Students research Toni Morrison's life, work as a writer, and major contributions to the field of literature; students choose one of her novels to read, & perform a scene from it; each group member writes an autobiographical essay...

Students listen to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and work collaboratively to create a chair for a small stuffed animal that will allow it to sit upright and withstand a short drop out of Legos. Students write about the engineering...

Second graders follow a recipe.  In this cooking lesson, 2nd graders are given a recipe and ingredients to prepare food. Students will reflect on their experience in their journals.

Students reflect on their knowledge of democracy. After reading an article, they examine current plans for the placement of a democracy in Iraq. In groups, they research past regime changes and democratization attempts and discuss the...

Third graders are introduced to light in an eight part unit which includes activities, additional resources, and rubrics for each part. Students address topics such as energy, reflection, absorption, and refraction through hands-on...

Make connections about animal characteristics and the animal's environment. In this animal characteristics lesson, students use a piece of art as a springboard for a discussion about animals and camouflage. Students choose an animal that...

Students conduct Internet research on a variety of ant species and their habitats. They have an opportunity to observe ants in their environment. Areas of interest might include ant identification, colony life, the ant life cycle, and...

Students recognize that Peter the Great modernized Russia. They write letters and complete journal entries in first person as if they were Peter the Great. In addition, they decorate their journal entries with scenes from his travels.

Learners create a picture of a camouflaged animal in its habitat. In this visual arts lesson, students look at Hans Hoffmann's painting A Hare in the Forest and discuss the animal's camouflage. They research their own animal to...

Seventh graders describe electrical energy and how it is produced. In this natural resource activity, 7th graders explain the various ways of obtaining and using natural resources for energy and the environmental consequences. They will...

Learners examine and observe how many human-made objects get their basic design from things in nature. They listen to the book "Nature Got There First," compare/contrast hollow bones with drinking straws, bird beaks and tool pliers, and...

Students explore wild and domestic animals. In this animal lesson, students define wild and domestic. Students are shown pictures of animals and choose if they are wild or domestic. Students name pets and name their wild counterpart....

Students view a video and complete experiments with force and motion.  In this force and motion instructional activity, students examine small pieces and how they affect the motion of a toy car.  Students also experiment with...

Students investigate the essential concepts of how lenses work to magnify vision, and then build simple telescopes to demonstrate their understanding. They write a description of how their telescope could be improved and how it works.

Students research and create a book highlighting significant events and trends throughout the world in the year 2002. Then, through creative writing, they respond to the events or trends themselves and how they affected our world.

Young scholars observe the changes a class tree goes through as the seasons change and record observations in journals. They investigate changes in the weather, changes in the length of the day, and how that affects people. They create...

Students study earthquakes, monitor seismic activity using the Web, and plot real-time activity. They examine movement of the Earth's tectonic plates. They create an earthquake preparedness project.

Students match scientists with their major discoveries, choose one figure to research further, and co-author articles profiling the scientist and his or her achievements.

Fifth graders are introduced to the concept of electric currents. In groups, they develop their own game board to test different circuits to determine if they are complete. They record their observations of the energy transfer between...

Students inspect the causes and effects of earthquakes and examine how seismic waves travel. For this earthquake lesson, students determine where earthquakes happen and why, before determining how to build an earthquake resistant...

Sixth graders explore scientific observations by analyzing a group of data. In this fingerprint identification lesson plan, 6th graders identify the reasoning behind fingerprinting and create their own ink fingerprints. Students discuss...

Students investigate the Chinese-American immigration experience. In this assimilation lesson, students watch "Becoming American: The Chinese Experience" and then participate in classroom activities regarding the topic. The activities...

If you are new to teaching agriculture classes, this outline may be helpful when you are preparing a lecture on parasites in livestock. In addition to lecturing on this topic, the lesson plan suggests that learners research the life...

First graders investigate soil, sand and silt. In this environment lesson, 1st graders discuss how changes occur in the environment and the effects of weather. Students perform their own investigation and record their predictions,...