Curated OER
Market Day
Students visit their local grocery store and break into groups. Each group performs a different task while taking notes, and then returns back to the classroom to write about what they've witnessed.
Curated OER
Into the Pond
Seventh graders use a pond to explore macroinvertebrates and other organisms. They use a dichotomous key to classify the organisms and maintain a journal recording their findings.
Curated OER
Careers
Students discuss job choices, careers, and how they can affect lifestyles. They research a job they are interested in and write answers to questions about that job. They prepare a poster which includes information about the career they...
Curated OER
Yes, We Can!
Students examine a situation of striking workers in Los Angeles. They answer questions related to the story. They also interview people involved if time allows.
Other
Wisewire: Grade 3 Playlist: Identifying Real Life Connections Between Words
Often, without even realizing it, readers are connecting the words they read to their everyday lives. The human brain is moving so fast that even while reading, behind the scenes, readers are making connections to their real lives and to...
Hopelink
Hopelink: Reading Lesson Idea: Real Life Reading Materials
The purpose of this reading instructional activity is to offer a reading and comprehension instructional activity based on real-life reading materials. This gives students the opportunity to gain reading comprehension skills from...
Free Reading
Free Reading: Vocabulary Activities Find Activities
A fantastic reading skills site emphasizing vocabulary activities. This site contains 54 individual vocabulary activities to click on, and provides teaching tips as well. It is still in the building phase, and more activities, tips, and...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Math in Daily Life
Read about what math has to do with cooking, chances of winning a game, even decorating your home. Teachers may want to peruse this site for ideas about real world applications in their lesson planning.
Read Works
Read Works: A Real Life Bat Man
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage describes the responsibilities of a chiroptologist, a person who studies bats for a living. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and...
Other
Daily Esl: Conversation Starters for English Students
Listen and read along with several real-life scenarios to help expand understanding and conversational language. Listening activities are followed by a variety of quizzes, discussion questions, and role-play activities.
Other
Life Long Earning: Communication Skills
Brief definitions of communication skills terms along with examples of how a student might combine these skills into projects and real-world applications.
Read Works
Read Works: Lost and Found
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about British explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett, a real-life Indiana Jones. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Other
Introduce Vocabulary: My School's a Zoo
A unique and flexible way to introduce vocabulary. The instructor introduces three new words to the class, then as the book My School's a Zoo by Stu Smith, is read, the students raise their hands when they hear the new words. The...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Text to Self and Text to World Connections
Students will further their reading comprehension by associating real-life events with the events of a story.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement:portrait of a Hero
Discussing real life heroes and heroines and viewing their pictures will help students learn about reading and writing biographies. A writing rubric assessment is included in this series of activities designed to teach about heroes and...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Vocabulary Instruction Lesson Plan
This lesson plan uses a virtual trip to the moon to teach vocabulary practice. Included in the lesson plan is an overview, practice, objectives, resources, preparation, and more.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Nctm: Figure This: Upside Down (Pdf)
What lowercase letters read the same both upside down and right side up? If you have the answer, then you can handle this geometric symmetry math challenge. A one-page activity from the NTCM Math Challenge for Families collection....
E-learning for Kids
E Learning for Kids: Math: Inca Temple: Number: Count to 30
On this interactive website, student practice various math skills using a real life scenario at the Incan pyramids. Those skills include reading numbers from 0 to 30 and matching numbers to the number of objects.
Brown University
Brown University: Case Studies
Bring relevance to your lessons by using case studies, which are scenarios that apply concepts learned in class to a real-life situation.
Rice University
Rice University: Cynthia Lanius: Fun and Sun Rent a Car
A wide range of math skills is incorporated into a lesson that involves planning a family's vacation to Florida. Travel expenses are gathered and compared, graphed, and analyzed in hopes of finding the best prices. There are extension...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Solving Everyday Problems Using the Engineering Design Cycle
Students are introduced to two real-life problems that can be solved by using the engineering design process. For the first one, they watch a slide presentation that shows how students use the engineering design process to build an...
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Words That Describe Feelings
Read the poem to learn about words that describe the senses and feelings then complete the practice page for extra review.
US Navy
Naval Historical Center: Exorcizing the Devil's Triangle
Howard L. Rosenberg writes this article about the area known as "The Devil's Triangle" or "The Bermuda Triangle." Besides discussing famous lost ships and airplanes, Rosenberg gives detailed information about the geography of the sea...
E-learning for Kids
E Learning for Kids: Math: Fisher Boat: Number: Count to 1000 and Money
On this interactive website students practice various math skills using a real life scenario on a fishing boat. Those skills include counting forwards by tens, reading three-digit numbers, and producing a three-digit number using base...