research on Payroll Employment Data and watch a short video...
University of Wisconsin
Bimodel Botany Bouquet
Gardeners are given an individual plant specimen from a bouquet of local rain garden plants. They group up by their plant type and then make observations together, name the plant, and introduce it to the rest of the class. You then share...
Tennessee Valley Authority
Renewable Energy Sources
Not all energy sources are renewable, as learners investigate in this unit. Made up of six lessons that span a few weeks of instruction, the unit has learners examining US energy reserves and consumption, using data to draw conclusions...
Curated OER
Cooking in Britain Today
Learners explore British cooking vocabulary. In this ELL vocabulary activity, students identify and describe various foods, match foods with adjectives, discuss their opinions about British cuisine, then read food critic reviews. Four...
Curated OER
Design a Colonial Garden
Students explore botany by completing an art design activity in class. In this gardening history lesson, students identify the plants and crops utilized in the Colonial era for both food and medicine. Students utilize geometry to create...
American Museum of Natural History
Ocean Creature Feature
From coloring to hard protective shells, ocean creatures have adaptation features that help them survive. An eight-question online quiz highlights different ocean animals and their unique characteristics. The resource then offers pop-up...
Virginia Department of Education
Weather Patterns and Seasonal Changes
Get your class outside to observe their surroundings with a lesson plan highlighting weather patterns and seasonal changes. First, learners take a weather walk to survey how the weather affects animals, people, plants, and trees during...
Azar Grammar
Song Lessons: I Wanna Be Like You
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's swing rendition of Robert and Richard Sherman's "I Wanna Be Like You" offers young grammarians an opportunity to examine verb tenses, noun clauses, gerunds, and prepositions.
Newspaper Association of America
Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...