Novelinks
The Good Earth: Biopoem Strategy
To gain a better understanding of characters in Pearl Buck's The Good Earth, kids create a biopoem for one of her characters.
EngageNY
Using Sample Data to Compare the Means of Two or More Populations
Determine whether there is a difference between two grades. Teams generate random samples of two grade levels of individuals. Groups use the mean absolute deviation to determine whether there is a meaningful difference between the...
Virginia Department of Education
Weather Patterns and Seasonal Changes
Get your class outside to observe their surroundings with a lesson plan highlighting weather patterns and seasonal changes. First, learners take a weather walk to survey how the weather affects animals, people, plants, and trees during...
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Analysis of the Tuck Everlasting and The Birchbark House Text Exemplars
Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson, day one...
Curated OER
Pizza! Pizza!
Third graders tally, sort, and organize pizza orders from monthly school sales. They create an advertising campaign to promote the School Pizza Sale, record the data in graph form, compare and contrast the tallies throughout the year,...
Curated OER
Folds in the Earth
Ninth graders demonstrate the forces that cause folds in the earths crust by use of clay modeling. They demonstrate there knowledge of terminology and concepts related to Earths folding processes by a written or oral report on data...
Google
Surveys and Estimating Large Quantities
Looking for an estimation activity a bit more involved than the typical "guess the number of jellybeans in the jar" game? Here, learners use a picture to estimate the number of people at a large event, look for potential problems with...
Curated OER
Sound Walk: Discovering Data and Applying Range, Mode, and Mean
Elementary schoolers sharpen their listening skills as they use sound maps, tallies, and line plots to organize and interpret data. Everyone takes a "sound walk," and focuses on the sounds around them. They chart and tabulate the sounds...
Statistics Education Web
Text Messaging is Time Consuming! What Gives?
The more you text, the less you study. Have classes test this hypothesis or another question related to text messages. Using real data, learners use technology to create a scatter plot and calculate a regression line. They create a dot...
Shodor Education Foundation
Playing with Probability
Review basic probability concepts with your class using different-colored marbles in a bag. Then pair up learners and have them play a cool online interactive game in which they race miniature cars using the roll of a die or two. The...
Curated OER
The Nitrogen Cycle
The nitrogen cycle is the focus of a well-designed science lesson. In it, learners see that plants and animals produce waste products and decompose after death. Many of the waste products include nitrogen which is absobed by other...
Curated OER
What are Metamorphic Rocks and How are They Formed?
Even though the student handouts are not included in the write-up, this lesson contains the instructions for terrific activities to use when teaching middle schoolers about metamorphic rocks. First, they compare granite to gneiss and...
Curated OER
Defending the Homeland--The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1789
Students explore that there have been times during the history of the US when ,in response to real and perceived threats, both domestic and foreign, our country has responded by passing legislation. Students trace the fundamental rights...
Curated OER
Cholera and the Scientific Method
Five individuals in the class are "infected" with cholera! The rest of the class serves as investigators to discover the source of the outbreak. They test drinking fountains around campus for contamination. You, of course, will secretly...
Defining US
Integration of Education and American Society
How did the struggle for Civil Rights during the 1950s transform American society and politics? Why are American schools integrated today? Class members explore these essential questions by examining a series of primary and secondary...
Curated OER
Notable "Texans" of the Texas Revolution
Students investigate why and how certain historical figures became famous in relation to the Texas Revolution. They view and discuss a variety of images, then in small groups record the names of individuals involved in the Texas...
Curated OER
Questioning NASA
Space science and math collide in this inquiry that investigates launching times for antacid-tablet rockets! Upper elementary or middle school learners collect data as they launch these mini rockets. They apply concepts of place value...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Songwriting Skill - Choosing a Tone: Jordan Pruitt - “One Love”
"Tone means attitude." Or so says this resource that uses Jordan Pruitt's "One Love" to model for songwriters how to develop an attitude in their lyrics. Class members engage in a number of exercises designed to give them direct and...
Curated OER
Women in Texas Politics: Winning the Vote, Three Pioneers, and Serving the People
Fourth graders study women's involvement in Texas politics. In this US history lesson, 4th graders discuss woman suffrage, examine three Texas female pioneer legislators by reading biographies, and explore women's issues by generating a...
Curated OER
Tejana Military Members in World War II
Seventh graders discover who the Tejanas were and how they contributed to World War II. In this World War II instructional activity, 7th graders listen to their instructor discuss who the Tejanas were prior to researching the...
Curated OER
Missing Macroinvertebrates - Stream Side Science
Field study groups collect samples of stream water and identify the macroinvertebrates found. Using their data, they calculate a water quality index to rate the health of the stream. They graph their data and discuss the value of a water...
Curated OER
Note-Taking: K.I.S.S. "Keep It Short and Simple"
Note-taking is an essential study skill, and it needs to be taught! In the context of a research project on energy sources, learners find multiple sources, evaluating, paraphrasing, and citing them correctly. Two lists with note-taking...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Sampling and Estimating: Counting Trees
Your task today: count all the trees on a tree farm. To complete the assignment, learners first estimate the number of trees on a tree farm using random sampling. To improve their own response they then evaluate provided responses to the...
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
A Search for Symbolism in The Great Gatsby
After reading The Great Gatsby, groups return to the text and note passages where Fitzgerald uses symbols and color imagery in his narrative. They then develop a presentation that explains the context, the implications, and possible...