Curated OER
A Summer Reading List for Science Teachers
Summer can be a time to read enjoyable books that can give you lesson ideas you can take back to the classroom.
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Using Artifacts to Engage Students in Critical Thinking Activities
Creating learning centers with artifact-related activities are a great way to promote deductive reasoning and critical thinking skills.
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The Classification of the Kingdoms of Life
Students can learn about the evolution of science by discussing the classification of living things.
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Exploring the Solar System
Your students can learn more about our solar system with these lesson plan ideas.
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Mystery Writing Lesson Plans
Introduce your class to the genre of mystery. Included is a vocabulary list, a rubric, and a sample mystery story called "Lethal Lesson." There are very limited directions on what to do with these resources, so you will need to plan some...
Mr. Roughton
The Maya Files
Class members adopt the role of Law and Order history investigators and examine primary source documents to determine the legitimacy of Marco Polo's claim that he traveled to and traded in China. A cleverly crafted activity that deserves...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Courage “In the Time of the Butterflies”: A Common Core Exemplar
The courage of Las Mariposas, the Mirabal sisters, is the focus of a series of activities designed to accompany a reading of In the Time of the Butterflies that ask readers to consider what it means to be courageous. Beautifully crafted...
Mr. Roughton
Late Middle Ages Dossiers
Young detectives are given the "clues" to investigate whether King John should be remembered as a poor ruler of England, particularly in comparison in King Richard. They analyze historical informational texts and work in groups to...
Curated OER
Supporting the Classics!
Students identify the basic forms of classical architectural columns. Using the internet, they note the physical differences between Corinthian, Doric and Ionic columns. They design their own temple to their favorite Greek god or goddess...
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Bay Area Urban Growth
Students analyze the arguments for and against urban growth boundaries. They identify a number of perspectives on the issue and find evidence to support each position. For homework, they write about their own position on urban growth...
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Othello
Students find evidence to support reasons why Othello's insecurity makes him weak. For this Othello analysis lesson, students find evidence to support Othello as a strong person at the beginning of the play. Students use the given...
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Generalizations: How Accurate Are They?
High schoolers recognize and modify generalizations. They challenge generalizations made about people, insist on knowing the evidence that supports these, and be willing to modify their own generalizations when confronted by evidence...
Curated OER
Should New Orleans be Rebuilt?
Students, after researching two websites dealing with New Orleans, complete a chart as they read the arguments for and against rebuilding New Orleans. They locate the evidence offered for support, analyze the geography domains and...
Orange County Department of Education
The Hero: Writing and Responding
Pupils identify heroic character traits that they admire and that inspire trust and result in service to others. They identify the heroic traits of a character of their choosing and defend their reasoning using evidence from the text and...
Curated OER
United States Entry into World War I: Some Hypotheses About U.S. Entry
Learners take a stand on a hypothesis for U.S. entry into World War I, supported by specific evidence.
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Hominoid Skull Comparison
Students are provided with evidence used to support evolutionary theory. They are introduced to classification by using primates as an example. Students read article related to Hominoid Skull Comparison and write a summary about the...
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The History of Evolutionary Theory
High schoolers are introduced to the concept of evolution by natural selection from a historical standpoint. They examine the evidence and arguments that support the theory of natural selection.
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School Day
Students participate in a lesson that involves writing a persuasive essay. They use the prompt of "extending the school day". The paper should contain correct elements of sentence structure with clear purpose that is supported with...
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Research Report
Pupils review research skills and discuss types of information, e.g. fact/opinion, examples/evidence then research and gather information to answer a given set of research questions. They write a multi paragraph report using the...
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Populating Deerfield: A Workday for Researching the Colonial families
Eleventh graders explore who were the colonial families that populated Deerfield and what evidence can be gathered that reveals a part of their life stories to the researcher.
Orange County Department of Education
Integrity and "Thank You, M'am"
Ninth graders explore the definition of integrity through a class discussion. They provide positive/negative examples from the story and their own experiences. Students determine character traits by analyzing the dialogue in a short...
Curated OER
Making Decisions by Group: The Jury System
Students discover how to work cooperatively within a group and communicate their ideas clearly in order to reach an agreement. They summarize their experience in writing and hand down a verdict of guilt or innocence based on the...
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The Basics of Earth Science
Students discuss and define the term "scientific theory." They work in small groups to draft an overview of one theory including details about the theory's evidence and significance.
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Inquiring About the Titanic
Students observe pictures of the Titanic sailing and at the bottom of the ocean. They hypothesize the cause of the Titanic tragedy and engage in deeper questioning while one student writes responses on the board. They then work in groups...