Desert Discoveries
Sonoran Desert ABC's
Third graders make alphabet cards that depict the wide variety of life forms found in the Sonoran Desert. A terrific lesson that combines language arts, visual arts, and life science all into one wonderful package. Each of the cards has...
Curated OER
Balancing The Day Away In Grade 2
Second graders sped the day exploring about balance by playing with and making balancing toys. They discover how varying the amount and position of mass affects the toys' balance. Pupils explore gravity and balance while playing with the...
Scholastic
Presenting Persuasively (Grades 6-8)
Teens and pre-teens are a prime target for advertisers, so how are they doing it? An interactive lesson highlights the strategies used by advertisers, such as visual imagery and verbal clues. Then, a short writing assignment puts those...
Curated OER
Tomato Exploration
Create tomatoes in 15-20 minutes using this fun and interactive lesson plan! Learners listen to a book about tomatoes (recommendations listed), and focus on the vocabulary word tomato. They count the syllables...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Ode to the Ordinary
Eighth graders select ordinary objects, determine their uses, and write poems about them. Once they select an object, they create a web about its uses to serve as an outline. Once they have written their own odes, 8th graders meet in...
Curated OER
Discovering New Units
Students use Cuisenaire rods to explore common denominators. In this fractions lesson, students build Cuisenaire representations of fractions, then find their equivalent counterparts to find the common denominator.
Curated OER
Minimal Animals
Have fun creating imaginary creatures with this symmetry lesson plan! Your class will paint one half of their imaginary creature, fold their paper in half, which will result in a symmetrical figure. What a great art project to combine...
Curated OER
How Does Water Cool?
How fast does water cool? First fifth graders will draw a line on a graph that predicts how fast they think water can cool from boiling. Then they plot the actual data on the same graph to see if their estimate was correct.
Exploratorium
Hot Spot
Not only does a concave mirror focus light waves, it can also concentrate infrared radiation into a hot spot. If you have a small electric heater and such a mirror, demonstrate this for your physical science class.
Busch Gardens
Create an Invertebrate
What better way for young biologists to learn about invertebrates than by creating their very own? Here, students are assigned a set of invertebrate characteristics and are asked to invent an imaginary ocean animal...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Rocks & Minerals
Take young geologists on an exploration of the rock cycle with this six-lesson earth science unit on rocks and minerals. Through a series of discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on investigations your class will learn...
Curated OER
When You're Hot, You're Hot...
Students use the medium of visual arts to demonstrate how colors can evoke different ideas and feelings.
Curated OER
Sort It Out
Students study classification systems by sorting Legos and determining how the different pieces are classified. They list as many attributes as possible to use for sorting.
Curated OER
Daily Survival Requirements of Water
Students will use inquiry science to complete an investigation. They create hypotheses predicting the changes water undergoes in becoming ice and determine how much ice needs to be melted to create one 8 oz. glass of water.
Curated OER
Powerful Images
Learners discuss and define the idea of a powerful image. In groups, they use the Internet and magazines to search for images they deem as powerful. They develop a hypothesis to why some people believe an image is powerful while others...
Curated OER
Name that metal!
Learners have to have had some experience with metals prior to using this worksheet. They are given five properties common to five different metals. They create or use a dichotomous key to identify the five mystery metals. Tip: This...
Curated OER
Twists and Turns
Learners reflect, rotate, translate, and dilate figures in the Cartesian coordinate plane using grid paper and dot paper. They use transformations (i.e., reflections, translations, rotations, and dilations) to describe geometric patterns...
Curated OER
Raindrops Keep Falling on my Art
Kids may be a little resistant to this rainy day idea, but it could produce some amazing art. They paint a watercolor picture of anything they like. When they are done, they take their paintings outside and let the rain work its magic!...
Curated OER
How are Seeds the Same and Different?
Students examine seeds from various plants. In this science lesson, students cut open fruits and vegetables in order to see the seeds. Students describe each type of seed and classify the seeds.
Curated OER
Name that animal
A great way to classify organisms, is by counting the number of legs it has or how it moves. Little ones count the legs on five different creatures, then match the leg count to the proper animal name. Tip: Have them come up with other...
Curated OER
Symmetrical Design: Pennsylvania Barn Signs
Second graders explain and apply the visual arts elements and the design principle of symmetry and apply media, techniques, and processes. In addition, they describe how different materials, techniques, and processes cause different...
Curated OER
Finding Polygons in Cubist Art
Fourth graders explore geometric properties and relationships in a two-dimensional work of art. They first search for and identify polygons in a Cubist painting and then use polygons to create their own Cubist portrait of a classmate.
Curated OER
Interpreting Lao Design Drawing
Students identify symmetry as a word and concept using drawings. The lesson is cross-cultural using traditional Lao Art. The goal is to then apply the skills of symmetry to personal works of art that are produced.