First graders utilize observational skills to articulate similarities and differences in the plants they observe. They make comparisions of size, color, and height. Lima beans are planted at successively farther distances from a water...

Here is a well-designed science lesson that shows learners that everything that organisms do in ecosystems, including running, breathing, burrowing, growing, requires energy. After a thorough discussion of their own eating and drinking...

Investigate herbal medicine in the science or health classroom with this instructional activity from the New York Times. After a discussion about class members beliefs about and experiences with herbal medicines, pupils read an...

Though the discrete content here is a pair of New York Times articles about a 1998 military strike on Iraq and the coincident impeachment by the House of Representatives of then-President Clinton, this detailed plan for creating,...

Young mathematicians identify shapes and their correct names. They work with partners using various manipulatives and computer software to reinforce the concept. I really like these lesson plans. They are well-designed, the procedures...

Give reluctant learners a push down the road to career success using a lesson that includes a powerpoint, booklets, and worksheets. They view the presentation, follow along in the booklet, and discuss why people work. By the end of...

Learning how to create a PowerPoint is an important skill to have in the 21st century. So much of life revolves around computers today, so having the skills to navigate computers is imperative. There are many ways to put together...

Understanding where our food and textiles come from is key to understanding business, economics, and the importance of modern agriculture. Learners play a game, read text to determine farm fact from opinion, and itemize a grocery receipt...

Learners experiment with unconventional units (toothpicks, etc.) to estimate and measure. They consider the advantages of using standard measuring units.

Read a narrative describing various types of trade restrictions, and then engage in a debate about a new tariff. Critical thinkers will evaluate arguments to determine who benefits and who is hurt by the new tariff. Consider assigning...

High schoolers give examples to indicate how voting participation changed in the first half of the 19th century, and make connections between changes in voting participation and the results of the election of 1828.

Sixth graders make connections between art and literature studying about Medieval imagery and beliefs.

Students conduct research on the history of the Great Wall of China. They explore websites, complete various interactive activities, read a history of the Great Wall, write an essay, and take an online quiz.

The final lesson of a three-part series on Kate Chopin's The Awakening has scholars investigate life as a woman in late nineteenth-century America. They research the role of women in society through the eyes of the characters in the...

Learners demonstrate safe ways to handle bacteria, prepare agar plates, and grow bacterial cultures. They identify different kinds of bacterial colonies, and devise a controlled experiment.

Fourth graders examine the depiction of North Carolina tobacco farms in several photographs. They work in small groups to prepare an argument for a class debate and create promotional signs to advertise their point of view about tobacco...

Students examine how African Americans escaping slavery used storytelling to communicate. They listen to and read the lyrics for the song, Follow the Drinking Gourd, view the Reading Rainbow video, and write and illustrate their own story.

Students sort and compare/contrast the lengths of various whales. They sort pictures of whales in order of smallest to largest, and given a rope marked with the lengths of the whales, they compare the actual lengths of the whales.

Learners play a game of questioning with the teacher after reading silently a beginning passage of text. They and teacher request specific information from each other until students are able to summarize and predict the outcome of the...

Students survey bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop. They explore how bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop reflected American culture and society in the 1940s and 1950s.

Students explore jazz's primary elements. They identify the basic definitions of terms associated with jazz. In addition, they listen to Song for My Father.

Young learners listen to a read aloud of Gail Gibbons book, Apples and the story A Red House With No Windows and No Doors. They compare characteristics of a number of kinds of apples, graph them and create a apple print picture. Learners...

Students examine several examples of budgets to develop a facility with the components of its formation. Income, expenses, and expenditures are considered and itemized for this instructional activity.

Geometric shapes are used in math and in art. Learners discuss the various names, dimensions, and attributes of geometric shapes, then apply that knowledge to design a vase. They use 3-D shapes to make a cubist-style vase out of clay.