Thoughtful Learning
Understanding the Parts of the Brain
A mini-lesson explains the role the parts of the brain play in thinking and learning. Scholars discover why feeling safe, calm, and connected is essential to learning effectively.
Curated OER
Introduce a Weather Unit
Engage your learners by playing Water Music Suite by Handel. Different types of weather sounds play on the recording, and it's an easy lead into talking about the weather! What is weather? What kinds of weather exist? What is it called...
Curated OER
Communicative Group Activity: What's Your Opinion?
Students participate in a topic discussion in English. They choose a topic from a group of cards and then give their opinion on what was read. The other students have to offer their opinions as well in English.
Positively Autism
Thanksgiving Vocabulary
Corn, cornbread, cranberry sauce, family. Introduce learners with autism to 13 vocabulary words associated with Thanksgiving. Each printed word is illustrated and presented against a golden background.
Positively Autism
Travis the Train Goes Trick-or-Treating
Travis the Train is on the move again, and this time he and his friends are going trick-or-treating. The story, employing images and concepts introduced in earlier lessons in the series, models behaviors appropriate for the night.
Positively Autism
Thanksgiving Verbs
Bake, cook, eat, serve, travel. Five verbs associated with Thanksgiving are introduced to learners with autism. This is a presentation that features one printed word and an illustration of that word on each slide.
Positively Autism
"What to Expect on the Fourth of July" Social Story
The social story "What to Expect on the Fourth of July" not only lets learners with autism know what to expect on this very American holiday, but also explains what behaviors are appropriate when at a fireworks display or picnic.
Positively Autism
Fourth of July Vocabulary
Flag, fireworks, parade. Introduce learners with autism to nine words associated with the Fourth of July. Each word is illustrated with either a photograph or drawing.
Rainforest Alliance
Protecting the Critical Habitat of the Manatee and Loggerhead Turtle
Explore ocean habitats with a lesson that showcases the home of manatees and loggerhead turtles in Belize. Here, pupils compare and contrast the homes of ocean animals to those of humans, listen to an original short story about the...
Bully Free Systems
Bully Free Lesson Plans—Sixth Grade
Two lessons stress the importance of keeping your classroom bully-free. Discussion, collaborative work, role-play, and writing allows participants to examine whether their classroom is welcoming to new members and decide what they should...
Curated OER
ICYouSee: A Lesson in Critical Thinking
Stress the importance of authenticating online resources and understanding the sources of websites' information with this activity. Using a Web-based activity, the instructional activity prompts young learners to think critically about...
Perkins School for the Blind
Human Body Regulation
The human body can regulate itself through sweating and resting. Learners with visual impairments discuss how the body changes when it is under stress and what it does to regulate itself. To start, kids use talking thermometers to take...
K12 Reader
Summarize It: President Theodore Roosevelt's 7th Annual Message to Congress
How did Theodore Roosevelt stress the importance of conservation during his time as president of the United States? Take a closer look at the language Roosevelt used himself in a 1907 address to Congress, and have your young historians...
Advocates for Youth
How Can I Take Care of My Health?
Life is all about choices, and a healthy life tends to involve a lot of healthy choices. Guide teenagers toward a life full of nutritious food, regular exercise, and responsible decisions with a series of lessons on healthy habits for...
American Museum of Natural History
Bio-Benefits
Kick-start a discussion of the importance of biodiversity with a colorful resource that touts the benefits of maintaining healthy ecosystems. The images stress the interdependence of all the elements of an ecosystem.
Flipped Math
Create and Analyze Graphs
Model the world with graphs. Pupils watch and participate in creating graphs to model real-world situations. The presenters stress the importance of a consistent scale and proper labels for the graphs along with identification of the...
Curated OER
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Students, after reading and discussing, "The Metamorphosis," by Franz Kafka, explain the symbolism of Gregor's metamorphosis moving beyond a literal view of "he turned into a bug" into the idea that society/family/stress/environment led...
Curated OER
Tree Cookies
Students identify heartwood, sapwood, and a tree's annual rings, infer from a tree's rings what damage or stress might have occurred in its life, and make a time-line of human history that coincides with a tree's rings.
Curated OER
Student Writing Skills Checklist
In this literacy worksheet, students use the checklist in order to complete writing projects without the stress of not fixing the details required.
Curated OER
Overcoming Pressures
Middle schoolers view a video that presents the musical career of vocalist Josh Groban and pay special attention to his performance anxiety and how he has dealt with these fears. They identify ways in which they can combat other types of...
Curated OER
Figuring Solutions
Students discuss their attitudes and feelings to discover possible ways to constructive respond to their resistance to learning academic concepts.
Curated OER
Social Studies: Adolescent Characteristics
Students examine the various characteristics of adolescence. In a Powerpoint presentation they observe the physical, emotional, and social traits of adolescence. In groups, they investigate researchers associated with developmental...
Curated OER
Waste Management
Students explore the impact on waste on the environment, and the impact of the 3R's (reduce, reuse and recycle) as a means of diminishing the waste created by humans.
Curated OER
Daily Routine Word and Picture Matching
In this daily routines word and picture matching worksheet, students examine 7 pictures and match them with the word that describes what is happening.