Curated OER
Olympic Values
Students learn what it is to be an athlete in the Olympics. They focus on the motto of the Olympics and make their own classroom oath to complete the instructional activity.
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Kidding Around In The 1980s
Students examine pop culture of the 1980s. In this historical time period lesson, students view a Smurfs cartoon from the 1980s and discuss its similarities and differences to cartoons today. Students work in groups to examine an...
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Say It Loud!: A Celebration Of Black Music In America
Students watch a video that highlights the role of artists' images throughout the history of Black music in the United States and describe the influences of the civil rights movement on Black culture.
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A World of Money
Learners explore the traditions related to the creation of national currencies. The role currency plays in shaping a national or regional identity and the influences that the designers of world currency exert are examined in this lesson.
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Pizza with the Principal & Kindness Cash
Young scholars understand how their words and acts affect others. For this acts of kindness lesson, students were rewarded for kind acts by getting to have pizza with the Principal. Young scholars also participated in a Principal's...
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Trouble With Trolls
Students listen to The Trouble With Trolls and discuss fables. In this story elements lesson, students work on reading skills. Students participate in different reading activities.
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Bearing the Torch: A Study of Ancient Greece
Second graders research Ancient Greece. In this Ancient Greece instructional activity, 2nd graders survey the geographical, historical, and cultural aspects of Greece. Students discover stories of Greek mythology and explore the...
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The Fog of War
Students view the film Fog of War and discuss the most striking elements of the film. They focus on chosen lessons from robert McNamara's life such as: empathy, rationality and proportionality.
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Disaster Relief - Power, Generosity and Leadership
Students explore the concept of philanthropy. In this service learning lesson, students discover philanthropy's role in 4 economic sectors. Students examine how organizations responded to the Hurricane Katrina devastation and work...
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A Day in the Life of a Homeless Person
Learners examine the day in the life of a homeless person. In this humanitarian lesson, students examine the life of a homeless person while discovering the importance of social justice in our society.
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Is That Fair: What is Fairness?
Students discover the meaning of fairness. In this character education lesson, students create their own meanings of fairness and compare them to their classmates' definitions. The students discuss fairness in different situations.
Digital Public Library of America
Teaching Guide: Exploring To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, considered by many to be a seminal piece of American literature, contains many complex literary themes that carry through United States history. Use a series of discussion questions and classroom...
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Story of Self
What a great beginning-of-the-year activity! Get your class to identify their values through a three-page worksheet (included). Each speaker will craft a two-minute description that includes their story and how they can help their...
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Anti-Bullying Efforts in the Elementary Classroom
Help prevent bullying from ever beginning with these simple strategies for implementing class meetings.
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Debating Ethics with Literature
Use group discussions, analysis, and ethical dilemmas to build critical thinking and an empathetic perspective.
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The Mitten
Explore the Ukraine through a reading of The Mitten. Readers will determine the sequence of events, cause and effect, make predictions, and find the main idea of the story. They also use math skills to make charts and graphs. Finally,...
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Aboriginal Education - A Canadian Failure?
Students discover that the education of the Aboriginal was a government and church "mission." They develop respect for the Aboriginal people and their continuing concerns about their treatment at the hands of the missionaries and the...
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Treasure Tales
Create an artifact kit to engage your young learners. Then, assign small groups a section of chapter three. They will identify the main idea and three supporting details for their section. Then, they select one artifact from the kit that...
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Rachel's Life is in a Hole
Explore how lack of access to water impacts peoples' lives in poor countries. Through text reading and discussion, middle schoolers are presented with the story of a young girl who lives and functions with limited water resources. They...
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National Volunteer Week Celebrations
Encourage and recognize volunteering's power for positive change!
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Remembering Ray Bradbury
Develop empathetic analysts of human character by exploring Bradbury's literary works.
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Sectionalism and the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Students define and discuss sectionalism and popular sovereignty, analyze impact of popular sovereignty in creation of state of Kansas, compare issues in territorial Kansas to current politically divisive topic, and evaluate primary...
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Life During the Civil War for Women and Civilians
Students follow an overview of the American Civil War from a film, the text and/or teacher direct instruction. They create a timeline with a large map of the U.S. in the 1860's available for student reference as they do the spider activity.
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Say It Loud!: A Celebration Of Black Music In America
Students examine the role music played in African American history and research events of the Civil Rights movement.