Heritage Foundation
The Office of the Executive
An executive is not just a leader of a company; you can also use the term to describe the president of the United States. The ninth part of a 20-part unit teaches high schoolers about the importance of the executive branch and the...
Curated OER
Wagons Ho! Hard Times! Hard Choices!
You have just hit the lesson plan jackpot! This isn't just a lesson, it's a ten-day unit covering westward expansion, pioneer life, and the Oregon Trail. Activities include baking, model building, role-play, newspaper writing, science...
Curated OER
A Quest for Author Importance
Class members discover information about an author through a WebQuest and a brochure project.
Curated OER
Red and Blue
Young elementary learners listen to the story Red & Blue and participate in a collaborative project where they paint a picture using abstract shapes. Then they interpret classmates' abstract shapes and write or tell a story about...
Curated OER
Cooperative Learning Projects
Students practice cooperation skills. In this cooperative learning lesson, students read 6 books regarding cooperation and then participate in 6 cooperative activities.
Curated OER
Westward Movement
Students explore the concept of philanthropy in historical context. In this Westward Movement lesson, students read Our Journey West and explain examples of settlers working together for the common good.
Curated OER
Helping Others
Young scholars explore philanthropy. In this service learning activity, students read The Seven Chinese Brothers, identify the elements of the story, and then go out in the world to help others by sharing their talents.
Curated OER
Common Good
Learners explore the concept of philanthropy. In this service learning lesson, students read stories and then discuss the meaning of philanthropy as they identify ways the characters contribute to the common good.
Curated OER
Create a Cookbook
Trios write, design, and produce cookbooks. In a truly collaborative project, they choose what content to include, contribute recipes, and decide on formatting. Then, they reformat all recipes to ensure consistent style, publish the...
Curated OER
Collaborative Tall Tale Lesson Plan
Using Keynote, pupils will collaborate with their peers to create a tall tale. Each person in the group will participate by creating slides, adding text, and recording their voice. Tip: Have each group present their tall tales to the...
Teaching Tolerance
Fairness Fair
How can we create a more fair world? Chances are, class members have some ideas! After reading a text about fairness, individuals create skits around the ideas of fairness. Extend the learning and make their presentations a...
PBS
Team Work and Planning
Welcome to the Great Marshmallow Challenge. To conclude a unit study designed to help scholars develop teamwork and collaboration skills, groups are charged with developing a free-standing structure using only one marshmallow, 20 pieces...
ReadWriteThink
Promoting Student Self-Assessment
Keep class members accountable for their own learning with a series of differentiated instruction strategies. From rubrics created by pupils to learning contracts written at the beginning of the year, the resource offers multiple ways...
EngageNY
Paragraph Writing, Part II
Come up with a list of requirements for this expository essay on Esperanza's character in Esperanza Rising as a class and use the list to guide class writing. Here, learners will complete the first paragraph, discuss their notes for the...
EngageNY
Connecting Informational Text with Litearature: Building Background Knowledge About Mexican Immigration, California, and the Great Depression
Help your class transition as the setting in the novel Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, moves from Mexico to California. Beginning with prior knowledge, and moving into jigsaw research groups, class members add to and create posters...
Teach Engineering
Engineers Love Pizza, Too!
Help overcome challenges in eating pizza. Scholars work in groups to design a device that assists a physically handicapped person eat pizza. They build a prototype of such a device to test their designs before building. To finish, groups...
Florida Department of Health
Safe and Happy: Safety for All at School and Online Unit
Bystander or upstander and advocate? Three lessons have high schoolers investigating data about bullying and school safety. Participants then learn how to take a stand against bullying and use what they have learned to create a PSA to...
Curated OER
Invetories Slave owner or not?
Primary source analysis is a great way to bring history to life. Learners examine a series of personal inventories taken from Southern white males who died during the Civil War era. They analyze the documents to determine the social and...
EngageNY
Point of View: Comparing Esperanza's and Isabel's Perspectives About Life in the Camp (Chapter 7: "Las Cebollas/Onions")
Explore point of view and more with a Common Core-designed instructional activity. Learners experience different points of view by representing one of two characters from Esperanza Rising during a partner discussion. They must use...
New York City Department of Education
Theater Units for Lower and Upper Elementary Levels
Introduce middle schoolers to playwriting and the elements of drama with a six-session storytelling unit that encourages kids to expand their acting and writing skills. The 12-page packet includes overviews of the lessons, assessment...
Curated OER
Peer Review and Collaboration Using Chat Tools and /or Voice Recorders
Students use audio devices to record a text and have a peer edit it. For this peer review and collaboration lesson, students write a short text on a topic provided by the teacher. After recording their text the message is sent to a...
Curated OER
Working Together
Students work together to solve problems. In this math lesson, students apply math skills of graphing to work on an assignment together and at the same time, learn to problem solve. They walk away learning to work well in groups.
Curated OER
Learning Math with Music
Students work in groups to create their own rhymes and songs for an entire family of math facts. They record their math facts creations using an iPod and a voice recorder for future use.
Curated OER
BBC Learning English, Speaking (Roleplay)
In this ESL speaking worksheet, students work in groups to create six interview questions for possible employees from abroad. Each student then interviews someone from another group noting their responses. Groups re-form, compare notes,...