Curated OER
1920s Variety Show
To better understand the cultural achievements of the Harlem Renaissance and become familiar with its major figures, class members examine a painting by Aaron Douglas and a poem by Langston Hughes and compare how the artists develop...
National Education Association
Read Across America Classroom Activity Guide
Celebrate the legendary Dr. Seuss on Read Across America Day with a plethora of activities set to five stories—The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who, Oh, the Places You'll Go!, and Green Eggs and Ham. Activities include...
Cornell University
Forensic Science: Case of the Missing Diamond Maker
Someone stole a diamond-making machine. Who done it? Scholars use forensic science at six different stations to determine the culprit. They analyze fingerprints, use their senses, and complete chemistry experiments to determine the...
Smithsonian Institution
Conflicting Voices of the Mexican War
Americans wanted to fulfill Manifest Destiny, and this pattern continued with the Mexican War. The resource specifically teaches about the Mexican War through a variety of exercises including a research project, group work, brainstorming...
Curated OER
Signs of Mine
In this reading and life skills lesson, students practice recognizing common signs that would see around town and at school. Examples are, stop signs, exit signs, etc. After a class discussion where examples are given, students tour the...
Curated OER
OLYMPIC SHADOW BOXES
Students acquaint themselves with little-used library resources/reference materials and create shadow boxes to be displayed in the Media Center based on the research they've done regarding the Winter Olympics.
Curated OER
Memories
Fifth graders collect artifacts of their fifth grade school year and make a technology based Memory Book.
National First Ladies' Library
The Education of Abigail Adams
Learners read the biography of Abigail Smith Adams from the First Ladies Library web site. They work in small groups to write a description of her education. Students discuss their findings, and extend this to the education of girls in...
Curated OER
Sports Participation
Students research statistics about sports participation in references such as the Statistical Abstract of the United States. They make and analyze a list of the 10 sports that the highest number of Americans participated in on an amateur...
National First Ladies' Library
Flopsy, Mopsy, Eleanor, and Beatrix
Young scholars read "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and view the photos of the pets that inspired Beatrix Potter to write. They then select a different book to read from the University of Pennsylvania's website or from the public library that...
Curated OER
First Amendment Rights
Fifth graders participate in a problem-solving and decision-making process involving the First Amendment rights to analyze and implement a solution for a school-related issue. They are given a variety of scenarios to apply the First...
Curated OER
First Grade Tour Guides
First graders plan a tour to give their parents on a school parent night. In this school tour lesson plan, 1st graders gather information about their school, determine how to best present information, and prepare a tour and talk to give...
Curated OER
Exploring Tessellations
Fifth graders examine how to make tessellations. For this tessellation lesson, 5th graders review the meaning of the word "polygon" while the teacher shows them various examples. They practice making tiling patterns or tessellation's...
Curated OER
The Battle of the Guts
Students listen to story, The Magic School Bus: Inside Ralphie, take notes from story on how body fights germs, identify different functions of immune system, and use Kid Pix slide show to explain how body fights viruses and bacteria.
Curated OER
Regions of the United States
Fifth graders collect data about regions of the United States using the Internet, library books, and encyclopedias. They write an essay persuading people to visit their state.
Curated OER
Monkeying Around
Third graders study machines. They watch a video about and identify and chart machines they find at home and at school. They design and build simple and compound machines, create an advertisement for them and attempt to sell them at the...
Curated OER
Reference Resources: Being a Good Detective
Learners explore a variety of reference resources while seeking information. atlases, almanacs, dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, and online search engines as well as library card catalogs are utilized in this instructional activity.
Curated OER
One Person CAN Make a Difference
Students illustrate how the actions of one person can make a difference. They identify school and community issues to address and complete group projects and action plans for making changes in the school or community.
Curated OER
The Three Branches of Government
Sixth graders discover details about the 3 branches of government. In this primary source analysis lesson plan, 6th graders examine documents and images from the Library of Congress to investigate the structure of the U.S. government.
Curated OER
My Community-My World
Students discover the meaning of philanthropy and ways in which it occurs in the home, at school, and in the community. Each student chooses one need in their own community, list opportunities to fulfill the need, then predict what might...
Curated OER
Kidspiration Lesson Plan
First graders are able to successfully create a web featuring five community workers from the school. They are able to include a digital photograph of each of the five community workers. Students are able to write one way that each...
Curated OER
Let the Phone Get Them Talking! Using the Yellow Pages as a Teaching Resource
Learners categorize information in the Yellow Pages. In this Let the Phone Book Get Them Talking! instructional activity, students find pictures in the Yellow Pages and thus gain a better understanding of how the book is organized....
Curated OER
A Day In the Life of a 4th/5th Grader
Young scholars design a photo essay. In this photo essay lesson, students take digital pictures of their daily activities such as their mode of travel to school, the lunchroom, their classroom and classmates. They choose the photos that...
Curated OER
Cherokee Leaf Printing
Young scholars investigate their local creeks and forests and practice identifying trees. For this ecology identification lesson, students utilize a pad and pencil while on a field trip near their school and describe their trip while...