Scholastic
Pilgrim and Wampanoag Daily Life for Grades 6–8
Two slide shows, viewed side-by-side, permit middle schoolers to compare and contrast the lives of the Pilgrims of the Plimoth colony and the Wampanoags. Four videos take learners on virtual field trips to the Plymouth plantation. And an...
Curated OER
Grade 2: Exploring Place Value
Creative problem solving is fun and helps kids conceptualize content. They use grid paper, manilla paper, and markers to cut, draw, and show given double-digit numbers as many ways as they can.
Curated OER
Confronting Two Challenges--One Physical, One Intellectual
Students examine the challenges of a new language and culture. In this cultural lesson, student read Running by Peter Hessler and discuss obstacles faced, including the language barrier. Students write an essay about a time they...
National Council of Teachers of English
Timelines and Texts: Motivating Students to Read Nonfiction
With the emphasis on incorporating more nonfiction in language arts classes the question arises about how to design activities that motivate kids to engage with informational text. How about an assignment that asks class members to...
Curated OER
How to Create and Manage Student Portfolios
Tips and ideas on how to establish and manage successful student portfolios.
Shakespeare in American Life
"We Few, We Happy Few": Motivational Speech in Henry V
Class members may "think themselves accurs'd" when they first hear of an assignment that asks them to create a motivational speech. After studying the Saint Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V; however, they will count...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Identity Lesson 5: Motivation - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs provides the lens class members use to analyze and evaluate the motivations of the characters in Sylvia Plath's "Initiation" and scenes from Mean Girls. Readers then select a character from A...
Curated OER
Fortune Cookies Motivate Writing
Fortune cookies are used as motivation for a story. In this creative writing lesson, young writers review the six traits process. They discuss interesting characters, setting, problem and solution in a story. Original stories based on...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
How Two Alabamians Remembered Slavery Years Later
Designed to help readers recognize the point of view of the author of a primary source documents and analyze how that point of view influences the reliability of a text, young historians examine two personal letters, one...
Curated OER
Motivation
Students examine the role of motivation in the workplace. They identify different motivation techniques and analyze the views of motivational thinkers. They apply the knowledge they gathered to different scenerios.
Curated OER
A Weighty Issue
Want to get your students motivated in science class? Given only a piece of aluminum foil, assign groups the task of designing a "barge" that will support the weight of a bunch of pennies. The group who is able to put the most...
Curated OER
How to Become Self Motivated
Students demonstrate their self discipline and motivation by brainstorming their own personal self discipline goals. In this self discipline instructional activity, students analyze examples of self discipline and self control by...
Curated OER
Coast-to-Coast Book Design -Part 2: What is Design?
Pupils explore the concept of design, and identify items in their lives that have been designed. They explore the concept of book design and create and arrange their own page layout.
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2
There is nothing more frustrating than discussing theme in literature, and now the Common Core requires that your learners determine two or more, and discuss the development of it throughout the text. This is crazy, but manageable with...
Curated OER
Multiplication by Two-Digit Numbers
Fifth graders review as a class how to do a two-digit multiplication problem. They discover that they are going to use M & M's to use in math problems and brainstorm how they are going to do that. They work on multiplication problems...
Curated OER
Grade 3: What Can I Make with 30 Centimeters?
Third graders create polygons with perimeters of 30 centimeters, use the centimeter grid paper to determine the area of each shape, and organize the shapes to make generalizations from the patterns they see.
Curated OER
Graphic Novel Writing Workshop
Khaled Hosseini’s video “Using Real People and Events” motivates learners to reflect on their own experiences and to use those experiences as the basis of a graphic novel that expresses a universal truth. The richly detailed plan...
Curated OER
Greek Barbie or Action Figure
Young historians bring Greek mythology to the twenty-first century with this engaging research project. Hired to create a Barbie doll or action figure modeled after a Greek god or goddess, students gather the information necessary to...
David Pleacher
Candy Math Fun
Few things can motivate children to learn like the promise of a sweet and tasty treat. Given a bag of M&M®s, Skittles®, or other colorful candy, students first predict the contents of the bag before counting the pieces,...
Teaching Adapted PE
Locomotor and Object Control Stations
Develop children's basic locomotor and object control skills with an invigorating Adaptive PE lesson. A series of four, timed stations engaged the class in playing a game of Twister, walking on a balance beam,...
Teacher Treasures
Class Credit Cards
Give children credit where credit is due with this classroom management system. Providing each student with their very own charge card, they are able to gain credit for being respectful and responsible and...
Curated OER
Grade 2: Spinning Sums
Second graders collect data by spinning two spinners and creating sums, organize the data, and make conclusions from the data. Each students makes a spinner. They spin and record the number of the section each time. Students work in...
Curated OER
Grade 2: Roll or Slide?
Second graders organize solids into categories, depending upon whether they will roll, slide or do both on a home made ramp. Students describe and compare attributes of three-dimensional geometric solids.
Curated OER
"Gettysburg": Soldier Motivation in 1863
Eleventh graders watch and discuss various clips from the movie "Gettysburg". Using the video, they identify the main motivation for the Union and Confederate soldiers. They describe how soldiers motivation changed from 1861 and 1863.