University of Texas
Observing the Moon
Why does it look like there is a man on the moon? Why does the moon look different every night? These are the focus questions of a lesson that prompts class members to observe and record the nightly changes of Earth's natural...
National Park Service
The Secret of Life
Dead trees provide nutrients for the soil, food for animals, protection and a home for organisms, a seed-bed for new trees, and a place for nitrogen-fixing bacteria to live. In the activity, pupils collect decaying logs, expose them to a...
Annenberg Foundation
America's History in the Making: Classroom Applications Three
How can primary sources bring history to life? Scholars create detailed lesson plans on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in American history. The 17th installment of a 22-part program exploring American history examines...
Serendip
Should You Drink Sports Drinks? When? Why?
New research proves even rinsing your mouth with carbohydrates without swallowing improves performance of the central nervous system. While some think sports drinks are amazing, others say they are a waste of money. Scholars learn about...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Instructional Routine: Synonyms
Young scholars work with word cards to define and identify synonyms, antonyms, and homophones. Participants listen to instruction, read word cards, discuss their new-found knowledge, and put it into action by creating sentences and...
BBC
Anne Bancroft Dies
High schoolers get together in groups to read and learn about the life of film actress Anne Bancroft. After a teacher-led presentation on her life, each of the groups must complete tasks described by the worksheets embedded in the plan....
BW Walch
Unexpected Family History
The history of the northern states' involvement in the slave trade is not widely known. This resource uses the PBS documentary, Traces of the Trade, and the nonfiction book, Children of the New England Slave Trade, to examine this aspect...
Illustrative Mathematics
Assessing Sequencing Numbers
Assess whether your kindergartners can identify numbers in random order using two sets of numeral cards 1-10 and 11-20. Starting with a small group and the 1-10 deck give your learners the task of putting the cards into order from...
Curated OER
Teaching the Holy Grail of ESL: Accent Reduction
The difficulties a teacher and student may face as a result of an accent, and the methodologies to change it.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Vocabulary: Word Meaning: Know or No
Activate the prior knowledge of young scholars as they expand their vocabulary with this language arts activity. Given a deck of cards containing new vocabulary words, learners sort them into four categories, from Don't know the meaning...
Cornell University
Catapults
Ready, aim, fire! Launch to a new level of understanding as scholars build and test their own catapults. Learners explore lever design and how adjusting the fulcrum changes the outcome.
Curated OER
Old Lady That Swallowed a Fly
Youngsters listen to the story, "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." After discussing the story, going over new vocabulary, and repeating the rhymes in the story, they study the parts of a fly. They finish by creating a fly on...
Curated OER
Why Transition?
Help your class transition into better writers with this lesson, which guides them through the process of adding transitions to increase sentence fluency and organization. The activity is designed for a classroom with a SMART board, but...
Curated OER
Comprehension: Identify Story Grammar
This fully scripted lesson could be a big help for someone new to teaching Kindergarten. It outlines what you should do and say as you teach grammar and literary elements such as, main character, setting, and events through reading. The...
Center for Mathematics and Technology
Whole Numbers: Using an Area Model to Explain Multiplication
There are many ways to work through a multiplication problem. Using an area model, kids complete several worksheets with different types of multiplication problems, including multiplying by ten, and explain how the new strategies differ...
Novelinks
The Book Thief: Concept Analysis
Designed for teachers who plan on using Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, this packet includes background information about the author, themes addressed in and issues raised by the novel, a list of research and project ideas, and...
Curated OER
Nathaniel Hawthorne's—The Scarlet Letter
Designed for teachers, this guide to The Scarlet Letter is divided into background information about Hawthorne and Puritan New England, suggestions for teaching various ability levels, and ideas for extensions that include...
101 Questions
World Record Balloon Dog
What is the world record for a dog popping 100 balloons? Viewers observe as a dog pops 25 balloons and must figure out how long it should take for the canine to pop the other 75. They discover the previous record and predict if this dog...
Curated OER
Fears and Phobias
Take the fear out of reading with this series of three lessons from HotWire Magazine about fears and phobias. Each lesson contains pre-reading and post-reading activities aimed at improving learners' reading comprehension skills with the...
21 x 20 Media
A+ Writing Prompts
Shake it up! Shake your tablet to bring up a unique writing prompt for journaling or blogging with your class. Shake again and a new one appears. Prompts can come from different categories (sketches, scenes, texts, words, news) to help...
iCivics
Limiting Government
While this lesson includes several nice worksheets to identify and discuss the various limits on government (i.e. a constitution, the rule of law, separation of powers, consent of the governed, etc.), its main value lies in a case study...
Government of Hong Kong
Areas and Volumes - 2D Shapes
Unfortunately for young mathematicians, the world isn't made entirely of parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids. After first learning the area formulas for these common shapes, students apply this new knowledge to...
Curriculum Corner
First Day News
There is so much to take in on the first day of school! Here, have scholars write about it. Pupils detail their teacher's name, something they've learned, how they feel, who their classmates are, what they want to remember, and what they...
Michigan State University
All About Rodents
Get to the know the common house mouse and the Norway rat with an activity that reinforces reading comprehension skills. Scholars read a three-page document detailing key information about mammals, specifically rodents, and use their...