In the first unit, students will be introduced to computer science first through a story about a little girl who goes on an adventure and encounters many computer science concepts along the way, and then by playing a game to navigate a robotic dog. All of the activities in this unit are unplugged, and many involve active movement or arts and crafts.
Explore the rights of the accused through the origins and progression of 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments using an interactive timeline and associated resources.
In this lesson, students use a scaffold to help them compile information to write a solid research paper.
The Supreme Court reviewed his case in 1919, upholding his conviction and the constitutionality of the Espionage Act. This resource includes teacher materials, guides, and activities for teaching about this Supreme Court case.
Have you ever done a science experiment and wondered what would this be like if it were HUGE? Welcome to Science Max, where everything is done on a large scale. Explore this video and learn more about gravity and the influence that liquid and gases have on it.
Jonathan Swift's 1729 pamphlet "A Modest Proposal" is a model for satirizing social problems. In this lesson, students complete multiple readings of Swift's essay: a guided reading with the teacher, a collaborative reading with a peer, and an independent reading. The online Notetaker tool helps students restate key ideas from Swift's essay as they read and elaborate upon these ideas postreading. After independent reading, pairs of students develop a mock television newscast or editorial script, like those found on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update," The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, or The Colbert Report, including appropriate visual images in PowerPoint.
Our school, Kelly Middle School, is one of the oldest middle school buildings in 4J (primary construction was completed in 1945). Each year we practice earthquake drills. Why? Why should we be concerned about earthquakes? Where might an earthquake occur in the northwest area? Might it be minor or violent? How might this be measured? Is an earthquake a singular event, or a series of events? What increases or decreases an earthquake hazard? Do we have any early-warning systems? Is the school earthquake drill correct? Considering these questions students need to develop an understanding of how to prepare for, and react to an earthquake event. When students are comfortably informed, who should they report to?
In this activity, students read short stories and create presentations in multiple media to share in a Short Story Fair. At the fair, students explore and respond to the displays.
This is a video where I briefly explain what shutter speed is and show students how to calculate shutter speed on a timeline.
This unit uses the slinky seismometer as a means of studying physics concepts such as waves, sound and the speed of sound vs speed of light, resonance, electricity and magnetism, Lenz Law and magnetic dampening (backwards engineering). Students experiment with the basic parts of the seismometer and either build or connect the seismometer to the internet to take and upload data.
In this project students will research and then build a basic solar cooker shell made out of cardboard. Then they will run a variety of materials through experiments. Data from the experiments will be used to determine which materials should be added to the solar cooker shell to improve its ability to heat up food.
This project was created as a collaboration between a science and an engineering/woodshop class. The engineering class researched and build the basic solar cooker cardboard shells. The science class tested additional materials to add to the shells to improve the solar cookers. Then the engineering class, following the directions from reports created by the science class, added the materials to the solar cooker shells to create the final products.
This lesson plan is a unit on solving and building polynomials, modeling polynomials, and using transformations to graph functions.
In this unit of study students learn about sound waves. This unit integrates nine STEM attributes and was developed as part of the South Metro-Salem STEM Partnership's Teacher Leadership Team. Any instructional materials are included within this unit of study.
Spent challenges players to survive the struggle of low-income living. Developed by McKinney to raise money for Urban Ministries of Durham, the game has become a hit in financial literacy classrooms.
I have used this website while teaching Strand 6 Standard 1 of Exploring Business and Marketing. https://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=520111
Strand 6
Employability - students will develop and demonstrate the necessary skills to gain and keep employment.
Standard 1
Job Skills - Students will develop skills to gain employment.
Students will explore communication and interviewing skills:
Appropriate dress
Hygiene
Facial expressions and posture
Prepare for interview questions (STAR method)
Effective ways to communicate (phone, email, text, in-person)
Human resources and employee rights.
Discrimination laws
Minimum wage
A fun way to get students to do research on one of the 50 states and make an Adobe Express Presentation to share with their peers.
iCivics hub that includes lesson plans, games, and WebQuests for educators to use when teaching about the state and local levels of government. Provides resources on both middle school and high school levels.
Students will learn all about the history of the state of Utah. The will research different aspects of Utah and create a digital presentation of their knowledge. 2 weeks (20-30 minutes a day.)Independent or collaborative work depending on teacher preferenceUse books and the internet to gather information.Use Mac Pages to create a presentation. Image Credit: Sukoff, J. (2019). Delicate Arch [jpg]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/1NnW4hAwOuQ
Students analyze personal homepages, as well as a character in a book they have read, and then create a homepage for the character.
People make the past come alive as students research and then share stories about famous Americans who promoted democratic ideals.
Explore the evolution of students’ rights inside the schoolhouse gates and beyond using an interactive timeline and associated resources