Eastconn
Women of the California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush was not just an opportunity for the male gold miners sifting for shiny nuggets. Small groups read accounts of the ways women took advantage of the influx of workers to run hotels, bake pies, and wading out into...
University of Wisconsin
Analyzing Presidential Campaign Propaganda
Campaign propaganda has evolved from 1952 through the presidential election of 2008. A social studies activity prompts class members to analyze the devices used in ads and political cartoons, noting strategies they believe would work to...
Colorado State University
What Is a "Model"?
Model the transfer of energy during a typical 24-hour period. Young scholars use a game-like approach to learning the patterns of heat transfer through the day and night. Groups of four exchange different tokens as the energy transfers...
Yummy Math
Which Sweet Heart Candy Is the Best Deal?
Get the most Valentine's candy for your money with a fun math activity! After examining three deals for buying candy hearts in bulk, young mathematicians decide which deal is the best and use bar graphs to demonstrate their claim. They...
California Education Partners
Seeing Eye to Eye
A performance task challenges scholars to read an informational text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins with an independent reading of Seeing Eye to Eye by Leslie Hall. A second reading follows with the completion of...
CK-12 Foundation
Values Written as Powers: Binary Numbers 1 to 8
A six-question interactive tasks scholars with adding binary numbers one through eight. A tool acts as a visual aid to showcase the patterns made when working with base—2, digits zero and one. Question types include fill in the blank,...
Curated OER
Traits Needed for Effective Group Process
Students brainstorm characteristics that are needed to succeed in various occupations. They observe the list and discuss the most-listed traits. The list is left up in the classroom for inspiration.
Curated OER
Beat the Clock
Tired of wasting time trying to get your class to split up into groups? Engage in an activity to help your charges manage time. Learners reflect on a time they were left out or rejected, and then practice forming groups of three within...
Curated OER
Cooperative Puzzles
Students discuss and demonstrate how to play and work cooperatively with other people and with a group. In small groups they role-play how to work cooperatively with each other, with the goal of completing their group's puzzle using...
Curated OER
Using Proportions to Solve Problems
Skittles and math? Pupils will work as a class to determine how many orange Skittles are in a large bag by using proportions. They will problem solve, estimate, and share their thinking. Then, they will each receive a small bag of...
Curated OER
Leadership
Young scholars list the qualities of a good leader as well as the various roles of group members. They discuss how good leaders help make the group more successful and identify people in their community who are good leaders. Students...
Curated OER
Developing Number Concepts
Children count and group a set of beans, sorting into groups of 10 and noting the number that remains. Students understand the concept of numbers greater than ten, and play a game, guessing numbers greater than 10 using hints given by...
Curated OER
Maggie's Adventures Grades 1-2
Students use Maggie's Learning Adventures online activity. They play a matching or memory game to become aware of homophones. Students recognize that there two ways to use many words. They practice with noun or verb identification by...
Curated OER
Listen Up: Antigone Rising
Upper graders listen to and watch a documentary about an all female group Antigone Rising. They discuss how females are portrayed in the rock world, the type of music they play, their song lyrics, and what they note in the documentary....
Curated OER
Origami Ducks: Geometry, Listening, and Following Directions
Make origami ducks with your class to reinforce geometry concepts and vocabulary; develop fine motor and visual translation skills; and enrich study of Japanese culture, the pond habitat, or migration. Create a whole group "worksheet"...
Curated OER
You've Got Chocolate on my Peanut Butter
Students solve design problems. In this art and design instructional activity, students create a picture by analyzing two others, and make a prototype of a building. The small group activities call for creativity and ingenuity as well as...
EngageNY
Synthesizing Research: How Colonists Were Interdependent
Following the formative assessment of this unit, young scholars present the information they gathered on their specific colonial trade to the rest of the class. Working in groups, learners create posters describing the particular job...
EngageNY
Researching and Note-Taking: Becoming an Expert on a Colonial Trade
Fourth graders work in small groups to become experts on different colonial trades in the eighth instructional activity of this unit. Working toward the long-term goal of writing a piece of historical fiction, young scholars read...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Colonial Craftspeople
In the first lesson plan of this unit on colonial trade, fourth graders gain background knowledge of different jobs performed by early colonists. The class begins with a slide show presentation that includes a variety of great...
EngageNY
Reading and Taking Notes on Colonial Trades
In the tenth instructional activity of this unit, young scholars learn to categorize information as they continue researching their colonial trade. During guided practice, the teacher models how to read informational text slowly while...
EngageNY
Synthesizing Information: Writing an Apprentice Wanted Ad
Fourth graders view examples of help-wanted ads as they plan and create their own writing in the fourteenth instructional activity of this unit on colonial trade. The engagement of the class is captured when the teacher shares an actual...
EngageNY
Developing Reading Fluency: Criteria for Reading Aloud
Third graders develop their reading superpowers in a lesson plan on fluency. After first listening to an audio recording or teacher read aloud, the class works together identifying criteria for fluent reading, focusing on phrasing, rate,...
EngageNY
On-Demand Assessment: Writing of an Information Paragraph About How a Bullfrog Survives
Having read and discussed Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, third graders demonstrate their bullfrog expertise by writing informational paragraphs. Building on the note-taking and paragraph planning from the previous lesson plan, learners...
EngageNY
Summarizing and Synthesizing: Planning for Writing an Apprentice Wanted Ad
In instructional activity 13 of this unit on colonial trade, young researchers learn about apprentices as they prepare to write help-wanted ads for the specific trade they have been researching. To begin, the class listens closely as the...