Oregon Education Professional Development Commission
The First Days
Designed for first-year teachers, this 116-page packet has it all. Questions you should ask administrators and fellow teachers, a checklist of things to do before school starts, a school-year calendar to record special school events and...
Scientific American
Life-Sized Drawing
Ocean explorers or mathematicians research the wreck of the CSS H.L. Hunley. They investigate the actual dimensions of the Hunley using math and measuring skills. Afterward, they sketch a large scale drawing of the submarine outdoors on...
Curated OER
Celebrating Groundhog Day with your Students
Celebrating Groundhog Day in your classroom is a fun-filled way to explore science, art, and literature.
Curated OER
Build a Model Submarine
Learners form lab groups and work together to construct a submarine out of a soda bottle. Next, they observe its action in a tub of water as the inner pressure is changed. It is an engaging experiment. However, links to outside resources...
Education World
Every Day Edit - Susan B. Anthony
In this everyday editing instructional activity, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about Susan B. Anthony. The errors range from punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and spelling.
Desert Discovery
Saguaro Seasons
Elementary schoolers take a look at how the saguaro cactus adapts to the four seasons of the year. This amazing plant has distinct flowering and fruiting cycles within the summer season, and other cycles during the other seasons. Your...
Curated OER
A Lesson To Accompany "The First Bank of the United States: A Chapter in the History of Central Banking"
Here is an interesting topic. Learners examine the economics that led to the founding of the First Bank of America. They participate in a reader's theater experience depicting the debate between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson...
Curated OER
1704 Attack on Deerfield
Class groups examine conflicting primary and secondary sources describing the 1704 attack on the fort at Deerfield by French and Native Americans and analyze the implications of discrepancies.
University of Florida
The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip
Energize a shared reading of the Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip with this collection of supplemental materials. Whether your looking for discussion questions, reading comprehension worksheets, or writing prompts, this...
Curated OER
Robbing the 'Hood?
Students investigate historical figures and how they play a role in tourism by reading and discussing the article "When Robin Hood Supped, Was it Yorkshire Pudding?" In groups, students investigate issues related in the article in...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing: Using Exact Words
Review the narrative writing process with your emerging story writers. They read a sample narrative and identify five vague verbs that could be replaced with a more exact, exciting verb. Then they write a personal narrative making sure...
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Musical Families
Planning a trip to the symphony? Prepare first-time attendees for the experience with overheads that identify the roles played by the concertmaster, conductor, musicians, and even the audience. The musical families are introduced and...
Curated OER
Food, Glorious Food?
How are the reactions between American and European consumers different when it comes to genetically modified foods? Use the New York Times article "Consumers in Europe Resist Gene-Altered Foods" to inform your middle schoolers about the...
Curated OER
Does Mother Nature Know Best?
Investigate herbal medicine in the science or health classroom with this lesson from the New York Times. After a discussion about class members beliefs about and experiences with herbal medicines, pupils read an article that might impact...
Curated OER
The Revolutions of 1848
1848 was a hot year for Europe, which endured political tumult and upheaval after years of tension buildup. This presentation details the circumstances surrounding revolutions in France, Austria-Hungary, Romania, Italy, Prussia, and...
Curated OER
Library Lovers Month
Share your love of libraries with students; it's sure to speak volumes.
Curated OER
Easy Access: Creating Annotated Versions of News Articles
How can news coverage be made more accessible for teens? Model for your class how to use technology to annotate news stories containing unfamiliar references that hinder their interest in and understanding of a news story. Use the...
Curated OER
Connectives
Using connectives and conjunctions is an easy way to vary sentence structure. Third graders review the given connectives, then use them to combine two simple sentences. The second section allows learners to use more words and phrases as...
Curated OER
Question words, question marks
Practice the five W's and question marks with a fun grammar worksheet. After copying the words who, what, where, when, why, and how, kindergartners fill the words into various questions. For extra practice, have kids come up with their...
Earth Day Network
Filtering Water
See the water filtration system up close with a fun science experiment. Young scientists work for several class periods to design a water filter using household objects, and then decide which filter material would be most effective in...
Curated OER
Point- vs. Non-point Pollution
Students differentiate between point and non-point pollution and determine how the different types of pollution are harmful to aquatic ecosystems. They complete a series of tests on a sample of "polluted" water and a sample of "pure" water.
Curated OER
Can You Find It?
Plan a Parts of a Book scavenger hunt. Begin by giving your young adventurers a book, and asking them to find the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents. After a discussion of the purpose of each of these items, class members...
Curated OER
Pretending with Prefixes
The book Fortunately provides an excellent opportunity to discuss prefixes and suffixes as they appear in context. The class goes over a list of prefixes and suffixes with the teacher. They then write two sentences; the first including a...
Curated OER
Thumbs Up For Movie Reviews
If your class loves movies, this lesson is sure to interest them. After discussing the purpose and structure of movie reviews, young writers compose a movie review and discuss why people may read a review before they go see a film. The...