Teach Engineering
How Big? Necessary Area and Volume for Shelter
Teams must determine the size of cavern needed to house the citizens of Alabraska to protect them from the asteroid impact. Using scaling properties, teams first determining the number of people that could sleep in a classroom and then...
Curated OER
Partial Quotient
Learners study what occurs in the division process, rather than just following prescribed steps. They expand number sense to include integers and perform operations with whole numbers, simple fractions, and decimals. They write a word...
Curated OER
Representing Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
In this fractions, decimals, and percents lessons, students explore various methods of representing fractions. They demonstrate situations that represent rational numbers. Students create a foldable exploring fractions, decimals and...
Curated OER
Dewey Decimal Game
Engage all the upper elementary classes in your school in a game to learn Dewey Decimal Classification. On 5 or 6 consecutive visits to the library, teams from each class learn how the system works, locate books in each category, and...
Curated OER
Making Simple Conversions
Young scholars explore the concept of measurement as it relates to equivalencies. They complete simple conversions using visual models of measurement units, and record their answers in a two-column table.
Curated OER
Sarah, Plain and Tall - Intro to Literature Circle jobs
Students read a book with each student having a specific job for the class. In this literature lesson, students read Sarah, Plain and Tall over 10 days, dividing up responsibilities for each student to make sure everyone understands the...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Slaves and Indentured Servants
In theory, at least, indentured servitude and slavery were two different practices in the American colonies. Class groups conduct a close reading of two primary source documents, one written by a slave and one by an indentured servant,...
Collaborative Learning Project
Four in a Row Addition and Subtraction
Scroll down to find four fun addition and subtraction partner game boards, complete with endless opportunities for practice with numbers 0-38. Kids choose numbers from a number box and, depending on the game, either find the sum or the...
Computer Science Unplugged
Twenty Guesses—Information Theory
How do we determine how much information to include and what can be left out? By playing a game of 20 questions, the class generates the best strategies for finding a number. They then move on to guessing the next letter in a short...
Computer Science Unplugged
Beat the Clock—Sorting Networks
Can multiple computers sort a list faster than one? Using a network drawn with chalk outside, groups move through the decision network to sort numbers. A series of extension questions come with the lesson and can be used in the same...
Mr. Mansour
Mouse and the Motorcycle: Chapter 1-3
Get the facts straight with a reading quiz on the first three chapters of Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle. The questions address details from the plot and provides a writing prompt to predict what will happen next in the book.
Curated OER
Silent Movies: A Year 7 Scheme of Work
Even an outline can give you enough information to execute an awsome project. The tasks for each of the seven weeks of this project are defined, as well as the objective and specific content facilitated through the project. Learners will...
Curated OER
Accordion Fold Book
You can use these basic instructions to create a book using the accordion fold. This project can be used alongside nearly any other lesson. Have kids fold a book to create a science journal, chapter-by-chapter book summary, to house a...
Curated OER
Classroom Aquaponics: Exploring Nitrogen Cycling in a Closed System
Students investigate nutrient cycling in a simplified desktop ecosystem involving aquarium and hydro-ponically grown plants. They set up an aquarium with 10 gallons of water at least a week before the lab is planned and place...
Curated OER
The Outsiders
Are you working on an Outsiders unit? Use this list of activities to deepen your middle schoolers' understanding of the novel. After reading S.E. Hinton's novel, young readers work on three required activities, including participating in...
Teach Engineering
Flow Rates of Faucets and Rivers
Go with the flow and use a helpful resource. A set of two activities has learners investigate flow rates. They first determine the flow rate of a faucet by measuring how long it takes to fill a bucket. Using the results, they make a...
Curated OER
From Graphic Organizer to Composition - Grade Six
How does one use a graphic organizer to plan writing? Introduce your writers to different types of graphic organizers by dividing the class into groups and assigning each group a particular organizer. Then, as they research chocolate...
Curated OER
Comic Life With Kenzuke's Kingdom
Kenzuke's Kingdom is a wonderful adventure about a boy sailing around the world, it's also the focus of this lesson. Students read the novel as a class then use the Comic Life website to create a two-page comic based on the story. This...
Take the challenge
Connecting with Natural/Open Spaces
Get your class outside, away from the television, and maybe even learning something about nature while they're at it. Individuals will chose an open, natural space to spend time in for several days. Each day they will complete a page in...
Chicago Children's Museum
Simple Machines: Force and Motion
Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion, and...
NASA
Discovering Some of Your “Yardsticks” Are Actually “Meter-sticks”
The Milky Way gets great reviews on Trip Advisor — 100 million stars. The activity allows scholars to rethink their assumptions and prior knowledge. Pupils observe a set of two lights at equal distance and brightness, but they believe...
Columbus City Schools
Photosynthesis and Respiration
Thirty percent of the world's oxygen is produced by rainforests found throughout the world. Seventh grade learners explore the processes of photosynthesis and respiration through 10 days of labs, manipulatives, and discussions. They...
Teach Engineering
Bubbles and Biosensors
Bubbles aren't just for children. In the third installment of a seven-part series, teenagers use bubble solution to create bubbles and observe patterns of refraction on the bubble surfaces. Application of this concept to thin films in...
University of Colorado
Are All Asteroids' Surfaces the Same Age?
Did you know scientists can tell the age of an asteroid by looking closely at its craters? This final instructional activity of a six-part series focuses on two asteroids, Gaspra and Ida, in order to demonstrate the concept of dating...