Curated OER
Heat and Thermodynamics
This is actually a 10-day mini unit on thermal energy for your high school chemists. Every avenue is taken to get learners absorbed in heat: a pretest, a PowerPoint presentation, Internet exploration, demonstrations, lab activities, and...
Curated OER
The Giver: K-W-H-L Strategy
Explore the theme of release and death in Lois Lowry's The Giver with a K-W-H-L chart. After noting what they already know, kids come up with a list of questions about topics that they would like to know about, as well as how they will...
French Teacher
Changement climatique et risque de destruction des récifs coraliens
How is climate change affecting the coral reefs? Advanced French speakers read a half-page text about climate change and what it means for coral reefs. Then, following the reading, they complete a vocabulary activity and discuss the...
Macmillan Education
Sine and Cosine Graphs
Learners compare and contrast sine and cosine graphs in order to describe their characteristics in a collaborative activity. As they explain their reasoning, learners strengthen their writing and vocabulary skills associated with sine...
K12 Reader
Hide and Seek
After examining a brief article about survival adaptations, readers identify the main idea of the passage and list two supporting details.
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Chraisma by Jeanne Ryan
Often, science fiction makes a lot of connections to real life. An educator's guide for the novel Charisma by Jeanne Ryan, has readers discuss many of the real-life issues that come in the text. A brief summary helps garner interest in...
Nemours KidsHealth
Water Safety: Grades 6-8
Taking care of younger children is often the first job for many middle schoolers. Learning how to keep themselves and their young charges safe, especially around water, is essential. Two activities teach teens, and tweens water safety...
Pace University
Native Americans
Introduce middle schoolers to the First Nations that inhabited the Northeast during the Age of Exploration with a series of activities designed for differentiated groups.
Curated OER
Human Body Series - Cardiovascular System
Pump up your class while studying the cardiovascular system with this pair of activities. In one, learners record heart rates during different actions. In the second, they read kid-friendly heart health articles online and then write a...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Special Order 40
The city of Los Angeles' 1979 Special Order 40 states: "LAPD officers shall not initiate police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person." After reading a fact sheet that details the history of Special Order...
Global Oneness Project
A Collapsing City Skyline
Have your high schoolers learn about the modern history of Myanmar by close-reading an article about the city and people of the city Yangon. As they'll learn, the country is going through some dramatic transitions. After reading the...
University of Arkansas
Assessment and Discussion
"Without concerned citizen action to uphold them (human rights) close to home; we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world. . ." Eleanor Roosevelt's comment is used to set the stage for the conclusion of a five-lesson unit...
Curated OER
Peer Review Meets D.I.Y.: Publishing a Student Science Journal
Peer review of science laboratory reports? You bet! First, learners work in pairs to review a scientific article. Then they trade lab reports for peer review. The end result is the publication of a classroom scientific journal!
Heritage Foundation
Congress's War Powers
Declaring war is not as easy as some may think. High schoolers learn about Congress's limits regarding war by reading important clauses in the US Constitution. Various independent and collaborative activities reinforce learning, making...
Heritage Foundation
Courts and Judges
If the Supreme Court is so supreme, why do all cases not just start there? High schoolers learn why every case does not start at the Supreme Court as well as the importance of hierarchy in the US judicial system in the 11th installment...
Curated OER
Back to School: Style Analysis
Jump back into expository writing and analysis at the start of a new school year! Start with a review of an authors' stylistic choices in diction, syntax, treatment of subject matter, and figurative language. Writers choose a text to...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Chronicling America: Uncovering a World at War
As part of a study of World War I, class members read newspaper articles from the time that urge American involvement, non-involvement, or neutrality. Using the provided worksheet, groups analyze the articles noting the central argument...
Louisiana Department of Education
Fahrenheit 451
In his 2013 introduction to Fahrenheit 451, Neil Gaiman states, “Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.” In this extraordinary unit plan, readers "explore the power of written language to educate and influence...
Film English
Missing U
Explore the relationship between U and I with a video and related activities. First, pupils have some fun with the alphabet and discuss text message language. Next they practice coming up with words that have the same sound a I and U....
Curated OER
Get a Leg Up
Traveling through space is an amazing experience, but it definitely takes a toll on the body. After reading an article and watching a brief video, learners perform an experiment that simulates the effects of zero gravity on the human body.
Curated OER
Human Body Series - Bones, Muscles, and Joints
Strengthen understanding of the musculoskeletal system with a structured lesson! Begin with a discussion of bones, joints, and muscles. Have small groups read assigned articles and watch videos to gather information and then write a...
PBS
Climate Change as a Scientific Theory
Get your class thinking about climate change as a scientific theory. Guided by a handout, emerging earth scientists read articles and take notes about glaciers and sea ice. To conclude, they write an evaluation of the evidence for...
Curated OER
Reality Media?
Yeah, but is it real? Clips from the famous documentary film series 56 UP launches an examination of the differences between reality television and documentaries. After considering the characteristics of each format, class members...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Galileo: Revealing the Universe
To gain an understanding of the significance of Galileo Galilei's revolutionary ideas, class members watch the short video "Stargazing Before Galileo," and conduct a close reading of Galileo's Sidereal Messsenger. They then compare...