Curated OER
Water and Ice
Learners observe what happens to water as it goes from a solid to a liquid. In this exploratory lesson students gain an understanding for the water cycle while working in groups observing what happens to water as it changes state.Â
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Archaeology as a Career
Fourth graders read about archaeology as a career. They develop a list of questions they would like to ask an archaeologist and then actually interview an archaeologist on the future of archaeology as a career.
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Creatures from Planet X: Spiders
Students are given a description of some fascinating animals from "Planet X". They follow the descriptions given to illustrate one of these animals paying careful attention to introduced vocabulary such as 'appendages', 'receptors', and...
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Lewis and Clark: The Language of Discovery
Students replicate some of the trailblazing methods of Lewis and Clark on a fifteen-minute "writing journey" through the school or neighborhood.
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Animal Encounters
Students use their visualizing and interpreting skills to produce original writings and artwork.
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How Things Fly
Students observe photographs of selected twentieth-century aircraft at the National Air and Space Museum and note differences in the design of aircraft wings, fuselages, and engines.
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Stories of the Wrights' Flight
Students examine and compare primary and secondary source accounts of the Wright brothers' first flights on December 17, 1903.
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Money Talks
Young scholars move from fact finding to interpretation as they examine paper money from the time of the American Revolution. In the final exercise, they use the issue dates of the bills to construct a chronology of political changes...
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Pictures Telling Stories
Students see the importance of primary sources in the study of history, but also the limitations of relying only on primary sources of taking the money, as it were, at face value.
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The Rocky Shore
Students compare a realistic landscape painting with a photograph of the same place.
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The Chinese Zodiac And The Western Zodiac
Students create individual horoscopes that contrast and compare Western and
Chinese views of their futures using poster boards and magic markers. In-class discussion is used to evaluate the use of the Zodiac in different cultures.
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Spy on a Spider
Students view slides or live specimens to name and describe the distinguishing features of groups of arthropods, especially spiders and insects. They complete worksheets, observe webs and then search for and record where spiders can be...
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Facts, Feats and Folklore: Spiders
Young scholars review and discuss a variety of sayings, folklore and superstitions about spiders. They discuss this information and choose either an interesting fact or appealing foklore tradition to illustrate.
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Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Young scholars make deductions about life in an internment camp by reading and comparing letters written to Clara Breed. Along the way, they consider the advantages of looking at a historical event from the multiple points of view of...
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Ecosytems: Water Purification
Students explore how ecosystems purify water and what kinds of things humans do that alter these processes. They use a website to access information on local watersheds and develop a "river" newspaper
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Biology: Howler Monkeys Tell All
Students examine a PBS special about howler monkeys as an introduction to scientific forensic investigative methods. In groups, they conduct a host of experiments containing clues which point to discovery. By challenging assumptions,...
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Baga Drum
Students examine a Baga Drum in order to explore the history of the Baga people of West Africa. In this art history lesson, students recognize figures used in Baga Drum design that represent aspects of Baga culture. They also design and...