Special Olympics
A World of Difference
Kids engage in a series of activities that ask them to consider differences and similarities in characteristics, both visible and invisible. With this new understanding, the class investigates the Special Olympics program and develops...
Curated OER
Understanding Different Views on Death
A thought-provoking activity presents how different cultures view death. Upper elementary through high school pupils engage in a series of activities that will leave them with a new understanding of how death is dealt with globally....
Curated OER
Character Education: Honesty
Middle schoolers define what honesty means. They will discuss omission as a form of telling lies. Furthermore, they will compare and contrast to other forms of lying. In the end, they give examples of different types of lies and evaluate...
Curated OER
Sound/Story
Young scholars combine creativity with the rigor of careful editing by adding music to their story. It forces them to focus on how they communicate the meaning of their story to the listener.
Curated OER
Noisy Nora, Studious Students: Story Elements
Alliterative adjective nicknames generate stories inspired by Rosemary Wells' book Noisy Nora (also a thematic complement to any class with children who make a ruckus to get attention). Class members explore basic story elements --...
Northeast Foundation for Children, Inc.
Classroom Setup: Grade 3
There's a lot of thought that goes into setting up safe and supportive classroom environments. From establishing a whole group meeting area and arranging desks, to organizing classroom supplies and creating bulletin board displays, this...
Common Sense Media
Private Today, Public Tomorrow
What responsibility do we have to protect the privacy and safety of others when posting information about them online? This is an essential instructional activity for every learner today experiencing their social and professional worlds...
Curated OER
Cinderella
Explore positive and negative character traits and universal themes in the story of Cinderella with primary learners. Story elements are reviewed and discussion questions are listed. Learners practice retelling the story and begin a...
Curated OER
Learning About the Great Inventor: Thomas Edison Lesson Plans
Thomas Edison facts can inspire students to create their own inventions, and persevere despite adversity.
Curated OER
Acting Out Verbs
Learners act out verbs. In this verbs instructional activity, students identify and highlight the action words in a poem. As a class, the learners act out the verbs, reinforcing the idea that verbs are action words.
Curated OER
Aesop's Fables
Regale your class with renditions of Aesop's fables from the engaging, and beautifully illustrated book by Jerry Pinkney. Guide discussion to practice prediction, compare and contrast various stories, explore the connections between the...
Curated OER
Are You an Optimist or a Pessimist?
Listening is a skill. This lesson will provide your pupils with clear guidelines for what to do when someone else is speaking. Whether you ask them to note key words in a talk, to prepare two questions about the presentation, or to note...
Curated OER
Star Spangled Banner: For Orchestra
Middle schoolers practice playing "The Star Spangled Banner" while focusing on phrasing. They work with the instructor to mark the lyrics and music, then play the song using the phrasing indicated. Several cross-curricular extension...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Surprise!: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 2)
Surprise! is the theme of this series of ESL lessons. Cover an array of topics such as where we live, different times of day, shapes, the city and the country, what we do for fun, jobs, and games, all while practicing how to express...
Curated OER
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse: Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes has composed a series of books in which Lilly the mouse is a main character. Third graders use illustrations and key details as they compare and contrast the books, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and another story staring the...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship (Hatkoff & Kahumbu)
The heartfelt true story of Owen the hippopotamus and Mzee the 133-year-old tortoise will have budding readers engaged as they practice vocabulary in the context of Isabella Hatkoff's nonfiction story. Although you could include more,...
Education Center
What a Team!
Use a worksheet about Officer Buckle and Gloria to show learners how listeners feel about each character. Though the resource itself only includes a summary of the story, the worksheet would be a good addition to a lesson about the...
Rainforest Alliance
Sounds of the Rainforest
Do you hear what I hear? Encourage scholars to use their listening skills and participate in a series of activities that demonstrate how the sense of hearing is crucial to the human and animal world. Activities guide learners on nature...
Curated OER
Teaching Strategies For Main Idea Lessons
Main Idea Lesson Plans can help teachers make identifying the main idea of a passage a breeze.
Curated OER
Philanthropic Behavior
Youngsters create class rules by determining the environment they would like to have in their classroom. They come to a consensus about how to have a safe, fair, fun learning environment by discussing the rules in the Karla Kustin poem,...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
We Can Work It Out: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 7)
Listen, look, speak, and move are the routine steps of the English language development lessons found in a We Can Work It Out themed unit. Language proficiency is reinforced through picture cards, poems, and grand discussions about...
Curated OER
Map It Out
Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...
Scholastic
Marijuana Facts
Can marijuana really hurt you? Three medical facts and three discussion questions prompt teenagers to consider the ramifications of using marijuana recreationally.
Federal Trade Commission
Ad Awareness
Movie theaters, shopping malls, television, the Internet ... no matter where people go, they are inundated with advertisements. Scholars discuss the topic of ad awareness using the first of four Admongo lessons about advertising. Pupils...