TED-Ed
Pixar: The Math Behind the Movies
When will we ever use this? A Pixar movie maker explains to students how math is used in the creation of animated films. The movie maker discusses the importance of coordinate planes, transformations and translations, and...
Film Foundation
To Kill a Mockingbird: The Filmmaking Process
"I'll just wait for the movie version." How often have you heard that line? Transform passive viewers into active readers of visual images with an understanding of the three stages of the filmmaking process. This 28-packet packet is...
EngageNY
The Hunt for Better Notation
The matrix — it's not just a movie. The instructional activity introduces the concept of 2 x 2 matrix multiplication as a way to represent linear transformations. Class members determine when a linear transformation represented as...
Broadway GPS
The Lion King—The Broadway Musical Study Guide
Musicals have been adapted from stage plays, novels, and movies. With The Lion King, Disney transforms its animated film into show-stopping, live-action musical theatre. The guide Disney provides to accompany a study...
Film Foundation
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: What Is a Movie?
Watching is not the same as seeing. Transform viewers from passive watchers to active students of film with this 34-page packet, filled with lessons and activities that use Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to examine the technology, the...
Yummy Math
Movies ~ Oscars 2013
Using a popular topic, the movies, your class can meet a Common Core criterion. They compare box office movie returns, adjust older movies' incomes for inflation, and in this way use the four operations to solve real-world problems. This...
Smithsonian Institution
Mobilizing Children
Scholars find out how the government used propaganda to mobilize children to help in the war effort. Lesson exercises include analyzing a quote from Franklin Roosevelt, viewing propaganda images and posters, and participating in a lively...
Curated OER
Make a Memory with Movie Maker
There is nothing more exciting than allowing learners to express themselves through a creative medium. In groups, they write narrative stories, focusing on building a strong storyline and dialogue. Next, they transform their stories into...
EngageNY
Text to Film Comparison: Bottom’s Transformation
Scholars meet in a drama circle to discuss what they remember from reading A Midsummer Night's Dream Act III, Scene 1 in the last activity. They then take turns reading the scene aloud, stopping to answer questions as they read. Learners...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Night to Life is Beautiful
After reading Elie Wiesel's Night, watching the movie Life is Beautiful, and researching World War II, class members write a comparison essay on the book and film. This includes a prior knowledge activity, discussion in whole and small...
EngageNY
What Lies Behind “Same Shape”?
Develop a more precise definition of similar. The instructional activity begins with an informal definition of similar figures and develops the need to be more precise. The class learns about dilations and uses that knowledge to...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 1
"Now is the summer of our happiness/Made winter by this sudden, fierce attack!" Luke Skywalker meets Hamlet in a 10-lesson unit based on Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope. Using Star Wars® as source...
Curated OER
"The Princess and the Frog" Lesson Plans
"The Princess and the Frog" lesson plans can lead students on an exploration of fairy tales, frogs, and friendship.
University of Colorado
Great Red Spot Pinwheel
The great red spot on Jupiter is 12,400 miles long and 7,500 miles wide. For this sixth part of a 22-part series, individuals model the rotation of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. To round out the activity, they discuss their findings as...
Royal Canadian Legion
Teachers' Guide: Take Time to Remember
The Royal Canadian Legion offers this teacher's guide designed to remind learners of all ages of the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers in not only World War I but also the Korean and Gulf wars. The 42-page packet is filled with...
Brookly Museum
Andy Warhol: The Last Decade
Discuss pop-art, Andy Warhol, and the concept of collaborative painting with your class. Learners won't be analyzing Warhol's work, but they will be engaging in group activities to understand the collaboration in art. They'll make a...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Days 8 and 9
How does an author's choice of artistic medium influence an audience? What about how an author chooses to transform original source material? These are the questions class members grapple with as they compare scenes from episode IV...
Curated OER
Butterflies, Butterflies, Butterflies
Transform your class into a butterfly museum! Research different types of butterflies, their habitat, and life cycle. Interactive components such as PowerPoint presentations, Claymation movies, and webpages add pizzaz to the museum...
Curated OER
Write Your Own Screen Play
Students critique the transition of "Holes" from a novel to screenplay and consider how the details in a book are brought to life in a movie. They then choose a scene in a book and transform it into an original script after brainstorming...
Curated OER
The Human Organism
Students identify their feelings and learn constructive ways of handling conflict. In this human mental health lesson plan, students identify their feelings, learn how to tell others about their feelings, and learn how to resolve...
Curated OER
The Water Cycle
Students are introduced to the components and importance of the water cycle. They are shown how groundwater moves using a model. Students list 9 places on earth where water is found. They define the terms cycle and water cycle.
Curated OER
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Young scholars explore the world of love and magic in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Comparisons are made to the life experiences of the reader as love's portrayal in contemporary situations are analized.
Curated OER
Bartering Through the Seasons
Fifth graders explore bartering. In this bartering lesson, 5th graders investigate bartering between the American colonies. Students study the climate and geography of neighboring colonies and investigate crops native to each area.
Curated OER
America the Bountiful
Fifth graders explore the impact exploration and colonization of North America had on human history. For this American colonies lesson, 5th graders compare differences between colonial areas. Students investigate the global impact of...