Curated OER
Where Do Things Come From?
Second graders examine the recycling process. In this recycling instructional activity, 2nd graders discuss the reasons for recycling and create storyboards to show where a specific material comes from. Students complete a worksheet as a...
Curated OER
The Desert is Theirs: Adapting to Our Environment
Students determine how animals and people adapt to the desert environment. In this desert lesson, students review vocabulary about the desert and how humans have to make changes to accommodate their environments. They listen to and...
Curated OER
Family Money Matters: Exploring the World of Economics
Students become familiar with vocabulary related to spending money. In this economics activity, students participate in activities to learn about spending money and budgets.
Curated OER
Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-The Gingerbread Man
Learners read The Gingerbread Man by Karen Lee Schmidt. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities that coincide with the reading of the book. Included are reading, art, math, science, writing, social studies, and library...
Curated OER
The Jellybeans and the Big Dance
Enchant your youngsters by reading them The Jellybeans and the Big Dance, by Laura Numeroff and Nate Evans. Ask them to name objects that begin with the letter J like jellybeans. Give each of them some jellybeans to sort by color....
Curated OER
Read Aloud Lesson Plan: Water for One, Water for Everyone
Students listen to a read aloud about African animals as they access a watering hole. They discuss the characteristics of Africa such as the temperature, it distance from the students, and lifestyle of the animals. They talk about how...
Curated OER
"A Pig is Big"
Students explore the concept of big, bigger, and biggest. They examine and classify items by size, listen to and discuss the book "A Pig is Big," complete a fill in the blank activity, and create a tri-fold that illustrates two items...
Curated OER
Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-Stone Fox
Learners read and complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the novel, Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner. Included are reading, math, science, writing, social studies, and library connections. A vocabulary/spelling...
Curated OER
Ancient Roman Monuments and Timeline
While a terrific idea, this lesson plan in which learners create a timeline showing the date that a variety of buildings and monuments were built in Ancient Rome, requires resources teachers may not have. It requires the use of a...
Curated OER
"Mr. Betts and Mr. Potts"
First graders listen to the book "Mr. Betts and Mr. Potts" and examine the career of being a veterinarian. They categorize animals based on whether they could be house pets or not, develop a class pet graph, and list the various...
Curated OER
Techno Book
First graders explore language arts by utilizing educational software. In this storytelling instructional activity, 1st graders utilize Microsoft Word to create their own children's story incorporating images as well. Students proofread...
Curated OER
Write It, Read It, Solve It
Writers create an original mystery and have a chance to put it into movie format. The classic elements of a mystery must be present: the crime, the suspects, the motive, the solution and clues. Use iPhoto and Quicktime Movie to integrate...
Carnegie Library
Creative Writing: Middle School Lesson Plan
Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing lesson. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers.
Curated OER
Making Magical Creatures Talk
Invite your young writers to take the reins with writing dialogue. Using two characters of their own creation, kids work with partners and then individually to write short conversations.
Museum of Tolerance
Where Do Our Families Come From?
After a grand conversation about immigration to the United States, scholars interview a family member to learn about their journey to America. They then take their new-found knowledge and apply their findings to tracking their family...
Channel Islands Film
Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island: Lesson Plan 2
After watching West of the West's documentary The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island, class members imagine how Juana Maria/Karana may have felt about living alone on the island for 18 years and craft a blackout poem or a narrative in...
Polar Trec
Ice Cores: Modeling Ice Sheets
Ice cores provide scientists with knowledge of historic melt layers, air temperatures, greenhouse gases, and climate stability. Scholars work in groups to build layers representing snow and ice over thousands of years. Then, groups...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Isn’t It Exciting? (The American Industrial Revolution and Urbanization)
America was built on the ingenuity, work ethic, and foresight of our ancestors. Sixth graders learn about the complex Gilded Age in American history, including the prominent inventors and captains of industry, and how they all connect...
Smithsonian Institution
The Sounds of an Island: Jamaican Music for the Classroom
Introduce young explorers to the music and history of Jamaican culture through game songs and dances. As a bonus, class members get to play simple songs transcribed for the recorder.
Curated OER
Up From the Ground
First graders sequence the development of a plant. In this plant life lesson, 1st graders listen to a story about how a plant grows, students view a PowerPoint presentation and learn new vocabulary. Finally, students sequence the stages...
Curated OER
Steps to Freedom
Students complete discussion and reading comprehension activities for the novel Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheax Nelson. In this African American history lesson plan, students discuss the Underground Railroad and complete a reading...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Guided Reading with Fancy Dance
Students participate in a guided reading of Leslie Johnson's, Fancy Dance and discover how to sequence events. This lesson stresses word recognition, suffixes and prefixes, and sentence structure. Cross-curricular activities involve art,...
Curated OER
Then What Happened?
Learners read the book, Diary of a Worm, by Doreen Cronin. After answering questions, the do a variety of activities such as a "Dear Diary," "Book Report Card," and/or "Animal Mural."
Curated OER
Farm Frolics
Students learn about farms through literature and center activities. In this farming lesson plan, students read about farming, sing songs about it, sort materials, and do more activities related to farming.