Overcoming Obstacles
Taking the Initiative
We can all use a little help sometimes. Middle schoolers engage in a series of activities that teach them about taking the initiative, how to make the effort, how to ask questions, and who to ask for help. They then listen to a guest...
Curated OER
Beginning Consonant Sounds
Young readers practice their beginning consonant sounds. Solid worksheets prompt students to practice their consonant in fun ways. These worksheets use Clifford the Big Red Dog as a theme, and give the kids excellent and colorful practice.
Curated OER
Phoneme Segmenting Accuracy
Take your kindergartners on a journey to the mythical planet Paz where residents segment words into phonemes, touching parts of their arm with each sound. This physical response to phoneme segmenting will appeal to your physical learners...
Ken Baker
Phonemic Alliteration Lesson Plan
Old MacDonald had a ... dragon? A shared reading of this funny take on the classic children's song engages beginning readers as they learn about phonemes and alliteration.
Curated OER
Initial Sound Memory Game
Students are reintroduced to initial sounds and play a picture card game to build accuracy. In this initial sound lesson, students place the picture cards face down and organize the picture cards into an even number of rows and columns...
Curated OER
Initial Sound Accuracy, Same Sound!
Students study words. In this phonemic awareness lesson, students play a game in which they identify if two words have the same initial sound. They play the game in pairs using a stack of word cards prepared by the teacher. This lesson...
Curated OER
Showdown on the Frontier
Especially critical following a series of shootings in schools, theaters, and religious buildings, it's safe to say that we need to evaluate the current laws on gun control. Eighth graders read a New York Times article in order to better...
Curated OER
Architectural Letters
Have your class construct their own architectural letter. This art project focuses on architecture, or the art of building. You can connect this activity to a biography activity. Your class can decorate their initial to reflect their...
Curated OER
VCe Rule Fluency
Explore English by identifying word structures. Learners find many words that end with a vowel, consonant, and then an e. The class will participate in a word flash card game in which they correctly pronounce vowel-consonant words.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Preparing for Project BudBurst
Plants take cues from the environment—change in daylight hours and temperature—to complete their seasonal life cycles. Lesson four in the series of six has classes collect phenology data on plants. After taking initial observations,...
August House
Anansi Goes To Lunch - First Grade
Greed is the theme of this collection of multidisciplinary activities. As a class, read The West African folktale, Anansi Goes to Lunch by Bobby Norfolk, and take part in a grand discussion about it's plot and theme. Reinforce the...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 17: Novel, Take 2
It's all about using peer resources in this writing process lesson, which includes a fantastic novel revision worksheet packet. Learners have read a partner's story draft the night before, and groups have a "lightning round of...
Federal Reserve Bank
Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building
How tall is the Empire State Building? Lead your class through a collaborative estimation activity to determine the number of quarters it would take to reach the top and teach the following concepts: human capital, human resources,...
Curated OER
Beginning Sounds-What sound does each picture begin with?
Students view a multimedia presentation to identify beginning sounds. In this phonics lesson, students recognize beginning sounds. Students navigate a website for addition phonics sounds.
Curated OER
The Rumpelstiltskin Story
Why didn't Rapunzel's hair stop growing? Why did it take the fairy godmother so long to intervene in Cinderella's affairs? Young writers consider unanswered questions like these and compose news articles investigating the true...
Curated OER
Stock Swaps, Variation 2
If Microsoft wanted to take over Apple, how many shares would they need to break even? This is an ideal task for seventh graders who are studying proportional relationships and applying them to real-world scenarios. Use it as an...
California Department of Education
What's Next?
Let their futures take flight! The sixth and final installment in a series of career and college readiness lesson plans pulls it all together for graduation-bound seniors. Individuals comb through their action plans and describe the...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Keep Finding the Positive
Group members take on roles to create a positive classroom community. Learners perform their role—leader, recorder, presenter, timekeeper, encourager, and collector—in preparation for a formal presentation of their positive thinking...
Rational Number Project
Initial Fraction Ideas Lesson 18: Overview
Develop young mathematicians' ability to compare fractions with investigation into the number 1/2. After brainstorming a list of fractions equivalent to 1/2, children identify a pattern in the numerators and...
Rational Number Project
Initial Fraction Ideas Lesson 9 Overview
Visual models support young mathematicians with exploring equivalent fractions. Starting with a quick warm-up problem, children go on to work through a series of guiding practice problems before working with a partner identifying and...
Curated OER
Take Your Pick of "Beary" Fun Activities.
Students complete an integrated unit on bears. They read numerous books about bears, create a bear puppet, act-out stories, create a polar bear painting, participate in a Teddy Bear Picnic, and conduct a Teddy Bear parade.
American Chemical Society
Conservation of Mass
It may take up less space, but the mass stays the same. Tackle a common misconception about conservation of mass using a hands-on instructional activity. Learners measure the mass of substances before and after melting, dissolving, and...
Curated OER
If You Were Katy: Let's Play a Game
Students simulate sound effects from Katy and the Big Snow. They read and discuss Katy and the Big Snow, create sound effects for the objects in the book and practice sounding out beginning sounds for words. After sounding out the words,...
Curated OER
Rites of Passage: Initiation Masks in French Speaking Black Africa
Students examine African cultures through the study of masks in the initiation ceremonies in French speaking black Africa. They analyze masks, and create their own masks.