Curated OER
Songs About Age
Students discuss common attitudes about aging that are found in popular songs and how music is a means to explore attitudes about aging in this one-day instructional activity ideal for a middle-level general music classroom. The...
Curated OER
Folktales: Uncle Cricket, the Soothsayer Lesson Ideas
Students read the Nicaraguan folktale, "Uncle Cricket, the Soothsayer," prior to participating in various activities. Among the ideas presented here are completing story maps, analyzing characters, summarizing the plot, writing...
Curated OER
Mater Your Munchies
Students explore the various food groups while doing a physical activity.
Curated OER
Innovative Celebration of Enrichment
Young scholars start at the beginning of the day and move and rotate individually or with friends. They go to as many or as few centers as they wish such as: PE, Art, Music, Media, and Computers. Students do not have to stay together. ...
Curated OER
Poetry
Students review how clouds form rain, listen to the poem April Rain Song, discuss the saying April Showers Bring May Flowers, and participate in a craft activity.
Curated OER
Cheeto Tag
Students practice motor skills while playing this variation of tag. They learn the importance of hand washing in the activity.
Curated OER
Family Bowling Night
Students and their families visit a pretend bowling alley created in an activity room at school. They help their family members to bowl, set up pins and have fun without keeping score to engage the students and culminate the end of the...
Curated OER
What Lives in Water?
Students learn about a variety of sea creatures. They look at sea creatures pictures and identify the creatures by name and by their unique characteristics. Phonemic Awareness skills are reinforced using the beginning sounds of the...
Discovery Education
Artificial Intelligence
What makes human interaction different from interaction with computers? Learners consider the question as they build Turing tests to determine whether a computer thinks like a human. They begin by looking at current versions of Turing...
Curated OER
Completing the Circuit
Students use a battery, wires, small light bulb and a light bulb holder to learn the difference between an open circuit and a closed circuit, and understand that electric current only occurs in a closed circuit. They describe the...
Curated OER
The Path of Electrons
Students engage in an interactive "hot potato" demonstration to gain an appreciation for the flow of electrons through a circuit. They role play the different parts of a simple circuit and send small items representing electrons (paper...
Curated OER
Traveling Sound
Young scholars explore how sound waves move through liquids, solids and gases in a series of simple sound energy experiments. They describe how sound needs molecules to move and that changing the medium that it travels through changes...
Curated OER
Alligator Craft Paper Bag Puppet
Students make paper bag puppets. They use the puppets as a story teller and reader. Students use the puppets to ask questions during and after reading. They assemble their own puppet. Students use the puppets to introduce new themes,...
Curated OER
Simple Machines and Modern Day Engineering Analogies
Learners apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and...
Curated OER
A Renaissance of Jazz and Poetry
Learners explore, analyze, study and read a variety of poems and listen to jazz that have their roots in the Harlem Renaissance. They then discuss the similarities and differences of themes in the works of different poets and composers.
Curated OER
Go for the Gold!
Young athletes practice various locomotor movements. They use locomotor skills as directed by the teacher to move between "Olympic rings" (hula hoops). Students participate in a discussion about Olympic events prior to playing the game.
Curated OER
Wonderful Whales
Primary marine biologists consider the largest living animals on Earth, the whales. Introduce them to general anatomy, unique adaptations, and behaviors. Teach them to sing a song that will help them remember some of these facts....
Curated OER
Group Wall Drawing
Students create a group wall drawing that demonstrate the contributions that each part makes to the whole.
Levin Institute
Unit on Culture and Globalization
Students explore the concept of cultural globalization. In this global issues lesson plan, students read and discuss the linked Web articles about world cultural issues and the dominance of the American market.
Curated OER
Digital Kids Club
Students create a slideshow on a chosen subject. They connect to the subject matter through images from the Internet, books, or pictures they have taken. Students convey the emotions the topic elicits and demonstrate understanding of the...
Curated OER
Art in Engineering - Moving Art
Students study how forces are applied in the creation of art. They design mobiles and pop-up books while identifying which forces of nature act upon them. They look at air currents, gravity, and hand movement.
Curated OER
Contra Dance
Contra dance was brought to America by French Soldiers after the Revolutionary War. Contra dancing is done in lines, but with partners facing each other. Some moves one partner is moving forward while the other moves backwards. Some...
Curated OER
Measuring Perimeter
Have your class practice measuring the perimeter of various objects using this resource. Fifth graders place various-sized polygons in order (from largest to smallest). They use non-standard measuring tools to estimate the distance...
Curated OER
Watercolor Rainbows
Who doesn't love a rainbow? Little ones adore them, so why not make rainbows the subject of your next art project. Your class can use watercolor to paint rainbows. As they do, have them identify the colors in the rainbow, talk about how...