Curated OER
Teaching “Level of Difficulty” through Close Reading, Reflection, and Performance
What makes a poem difficult? Explore that topic and more with your class as you work through the lesson detailed here. Using materials from Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest, individuals or small groups examine poems and...
Exploratorium
The Dipping Bird
If you have or want to order the dipping bird demonstration, it is useful for showing how evaporation and changes in the pressure of a closed system cause cyclical motion. After teaching about pressure, consider setting this little guy...
EdHelper
George Washington's Socks by Elvira Woodruff
A solid, straightforward book report form is an excellent addition to your literature unit. Class members note the main characters, point of view, plot elements, and other important details from a story, adding their favorite part from...
PBS
Analyzing Stop and Frisk Through Personal Stories and Infographics
How much can you learn about an important topic from a single image? High schoolers analyze an infographic that represents the number of stops performed during the Stop and Frisk police procedure. After building background information...
Polar Trec
What Can We Learn from Sediments?
Varve: a deposit of cyclical sediments that help scientists determine historical climates. Individuals analyze the topography of a region and then study varve datasets from the same area. Using this information, they determine the...
Main Memory Network
Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith" and Whitman's "Song of Myself"
Although the work Americans do has changed over time, the plight of the American worker has largely remained the same. Facilitate a class discussion aboutAmerican workers using Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith" and...
West Virginia Department of Education
An Act Worthy of Reward
John Brown is considered by many to be a martyr for abolition and civil rights. The resource covers an important event in West Virginian history, the raid by John Brown, as a standalone that discusses Brown's last words and his reaction...
Teaching Tolerance
Journalism for Justice
Roll the presses! Or at least have your class members participate in the time-honored tradition of the student press by creating their own newspapers or journalist pieces on a social problem. After conducting research and collaborating...
C-SPAN
Why Do Americans Not Vote in Elections?
In an age of inflamed politics, who votes, who doesn't vote, and why are the questions everyone is trying to answer. Pupils listen to scholars, journalists and data crunchers on voting statistics to make their own conclusions. A chart...
Curated OER
Journaling
Learners explore journal writing. In this writing activity, students are given writing prompts such as "how the choices I make affect our water quality?" and use critical writing skills to express their feelings in a journal. There are...
Curated OER
State Government Debt in Utah: Rapid Growth in Recent Years
Students examine growth of debt in Utah state government from 1991 to present, compare general obligation debt and revenue debt incurred by state, identify four primary methods used by governments to finance projects, and complete...
Curated OER
Cooperative Classroom Text Features Activities
Fifth graders examine text features and create a PowerPoint presentation. In this text features lesson plan, 5th graders go over Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures and text features before they choose one to include in a book and...
Curated OER
Fluid Thinking About Liquids and Solids
Second graders examine the physical characteristics of the different states of matter. For this chemistry lesson, 2nd graders observe how matter changes from one phase to another. They classify substances according to its type of matter.
Curated OER
Fish Farm: an open ended, student centered laboratory activity
Students are contacted by a fictitious company which raises tropical fish to do basic research for them so that they might keep their production costs down. They need to know the optimum salinity in which to hatch the brine shrimp that...
Curated OER
Marine & Aquatic Habitats Activities - Tidal Pools
Middle schoolers analyze the survival needs of different organisms and the conditions in a particular area that can affect these survival rates.
Curated OER
Blazing the Trail
Learning about proportions through measuring and mapping distances is the focus of this real-world math instructional activity that doubles as an activity. Mathematicians complete a course designed to measure and map locations in order...
Curated OER
Trait Variations for Survival
Young learners examine how different traits could give one organism an advantage over another. In groups, they view two different organisms in different environments. To end the lesson plan, they complete a Venn Diagram on the two...
Curated OER
Puzzles With Partners
Learners work together to complete puzzles. They practice their critical thinking skills and cooperative learning. They share their puzzles once they are complete.
Curated OER
Improving Literacy in the Biology Classroom via Genetic Disorders
Students read, write and reflect on Science articles, this approach will promote both literacy and critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills learned in the science classroom from these activities will impact students in many...
Curated OER
Spot the Hoax
Students examine websites and use critical thinking skills to determine which one is real and which one is a hoax. They then discuss their criteria for deciding which website was real and which one was not.
Curated OER
Investigation - I've Got It
Learners explore patterns by participating in a sorting activity. In this pattern identification lesson, students collaborate in a group and share their footwear in order to categorize each other's shoes based on similar characteristics....
Curated OER
Writing to Learn History: Annotations and Mini-Writes
Students use their critical thinking skills to write about historical events. In this historical perspectives lesson, students read documents about historical events and make annotations and marginal notes. Students then respond to...
Curated OER
What and Why (Cause and Effect)
Students examine cause and effect. In this cause and effect lesson, students discuss examples of cause and effect that their instructor shares with them. Students identify examples of cause and effect in their own lives and then complete...
Curated OER
Leaf Arrangement: Kinetic Cognitive Connections
Students use critical thinking to identify leaf patterns. In this problem solving activity, student compare leaf patterns by "acting out" the positions and structures they see. This is a kinetic lesson where concepts are attained through...