Who would have thought to explore the concept of race through children's literature?  After reading Bell Hooks' picture book, Skin Again, and chapter sixteen of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, class members...

What better way to introduce the idea of a sequence than with robots! An educational lesson explains the classic Fibonacci sequence before pupils build and program a robot to move. Additionally, the lesson challenges individuals to...

The history of the northern states' involvement in the slave trade is not widely known. This resource uses the PBS documentary, Traces of the Trade, and the nonfiction book, Children of the New England Slave Trade, to examine this aspect...

Project Paperclip, the Redstone Arsenal, and the Huntsville Space Center are all featured in a resource that investigates the contributions of Dr. Werner von Brawn and other German scientists to the US space program....

The benefits and drawbacks of convict leasing following the Civil War are the focus of a lesson that asks groups to examine primary source materials to gain an understanding of the program before individuals decide whether they...

In a two-part learning exercise, young geometers examine 3-D shapes and describe their attributes in a table. They will be able to draw the shape and name the number of vertices, faces, and edges. In the second part, individuals...

Inntroduce primary learners to essential critical reading strategies with an activity based on James Reeves' poem, "The Wind."  Learners listen as the poem is read, first as a riddle, and then re-read with the title visible. The...

What makes a poem difficult? Explore that topic and more with your class as you work through the lesson detailed here. Using materials from Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest, individuals or small groups examine poems and...

Employ this resource to expand efficient ideas on how to present and organize activities that describe how researchers can implement their research by using direct quotes, paraphrasing, and summarizing—without plagiarizing. Activities...

Prior to class, individuals visit the Department of Energy website to examine the process of refining oil. After discussing what they learned, they find the Gulf of Mexico on a richly illustrated map that specifically indicates...

Is art connected to geography? It sure is! Your class will find out how even clay that comes from a certain location can have deep symbolic meaning. The class will analyze the piece, Mud Woman Rolls On and then research how geographic...

Clarify transition words with a two quick exercises. For the first, individuals choose the correct transition word for five sentences and determine what the transitions express within each sentence. For the second, class members read...

Explore the structure of narrative writing with this fun, collaborative instructional activity. Start by reading aloud a short story, asking small groups of learners to fill in key events on a large story board prepared on the class...

"Ode to la Tortilla" and "Ode to Joy"? Sure! Use Gary Soto's poem to introduce learners to the ode format. After examining the descriptive words Soto uses, class members study a poster of Ludwig van Beethoven, suggest words that describe...

Characters are built with more than just what the author directly says about a character (ex: she is smart). Help your pupils focus on several elements of characterization with a graphic organizer that has space for two characters....

Learn about the interesting life of George Washington Carver and his many accomplishments with this series of worksheets for primary grade learners. From coloring pages and word searches, to non-fiction reading passages and math skills...

Middle school scientists construct a working water wheel from an aluminum pie pan. Because of the sharp edges on the cut aluminum, this activity is for mature learners only. You could have your class compete to see whose wheel can lift...

Don't be put off by the fact that the World War I propaganda posters in this packet are Canadian and some of them are even in French. All the better, in fact, to see the techniques. The richly detailed plan has instructors model...

One fun way to conclude a nutrition unit is to assign a project. Individuals or pairs opt to film a video, or design a poster or brochure informing others about their choice of 11 suggested nutrition topics. You might not feel that the...

See the direct relationship between pressure and temperature using these classic science toys. As individuals hold the glass bulb, the liquid inside reaches it's boiling temperature, which is just a bit above room temperature. As the...

Who has a pet fish? Bingo! Meeting classmates just got a whole lot easier with this colorful template that asks individuals to find 16 classmates who meet the criteria defined in the matrix boxes. Consider extending the activity by...

Consider the theme of beauty with discussion about what makes person beautiful and the well-known short film put together by Dove skin care. Class members examine some of the images from the film and discuss the message of the...

What would you do if you got an extra day every week? Partners share some information about their routines and lives and write compositions about one another based on the information. Each partner tries to guess what the other person...

How many trees can your pupils plant? Practice numbers 0-20 with several related activities. For the first, kids match images of trees to numbers. They then match the number symbols to number words, using a word bank. The final activity...