Show youngsters how objects can tell a story! Here your class will learn about Cuban salsa dancer Celia Cruz by analyzing pictures of her dress, her shoes, and her marriage certificate. After describing Cruz's items and imagining what...

Third graders make alphabet cards that depict the wide variety of life forms found in the Sonoran Desert. A terrific lesson that combines language arts, visual arts, and life science all into one wonderful package. Each of the cards has...

How is energy transferred within an ecosystem? What would happen to a food web if one of the organisms was removed? Elementary or middle school ecologists examine these questions and more in a comprehensive 5E learning cycle lesson....

Young biologists identify parts of the body, sort humans from other animals, and list the difference they see. Learners are split up into groups of three, and each group must find pictures in magazines of humans and other animals. They...

How can you measure the height of a tree or telephone pole with only a short measuring tape?  It's not a problem when you start by measuring your shadow and your height to create a ratio to use with taller objects. Additional...

After calculating the amount of energy in a wave, future engineers plan and present to the class a design for a seawall that will minimize erosion on the shore. Not only must they consider the energy that will impact the wall, they also...

A highly relevant and great cross-curricular project! In teams, your class will plot a course from the East Coast to Sacramento, California passing through all of the state capital cities along the way. As part of the journey, teams...

What are the best foods to eat, and how much is too much? Kids discuss the importance of eating the right amount of each of the four food groups. They discuss the food pyramid and make meals by cutting and pasting foods from a magazine...

Students discover characterization techniques and methods. In this characterization lesson, students choose favorite fiction characters and discuss what makes a character come alive. Students then describe a family member or a friend and...

Students use paper cups and colored chips to observe properties of operations with real numbers. As a class, students brainstorm and use manipulatives to demonstrate associative, commutative, distributive identity and inverse properties....

Students develop a timeline of events associated with Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus River, and the Huang He. They prepare a clay, wood, or paper model of a representative artifact from one civilization. They write a description of their...

Tenth graders explore narrative poetry. They analyze sections of a poem and present to groups. They compose their own narrative poems using pictures as prompts. They exchange their poems and analyze their classmate's poem.

Here is an exciting way to get small groups teaching each other about different fuels that are used for transportation; have them write a song about a fuel type and sing it for the class! Each group must write a three-line, informative...

A great way to determine if a career is right for you is to try it out. Learners explore the marketing career cluster by interviewing a person working in the marketing field and by developing a marketing-related service learning project....

Learners create a map showing the United States borders at a specific period in history and produce three questions to be answered by examining the map. They also write a productive paragraph explaining who, what, when, where, how/why a...

How do you represent a tragic event? Are stories of tragic events better left untold? After reading chapter two of Maus and studying other representations of the Holocaust (suggestions are included), class members create a representation...

To underscore the importance of being informed consumers, kids check out youth consumer magazines and websites and then create their own. Although no detailed plans are included in the resource, it is packed with ideas and suggestions.

Students explore the gratuitous use of violence in televised sports. They discuss sports they participate in, and the rules and consequences that relate to unsporting behaviour. They see if the same rules apply to professional athletes.

Develop media smarts by considering the power of celebrity involvement in world issues. A look at the work of such celebrities as Angelina Jolie, Oprah, and Bono prepare learners to develop their own media campaign for a global...

Class members create literary mandalas for two characters from Maus, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about his father’s experiences with the Holocaust. After finding quotes that reveal three good traits and three bad traits of each...

Youngsters should have fun learning about and making a train. The children will learn that some trains carry people and some carry goods, identify different railroad cars, and understand that trains need tracks that are in good condition...

Getting in the habit of practicing good dental hygeine is important for youngters. This lesson reinforces the importance. Learners have a class discussion about how they take care of their teeth, then create toothbrush holders out of...

There's no doubt that dramatic play and creative movement are both essential for a healthy early childhood education. Here is a lesson that promotes both. Youngsters think of activities and emotions. The words are written on pieces of...

Elementary and middle schoolers examine postcards depicting World War I events. Eventually, they create prints that reflect their own lives. In an interesting blend of history and current events, this lesson should engage your kids in...