Curated OER
How Will We Create a Future without Waste?
Many young people act globally by reducing, reusing, and recycling, Now they take it to the next level by upcycling. Middle schoolers design a proposal to eliminate waste by exploring the new material cycle and applying their knowledge...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 7: Anne Frank’s Tales from the Secret Annex Teacher Guide
Frequently banned, often challenged, a mainstay of middle school curriculum, Tales from the Secret Annex, is the featured text in the seventh unit in the Teacher Guide Core Knowledge Program. The 134-page guide includes an introduction,...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 6: The Genius of the Harlem Renaissance Teacher Guide
Introduce your seventh graders to the Harlem Renaissance with a unit that explores this dynamic period's music, literature, and ideas. The 160-page guide includes a unit calendar, an introduction to the unit, 10 richly detailed lessons...
K20 LEARN
Alienstock: Analyzing Information, Media, And Validity
One only has to watch MSMBC and FOX News to realize that media can present the same story in very different ways. Middle schoolers have an opportunity to test their ability to determine the validity and trustworthiness of information by...
K20 LEARN
Identity Theft: Don't Let This Happen to Your Grandma!
Class members consider how people steal online identities as they discover the essential elements of identity theft and consumer fraud. Pupils demonstrate learning by creating a poster or video about how to avoid identity theft.
DocsTeach
Fannie Lou Hamer and Voting Rights
To understand the challenges Black voters faced in Mississippi, middle schoolers first gather background information about Fannie Lou Hamer and then read her testimony given during the 1964 Democratic Nation Convention. After a...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Conditions in China: Why Might One Leave Home Forever?
Primary source texts provide scholars with the background information they need to understand why Chinese peasant farmers were driven to emigrate. After underlining keywords, phrases, and/or lines in the texts, individuals craft a...
Nemours KidsHealth
Concussions: Grades 6-8
Teach middle schoolers to learn how to prevent concussions, recognize the symptoms of a concussion, and what they should do in case of a concussion. After reading articles that provide background information, groups create factsheets...
Nemours KidsHealth
Obesity: Grades 6-8
Screen time and fast foods, sugary drinks and greasy fries have lead to one-third of tween and teens being overweight or obese. As part of the Health Problems Series scholars analyze the nutritional value of the school food services menu...
Nemours KidsHealth
Diabetes: Grades 6-8
After reading a series of articles that provide background information about Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, class members design a meal plan and an activity plan for a weeklong summer camp for 5- to 8-year olds with diabetes. A second...
Nemours KidsHealth
Eating Disorders: Grades 6-8
Raise awareness of eating disorders with a two-activity lesson with middle schoolers reading articles to gather background information and then create audio messages and advertisements that promote healthy self-esteem and body image.
Nemours KidsHealth
Cold and Flu: Grades 6-8
Wouldn't it be lovely if people were immune from colds and flu? Alas, such is not the case; however, there are things we can do to avoid getting or spreading these pesky health hazards. Middle schoolers read articles that provide them...
Nemours KidsHealth
Asthma: Grades 6-8
Two activities teach middle schoolers about asthma and how it can affect people's lives. After reading a series of articles and watching two videos that provide background information about asthma, pupils design an interactive game that...
Nemours KidsHealth
Online Safety: Grades 6-8
Recognize risky behaviors and avoid them! That's the big idea behind two activities designed to teach middle schoolers to think critically about online safety. After reading background articles about protecting online identity,...
Nemours KidsHealth
Bike Safety: Grades 6-8
Two activities teach tweens and teens about bike safety. After reading articles about bike safety, class members design tags with important safety reminders that can be attached to bikes. Groups then create a dance video that...
Nemours KidsHealth
Smoking: Grades 6-8
Light up middle schoolers' understanding of the monetary and health costs of smoking with two activities. First, class members calculate how much a smoker would spend in a year if they smoke a pack a week or a day. They then explore...
Nemours KidsHealth
Alcohol: Grades 6-8
To get the word out about the realities of teens and tweens drinking alcohol, class members engage in two activities. For the first, groups design highway billboards about the dangers of alcohol drinking. Class members then create a...
Nemours KidsHealth
Water Safety: Grades 6-8
Taking care of younger children is often the first job for many middle schoolers. Learning how to keep themselves and their young charges safe, especially around water, is essential. Two activities teach teens, and tweens water safety...
Nemours KidsHealth
Food Safety: Grades 6-8
The flu or food poisoning? Middle schoolers learn how to safely prepare, cook, clean up, and store food with a instructional activity that has them first read articles about food safety. Partners create a video that shows them modeling...
Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers
Justice for All - Educating Youth for Social Responsibility: Grades 6-8
Teach middle schoolers how to develop healthy relationships with activities and lessons designed to create a kind and inclusive
classroom. Pupils create guidelines to develop a safe and civil learning environment. They learn how to...
Nemours KidsHealth
Sports Safety: Grades 6-8
Sports safety is the focus of two activities. Scholars read an article concerning sports safety then complete a handout that challenges them to list sports injuries and ways to prevent them. After reading the second set of articles, a...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Exhibiting Common Threads
Artists working in different media often explore the same themes—to model how these same themes weave their way through different forms of artistic expression, scholars analyze images by Dorothea Lange, identifying key themes in her...
Nemours KidsHealth
Safe and Healthy Summer: Grades 6-8
The pull to sloth can be strong in the summer. The couch and the beach beckon, but the lazy days also provide the opportunity to practice healthy habits. Two activities urge tweens to try something new. First, they research healthy items...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Let’s Throw an Electric Science Party!
Are you looking for a shockingly good lesson? Check out one that has middle schoolers recreate four of Benjamin Franklin's experiments. Groups investigate, observe, and draw conclusions about static electricity and electrical current....