Curated OER
Meet A Tree
Students explore different types of trees with their senses. In this nature lesson, students play a game in which pairs use their senses to explore trees, blindfolded. Students then must find the tree they found when blindfolded.
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Every Picture Tells a Story
Learners consider controversial photos of Elian Gonzalez and decide how they, as editors of the Times, might have displayed them. They choose, discuss, and write about other famous images from photojournalism to decide what makes the
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Living the Dream?
Students consider the stories of two immigrants and translate their past, present and future into original pieces of writing or artwork.
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An Art-To-Art Discussion
Students analyze a work of art from a variety of cultural perspectives, and give their own personal evaluation of the work.
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Capturing the Moment
Students create photography timelines of the Civil Rights movement and write journal entries reflecting on the capacity of photographs to evoke personal and collective historical memory.
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Setting the Stage from the Page
Students examine the differences between the portrayal of characters in books and in motion pictures. Using the novel, The Kite Runner, students discuss the ways in which the characters can be interpreted. Students create original...
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Cause and Effect
Third graders investigate cause and effect. In this cause and effect instructional activity, 3rd graders read a story and determine what are the causes and effects. Students match sentence strips to the make the correct cause and effect...
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Early Explorers Project
Students choose an explorer from a given list, create an original song or poem based on the life of their explorer, make puppets to represent their explorer and then present their original piece to the class while students take notes on...
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Cow Eye Dissection Lab
Students explore the anatomy of the eye by dissecting a cow eye Students are introduced the concept behind vision and the anatomy to the eye.
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Our Sky Clock
Students explore space science by completing a worksheet in class. In this astronomy lesson, students discuss and identify star patterns in the night sky and relate these patterns to the approximate time they appear. Students complete an...
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Ambassadors or Annoyances?
In this lesson, students learn about the need for behavior standards for American college students in foreign study programs; they then create an introductory guide to the cultural values and customs of their own region for students...
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Colonial Migration
Students, in groups, create a student book for an assigned group of immigrants to the Colonial United States (Huguenots, Scots, Irish, Africans.) They create drawings for the book and rhyming text that depicts three struggles that...
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Tribes And Tribulations
Learners explore South African history from pre-colonial times to today. They create a timeline of important events in South African history and reflect on connections between this timeline and the existence of tribal traditions in the...
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Sense-itive Issues
Students consider the difficulties of adapting to the loss of different senses. They work in small groups, each developing a fictional superhero who experiences a loss of one of sense and must compensate for it with his or her other senses.
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Poets of Christmas Past
Students consider the meanings of Christmas by reading an op-ed. As a class, they then create a sequel to the poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," in which "Mamma" tells a story about the history of Christmas.
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Astronomy with a Stick
Learners describe the movement of the Earth as it relates to the sun and
formulate a hypothesis for the movement and the changing length of the shadow. They express the relationship between the sun and the Earth and how that causes the...
National First Ladies' Library
Social Studies: Who Burned Down Barnum's Museum?
Learners examine the social conflict of the 19th century and the destruction of the American Museum. In pairs, they conduct Internet research and attempt to solve the mystery of who burned down the museum. Clues to the mystery are found...
Illustrative Mathematics
Bike Race
A graph not only tells us who won the bike race, but also what happened during the race. Use this resource to help learners understand graphs. The commentary suggests waiting until the end of the year to introduce this topic, but why...
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Relationships to Others
Students investigate aspects of a historical map drawn about 1721 by a Native American for presentation to the British governor of South Carolina, and draw maps of the classroom.
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Reflecting on the Power of Volunteerism
Students explore the concept of philanthropy. In this service learning lesson, students contribute to society by examining volunteer activities that benefit others. Students collaborate to create a skit to promote volunteerism.
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Celebrating the Solstice and Equinox
Fourth graders graph the number of daylight hors throughout the year and examine why day length varies. They discover that seasonal changes and latitude on Earth affect the number of hours of daylight in each day. Students listen to...
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Help! I Need Five Minutes to Study
Students learn to use a time grid or a calendar to increase productivity of their studying. In this studying lesson, students record how they spend their studying time and then adjust as needed. Students recognize various...
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What Do I Want To Be When I Grow Up?
Students draw a picture of the job they would like to have when they grow up. They discuss jobs they would like to have. They discuss the idea that men and women can do the same job.
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Introduction to Tall Tales
Young scholars watch a video about a tall tale and list ten elements of a tall tale that they noticed in the movie. They begin with a KWL chart, and complete it as the movie and discussion progresses.