Classroom Resources

Each day at the end of their independent reading time, students give Book Boosts, one-minute raves about books they've read. Students select a book that they really enjoyed and then give a one-minute talk that generates interest in the book but does not give away the book's ending. Students can boost their books in a variety of ways, including creating alternate book covers, designing posters or flyers, or making promotional bookmarks. Have students take turns giving book boosts with two students giving a Book Boost each class day. These Book Boosts are easy ways to suggest a multitude of titles to students, and they act as a way for students to have something to think about as they read.

In this learning activity, students will analyze a famous letter written by Grace Badell to President Abraham Lincoln. Using hints about Grace's family from the letter, students will draw pictures of her family.

In this activity, students will practice reading analog and digital clocks and practice using a.m. and p.m. when writing time. Included are simple teacher-led activities and hands-on exercises for students.

Students compare and contrast information from three sources to determine the reasons that contributed to the panda population decline. They draw conclusions from these sources by writing their own paragraphs.

Verbs have a singular and a plural form. When using a verb in a sentence, pay attention to the subject-verb agreement. This means, that the subject and the verb must agree in number. In this lesson, students will learn about subject-verb agreement. This resource offers videos, games, and worksheets to help further understand the concept taught in this lesson.

Students will perform hip-hop moves while playing freeze tag. They will review previously learned hip-hop moves and perform them with a variety of music. They will perform new hip-hop moves such as the robot, punch it, and pop-boom-boo-ha-yo-cha. Working in groups, students will choreograph a dance and share it with the class.  

Students will watch Erika Malone demonstrate how to choreograph a dance based on their emotions.  They will perform the dance with Erika while watching a video.  After watching the video, the students can choreograph their own dance based on their emotions. 

Students will read about Mariachi.  The article includes information about history, instruments, and suits.  Students will listen to Mariachi music.  

Students will analyze examples of Gustav Klimt's artwork. They will do a gesture sketch of a model and use characteristics of Klimt's background techniques to complete the portrait.  

Students will analyze Jacques-Louis David's painting The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte.  They will compose a fairy tale based on the painting.  They will illustrate a scene from their original fairy tale.  

This is a large collection of games designed to enhance and strengthen communication, cooperation, and team work. 

In addition to a description of the learning activities, there is also an informative video demonstrating how the activity is designed. 

Students will analyze different artwork to identify texture.  They will use different media and tools to create various textures. 

Students will follow a sequence of steps to create art. Teacher will instruct students to draw different lines, shapes, and colors.  Students will display work and compare and contrast the pieces of art.  

This useful resource provides a list of over 50 regular AR verbs along with a detailed Quizlet flashcard set that can be beneficial to helping beginning students memorize key vocabulary. Each Quizlet features a drawing to help students associate each action with an image rather than just a translation. This deck can be used for a variety of review activities such as matching and spelling. This link also provides a printable list of these common verbs.

Chamizal National Memorial sits on land that once belonged to Mexico. What is now a park was once the focus of a century-long border dispute that began when the Rio Grande River changed course. In 1963, a treaty ended that standoff and three years later this park was created as a monument to the friendship between the U.S. and Mexico and the culture we share.

This free online site offers a variety of online French grammar games that can be used to review grammar concepts at all levels of instruction. An organized guide provides a well-organized list of grammar topics. Topics include Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs, Pronouns, Possessives, Demonstratives, Indefinites, Prepositions, Verb Conjugations (Present, Past, Future, Conditional, Subjunctive, Imperatives, Participles & Gerunds), Questions, Negations, Comparisons, Conjunctions, Passive Voice, Expressing Time, and more. As an added bonus, most topics include a printable resource or study guide explaining each specific grammar topic. This PDF file is available in both French and English.

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn the Electoral College is the process by which we elect the President of the United States. When a voter casts his/her vote for President, they’re not actually voting for them directly. Instead, they are telling the state which party’s designees should serve as the state’s electors.

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The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Nebraska has a different approach. There are only 2 states that can split votes based on congressional districts (Nebraska has 5 electors). This creates multiple popular vote contests in these states, which could lead to a split electoral vote. In the past two decades, Nebraska has split the vote twice; 2008 and 2020.

In this interactive activity, students will be led through steps to add multi-digit numbers using the strategy of regrouping, or carrying, a group of tens. There are teaching activities as well as practice activities available. A handout that reviews the steps taught during the activity can be printed. After utilizing this resource, the students can complete the short quiz to assess their understanding. 

This Google Slides file is packed with 26 Partner and Group Stunt gifs. Use the whole class or share with students via Google Classroom for small group use.

This is an interactive game/quiz on the three branches of government from Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government for ages 4 to 8 years old. The quiz is multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions with a word bank. Players receive immediate feedback and a score at the conclusion. The quiz contains ten questions.

Word up! In this activity, children will explore decision-making as they use PBS KIDS ScratchJr to help WordGirl make a tough choice between saving the day and going to her friend’s birthday party.

Children will learn how to use the PBS KIDS ScratchJr programming blocks to make animated stories and interactive projects. They will explore coding and computational thinking practices as they utilize technology as a tool for creativity, expression, and learning with the PBS KIDS ScratchJr app.

Students use computer science to simulate extreme sports, make their own fitness gadget commercial, and create commentary for a big sporting event.

Sports is a complete theme designed to be completed over eight, 45-75 minute, sessions. For each activity, students will watch a series of videos and create one coding project with opportunities to personalize their work using “Add-Ons,” which are mini-coding challenges that build on top of the core project.

Be sure to review the Materials tab for the lesson plan, starter guide, and more.

Users will need a Google account to use this resource.

Elementary-aged students learn to take responsibility for their own hygiene and self-care behaviors. Images of astronauts and space travel are ideal to engage the young learner in personal health content. This teaching technique is compatible with the National Health Education Standards One and Three. There are three lesson objectives. Students will: 1) Understand that germs spread infections, illness, and disease; 2) Identify practices that promote health and prevent disease; 3) Demonstrate good personal health habits including hand washing before eating and brushing teeth.

This alignment results from the ALEX Health/PE COS Resource Alignment Summit.

Join the fun as Penny and the KidVision kids go to the beach! They learn sun safety, meet lifeguards, learn to read beach safety signs, find seashells, splash in the ocean, and end the day with a game of beach ball.

This alignment results from the ALEX Health/PE COS Resource Alignment Summit.

This novice mid to novice high Spanish activity introduces students to transportation-related vocabulary using authentic resources. The activity is geared toward younger learners and is separated into three tasks: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational.  Students start by examining a photo of public transportation in Chile. They then identify key vocabulary words while watching a short video clip. Once the words are collected, they conduct a brief poll among classmates regarding transportation preferences. Finally, students illustrate their preferred mode of transportation along with a written caption describing this chosen vocabulary word. 

A historian breaks down the signing of the Declaration of Independence, talking about the struggles and visualizing the start of America's start as a new country.

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, Blossom, and Snappy start a band named The Rulers and want to play at Robbie's school party. In order to find out how being in a band works, they visit a performance site to find out about rental fees, a promoter's office, and Ticketmaster.

In this interactive activity, students will be led through steps to create and solve equations by identifying the appropriate mathematical operation. There are teaching activities as well as practice activities available. A handout that reviews the steps taught during the activity can be printed. After utilizing this resource, the students can complete the short quiz to assess their understanding.

The students will practice dribbling with their feet while working on spatial awareness and ball control. The students should have already been taught to look around while dribbling. They should be able to dribble without constantly looking down at their ball. All children will dribble at once so they need to look up and all around while dribbling so they don't bump into each other. 

At the Ft Lauderdale Aquatic Complex and International Swimming Hall of Fame, Penny and the KidVision VPK Kids learn how to be safe around water - and have fun at the same time!

Focusing on texting, the much-loved character Ruff Ruffman addresses some of the questions kids have about responsible use of technology and media use, in this animated video from RUFF RUFFMAN: HUMBLE MEDIA GENIUS. With his uniquely comical style, Ruff helps guide students in responsibly navigating this twenty-first-century skill. This resource is part of the RUFF RUFFMAN: HUMBLE MEDIA GENIUS Collection. This video can be played when introducing a lesson on how to identify, demonstrate, and apply personal safe use of digital devices.

Kathleen Morris has created and shared a classroom poster to prompt students as to what to do if they experience computer issues in the classroom. 

This is a free download and no sign-in is required. 

What is Cryptography? A story which takes us from Caesar to Claude Shannon. Created by Brit Cruise.

On the left side of the linked webpage, there are additional resources related to cryptology, including Caesar cipher, polyalphabetic cipher, and the Enigma machine.

The purpose of this activity is to teach students the various concepts they need to know and practice to perform a variety of static balances (tight muscles, symmetrical/non-symmetrical, inverted/upright, counterbalance/countertension).

This alignment results from the ALEX Health/PE COS Resource Alignment Summit.

Site or sight Write or right? Because there are many words in the English language that sound the same but are spelled differently, students may struggle to write the right spelling for certain words. These word types known to complicate spelling and vocabulary are called homophones. An integral part of students' vocabulary and spelling development is to learn and understand the meaning of these homophones. In this minilesson, students begin by generating a list of homophones with which they are familiar with. Students then listen to a song, identify homophones in the song, and discuss their meaning and spelling. Finally, student groups create a skit that depicts the meaning of a homophone. As the group performs the skit, their classmates attempt to guess the homophone that is on display. Groups finish the lesson by creating a comic strip version of their skit to be compiled into a class "homophone book."