Curated OER
Celebrating Earth Day
Students explore environmental safety by planting seeds outside their classroom. In this Earth Day instructional activity, students identify the different ways to recycle and conserve resources on Earth while facilitating recycling bins...
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Word Purpose
Third graders chunk text while reading it. In this language arts lesson, 3rd graders determine the author's purpose for calling certain things the names they are called like spuds for potatoes. Students discuss how words affect the...
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Summer Safety Activity: Playing with Environmental Print
Students look at the words, symbols, and signs that surround them. In this early childhood lesson plan, students use observational skills as they note the abundance of letters and signs in their world, then apply this awareness to block...
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Sustainable Southern Belize: Coral Health Lesson Plan
Fifth graders investigate coral reefs and the dangers they face by labeling and drawing. In this oceanography lesson, 5th graders view a PowerPoint presentation of photographs of coral reefs in Belize. Students investigate...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Lesson (Color Words) Using Various Books by Eric Carle and Internet Sites
Students investigate color words. In this vocabulary, high frequency words, and technology lesson, students visit various websites to practice reading color words. Students listen to Eric Carle books and observe the illustrations,...
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Ocean Life Lesson Plans
Students learn about life in the ocean with lessons that connect science, art, and environmental topics.
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Speaking for the Trees
Young scholars present a play based on The Lorax.In this environmental issues lesson plan, students read and discuss literature and complete activities pertaining to environmental stewardship.
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Earth Day Lesson
Learners analyze Earth science by answering environmental study questions. In this Earth Day lesson, students read the book The Lorax and identify the themes within it. Learners define several recycling vocabulary terms and create an...
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T-shirts for Change
Can school children change the world? With a social or environmental issue in mind, 5th graders use what they know about advertising media to make t-shirts that have something to say. They research the issue they'd like to focus on,...
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Save the Lofty Trees
Save the Lofty Trees, by Leslie Mills, provides the text for a study of the roles of animals and humans in the forest. Richly detailed, the plan offers two approaches to the play: as a scenario for children to imagine what actions would...
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Global Warming: Writing and Editing a Research Report
Bring environmental issues into your classroom! Practice writing and peer editing research reports on global warming and the greenhouse effect. Middle schoolers can work on their research skills, their writing skills, and how to...
Dream of a Nation
Writing Interdisciplinary Essay
The Grapes of Wrath. The Jungle. Native Son. The Things They Carried. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. To address a current social, political, economic, or environmental issue, class groups pair the reading of a...
Dream of a Nation
Solution Debate
Class members choose a current social, political, environmental, or economic problem presented in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, research this problem and a variety of suggested solutions, before...
Dream of a Nation
Congressional Debate
Should junk food be banned in schools? Should the US open its borders to all immigrants? Should the US impose term limits for the House of Representatives and for the Senate? Using Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas...
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Jellybeans Up Your Nose
Jellybeans Up Your Nose, by Jeff Moss, prompts a discussion of responsible and irresponsible behaviors. After reading and discussing the poem, groups of fifth graders examine a Dr. Seuss-ism, from Geisel’s Seuss-isms, and report back to...
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Poetry Through Digital Storytelling
Bring digital storytelling to your language arts class! To begin, learners select their own topic, such as a poem that reflects a life experience they had or a historical figure who interests them. Then they work to create a storyboard...
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Arkansas and NAFTA
Build literacy through social studies and reading strategies. This lesson focuses on using pre-reading, vocabulary building, and comprehension questions to boost literacy while educating learners on international trade, NAFTA, and...
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Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse: Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes has composed a series of books in which Lilly the mouse is a main character. Third graders use illustrations and key details as they compare and contrast the books, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and another...
Japan Society
Nature and the Environment in Postwar Japan
Japan has a complex relationship with the environment. Explore this relationship with your class through this resource. Included are thought questions, several activity ideas that range from writing, to discussion, to research, and an...
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Writing and Autobiography
Are you working on an autobiographical or narrative writing unit? Bring this lesson to your class, as it takes young writers through the process of drafting and sequencing an autobiography. After observing and demonstrating steps of the...
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Learn-to-Read Pumpkin Patch
Students practice identifying and pronouncing the short letter "u" sound. In this phonetic awareness instructional activity, students access the Starfall.com website and follow the directions on the screen to reinforce the short "u"...
National Library of Medicine
Your Environment, Your Health: Water Quality
How important is water quality where you live? The first module in a six-unit series includes four lessons on water quality. By applying the concept directly to the lives of pupils, they engage in meaningful learning. They read about...
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Wild Dog Urine
Students investigate biology by researching wild animals. In this animal extinction lesson plan, students research African wild dogs and discuss the impact of the environment on their survival. Students read and analyze an article titled...
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Visual Messages: Creating a Photomontage
Students create a photomontage. For this lesson on photography as a means of conveying emotion, students use images gathered from the Internet to create a photomontage comparing how water is used in Africa and the U.S.