Curated OER
Tour + Workshop = DESIGN: Form Follows Function
Students design a chair with function in mind. In this design lesson plan, students design a chair out of newspaper that is strong enough to hold a "peanut ball". Students discuss how the form follows the function. This lesson plan...
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Out and About-Creating Design
Students demonstrate the elements of design by creating a digital photography portfolio of photos taken in and arond the scool. The edit photos using Photoshope to emphasize the element of desing in each phot.
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Golf Station Lesson
Pupils explore physical education by participating in a sport with their classmates. In this golf swinging instructional activity, students discuss the different golf clubs and their specific uses. Pupils participate in a golf station...
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Coast-to-Coast Book Design -Part 2: What is Design?
Students explore the concept of design, and identify items in their lives that have been designed. They explore the concept of book design and create and arrange their own page layout.
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"How To" Speeches Using iMovie
Challenge your pupils with this innovative how-to activity. Instead of simply having learners write an essay describing how to do a particular activity, this lesson plan has them create an iMovie describing a process.
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Finding My Voice
Have your class learn the essentials of public speaking. They compose a speech for their fifth grade celebration using iPods and presentation software. This would be a great end of the year activity for any grade level.
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60-30-10
Students use ratios and proportions to represent quantitative relationships as they investigate the concept of how percentages are used by designers. Students decorate the same room using three different percentages of colors.
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Speech in the Virginia Convention
“. . .different men often see the same subject in different lights. . .” but the great orator Patrick Henry used all the skills at his command to craft a speech to convince listeners to see things as he did--that liberty was worth dying...
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Treasure Hunters
Students design an on campus treasure hunt to find various architectural vocabulary words which they then create definitions for on the blog page on the Environmental Design website.
Poets.org
Ghosts and Spirits
Connect poetry to a naturally kid-friendly topic: ghosts! Draw on your class's prior knowledge of the paranormal to help them access the classic poem "Haunted House" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. After a fun warm-up activity describing...
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Picturing Hemingway: A Writer in His Time
Designed to support a visit to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery exhibition “Picturing Hemingway: A Writer in His Time,” which ran from June 18, 1999 through January 2, 2000, the approach detailed and the activities included in...
Orlando Shakes
Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!): Study Guide
What do Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch, and Frosty the Snowman have in common? They're all characters from beloved holiday movies that viewers revisit in the play Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!). Scholars conduct research...
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Blending Buddies
Students put word cards together and use the word parts to create correct words. In this phonics lesson plan, students practice pronouncing consonant blends and vowel sounds, demonstrating an awareness of beginning, middle, and ending...
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The Kite Runner: Four Corners
To generate interest in some of the major issues in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, class members engage in a four corners activity that asks them or agree or disagree with a series of statements and provide reasons for their stance.
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Designing "Green" to Save Our Green Planet
Students design an environmentally friendly home. In this middle school math/science lesson, students watch videos on creating green design. Students work in collaborative groups to determine what makes a house green and to design a...
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Seasoning the School Year
Students 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...
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Candy Land
In this activity middle schoolers pretend that they have been hired by a candy manufacturer to design a box for a new product they are beginning to market. The manufacturer has pre-determined the volume of the candy box. It is the...
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Analyzing Logos
Students analyze common logos they see daily and describe what the logos bring to mind. They redesign a company logo incorporating the company's philosophy into their sketches. Students present their findings and redesign to the class.
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A Tough Nut to Crack
Sixth graders explore agriculture by examining world geography. In this pecan cultivation lesson, 6th graders identify the history of the famous nut and the impact it has on the U.S. economy, diet and human body. Students define...
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Cultural Logo Design
Students create a logo design to express their own identity. In this logo design activity, students list ten words to describe who they are and choose two of them to use in a logo. Students draw images and choose various forms of...
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Chameleons Are Cool!
Have your learners review what they know about camouflage using this lesson. Learners fill out a graphic organizer listing what they know or have questions about. This could be enhanced with the addition of a writing assignment in which...
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WS 5.7 Phase Diagrams
In this phase diagram worksheet, students answer questions about three given diagrams. They determine the boiling point, melting points and sublimation points for each substance. They also answer questions about the triple points and the...
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Similar Figures
In this geometry instructional activity students explore similar polygons and determine measure of missing sides and angles. Students use indirect measurement with similar triangles and determine the area and volume of similar...
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Composting Conundrum
Students research cafeteria composting. In this composting instructional activity, students design a vessel that would allow the cafeteria staff to collect food scraps for composting. Then students build a prototype and present it to the...