The concepts of refraction and reflection gel with your physical science class during this colorful exploration. Shining lasers through Petri-dish-shaped gelatin desserts, they will notice how the light travels and bounces off the sides....

Using flexible mirror-like paper, physical scientists experiment with images produced by curving it and looking into its reflective surface. They find that concave mirrors cause reflected light waves to cross and actually flip the image...

Teach your middle schoolers to use their ears to their highest potential! Pupils practice active listening skills and reflect on how careful listening might prove to be important in and out of the classroom.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's super student! Physical science stars can fly during a unit on light as they see the reflection of one leg in a mirror, behind which the other holds them up. 

A parabolic mirror toy demonstrates how concave mirrors objects reflect light and produce a realistic image at their focal point. This resource probably doesn't explain any more than the printed insert that accompanies such an apparatus...

If you set up a triad of mirrors into a corner figuration, they act as a kaleidoscope, bouncing light waves back and forth indefinitely, changing the light that your eyes perceive. Although the materials required are very specific and...

Encourage your class to recognize the diversity in the beliefs and backgrounds of their peers. Learners use the acronym FRAME to consider culture, background, and life experiences.

Little learners experiment with sunlight and map out how light travels. Using a mirror and slotted card, they find out about items that can reflect or absorb the light. They experiment with a variety of materials to find out how light...

Heat-sensitive liquid crystal sheets are available in a variety of sizes and temperature ranges. Purchase a class set of hand-held sheets and color half of each with a silver permanent marking pen. Learners of light can hold them under a...

Maintain or modify? That's the question scholars answer as they reflect on their focus and engagement in that day's lesson. Were learners focused and contributing, or do they need to modify their level of participation?

Many of us have multiple identities. There's who we are at home, school, friends, and strangers. And often these identities come with different names. The third activity in the First Days of School series examines how names reflect...

An extensive portfolio project encourages your kids to reflect on their personalities with multiple writing assignments. From activities on extended metaphors to writing about an important day in their lives, kids explore the way they...

Have a scary adventure with a set of reading activities based on Joanna Cole's The Magic School Bus Going Batty! Several worksheets encourage kids to predict what they will learn with a KWL chart, examine the new vocabulary...

Readers respond to a series of questions focused onJuliet Marillier's young adult novel Wildwood Dancing, and crafted to reflect the levels in Bloom's Taxonomy.

What's the difference between hibernation and a good nap? Find out with an engaging life science activity that compares the hibernation habits of grizzly bears and marmots. After learners read an informational passage about each mammal,...

The last activity in a nine-part series has teams create a Google Earth map using the data they collected during a field trip. Using the map, groups analyze the results and make adjustments to the map to reflect their analysis. A short...

Developing engaging opening and closing class routines is essential in post-COVID, face-to-face classrooms. The 7th routine of 15 in the Building Community series invites participants to begin class by reflecting on a success (rose), a...

Masks, a pandemic, remote learning, and isolation; scholars reflect on the past school year and consider what positive things they would like to see continued in the current school year and what negative things they would like to...

Your learners need to develop skills to argue effectively, and this comes by understanding the traditions that make claims valid, and what detracts from their effectiveness.  Although this resource does not give advice on how to...

Your students have mastered using textual evidence in literature, but what about using this skill in informational texts.  Uh oh! That is right—they are not the same thing. Darn the Common Core! See options on how to differentiate...

Incorporate these ideas for tracking point of view into your lessons for S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. The resource provides ideas for talking about point of view at various points in the novel and provides a prompt for reflection. Also...

What a fantastic project idea for discussing not only the history of America's expansion into the West, but for reviewing any major unit of history in your class. Pupils build stamp collections to visually represent themes of the...

Go beyond a traditional end-of-the-year survey and have your middle school pupils compile a portfolio of work illustrating their progression as a writer. 

Close out the school year with a look back at a specific event. You provide individuals with photos of themselves, and each pupil fills out the graphic organizer here to prepare for writing a paragraph about the memory depicted in the...