Trash For Teaching
The Light-House Project
Groups work together to design a lighthouse, from designing and drawing the wiring diagram, to creating prototypes of the switch and circuit, to envisioning and building a scale model along with a blueprint. By including different...
Lied Center of Kansas
The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare
Both The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare are great additions to an elementary language arts lesson. Young readers focus on the literary elements of each story, including characters and plot development, and apply counting and...
Museum of Tolerance
The Pursuit of Democracy and Diversity: The Trial of Pro-Social Injustice in Historical Documents and Accounts
Class members investigate The Indian Removal Act of 1830, U.S. Theft of Mexican Territory Timeline, and President Abraham Lincoln’s letter to Horace Greeley, 1862, and then conduct a mock trial of each of these documents to determine...
Curated OER
Immigration: Stories, Struggles and Debates
Considering including Tatyana Kleyn's Immigration: The Ultimate Teen Guide as part of your course? Check out this curriculum guide designed for use with her book. The activities help learners understand the complexity of the immigration...
PBS
Terrific Trees
Engage in a shady activity to practice measurement techniques. Classes venture outside to collect measurements of various trees, using different strategies to measure the height, trunk circumference, width, and crown size. Then they...
Library of Congress
The Conservation Movement at a Crossroads: The Hetch Hetchy Controversy
Should wilderness areas be preserved or managed? Class members examine primary source documents, including lecture notes, articles, essays and congressional records to better understand the Hetch Hetchy controversy that created a split...
Curated OER
The Scarlet Letter and Transcendentalism
Enhance your unit on The Scarlet Letter with a thorough and applicable lesson. Learners use the anchor text in this unit plan that asks them to consider the Transcendental concepts intertwined within Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic tale.
iCivics
My County Works
A 22-page packet sheds light on the hard work taking place at a county's seat. Scholars read brief informational text and fill in information about their own county workers. Pages take you to a department around the county site each...
Curated OER
Cutting Down Trees
Students research what kind of problems force a city or town to decide to remove trees. Students research what controversy has occurred in other cities or towns. Students interview those responsible for such decisions in your city or...
Curated OER
The Amazing Race -- Africa
Students conduct research and gather information regarding various cities in Africa. They discover what it would take to travel to and through Africa and plan a trip through various regions of the continent. They present their itinerary,...
Curated OER
Weathering the Weather
Students investigate global warming through initial discussion of recent findings regarding weather patterns. They act as city planning 'committees' concerned with how the trends in global warming affect the agriculture and industries.
Curated OER
Cityscapes
A perfect resource for an art teacher of any grade. First, click on the resource's second tab, entitled "Activities," to find four unique grade-specific lesson all based on the theme of cityscapes. Each activity utilizes the included...
California Academy of Science
Building Better Buses: Transportation Design Challenges
Scholars learn about a series of three challenges when they design a bus system for a small town. They determine the bus routes and then figure out the best type of fuel to use before considering the cost of going electric. Learners...
Curated OER
I. M. Pei and the Geometry of the NGA
Learners compare design elements in neoclassical and modern architecture. They review knowledge of triangles and quadrilaterals and design a geometric pattern using Pei's polygons They create a city plan using a variety of lines and...
Curated OER
Railroads
Students make travel plans. In this transportation lesson, students determine whether trains, planes, or buses are best to get them a city 500 miles from their hometown.
Curated OER
Game Plans
Pupils consider the online game Neopets as a springboard to developing the characters, settings and plots for online fantasy games. They draft technical plans that describe how their games be presented and played on the We
Latin America Network Information Center
Urbanization
Brazil's population has been changing dramatically in the last century. Study the causes of Brazilian urbanization, including industrialization and and migration, and the implications for the country of the populations'...
National Gallery of Canada
Urban Scenes
Select a theme together to guide and inspire works of art. Class members view images of art and discuss the images of cities. After choosing a theme, individuals create posters that reflect and contribute to the theme. They can use paint...
Curated OER
Library Lesson Plan
Explain the differences between fiction and non-fiction and the characteristics of a biography. Learners analyze three pieces of literature on the same topic to determine which is fiction and which is non-fiction. In the end, relate the...
BBC
Words in the News
Here's an "old-school" lesson plan on an event in US history. High schoolers look into the massive layoffs that occurred in New Orleans in 2005. Discussion and debate take place, and groups of learners must cut and paste a series of...
National Gallery of Canada
Mastering One-Point Perspective
Cover one-point perspective through observation and practice. Class members examine several works of art that use one-point perspective, look at magazine images to find the vanishing points and horizon lines, and draw their own city...
Texas Heart Institute
Anatomy: How Does the Cardiovascular System Work?
How can the circulatory system compare to a city map? Pupils distinguish the "roadways" and "vehicles" of the cardiovascular system, compare the anatomy and function of veins and arteries, and review different types of blood cells with...
Channel Islands Film
Once Upon A Time (Saxipak’a): Lesson Plan 1
As part of a study of the history of the Chumash on California's Channel Island chain, class members view the documentary Once Upon a Time, respond to discussion questions, and create a timeline for the different waves of migration.
Curated OER
Where Will You Go?
Fifth graders research and plan an imaginary vacation. In this travel planning lesson, 5th graders work in pairs to use an atlas, calendar, review airplane schedules, encyclopedias, magazines, and the Internet to research information...