Ohio State University Extension
Teen Leadership
Are the young leaders of tomorrow sitting in your classroom right now? Polish their skills to perfection using a series of teen leadership activities. Each lesson promotes both personal growth and team building, while helping scholars...
Missouri Department of Elementary
An Apple a Day
Three apples—green, red, and rotten—exemplify character traits, negative and positive. Following a discussion about the classroom community, scholars complete an apple-themed worksheet that challenges them to read each trait, color it...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Fly Your Kite
Encourage scholars to become a productive community member with a kite-themed lesson. Following a review and discussion, learners complete a Venn diagram that displays the connection between character traits needed to make a home and...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Same and Different
A take on "If You're Happy and You Know It" opens a lesson about similarities and differences. Scholars speak in-depth on the unique characteristics that make up their classroom. The teacher or counselor records responses. Class members...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Celebrate Your Culture
After a class discussion about celebrations and customs, class members draw pictures depicting special events from their family cultures. Next, they draw pictures of an event from a different culture and share their work with classmates.
Missouri Department of Elementary
How I Act Is Who I Am
A lesson centers itself around the topic of family roles. A whole-class discussion uses puppets and posters to go in-depth into the following character traits; caring, responsibility, respect, and cooperation. The discussion closes with...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Other Changes (Life-Changing Events Outside of the Family)
Change is inevitable. Kindergarteners discuss coping skills to properly manage changes that can occur outside the family. Scholars reflect on their life changes after starting kindergarten. They discuss their feelings and draw a...
Health Smart Virginia
Conflict Resolution
A lesson introduces the Peace Corner—a safe place to communicate feelings and problem solve. To gain practice, scholars role-play scenarios that require conflict resolution. Peers speak, listen, brainstorm solutions, shake hands, then...
Overcoming Obstacles
Creating a Win-Win Situation
Win-lose? Lose-lose? or Win-win? The activities and games in the fifth lesson in the Resolving Conflicts module teach middle schoolers how they might use their problem-solving skills to transform a conflict into a win-win solution.
Ophelia Project
Let’s Be Friends
Introduce positive social skills and friendship to young learners with this wonderfully designed eight-lesson unit. It includes several activities to help learners identify positive attributes, build empathy, and understand the qualities...
Curated OER
Got a Problem? Let's Solve It! Lesson 1:
Middle schoolers investigate how problem solving skills contribute to philanthropy. In this animal welfare instructional activity, students use problem solving skills to make suggestions about how to solve an issue regarding the humane...
Curated OER
Design for Social Justice
Students create a solution to a social justice problem within their community. In this urban planning lesson plan, students read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines. Students then complete a...
Curated OER
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Students construct and maintain a school garden. In this gardening lesson plan, students plan the construction of the garden by writing letters to local businesses asking for supplies and materials; students build the garden using their...
Curated OER
Higglytown Heroes Study Guide
Students view the program and participate in various activities. They observe and participate in activities designed to introduce them to such issues as problem solving and community roles. In addition, they complete various art ...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Can You Erase the Damage?
A pencil and an eraser bring forth the message that negative comments never truly disappear. On a large piece of paper, scholars list negative comments then attempt to replace them with kind ones. Pupils discuss the impact of negative...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Risk Taking Behaviors
Sophomores can be sometimes wise and sometimes foolish. The same can be said for their behaviors. After watching a presentation about risk taking behaviors, class members discuss the presentation in small groups, and then complete a...
Buffalo State
Adding and Subtracting Positive and Negative Integers
A well-rounded unit on positive and negative integers is a great addition to your middle school math class. Learners work through five activities, each focused on a different skill, before playing a Game of Life to practice the...
Fluence Learning
Construct Viable Arguments About Adding Fractions
Test mathematicians' knowledge of adding fractions with a brief assessment that challenges them to play teacher while correcting a peer's work. Scholars examine Carl's mathematical response, identify where he went wrong, then solve the...
Nebraska Department of Education
Curriculum For Careers
Learners explore potential learning, earning, and living goals that align with their personal goals and interests in a comprehensive unit that includes complete lesson plans, interactive notebooks, worksheets, overheads, rubrics, online...
Teaching Tolerance
Persuasive Letters
Sharpen persuasive writing skills while trying to solve a community problem. Learners choose a burning topic and then write letters to persuade others to come around to their views. The provided procedures walk through how to guide the...
Brownsville Independent School District
Moral Courage
What does a morally courageous person look like? Discuss principles, peer pressure, and solving problems without violence in a worksheet about moral courage, and the ways you can be a hero to the people around you.
North Carolina State University
Exploring Genetics Across the Middle School Science and Math Curricula
Where is a geneticist's favorite place to swim? A gene pool. Young geneticists complete hands-on activities, experiments, and real-world problem solving throughout the unit. With extra focus on dominant and recessive genes, Punnett...
Curated OER
Scaling it Down: Caves Have Maps, Too
Measurement and map skills are the focus of this lesson, where learners crawl through a "cave" made out of boxes, desks and chairs, observing the dimensions. Your young geographers measure various aspects of the cave and practice math...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Filtration Investigation
Scholars build a simple filtration system to remove impurities from muddy water and rate the filtered water to a grade of clarity scale. The focus is on teamwork and problem solving. This instructional activity would be effective in your...