Rainforest Alliance
Knowing the Essential Elements of a Habitat
To gain insight into the many different types of habitats, individuals must first get to know their own. Here, scholars explore their school environment, draw a map, compare and contrast their surroundings to larger ones. They then...
ESL Kid Stuff
Classroom Objects
How many classroom objects can your learners identify? Use a set of activities based on object recognition and color matching to help young kids use their observation to learn new vocabulary.
Curated OER
Grocery Shopping
Using an adaptive shopping list, special needs students take a trip to the grocery store. Instead of words, their list contains pictures of the items they need to find and purchase at the store. They run through several practice and...
Curated OER
Measures
Estimate and explore the length and weight of classroom items using standard measurement and scales. Students will work in groups to determine appropriate measuring tools, weigh or measure items, and record their results on a data chart....
Rational Number Project
Initial Fraction Ideas: Lesson 3
Visual models support young mathematicians as they deepen their fractional number sense in this elementary math lesson. Using fraction circle manipulatives, children explore basic unit fractions as they develop the fundamental...
University of California
The Civil War: Effects of the Civil War
Imagine being on the front line of the Civil War —from the front porch of your own house. Scholars use visual evidence from primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of the Civil War on all Americans. They examine the research...
Illustrative Mathematics
3-D Shape Sort
From the apple on your desk and the coffee cup in your hand, to the cabinets along the classroom wall, basic three-dimensional shapes are found everywhere in the world around us. Introduce young mathematicians to the these common figures...
Curated OER
Can You Find It?
Plan a Parts of a Book scavenger hunt. Begin by giving your young adventurers a book, and asking them to find the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents. After a discussion of the purpose of each of these items, class members...
ESL Kid Stuff
Rooms of a House
Language learners create and label the rooms in a house and then add and label images of objects that may be found in each room.
Curated OER
A Primary Source Picture Book
Travel through Europe with ten-year-old Teddy Roosevelt in this writing activity, which uses the picture book My Tour of Europe: by Teddy Roosevelt, by Ellen Jackson. After reading the book, readers compare it to passages from The...
Curated OER
How Heavy
Break out the balances for this primary grade lesson on weight measurement. Using common elementary school manipulatives like unifix or snap cubes, young mathematicians determine the weight of four different classroom objects. A graphic...
Captain Planet Foundation
Sense of Place
Explore the five senses with a kindergarten lesson plan on gardening. After taking a walk through the class garden, kids note what they see, hear, feel, taste, and smell, and then decide what is living in the garden versus what is not...
Curated OER
The ABC's of Sunshine
Students produce an ABC book of photographs. In this alphabet book instructional activity, students think about items around their school that correspond with letters of the alphabet. They take pictures of those items, print them, and...
Curated OER
The Grapes of Wrath: Scrapbooks and Artifacts
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary sources. In this Great Depression lesson, students read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and use ethnographic research processes...
Name Parts of a Computer and Terms for Interface Elements
Familiarize your young learners with the parts of a computer and some basic key terms relating to technology. As the teacher demonstrates using an LCD projector, class members practice moving a mouse, opening the Internet, typing in a...
University of California
The Civil War: Final Assessment
Pupils discover the true nature and purpose of the Civil War in the eighth and final installment of an informative series. Using primary and secondary documents, history buffs merge social study knowledge with English skills to create a...
University of California
The Civil War: Perspective
Confederate soldiers saw the Civil War much differently than their Union counterparts. Scholars analyze the perspective of the Civil War from the viewpoint of various key figures in the fourth installment of an eight-part series. By...
University of California
Containing Communism Abroad
Learn more about the policy of the United States to contain communism during the Cold War. The fifth installment of an eight-part series looks at primary and secondary materials about a challenging time in history. After analyzing the...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Cause and Effect of Water Pollution
Your students will become aware of and be able to list the major types and sources of water pollution. Being able to recognize that the household, agriculture, and industry sectors of society contribute to water pollution, is the main...
Curated OER
Consumer Education
Students, while examining an intense list of vocabulary terms on types of money, change and simple foods, name and state the cost of food items in supermarkets, grocery stores and flea markets with flash cards and newspaper ads.
Curated OER
Our Town: Using Song Lyrics in the Classroom
Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” and Billy Joel’s “Allentown” motivate young lyricists to craft poems about their own home town. Groups compare the two songs, identifying details, symbols, and conflicts. Individuals then picture a place...
Curated OER
Lesson 2: Measurement Tools
Elementary schoolers examine the uses of rulers, scales, and measuring cups. They determine the criteria for the use of each tool and visit different areas of school to find items that can be measured with these tools. Everyone takes...
NOAA
Biological Oceanographic Investigations – What's in That Cake?
Have you ever tried to find hidden items in a picture when you don't know what you are looking for or how many things are hidden? A lesson applies that same concept to sampling the deep sea habitats. Participants must first create a...
University of Texas
Scarcity
How can having too little of something impact your life? Scholars investigate the concept of scarcity in their own lives and in the overall picture of the economy. Brainstorming activities as well as student-parent work bring to light...