Chicago Botanic Garden
Faces of Climate Change
Sometimes, the best solution to a problem can be found by walking in someone else's shoes. Here, scholars use character cards to take on the roles of people around the world. They determine how their character's life affects our...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Guest-Worker Program
The U.S. Guest-Worker Program and the H-2A visa are the focus of a social studies activity. First, class members assume the role of advisors who must present the president with four proposals that would amend the visas given to...
Curated OER
California Poppy Postcards
What a great lesson! Learners discuss California history, including the state flower, the poppy, and then engage in an art activity. For the activity, they learn about value, shading, layering, blending etc. to produce a realistic...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Argument: Is Electronic Communication Helpful or Harmful?
Technology has undoubtedly improved the lives of people around the world—but has it improved communication? Seventh graders read two informative passages about the rise of texting and emailing versus in-person conversations before...
Department of Education (Ireland)
Understanding Influences
"Understanding Influences," a richly detailed, carefully scaffolded unit, asks middle and high school scholars to examine how internal and external factors like friends, media, and society influence their attitudes and behaviors.
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
A Leadership Chart
It's important for children to understand how they fit into their local or social community. They discuss leadership and who exemplifies a leader in their family, community, and school. Each child will create a quilt square by...
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
The Cuban Missile Crisis: How to Respond?
For 13 days, the United States stood on the edge of nuclear War. The Soviet Arms buildup in Cuba is the focus of an activity that asks groups to analyze how the governmental role each of John F. Kennedy's advisors played went on to...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims
Teach kindergartners about the First Thanksgiving with a series of lessons about the Pilgrims' journey to the New World. As they practice handwriting, CVC words, reading comprehension, and fun Thanksgiving songs, they learn about what...
Channel Islands Film
Santa Cruz Island - Visible Thinking Routines
Visible Thinking Routines are designed to help learners deepen their understanding of what they are learning and enable them to communicate their understanding of concepts to others. Individuals adopt one of these routines to use to...
Baylor College
Body Mass Index (BMI)
How do you calculate your Body Mass Index, and why is this information a valuable indicator of health? Class members discover not only what BMI is and practice calculating it using the height and weight of six fictitious individuals, but...
Curated OER
Educator's Guide: Holes
You'll be a star at your next grade level meeting with an educational unit on Louis Sachar's Holes. Based on both the novel and film, the lessons include applications to language arts with character studies and movie reviews; social...
Peace Corps
Celebrating Our Connections Through Water
Water is vital for survival, but how does it help global cultures flourish? Elementary and middle schoolers learn about the different cultures around the world that celebrate water and incorporate it into their festivals or traditions.
Rainforest Alliance
The Carbon Cycle
Scholars learn about the carbon cycle, play a carbon cycle game, and then write a story based on their role as a carbon atom during the game. After the writings, pupils analyze the carbon cycle by leading a class discussion on the material.
TCI
What Are the Biggest April Fools Jokes of All Time?
After working in groups to analyze primary sources related to a historical hoax, learners will discuss how people managed to be fooled and work to identify one of the biggest April Fools jokes in history.
Bethel School District
Observations and Inference
What's the difference between qualitative and quantitative observations? Learners make observations, inferences, and predictions about their environment with a set of questions and activities that are applicable to either language arts...
Curated OER
The Causes and Course of the First World War
Use this twelve-day lesson plan to teach about the causes and courses of WWI. Each day scholars attend lectures, complete creative activities, and hold round table discussions on what they've learned. Web links and resources are...
Nosapo
Reading, Vocabulary, Comprehension
Whether you teach mainstream elementary classes or older English learners, a set of reading comprehension resources is a great addition to your language arts curriculum. Ten activities each include a reading passage and set of...
Hood River County School District
Text Structure: Features and Organization
Teach learners how to interact with both fiction and non-fiction text with a packet of activities and worksheets. After looking over text structure and the difference in text features between different types of writing, readers analyze...
Council for Economic Education
Why Didn't China Discover the New World?
Who was Zheng He and why haven't we heard of him? Scholars consider the question as they compare his vast expeditionary force to that of Christopher Columbus. Young historians then ponder the intersection of science, economics, and...
iCivics
Governing Communities
The government at the local level acts as perhaps one of the most relevant government systems to many in their communities. Learners discover how the local government shapes their lives and the similarities and differences between the...
University of Pennsylvania
Using Political Postcards to Teach a Revolution of Political Thought
Discuss how political postcards affected everyday people's thoughts and beliefs. Pupils continue a unit on the Dreyfus Affair as they engage in class discussion, watch a video, view a PowerPoint presentation, and fill out worksheets to...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Winner-Take-All: The Two-Party System
Two's company, three's a crowd. High school historians learn about the Electoral College, a two-party, winner-take-all voting system in the United States. The instructional activity explains the pros and cons of the two-party system,...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
The Iran Nuclear Deal and Its Critics
What was the purpose of the Iranian Nuclear Deal? An insightful resource explains nuclear tensions in the Middle East and Iranian weapon development that contributed to the Nuclear Deal in 2013. Academics learn the agreement limited...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Elections, Money, and the First Amendment
Those who spend the most, win. Academics read informational text, participate in group discussion, and defend campaign reforms to understand the correlation between money, the First Amendment, and election results. The resource explains...