Curated OER
Are You Listening?
To underscore the importance of practicing good listening skills class members engage in a series of activities that model poor listening skills. In pairs and then as a whole group, class members enact different, more positive techniques...
Curated OER
Syllables
Review important reading skills with this resource on syllables. Learners discuss the rules for dividing words into syllables, and they practice this skill with a variety of words. This is a comprehensive and useful presentation to use...
Illustrative Mathematics
Representing Half of a Circle
Geometric shapes make great visual models for introducing young mathematicians to the concept of fractions. Looking at a series of four circles, learners are asked to determine whether or not one half of each circle is shaded. To support...
US Department of Agriculture
Serving Up My Plate
Offer your youngsters an extra helping of nutritional knowledge and healthy tips with this resource, which centers around the MyPlate nutritional guide and offers three "courses" of plans and worksheets on the food groups and the...
Curated OER
The Glorious Whitewasher
Young readers can be exposed to the literary works of Mark Twain as they interact with challenging text and gain experience by reading the complex passages of chapter two "The Glorious Whitewasher" from his famous book, The Adventures of...
Curated OER
Make Half Your Grains Whole
Students discuss the benefits of eating whole grains. In this adult health lesson, students compare samples of whole grain food products. They recommend ways on how to incorporate whole grains in their family diet.
Curated OER
Handcarts - A Unique Form of Transportation
An interesting historical fact about how handcarts benefitted to the Mormon pioneers is the context behind this math lesson. Using given facts and figures regarding the handcart, pupil pairs create math word problems, share them with the...
Illustrative Mathematics
High Blood Pressure
Does watching TV increase one's blood pressure? Assess student understanding of how study design dictates whether a conclusion of causation is warranted. Use this as a prompt for a small group or whole class discussion, or as a part of a...
Curated OER
Breaking up a Poem
Seventh graders break down the barriers in reading, speaking, listening, writing and understanding poetry. As a whole group, they establish their own criteria for line breaks by discussing questions and taking notes on a PowerPoint...
Curated OER
Understanding Volcanoes
Students create a model volcano in groups, and discuss what each part of the model represents as they go along. In this volcano lesson, students come back together as a whole group and discuss what group did the best work, according to...
Curated OER
The Poetry Archive
Listening to poems about feeling lonely and feeling like an outsider set the stage for a group activity that focuses on Stevie Smith's "Not Waving But Drowning." Groups examine the three stanzas of Smith's poem separately and identify in...
Curated OER
Creatures of the Skies
Students create a bird identification game. In this classification lesson, students work in pairs to collect information about a specific bird. They use a bird field guide to aid in the research. They challenge other students in their...
Road to Grammar
Language Expansion
Improve your pupils' language skills with these discussions and activities. There are four topics included here, and each is paired with discussion prompts (small group and whole class), student handouts, and teacher notes. After...
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...
Leadership Challenge
Serving the Stakeholders' Interests
When school and community leaders are at odds, what's a young person to do? Grouped pupils examine the details of a difficult situation during the 10th in a series of 12 leadership activities. Presented with a decline in community...
Curated OER
Your Energy In
Help your youngsters make considerations about what they eat. Use this instructional activity as a jumping-off point to discuss dietary guidelines, the food pyramid, and major food groups. This creative instructional activity grabs...
PBS
Constitution Day
Travel back to 1787 as young scholars investigate the creation of the US Constitution. After first working in small groups to create sets of classroom rules, students go on to read a summary of the Constitution and watch a short video...
Sensory Connection Program
The Tree of Self Esteem Game
Create a respectful classroom community and boost children's self-esteem with this collaborative activity. Working in small groups, children take turns filling in each other's tree of self-esteem with compliments, personal strengths, and...
Novelinks
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Picture Book Strategy
Picture books aren't just for primary learners. Your scholars compare and contrast literary themes between the novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, and the children's book, The Dream Tree by Winfried Wolf through...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Excerpts from My Librarian Is a Camel: How Do People Access Books Around the World?
Acquaint your class with informational text through a close reading. First, examine a couple of pages together, looking at text features and content. The whole class focuses on marking down a brief summary of each paragraph before...
IREM
Conflict Management Styles Assessment
How do you prefer to handle conflict? And what does your approach say about you? Although not a validated, or scientific instrument, this assessment is sure to generate lively discussion.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Person to Person: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 4)
Help language learners understand words and cultural concepts. The second installment in a series of three language development lessons designed to accompany Theme 4: Person to Person helps bridge the gap for language learners by...
NPR
Lesson Plan: Trolls—Just Like You and Me?
Not all trolls hide under bridges; some of them hide behind computer screens! Learners explore the causes and effects of people leaving mean comments online. After learning vocabulary, watching and discussing a video, and responding to...
Media Smarts
Scripting a Crime Drama
Develop novice script-writers. Small groups sift through a sample script, noting any script-writing conventions to share with the whole class. Using these conventions and plot structures, these groups compose a script for a 10-minute...