Curated OER
The Cost of Smoking
Students explain the financial and life expectancy costs of smoking using a computer model to enter and adjust parameters to collect data in the form of a table. They analyze the data collected and determine the true cost of smoking.
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Dysfunctional Eating
Sixth graders write a 1.5 page paper explaining how to make their favorite nutritional snack. They need to assume that the audience has never seen or heard of the snack before.
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Hazard Identification Activity
Students identify the types of hazards in their classrooom. They develop a plan to eliminate as many of them as possible. They practice earthquake drills to be better prepared during an emergency.
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The Motion of a Virus Through a Population
Learners test the factors that influence the rate at which a virus spreads through a population. They complete a lab activity then discuss data collected and review and answer a set of questions.
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The Juvenile Death Penalty
Sensitive material is discussed in this lesson. Please review to ensure that the content is suitable for your class. The topic is the Eighth Amendment and how the U.S. Supreme Court makes determinations about what constitutes cruel and...
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Marijuana: Help Someone Kick the Habit
Students define substance abuse, assess how they and their friends have been affected by marijuana, evaluate how pot users are hurting themselves, and explore how teens can stay away from or stop smoking pot.
Smithsonian Institution
Watching Crystals Grow
Amazing science can sometimes happen right before your eyes! The class gets cozy as they watch crystals grow. They use Epsom salts, rocks, and food coloring to create crystals. They'll observe the entire process, documenting every step...
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Revolutionary Money
Examine paper money from the American revolution! Historians study the paper bills and discuss the history of money. How has money changed over the times? Activities are included.
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Literacy Lesson: Guided Reading
Here is a wonderful lesson designed for students with special needs. This well-thought-out lesson uses Big Books, familiar stories, and has a lot of review learning built into it. The book, The Keeping Quilt is used in the main part of...
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Personal Narrative Paragraphs: Class Quilt
Begin this activity by asking third graders to bring from home pieces of cloth that represent something important to them. (Have extras for students who need them.) They reflect on important events in their lives, compose narrative...
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How to Write an Essay: Secondary ed.
Whether introducing the structure of expository essays or reviewing the format with your high schoolers, take the time to check out this resource. Examples of seven common forms of introductory paragraphs and six types of conclusions, as...
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The Human Mind, Alcohol and the Brain
Students create a diagram showing the effects of alcohol on the brain and then create a lesson plan to teach this information to middle school students. They contact middle school teachers and make arrangements for students to actually...
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The Human Memory
This is a well-designed, creative lesson to help young scholars learn more about the human memory. Working in pairs, students complete tasks and gather data. Excellent websites for resources are also provided.
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Positively Respectful
Create a positive environment by teaching students to show respect and share compliments. Students use drawing paper and create a self-portrait. Students are encouraged to discuss things they like about themselves. As students share...
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Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination
Students describe the complementary relationships between pollinators and the plants they pollinate, identify adaptations that flowers have developed to "encourage" pollination, and create and draw their own "designer" flowers.
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Mineral Scavenger Hunt
Students complete a scavenger hunt worksheet as they find examples in their classroom, at home, etc., of minerals. Excellent worksheet!
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Create a Classroom Exhibit: Rocks and Minerals
Students bring in rocks and minerals from home. They observe them and describe them carefully, completing a worksheet. Finally, a classroom exhibit is created.
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Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students examine letters of Japanese-American children during internment in World War II. They discover what it was like in the camps and how they were treated once they were released. They also view photographs of the camps.
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Plants and Animals, Partners in Pollination
Students participate in multiple hands-on activities to explore reproduction and pollination. In groups, using a cotton swab and powder, students simulate being pollinators and plants. They name the parts of the flowers and the function...
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Rocks and Minerals
Students bring rocks and minerals from home to investigate in the classroom. For this rocks and minerals lesson plan, students observe all the rocks and minerals brought into the class and answer 7 questions about the features of the...
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Under the Spell of Spiders
Learners examine spiders. In these spider lessons, students will view spider images and live spiders to determine physical characteristics, habits, and habitats. Learners will examine fantasy and folklore about spiders to create and...
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"ART ZOO 'Blacks in the Westward Movement', 'What Can You Do with a Portrait', and 'Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass'"
Students study black history, examine portraits and portrait making and create their own portraits, and investigate their natural environment. This humanities lesson provides a text that can be used to teach lessons in black history,...
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The Westward Movement
Learners study the westward movement through examining stamps. In this westward movement lesson plan, students draw conclusions, determine cause and effect relationships and examine the westward movement of the United States by...
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How Size Shapes Animals
Students investigate how size affects large and small animals differently. In this animal lesson plan, students determine how size affects different animals by constructing their own animal out of marshmallows. Once students create...