K-State Research and Extensions
The Crusty Earth
Geology rocks — literally! A geology chapter offers eleven activities at four different levels. Scholars enjoy completing hands-on experiments before applying critical thinking skills following a share, process, generalize, apply,...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Nuts! Calculating Thermal Efficiency
Oh nuts! Do macadamias or almonds produce more thermal energy? Energy enthusiasts find out with this experiment. The objective is to demonstrate to your class how the chemical energy contained in foods can be converted into useable...
Curated OER
Watershed Works: Unit 2
The second of a three-unit lesson plan, this focuses on how human-made structures affect watersheds. Using watershed models that were built during the first unit, junior geologists now place buildings, dams, or levees into the models and...
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Watershed Works: Unit 1
By constructing a watershed model and identifying watershed features in it, they discover how water erosion changes the landscape. As with most watershed modeling activities, this one is costly in terms of time and materials. It is,...
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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...
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Fractions: A Conceptual Approach
If you are teaching fractions to elementary learners this year, this Singapore Math presentation is essential to your curriculum. It addresses several basic fractions concepts in conceptual terms and figures, making each idea accessible...
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Sponge-Painted Ocean Mural
I love big mural projects. They bring a sense of ownership to the classroom, look great for parents, and can be a great way to complete a unit. Here are the steps and suggestions needed to create an ocean mural for your class. Learners...
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Mexican Metal Tooling
Metal work can be a wonderful way to expose learners to Mexican folk art. This resource provides all the necessary steps for creating Mexican metal tooling with your art class. Images, web links, recommended books and products make...
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Having Fun with Pi
Incorporate some of these great activities for Pi Day in your classroom
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Looking at Circumference
Students understand where the number for pi comes from. They understand and use the formula for circumference. Students measure the circles given out and the diameters of those circles and record the results on their worksheet.
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Come Tool Along With Me
Students create metallic Bas-relief scultures using basic art supplies and the technique of "tooling" in this Art lesson with croos-curricular connections in Social Studies and Math. A scoring rubric is included for assessment and...
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Fourth Grade Science
In this science instructional activity, 4th graders answer multiple choice questions about natural objects, rainfall, the solar system, and more. Students complete 25 questions.
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Comparing Fractions with Objects and Pictures
Scholars will compare fractions using objects and pictures. They view pre-made pictures and concrete objects of fractions. Then use small white boards to draw pictorial representations of fractions.
Perkins School for the Blind
Calendar Bingo
While this activity was designed for young scholars with special needs, it could be used with any group learning about the calendar or days of the week. Old calendar pages become the bingo board, and numbers 1 through 31 become the...
Helping Dyslexia
Vowel Sound Posters
Adorn your walls with these posters to support your pupils as they learn various vowel sounds and digraphs. Each poster includes a focus sound (the ai digraph, for example), a large image paired with a word that demonstrates that sound,...
Salt River Project
How Do We Clean Polluted Water?
How do we clean up oil spills and other pollutants in the water? Explore water treatment strategies with a set of environmental science experiments. Groups remove oil from water, work with wastewater treatment, and perform a water...
NOAA
Satellite Communications
How do satellites communicate? What types of satellites orbit Earth? Discover and mimic the way satellites communicate between two points in a hands-on activity that has pupils using mirrors, flashlights, and marbles.
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Radial Design Mandala
Learners design original radial art designs.In this radial design instructional activity, students use compasses and a nature inspired idea to create radial art. Learners understand the use of symmetry, balance and design shapes in...
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Building Friendships
Students explore that sometimes we are surprised when we spend time with someone we previously thought we would not like and find this person to be very likeable and they may become a great friend. They explore how a friendship can...
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Fraction Spelling
An interesting take on spelling practice is included here! Emerging spellers take their weekly spelling list and create a three-column chart. In the first column, they write the word itself. In the second column, they write how many...
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Statistics of Mars
Students explore the concept of central tendencies. In this central tendencies lesson, students sort M&M's or Skittles based on color. Students graph their results. Students find the mean, median, and mode of their data.
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Radial Balance Geometric Shapes
Fifth graders create a radially balanced design using geometric shapes which exhibits their prior knowledge of symmetry. They use a kaleidoscope image to develop a design using markers or colored pencils.
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How Do You Get to School?
Third graders talk about all the various ways they get to school. They make a list of all the bus numbers that the students use. They also list all the other methods of transportation used and solidify a hypothesis.