Curated OER
Cholera and the Scientific Method
Five individuals in the class are "infected" with cholera! The rest of the class serves as investigators to discover the source of the outbreak. They test drinking fountains around campus for contamination. You, of course, will secretly...
Curated OER
De-Mystifying Poetry: Understanding Narrative Poetry
Tenth graders explore narrative poetry. They analyze sections of a poem and present to groups. They compose their own narrative poems using pictures as prompts. They exchange their poems and analyze their classmate's poem.
Curated OER
Solar Kit Lesson #1 - Solar Cell Inquiry
Give youngsters the components of a solar-powered electric circuit and turn them loose to figure out how to connect them in order for a light to shine or motor to turn. They compare energy output of a solar panel to that of a battery. On...
Curated OER
Kumeyaay Indians
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this activity about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their...
Curated OER
Data Analysis
Young statisticians use and interpret measures of center and spread such as mean, median, and mode as well as range. They use box plots to represent their data and answer questions regarding the correspondence between data sets and the...
Curated OER
Move It!!!
Students explore motion by observing the movement of people and duplicating those movements. They compare and contrast various kinds of movements and identify different types of movements in pictures. They build an object that can be...
Curated OER
Was the Stamp Act Fair?
Elementary and middle schoolers examine and evaluate different perspectives concerning events leading to the American Revolution. In this case, they hone in on the Stamp Act. They research controversial bills, laws, or events of the time...
Defining US
Integration of Education and American Society
How did the struggle for Civil Rights during the 1950s transform American society and politics? Why are American schools integrated today? Class members explore these essential questions by examining a series of primary and secondary...
Curated OER
Current Earthquake Activity
Fifth graders record any earthquake activity throughout the school year on various maps. In groups, they identify a map locating the points given to them by their teacher. To end the lesson, they add the date, strength and damage to each...
Curated OER
"Old 300"
Fourth graders combine art and history to assess the importance of the "Old 300." They explore a group of colonists that Stephen F. Austin brought to Texas as the first settlers and then create a time line of major events leading to the...
Curated OER
Friar Margil & The Spanish Missions
Students explore the life of Friar Margil de Jesus as well as other Spanish friars. They research Friar Margil and write a paragraph explaining why Spanish friars came to Texas. In groups, students create a PowerPoint presentation...
Curated OER
Notable "Texans" of the Texas Revolution
Middle schoolers investigate why and how certain historical figures became famous in relation to the Texas Revolution. They view and discuss a variety of images, then in small groups record the names of individuals involved in the Texas...
Curated OER
Inspector Readers: The 002 Book Club
This unit introduces book clubs/literature circles to lower elementary classes, but could be adapted to higher grades. It outlines the anticipatory activity that includes a WebQuest, a discussion to clarify questions about the unit,...
Curated OER
Crafting Models of Efficiency
Students build and compare models of both an energy inefficient and efficient classroom. In this energy efficiency lesson, students creatively use recycled materials to build two separate classroom models. They factor in concepts such as...
Curated OER
Friar Margil and the Spanish Missions
Fourth graders investigate the life of Friar Margil. For this research lesson, 4th graders analyze an illustration of Friar Margil, then create their own illustration of Friar Margil's life. A list of 5 materials is included.
Curated OER
Questioning NASA
Space science and math collide in this inquiry that investigates launching times for antacid-tablet rockets! Upper elementary or middle school learners collect data as they launch these mini rockets. They apply concepts of place value...
Curated OER
A Soldier's View of the American Civil War
Study and research the American Civil War in this explanatory writing lesson. Middle schoolers complete six activities to learn about the American Civil War and soldiers' views of the war. The lesson includes several options to complete...
Curated OER
Histograms
Young statisticians explore the concept of histograms. They construct histograms of various data such as change in a student's pocket, and guessing on a test. hHey analyze data represented as a histogram and a box plot and compare...
Curated OER
Nuts for Peanuts: Peanut Plants, Peanut Timeline, and Peanut-s-timation!
Young scholars complete a timeline. In this peanuts lesson, students read A Short Peanut History and use this resource to make a timeline of the history of the peanut. Young scholars can grow peanuts in the classroom or make various...
Curated OER
A New Point of View
Analyze point of view and how it affects a literary work with this lesson plan. Middle schoolers create a written piece that focuses on point of view. They review the literary term "point of view," and explore examples of the term in...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Songwriting Skill - Choosing a Tone: Jordan Pruitt - “One Love”
"Tone means attitude." Or so says this resource that uses Jordan Pruitt's "One Love" to model for songwriters how to develop an attitude in their lyrics. Class members engage in a number of exercises designed to give them direct and...
Curated OER
Checking Sources For Accuracy
Middle schoolers will paraphrase a resource without plagiarizing. Then rewrite after reading text. They then evaluate the site or reference they are using for accuracy. In the end, they complete a note-taking organizer.
Curated OER
Analyzing Two or More Nonfiction Texts
How does recognizing the author's purpose help you draw conclusions about a topic? Using two articles (both are attached), learners brainstorm why each author wrote each article. Are their purposes similar or different? Learners use a...
Curated OER
The Fabled Maine Winter
Students graph and analyze scientific data. In this research lesson students use the Internet to obtain data then draw conclusions about what they found.