The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand the original purpose and powers of the Supreme Court according to the Constitution. Students will learn the Supreme Court’s role in preserving the U.S. Constitution and the balance of power it creates. In this lesson, students will learn about the powers of the Supreme Court according to the Constitution through a guided hidden message activity and vocabulary lesson. An extension activity links this understanding of the Court to the development of judicial review in Marbury v. Madison.

This regular column, called Take Action, in the magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle suggests actions K-5 teachers can take to incorporate the guiding principle for informed climate decisions in the classroom. The principle, which appears in the document Climate Literacy, states that humans can take actions to reduce climate change and its impacts.

The Take Action column provides resources that help teachers engage students in activities that connect their science learning to their lives. In this article, students are introduced to household appliances and devices, called energy vampires, that continue to draw electrical current even when turned off. The article offers a few simple activities that students can take to reduce the impact of energy vampires. The Take Action column regularly appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which focuses on the essential principles of climate literacy.

In this regular column of the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, the author looks at the importance of conserving water and practicing good conservation habits daily. The column is designed for teachers in K-Grade 5 classrooms and presents concepts of climate literacy that are appropriate for young children. Identified online resources provide data collection activities, lessons, and games.

This article provides ideas, lessons and resources on how elementary teachers can integrate map skills, math, and art into lessons about the geography of the Arctic and Antarctica.

This article describes energy efficiency as it relates to home and school energy use and provides ways that children can help.

This article describes the processes of making inferences and using context clues to define unknown words. Links to web sites and articles provide background knowledge and instruction for teachers and students.

This article for elementary teachers discusses what a blog is, why you should blog, how to get students involved, and steps on how to get started with your own blog. Free blogging software is described and exemplary blogs and posts are recommended.

This article for elementary teachers focuses on three tools that allow educators to publish to the web for free - Instructional Architect, Filamentality, and TeacherTube. Design hotlists, webquests, scrapbooks, and upload video.

This article for elementary teachers focuses on why and how to use rubrics to assess student work and how to use online tools like Rubistar and PBL Projects Checklists to construct your own rubrics.

This article for elementary teachers discusses what a wiki is, how to get students involved in this collaborative Web 2.0 tool. Popular wiki service providers and resources are recommended.

This article provides an overview of energy education curriculum materials available from the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project. Teachers may become a member, or use free online resources.

This article provides lesson plans about natural resources and energy sources for elementary teachers.

Share some great Google Drawing practices with your students through this amazing post from Control Alt Achieve.

This article discusses the importance of teaching students to reflect on text through direct instruction and modeling. The article includes a template that can be used with elementary students.

This article describes many strategies for meeting the needs of visual and kinesthetic students, including deaf students.

A Short Activity for Third Grade
Question: Why do we celebrate Constitution Day?
Note: The "Thinking Through Timelines: Creating the Constitution" Powerpoint, also available in eMedia, was created to accompany this lesson plan.

In this lesson, students are introduced to the three functions of government (legislative, judicial, and executive) through a story about an overworked king who must handle all the tasks of government. Next, students are given descriptions of the three functions of government and asked to match tasks to departments (lawmakers, executives, and judges). Finally, students create job descriptions for lawmakers, executives, and judges. Access to this resource requires a free educator login.

This article describes a pilot project in which a fifth-grade classroom integrated six iPod Touch devices into all aspects of the curriculum.