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,...
Curated OER
The Daily Idiom
What is an idiom? Learners identify and read common idioms. They discuss what idioms are, and are given a black line master embedded in the plan that has 100 common idioms. Next, they complete "The Daily Idiom" worksheet, which is...
Curated OER
Evidence of Photosynthesis
Hands on science is the way to go! Learners conduct a lab experiment to help them explain how plants make food through photosynthesis. They test for the presence of starch in leaves using iodine solution and identify the basic things...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Using Positive and Negative Numbers in Context
Measure the temperature of your math class with a temperature-based lesson on adding and subtracting rational numbers. The thermometer serves as a vertical number line for learners as they work together to solve a temperature change...
Education Development Center
Consecutive Sums
Evaluate patterns of numbers through an engaging task. Scholars work collaboratively to determine a general rule reflecting the sum of consecutive positive integers. Multiple patterns emerge as learners explore different arrangements.
Curated OER
The Stone Boat Mystery
Students design and execute a lab through which they study the distinctions between density, buoyancy, and volume.
Curated OER
The Male Reproductive System
High schoolers identify the parts of the male reproductive system. They explore the functions of the male reproductive system. Students demonstrate the connection between reproductive health and the ability to reproduce. High schoolers...
PLS 3rd Learning
Priceless
The message that buying things brings happiness is everywhere. Teenagers are not immune to this marketing strategy and benefit from reflecting on the relentless pressure to spend. This exercise invites young adults to consider the value...
EngageNY
More Division Stories
Don't part with a resource on partitive division. Continuing along the lines of the previous lesson, pupils create stories for division problems, this time for partitive division problems. Trying out different situations and units allows...
Social Media Toolbox
Reporting with Social Media
What does it take to create news stories that are both informative and objective? Aspiring journalists walk the line between engagement and activism with activity 15 of a 16-part series titled The Social Media Toolbox. Grouped pupils...
Computer Science Unplugged
Tourist Town—Dominating Sets
As an introduction to using a network to determine the fewest number of nodes that meet a given condition, small groups work together to determine the fewest number of ice cream vans, and their locations, to be able to serve the people...
EngageNY
Percent Increase and Decrease
Increase the percent of pupils that are fluent in solving change problems with an activity that asks class members to look at problems that involve either increases or decreases and to express the change in terms of the percent of...
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
States of Matter Lesson
Second graders identify the three phases of matter and demonstrate how a property can change states of matter. In this states of matter lesson, 2nd graders make an Ooze to discover how a solid changes into a liquid. Students...
EngageNY
Solution Sets to Equations with Two Variables
Can an equation have an infinite number of solutions? Allow your class to discover the relationship between the input and output variables in a two-variable equation. Class members explore the concept through tables and graphs and...
It's About Time
Accidents
Did you know that cars weren't designed for passenger safety until the 1960s? The lesson starts with a quick quiz on automobile safety. Then, scholars evaluate three cars for their safety features. This is the third in a set of nine...
NPR
Chinese American Women Lesson Plan
The National Women's History Museum provides a plan designed to accompany their online CyberExhibit, Chinese American Women; a History of Resilience and Resistance. After examining a series of primary and secondary source documents,...
EngageNY
Chance Experiments
Class members are introduced to probability using terms such as impossible, unlikely, likely, and certain. Numbers between zero and one are associated with the descriptions of probability. Pupils find the likelihood of chance experiments...
Curated OER
"The Drum"
Second graders read and discuss the folktale "The Drum" from India. They also answer story comprehension questions, complete an adjectives and verb worksheet, and label a map of India. Students sequence events from the story and make...
Computer Science Unplugged
Tablets of Stone—Network Communication Protocols
Show your learners that the game of Telephone isn't the only way messages get mixed up. Pairs transform into the sender and receiver of a message sent in packets. At least one pupil is the messenger who either delivers, delays, or...
Curated OER
The Thin Red Line
Students explore various aspects of the subprime mortgage crisis. Through research and interviews, students, working in groups, research how race played a role in the subprime mortgage crisis and how it has affected their local community.
Curated OER
Life on the Hardbottom
Students find similarities and differences between a biotrope habitat and an ecosystem. In this hardbottom biotrope lesson, students research and respond to inquiry questions about a biotrope. Students identify three...
Curated OER
Dig A Little Deeper
Here is a great lesson on recognizing events and themes in a story. Students read chapters from a chosen book and then fill out a graphic organizer to further explore the purpose of the chapter. They write the events, themes, author's...
Curated OER
Northwest Native American Art
Eighth graders first study the art of the U.S. Northwestern Coast Native American peoples. They select an image or make their own and make a drawing and then make a 6-inch linoleum block print.