Curated OER
Human Inheritance
Students analyze genetic characteristics in a given family tree through the F2 generation. Students apply prior knowledge from Gregor Mendel's study with pea plants and his Laws of Heredity to answer questions.
Curated OER
Health/Wellness
Students role-play the role of an employee of the Center for Disease Control. In groups, they identify and discuss the functions of the major body systems and analyze their family tree. They watch a video about plagues and calculate...
Curated OER
The Way Things Work
Students explore how things are designed, built and function. Students interpret the film The Swiss Family Robinson. Students discuss and analyze medieval technology and the amazing craftsmen and stoneworkers it took to build such...
Curated OER
Migration from the Dust
Students trace their own family's migrations and history. They listen to the story, 'Blue ow.' They design a plate which is shared at an open house.
Curated OER
Members Only
Students discuss the advantages and disadvantages of private communities and the lives led by their residents. They design ideal planned communities for people featured in other Class Matters articles.
Curated OER
Bat Ecology
Young scholars, through hands on games and activities, discover how bats live and how bats benefit ecosystems. They play a game designed to show them how echolocation works and another to show how mother bats locate their young through...
Curated OER
Abuela's Weave Teacher's Guide
Students read and response to the book, Abuela's Weave. In this African-American literature activity, students discuss pre-reading questions, that focus on family traditions and make predictions about the text. Students read the text and...
Curated OER
What Makes a House a House
Learners examine the ways in which the environment influences the house design. They describe how the physical environment, weather and local materials influence the type of house a family builds. They draw a house according to a given...
Curated OER
Writing Strategies: A Writer's Notebook
In this writing worksheet, students read 12 strategies for keeping a writer's notebook. Worksheet is designed to be signed by student and parent when completed.
Curated OER
Types of Things
Students explore the differences between man-made and natural objects. In this lesson designed to compare properties of objects, students differentiate between natural and man-made objects and complete an activity designed to show what...
Curated OER
Bonus Activity: Build a House
Students complete a building activity using their knowledge of geometrical shapes, tools, and how to follow a plan from previous lessons in this unit. In this following directions lesson, students study the basic building process as it...
Curated OER
The American Rainbow
Third graders are introduced to the concept of ancestry. Using their own family, they gather information related to the family roots. In groups, they locate the countries on a map and discuss the concept of migration. They identify...
Curated OER
Origami Cubes
Fourth graders use an origami design to make a set of cubes. Individually, they identify the characteristics of different quadrilaterals as they are folding the paper into cubes. To end the lesson, they make a new design with new...
Curated OER
Be the Change You Wish to See
Students review the lessons from the whole unit before devising a plan of action for a volunteer effort. They work in teams using a worksheet to determine a social cause that they develop an effective idea to promote. They design an...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Survival of the Fittest - Variations in the Clam Species Clamys sweetus
It's not often that you come across a clever laboratory activity that is both imaginative and comprehensive! Using M&M's and Reese's peanut butter candies to represent two different clam species, young biologists test for "relative...
American Museum of Natural History
Pterosaurs: The Card Game
Piecing together the past is a challenging endeavor. Learners get a taste of that challenge as they play a game that incorporates several components such as trophic levels, geological time periods, and catastrophic events. Pairs work to...
Curated OER
Dichotomous Key
Students draw comparisons between organisms. They classify organisms. Students are introduced to dichotomous keys and how to create and use a dichotomous key to identify a variety of objects. They begin by defining classification, and...
Curated OER
Dinner in a Woodland
After reading a short paragraph about what makes up a woodland habitat, fifth graders attempt to identify the primary consumers, secondary consumers, and third order consumers in two separate food chain scenarios. They also name a hawk's...
Curated OER
Seeds in Fall...Collect Them All!
Classify seeds by attributes such as size, shape and color! Learners classify seeds using a dichotomous key. They identify human behaviors that have a positive impact on preserving seed and plant biodiversity.
Curated OER
Yellow Bird and Me
Upper elementary artists create works which demonstrate an understanding of the many elements of theater and the visual arts. This four-day plan combines many wonderful aspects of visual, musical, and theatrical arts into one very...
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: The Olympics
The mini Reading Adventure Pack takes a close look at the Olympics. After reading a fiction and nonfiction story, scholars research facts about the host country or a country of their choice participating in the games. The research...
Curated OER
Greek Mythology -- Part I
Students use the internet to gather information on Greek Mythology. They create a timeline showing the history of mythology and explain who the Titans and Olympians were. They research one god in detail.
Curated OER
Vocab-u-lous! Build a Fabulous Vocab
In this vocabulary instructional activity, students decipher the correct choice of word to complete the sentence. All words begin with the letter "B."
Curated OER
Top 10 Summer Science Lesson Plans
Make this summer an exciting learning experience for your students with these engaging science activities!