New York State Education Department
English Language Arts Examination: January 2018
Excerpts from classic novels make great material for standardized tests. A sample English language arts examination, part of a larger set of assessments, mixes excerpts from classic novels and more modern texts. The test includes three...
Curated OER
Tastes Great-- Is It Good for You?
Young scholars use the food guide pyramid established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to evaluate the nutritional value of their favorite foods.
Curated OER
Footprints: Take a Step into Estimation
Compare sizes of student footprints with those of elephants and sauropod dinosaurs! Upper graders make estimations of the areas of irregular shapes; students use grids to make and explain estimates within low and high ranges.
Curated OER
Music and Animation: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Music has been used to convey thoughts, feelings, and the human condition for thousands of years. Your class will analyze several songs hear in the animated classic, "Charlie Brown." They will listen to several jazz pieces from the show,...
Curated OER
Setting Goals
Fourth graders view a PowerPoint presentation "Setting goals." They use Kidspiration to organize long and short term goals for academics. Students write essays about Goal Setting. Students work in groups and create a dialogue involving...
Curated OER
School Uniforms: Debating the Issue and Creating an Advertisement
Fifth graders debate the issue of school uniforms. They research, finding supporting evidence supporting their stance. Using the Lincoln-Douglas form of debate, 5th graders discuss the positive and negative issues of the topic. They...
Curated OER
Musical Form of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Learners use a recording of "The Star Spangled Banner," to identify the AABC form of the anthem and describe the repetitions and contrasts in the piece of music. They memorize the music in eight-measure phrases being aware of the form...
Curated OER
Measurement: 2D and 3D
Young scholars solve volume problems. In this geometry lesson, the class watches a video about clean water (link provided) and individuals compare the volume of different prisms, including an actual drinking glass. Extension activities...
Curated OER
Poetry: Walking With My Iguana
Bring a little excitement to your next poetry analysis lesson. Using the highly energetic poem "Walking With My Iguana," learners consider poem structure and rhyme. They listen to the poem, discuss the rhythm and tone with their...
Curated OER
Forming Plural Nouns
Everyone knows that a noun is a person, place, thing, or idea - but what happens when you have people, places, things, or ideas? Use this SMART board activity to guide your class through plural nouns. Several activities, including making...
Curated OER
Nos Creemos Americanos: Braceros in History and Song
Mexican folk songs offer an authentic look at WWII immigrant workers. This study of the U.S. Bracero Program sets historians up with context information so they can write their own corrido. The class reviews themes and formulas of...
Curated OER
Does 1 + 1 always = 2
What a great way to explore the scientific process! Learners conduct an experiment in which they use sugar and water to illustrate the concept of solutes and solvents. With this hands on approach, they are bound to remember what they...
Curated OER
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution: The American Revolution
The contributions of African-Americans to the American Revolution are the focus of this Social Studies and language arts lesson plan. After reading and discussing Linda Crotta Brennan’s The Black Regiment of the American Revolution,...
Curated OER
Argument of Policy
After investigating different policies within the school district, young reformers select a policy they would like to change. They then investigate the policy, and craft a letter in which they advocate a change to the policy. For guided...
Curated OER
Story Impressions-Gary Paulsen's Canyons
What is a story impression? Learn about the strategy with the first page of this two-page resource. Before reaching chapters 21-24 in Canyons, readers use a list of words (taken from these chapters) to predict what is going to happen....
Curated OER
The Catcher in the Rye: KWHL Strategy
Teen depression is the focus of a KWHL activity used to consider the problems Holden Caulfield faces. Groups develop topics, research them, and use what they have learned to analyze Holden's character. A KWHL template, and a completed...
Brigham Young University
HOOT Directed Reading Thinking Activity
It's helpful to encourage kids to make predictions when beginning a reading unit. Before reading Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, have kids read Susan Barlow Broggi's Am I Grown Up When I'm Not Afraid of Spiders in My Shoes? to make...
Curated OER
Stem Cell Development
Like a fresh canvas, stem cells can turn into almost anything. In a comprehensive lesson, high school biologists use clay to build a 3-D model of cell division and the processes that occur during the first 14 days of development. Also...
Museum of Disability
Ian’s Walk and Apples for Cheyenne
Help young learners understand friendship and empathy with two reading comprehension lessons. Each lesson plan focuses on a story about a child with autism, and encourages readers to compare and contrast the characters to each other and...
School Improvement in Maryland
Political Systems: Advantages and Disadvantages
Every political system has advantages and disadvantages. To gain an understanding of these differences, groups investigate the political system of another country—oligarchy, monarchy, dictatorship, parliamentary—and prepare a...
EngageNY
Solution Sets to Inequalities with Two Variables
What better way to learn graphing inequalities than through discovering your own method! Class members use a discovery approach to finding solutions to inequalities by following steps that lead them through the process and...
EngageNY
An Appearance of Complex Numbers 1
Complex solutions are not always simple to find. In the fourth lesson of the unit, the class extends their understanding of complex numbers in order to solve and check the solutions to a rational equation presented in the first lesson....
Teach Engineering
The Keepers of the Gate Challenge
Help your class make a connection between salt water and nanoscience. In the introductory activity of a seven-part unit, the class explores why salt water helps a sore throat feel better. Pupils conduct preliminary research about the...
American Chemical Society
Energy Changes in Chemical Reactions
Some chemical reactions produce heat, but what is really going on? Lesson focuses on the concept of energy changes, both exothermic and endothermic. Scholars perform multiple experiments, hands-on activities, and view videos of the...