Curated OER
Read It and Remember It!
Students describe and draw a picture about what happens in the book they are reading. They work in groups and read an assigned chapter. Students discuss the chapter and draw a picture to show what happens. They discuss the chapter with...
Curated OER
Giant Smelly Plant Attracts Thousands
Read and discuss a news article about a rare corpse plant that bloomed in Washington D.C. Because this native Indonesian plant blooms so rarely, people flock to see it. After reading the article, your class answers comprehension...
Curated OER
Gas Prices Keep Rising
Students discuss rising gas prices, then read a news article about how the increase in fuel cost may affect other prices. In this economics and current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion and vocabulary...
Curated OER
Ecology Integration Using IMovie
Amazing! Any 5th grader would be more than willing to participate in this project. Students are broken into groups, each group reads one book from a list of five. They use their book as the basis for choosing an animal and environment to...
Curated OER
Plant Part Exploration: Stems
Explore water transport in plant stems using this fun experiment! Your scientists will start by reading Stems by Vijaya Bodach. Then, activate prior knowledge about plant stem functions and water transportation. Demonstrate this concept...
Curated OER
Writer's Toolbox
Present the class with a slide show that will give them a great head start in writing expository and narrative texts. The information is highlighted for easy note taking, well organized, and presented in a kid-friendly manner. It...
Curated OER
The First Strawberries
Young scholars explore Cherokee legends. They read The First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac, and then do several activities to help comprehension. They discuss the book and answer comprehension questions. In addition, they retell the...
Forest Foundation
Nature's Treasure Chest
Renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable. As part of their study of the forest ecosystem, class members read "Nature's Treasure Chest" about the many products made from trees and then craft their own recycled paper.
Curated OER
A Duck's Bill on Capitol Hill?
Use a list of environmentally related words to engage learners in a discussion about ecosystem conservation legislation. As a class, read "Aware of Political Ecosystem, Property Rights Advocate Embraces Conservation Plan." Then, present...
Curated OER
Who Am I?
Your budding journalists need to understand the five W's for writing a news story. They read a story, complete several graphic organizers to help them organize and write their article, and then use a self-assessment worksheet to edit and...
Smith Family Home
Transportation
Here's an interesting lesson that combines elements of language arts, sociology, and a study of the many ways that people use transportation to get from one place to another. The eight-page plan includes worksheets and a word search that...
Curated OER
Mangrove Ecosystem
Eager ecologists explore ecosystems through video and photographs of a Mangrove. They discuss the animals in this habitat and how they interact with each other after reading and discussing "The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle."...
University of Kansas
Newspaper in the Classroom
Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...
Curated OER
Oh, Say, Can You See What the Star-Spangled Banner Means?
Students research the historical inspiration for the lyrics of the "The Star Spangled Banner". They explore websites, read articles and analyze poetry in an examination of America's patriotic symbols and history.
Curated OER
Actions in Progress
English language learners will find this practice particularly helpful. They match the sentences to their visual depiction. In the second exercise, they fill in the missing words. They use the sentences in the first activity to discover...
Curated OER
Tell a Ton of Tall Tales
Elementary schoolers read many tall tales. They create their own tall tale about a specific event of their choosing. They must act the part of the author. This well-designed lesson takes three class sessions to complete, and is...
Curated OER
Terrific Trees
In this rainforest worksheet, learners read about why the remaining trees in the rainforest are important. Students also answer 9 True/False questions about the reading.
Curated OER
Natural Resources Matter
This natural resources worksheet includes discussion activities about natural resources, 2 word searches, and a list of related books and videos.
Student Handouts
Teacher Evaluation Sheet
As you approach the end of the school year, ask your class members to complete this anonymous questionnaire to gain insight into the strengths of your teaching, as well as areas that you can improve for next year!
Curated OER
The Giving Tree
Learners investigate the virtue of kindness and giving by conducting a children's literature study of "The Giving Tree". They make a list of words to describe emotions in the story and write a journal daily while looking at the virtues...
Curated OER
The Patchworker-Sentences Making Sense
Students are introduced to the activity by writing some sentences with words in the wrong order. They are told that the patchworker needs help to get things in the right order. Students are asked to read the list of words on the...
Broward County Public Schools
Force and Motion
Get the ball rolling with this upper-elementary science unit on forces and motion. Offering over three weeks of physical science lessons, this resource is a great way to engage the class in learning about simple machines, friction, the...
PBS
Color Code
Don't let your brain play tricks on you! Learners test brain reaction rates while it is receiving multiple stimuli. They time each other reading a set of color words written in different colors and again when they are written in black....
Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, University of Texas at Austin
Lesson 5 - R-Controlled Syllables
Put on your pirate hat and get ready to teach r-controlled syllables. Learners practice using words that contain ar, or, er, ir, and ur. Instructors model how to decode words to isolate vowel teams, as well as combine r-controlled sounds...