Curated OER
Light Stick Chemistry
In groups of three with the lights off and the shades drawn, investigators place inactivated light sticks, in three beakers: one filled with ice water, another with lukewarm water, and the other with room temperature water. They wait...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Preparing for Project BudBurst
Plants take cues from the environment—change in daylight hours and temperature—to complete their seasonal life cycles. Lesson four in the series of six has classes collect phenology data on plants. After taking initial observations,...
Curated OER
Click it! See it! Say it!
Scholars take digital photographs of a phonic cluster. Each child will use their digital pictures in a PowerPoint slide with text showing the sound and the word that contains that sound. Then they will take a picture of the object they...
Curated OER
Breaking the Chains, Rising Out of Circumstances
Discuss the history of slavery by analyzing historic photography depicting slavery. Learners write fictional stories based on these photographs. This is a creative and motivating way to launch a discussion of these topics.
Curated OER
The Impact of an Image
Participate in National Photo Month by creating newspapers with an emphasis on photography.
Curated OER
My Alphabetical Autobiography
Design a pictorial autobiography using the letters of the alphabet. For each letter, writers select visual images that represent life events and interests. Younger writers add words or sentences of explanation while older writers narrate...
Curated OER
Creative Writing - Research and Letters
Here's a fresh approach that combines research, business and personal letter writing, and creative story telling. Student groups research different decades in the life of a famous Japanese astronomer. They then craft a decade fact sheet,...
Curated OER
Colonial Trades and Apprenticeships
Students examine and analyze culturally significant objects from colonial Boston. They construct a story around the life and work of Nathaniel Hurd from a list of keywords excerpted from a passage about Nathaniel Hurd. In addition, they...
Curated OER
That's The Way the Cookie Crumbles
Third graders work with money values and making purchases. In this money lesson, 3rd graders listen to Donna Guthrie's book, Real World Math: Money and Other Numbers In Your Life. They make money cookies either with a recipe or with...
Curated OER
Podcasting Parabolas
Students explore parabolas. In this algebra and technology lesson, students construct the equation of a specific parabola, then take digital photos of real-life representations of these parabolas. Students create a podcast with a...
Tennessee State Library & Archives
Vietnam War
A picture can speak 1000 words. Scholars research the Vietnam War through the lens of a camera. Examining photos from the collection of Christopher D. Ammons allows open interpretation of life during one of America's darkest conflicts....
Curated OER
Wise Spenders and Savvy Savers
Second graders investigate the business community in their own town. They design interview questions before interviewing business people. They look at what type of good and services are offered in their area. They design a multimedia...
Curated OER
Walking in Their Shoes
Students explore the challenges of those who have "learning disabilities." They develop a storyboard and create a video which depicts learning disabled students coping with life. Special effects are added to the video scenes, as well as...
Curated OER
The Greatest Generation: Capturing Their Stories with Digital Images
Students interview a family member of a different generation. After brainstorming story topic ideas, they choose a topic about which to write focused interview questions. Using their notes from the interviews, students write and essay...
Curated OER
The Photographs of Dorothea Lange
Students research social-documentary photography using Dorothea Lange’s documentary projects. In this photography analysis instructional activity, students analyze examples of photographs by Dorothea Lange and research one or more of...
Curated OER
In the Field with Salamanders
Students observe salamanders, take pictures of them, and classify them into an online format. In this animal classification instructional activity, students use collection materials and digital camera to photograph and observe...
Curated OER
Rise of the Modern City
Pupils explore industrial design and photography with an emphasis on the history of Paris. In this modern art lesson, students analyze and discuss the images of modern city life in Paris and the Eiffel Tower. Pupils participate in a...
Curated OER
Through the Viewfinder: Learning to Think Like a Professional News Photographer
Students investigate the skills for photo composition to become quality photojournalists. For this photojournalism lesson, students cut out photographs from magazines and decide on the best ones, as well as determine what makes them...
Curated OER
Charles R. Savage Lesson Plan Ideas
Students explore works by English photographer Charles R. Savage. In this visual arts instructional activity, students investigate photography by Savage as they discuss the use of perspective, space, color, and texture.
Curated OER
Home Sweet Home
Students complete activities with the books Color Me Dark, The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, and The Great Migration North. In this literature/History lesson, student read the story and discuss the plot. They analyze photographs taken...
Curated OER
Encouraging Writing Through Combined Photos
Young scholars practice writing skills through using photography to help create a writing prompt. They investigate how images can be used to create new ones that related to each other. This is similar to making a collage except now the...
Curated OER
Dorothea Lange
Students explain that a person's experiences influence their life, write a time line of their life, and analyze Dorothea's photographs and list descriptive words.
Curated OER
Activity 3: Using Photo Images to Explore Life on the Ocean Floor
Students work in groups with copies of the three photo images provided with the instructional activity. They make observations about mussels and clams. Students discuss reasons scientists use a representative sample of a population...
Curated OER
Using Photography To Enhance A Story
Students read text and study examples of good usable photography for newspapers. They see how to crop photos for maximum effect, and to better tell the story. They tell a sports story by choosing the best and fewer photos that have the...