Curated OER
Social Studies and Children's Literature
Young scholars write a journal in response to literature. The story that is read is about prairies. The subject of prairies becomes an object for research. The culminating activity is the making of a map where prairies exist in the...
Curated OER
How Can You Detect the Invisible?
Students participate in a lab activity in which they examine the characteristics of radon. They identify radon's link to cases of lung cancer. They complete a radon fact sheet and answer questions to end the lesson plan.
Curated OER
Keep Spreading the News
Students examine the significance of communication in an engineer's life. They develop a list of ways engineers communicate with others, and write a book, newspaper, or story about engineers' role in the environment.
Curated OER
Historical Figures that Impacted the State of Virginia from 1607-Present
Fourth graders are introduced to the important figures in Virginia's history. In groups, they research the figure more throughly using the internet and write a one-page summary. They present their figure to the class and their impact on...
Curated OER
Puberty, Day 2
Students, in teams, discuss answers to a true or false quiz about puberty and write their best summaries on the board. They debrief how it felt to disagree during discussion and peer pressure in general. They write a letter to a 6 year...
Curated OER
Number Patterns
Students discover patterns in sets of whole numbers using calculators. They write journal entries and orally report their findings to the class. They look for primes, squares, cubes and multiples.
Curated OER
Animal Reports (Lesson 6 - Use of Information
Fourth graders use the computer catalog to find and select a nonfiction book to gather bibliographic information on an animal they have previously selected. They write the information on a note card.
Curated OER
Sacred Ceremonial Use of the Buffalo
Learners invite an elderly person to come talk about the significance of the buffalo in their Native American community. They record and videotape all the activities and create a visual presentation of the day.
Curated OER
Time Train
Students are read a short book "Time Train" by Paul Fleischman. Using the text, they identify the clues to let them know the train is traveling back in time. They make a time line of the trip and make a cutout of meat-eating and...
Curated OER
An Investigation of Primary and Secondary Sources Using The Records on Mary McLeod Bethune
Students listen to a summary of the life of Mary Bethune. They read or listen to an excerpt from an interview with Mary Bethune. They discuss the differences between the transcript and the draft of the biography.
Curated OER
Island Formation
Students create models of how islands are formed by hot spots and then write a summary of their observations and of how they think their model relates to volcanic hot spots and island formation.
Curated OER
Earth's Place in the Solar System
Students study and discuss the planets. They create a visual representation of the layout of the solar system and color it. They also write an informative/narrative summary report on the cultural relevance of the Sun.
Curated OER
The Regions In Which I Live
Students investigate different regions. Beginning with the idea that a neighborhood is a region, students explore maps to discover that towns, states, and countries can also be considered regions. Students create a book, with...
Curated OER
James and the Giant Peach Plot Analysis
It's all about the plot, main events, and story mapping with this lesson. As the class reads the novel James and the Giant Peach, they create an excitement graph that actually charts key events and moments of excitement. After creating...
Curated OER
Investigation 10 - Mammal Oral Reports
Fourth graders research a Utah mammal, then create and present a mini-report. They access websites imbedded in this plan to help them with their research. There is also a nice prewrite graphic organizer to help them organize their...
Curated OER
The Dust Bowl
Students discover the causes of droughts. In this Dust Bowl lesson, students follow the provided steps to complete a hands-on activity that demonstrates drought conditions. Students write summaries about the Dust Bowl.
Curated OER
Making a Rainstick
Students construct a rainstick. In this music lesson, students investigate the history of the rainstick by reading the book Bringing the Rain to the Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema. Students express their feelings about the rain and create...
Curated OER
Compare Human-made Objects with Natural Objects
Students examine and observe how many human-made objects get their basic design from things in nature. They listen to the book "Nature Got There First," compare/contrast hollow bones with drinking straws, bird beaks and tool pliers, and...
Curated OER
We Love to Read!
Students find ways to share their favorite books. For this reading strategies lesson, students advertise books, create a top ten countdown, give a video book talk, simmer story stew, make book medals, play name that book, design a...
Curated OER
Faulty Movement
Students discover the faults throughout the Earth. They describe the different types of faults and how they are related to earthquakes. They build models of the faults.
Curated OER
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Fourth graders participate in a play to work on seeing events from a different perspective. Some of them are reporters, some cameramen and women, and others are interviewed. They put themselves in the shoes of the people in the book...
Curated OER
Mystery Eggs
Students investigate the properties of plastic eggs filled with solids, liquids, and gases and use these observations to hypothesize whether a chicken egg is hard-boiled or raw.
Curated OER
Water Cycle Lesson Plan
After conducting experiments with a sponge, ice water, and a soda bottle your young scientists become familiar with the water cycle through experiment, song, hand motions and drawing. Students sing about the water cycle and discuss what...
Curated OER
Monster Plants Storia Teaching Guide
Who wouldn't want to read a book about monster plants? Get those kids into informational texts with an engaging topic, like meat eating plants! You'll use the teaching guide to provide structured practice as your class reads to...