Space Awareness
Meet Our Neighbors: Sun
The sun isn't just a ball of yellow! Young scientists learn about the features of the sun using a hands-on modeling activity. They build models of the sun using common household items to represent sunspots, solar prominence, and the...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: The Net Neutrality Debate
Should Internet users who send data-heavy content pay higher fees than those who are involved in activities, like sending an email, that have less content? This question is at the heart of the Net Neutrality debate. After watching a PBS...
Curated OER
Using HyperStudio
Second through eighth graders use the software "HyperStudio" to create a presentation of their choice on Native American lifestyles. One thing I like a lot about this lesson, is that the students are the ones who get to choose and...
Curated OER
Ban That Book!
Take advantage of Banned Book Week to pique students' interest and get them reading! Create a classroom display of previously banned books and allow each member of your class to choose one to read. After they have read their book, get...
Federal Reserve Bank
Less Than Zero
Perry the penguin wants to buy a new scooter, but he doesn't have any funds! Walk your kids through the short book Less Than Zero, and have them track his borrowing, spending, and saving on a line graph while you read. Pupils will learn...
Curated OER
Combining Clouds and Art in the Classroom
Get your head in the clouds before teaching cloud types to your mini-meteorologists. The instructional activity opens with a beautiful PowerPoint presentation of clouds portrayed in different artists' paintings. After viewing artistic...
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing: Using Art to Inspire description
Write with the senses! Try using art to inspire writers to consider all of the senses. Here, the class is divided in half. Each group looks at one of two images, imagines the senses that would be engaged, and records answers to five...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lego Atoms and Molecules: Chemical Reactions
Show young chemists what a chemical reaction looks like with two parts of a hands-on experiment. First, learners conduct a wet lab where they observe the reactants (baking soda and calcium chloride, with phenolsulfonphthalein)...
Concordia College Archives
Our School Song
Show your school spirit! Class members use instruments or sing along and employ what they have learned in the two previous lessons to perform their school's songs.
Curated OER
Tour + Workshop = DESIGN: Shape
Ask elementary pupils to explore shapes in everyday objects. They will discuss the elements of design and describe the shapes they see in visual images. Students will then design and "build" a new 3D shape. Finally they will show and...
Curated OER
La Raspa, Mexican Hat Dance, and Cinco De Mayo Celebration
Learn two dances that your class can perform at a Cinco De Mayo school celebration. This is really an outline and would be better used if there were plans for how to teach the dance steps. The idea is good to teach the cultural...
Curated OER
What Kind of "Person" Would Become a Scientist?
"Scientist Stereotypes" could be another name for this lesson! Begin by drawing from middle schoolers' preconceived notions and media portrayal of scientists, and then explain that anyone can be a scientist. Even though there is an...
Curated OER
How Do Cells Reproduce?
Beginning biologists prepare a sugar solution for yeast cells to live in, and divide it into two different jars. Samples from each jar are viewed with a microscope, and then one jar is placed in a warm environment and the other a cold...
Curated OER
How Much Is A Million
Help young learners visualize the concept of "a million." To convey concepts of numeration and literacy, they will listen to the book How Much is a Million? by David Schwartz. They should be able to make self-to-text connections....
Curated OER
Cornell Notes with I Tunes
Note taking is an invaluable skill and requires practice. This instructional activity incorporates the Cornell Notes format, however the plan itself could be implemented to teach any style. The basic idea here is to use university...
Curated OER
Texture: Wild Things
Students experiment with different kinds of marking techniques. They read "Where the Wild Things Are" and observe animals for pattern and line. They compare illustrations with Haring's images. They create a symbolic drawing of animal.
Curated OER
Who, What, When, Where, Why, and the Media
Students in a preschool classroom discuss potentially fearful current events in a way they can understand. They write or draw about a current event, discussing the 5 W's of news reporting.
Curated OER
Wading through the Web
Students evaluate Web design. In this journalism instructional activity, students examine the attributes of selected Web sites and then design their own online newspaper by using the principles of design they discuss in this...
Curated OER
See What I Hear
Students investigate the link between music and visual art by applying principles of design to convey the emotions/expressions in different types of music.
Curated OER
Media Awareness: Helping a Product Cross the Finish Line
Students develop critical thinking skills to understand and create advertisements. In this journalism instructional activity, students analyze the elements necessary for effective advertisements and work in cooperative groups to...
Curated OER
Using "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears" to Teach Cause and Effect
Students discuss cause and effect relationships and the chain reaction involved before listening to the story "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears". Students create flow charts to show the chain reactions of causes and effects in the...
Curated OER
Language and Literacy Support through Photography
Students experience creating realia with digital photos to increase their vocabularies. They practice creating meaningful digital photo books that the students can take home and read with their families. Each student interacts with a...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to John Updike
Expand your pupils' understanding of the short story genre with a study of John Updike and his story "A&P." This lesson, the fourth in a series of fourteen, invites learners to examine literary terms and read and discuss the story....
Curated OER
Henri Matisse Collage
First graders explore the work of Henri Matisse. They use shapes to create a collage. Students create texture in their collage by using various types of papers and they study how to use various materials to make one unified piece of art.