Teach Engineering
Dirty Decomposers
Do not let the class just sit and rot. Pupils learn how decomposition and nutrient recycling is important to an ecosystem. Groups design an experiment to determine how environmental conditions affect decomposition. They develop a poster...
NOAA
Stressed Out!
Are our oceans really suffering due to the choices humans make? The sixth and final installment in the volume of activities challenges research groups to tackle one of six major topics that impact ocean health. After getting to the...
Norwich Institute for Language Education
Simple Machines
Planning a unit on simple machines? Save some time and energy with this collection of lessons and activities that explores how these devices are used in the real world to make life a little easier.
Curated OER
“I Can” Common Core! 6th Grade Math
Help your sixth graders reach their Common Core math standards by providing them with a checklist of "I can" statements for each standard. As each concept is covered, kids can check it off, as long as they can do what it states.
Scholastic
Study Jams! Photosynthesis
One friend explains to another that plants combine water and carbon dioxide with the energy of the sun to produce sugar and oxygen. She mentions the roles of the roots, chloroplasts, and stomata in an engaging video that reviews how...
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
Finance: Depreciation (Double Declining)
Of particular interest to a group of business and finance pupils, this lesson explores depreciation of automobile values by comparing the double declining balance to the straight line method. Mostly this is done through a slide...
Yummy Math
Diapers
Most of your students probably think a car or college is the first big expense their parents could help them with, but as it turns out these kids have been costing their parents for their whole lives. Have they ever considered how much...
Texas Instruments
Is It or Isn't It Proportional
How can you tell if number relationships are proportional? Mathematicians investigate proportional relationships. They compare and contrast functions and graphs to determine the characteristics of proportional relationships, as well as...
Teach Engineering
Exploring Variables While Testing and Improving Mint-Mobiles (for Middle School)
There are more ways to use mint candies than to just eat them. In groups, learners design and build race cars using mint candies, drinking straws, Popsicle sticks, index cards, and other materials. They decide on an independent variable...
New Mexico State University
Creature Caverns
Plot the relationship of characteristics of creepy creatures. Learners plot the coordinates to describe the number of eyes, horns, and/or brains different creatures have. Pupils fill out a table to plot the points and complete the pattern.
CK-12 Foundation
CK-12 Middle School Math Concepts - Grade 6
Twelve chapters cover a multitude of math concepts found in the Common Core standards for sixth grade. Each title provides a brief explanation of what you will find inside the chapter—concepts from which you can click on and learn more...
New York City Department of Education
Dance and Text
Use texts and dances to teach inequalities and equations. A sixth-grade unit covers using variables in equations and inequalities to solve problems. Learners show what they know at the end of the unit using two performance tasks, one...
Kentucky Department of Education
Patterns: Beads under a Blanket - Intermediate and Middle School Grades
Apply pattern knowledge to bead patterns. The formative assessment activity provides pupils the opportunity to show what they know about patterns and functions. Learners take a pre-assessment, then build upon their answers at the...
Pace University
Grades 7-8 Independent and Dependent Variables
It all depends upon the independence. The differentiated instruction lesson introduces learners to independent and dependent variables. Using real-world situations, scholars gain a conceptual understanding of the difference between the...
CCSS Math Activities
Smarter Balanced Sample Items: 6th Grade Math – Target G
Making money and saving money turn into high interest topics for sixth graders. Grade 6 Claim 1 Item Slide Shows use these topics in a presentation with math practice problems. The questions require applying knowledge of algebraic...
PBS
Scale City — Proportional Relationships in the Real World
Strive to determine your stride. Scholars first view an informative video on the Kentucky Horse Park and the 28-feet stride of the Man o' War. They then work together in groups to find the length of their own strides by using the number...
PBS
Scale City — Inverse Proportions and Shadows in the Real World
Bring the resource out from the shadows. Viewers of a short video learn about drive-in theaters and how operators project images onto a large screen. They then perform an experiment to determine the relationship between the distance of...
Concord Consortium
Crazy Clocks
While a stopped clock is right twice a day, a fast or slow clock confuses people for weeks. Scholars observe a clock running slow and must correct it before observing a clock running fast and working it backward. Finally, a multi-step...
CCSS Math Activities
Gym
Math requires strength training, too. Scholars consider three different pricing systems for a gym. Given several scenarios, they determine which gym would be cheaper and find how many visits it takes for the costs to be equal.
Teach Engineering
Energy Resources and Systems
We've talked a lot about energy, but where does energy come from? Pupils brainstorm different energy sources through a class discussion to kick off the 14th installment of a 25-part Energy Systems and Solutions unit. They then research...
Teach Engineering
Energy Perspectives
The data says ... the resource is great to use. Using Microsoft Excel, pupils analyze data from the US Department of Energy in the fifth lesson of a 25-part Energy Systems and Solutions unit. Each group looks at a different data set and...
Shodor Education Foundation
Function Machine
Machines can be so helpful sometimes. A simple interactive has learners enter input values for a function machine and observe output values. These values help determine a function that represents the input-output relationship in the...
Shodor Education Foundation
Data Flyer
Fit functions to data by using an interactive app. Individuals plot a scatter plot and then fit lines of best fit and regression curves to the data. The use of an app gives learners the opportunity to try out different functions to see...
Shodor Education Foundation
Whole Number Cruncher
Time to crunch the numbers! Young scholars use an interactive number cruncher to practice operations with whole numbers. They input a number and watch as the number cruncher produces the output and then use the data pairs to determine a...