Classroom Resources

Learn why protecting your information online is crucial with this video from the NOVA Cybersecurity Lab. The Internet was originally designed to connect large computers at universities, businesses, and governments. It grew exponentially once personal computers became common in the 1980s. Connecting to the Internet leaves computers vulnerable. People can use computers to delete data, spread viruses, or even steal someone’s identity. The good news is that there are several ways to stay safe online. You can learn about protecting information by trying coding, password cracking, and spotting email scams in NOVA’s Cybersecurity Lab. This video includes a student viewing guide to promote discussion.

Digital storytelling is one of the greatest ways to share and present your story using a variety of media to enhance it. Digital stories can include images, photos, audio, and video. Your task in this Thing is to research digital story examples and think about the story you want to tell. You will also begin to think about the media you might want to use.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

When you have completed this activity you will:

1. know and use a process for creating a digital story [Innovative Designer]
2. be able to select and use the appropriate digital tool(s) [Digital Citizen, Empowered learner]
3. understand how to use a Storyboard to build and organize your story elements [Computational Thinker]
4. participate in constructive peer feedback to improve the end product to be shared [Creative Communicator]

5. create an original story with different media elements [Knowledge Constructor]

This TED-Ed learning activity guides students through understanding the importance of positive sleep habits.

In the United States, it’s estimated that 30 percent of adults and 66 percent of adolescents are regularly sleep-deprived. This isn’t just a minor inconvenience: staying awake can cause serious bodily harm. Claudia Aguirre shows what happens to your body and brain when you skip sleep.

The activity includes a video, multiple choice and open-ended questions, additional resources to dig deeper, and a guided discussion.

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

The focus is on how physical exercise conditions the heart, lungs, and muscles. Students learn to differentiate between aerobic exercises that provide cardiorespiratory benefits and those that do not. They also learn about the importance of muscular endurance and strength as components of fitness.

Learning Goals:
1. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the importance and benefits of a good workout by answering questions correctly during the "Fitness Monopoly" activity.
2. Students will participate in a workout consisting of a warm-up, a workout, and a cool down.

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

Students can improve their comprehension of content area textbooks by summarizing chapters in the form of magazine covers. The lesson begins by asking students to examine a magazine and discuss the ways in which the magazine cover's headlines and graphics express the main ideas of its articles. They then review a chapter in a content area textbook and use an interactive tool to create a magazine cover that summarizes the textbook information. This process enables students to form connections and create visual representations to share information. Although the focus is on informational texts, this assignment could potentially be expanded to include other types of text as well.

This lesson introduces the process the class will use to design games for the remainder of the unit. The class walks through this process in a series of levels. As part of this lesson the class also briefly learns to use multi-frame animations in the Game Lab. At the end of the lesson, they have an opportunity to make improvements to the game to make it their own.

Note: You will need to create a free account on code.org before you can view this resource.

In this video, learn how to use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance between two points on a coordinate grid. In the accompanying classroom activity, students apply what they learned in the video as they solve similar problems and discuss solution strategies. To get the most from this lesson, students should be comfortable using the Pythagorean Theorem to find an unknown side of a right triangle, graphing points on the coordinate plane, and finding the distance between points with the same x- or y- values.

Learn how to identify different types of conflict in literature in this animated video from WNET. This resource provides instruction in identifying internal and external conflict. 

This is the first of several video lessons in which students construct quadratic functions to represent various situations. Here they investigate the movement of free-falling objects. Students analyze the vertical distances that falling objects travel over time and see that they can be described by quadratic functions. They use tables, graphs, and equations to represent and make sense of the functions. In subsequent lessons, students build on the functions developed here to represent projectile motions, providing a context to develop an understanding of the zeros, vertex, and domain of quadratic functions.

To express the relationship between distance and time, students need to see regularity in numerical values and express that regularity (MP8).

The information provided in this classroom resource is about how to identify note intervals on the staff. It covers basic, inverted, compounded, augmented, and diminished intervals. It includes audio examples and links to exercises.

In this lesson, students will feel the temperature change that occurs when a cold pack and a hot pack are activated. They will see that these temperature changes are due to a solid substance dissolving in water. Students will then compare the temperature changes that occur as four different solutes dissolve in water and classify these as either endothermic or exothermic. Students will be introduced to the concept that it takes energy to break bonds and energy is released when bonds are formed during the process of dissolving.

Students will be able to identify variables in an experiment to find out how much the temperature increases or decreases as each of the four solutes dissolves in water. Students will be able to correctly classify the process of dissolving as either exothermic or endothermic for each solute. Students will be able to explain that the temperature changes in dissolving are a result of the amount of energy released compared to the amount of energy used as “bonds” are formed and broken.

This novice low French activity guides students through a series of greetings and introductions. Students start with a warm up that asks them to create a conversation using a series of pre-printed cards. Once students decide the correct order of the cards they are to act out the conversation presented on the cards. Students are then asked to each select a card that identifies the role they will play in the activity. Pretending to be the person on the card, students will move around the room introducing themselves and greeting others. Students are also given the opportunity to select a 'time of day' card to indicate whether the conversation should take place in the morning, noon, or evening. This allows students to vary their conversations as they move around the room. As an extension activity, teachers can demonstrate proper gestures used in greetings and have students include these in their conversations.

This printable Spanish poster is a unique way to reinforce emotions and feelings in novice low to novice mid-Spanish language classrooms. Teachers can choose to print a copy for each student or print a large copy and display it as a poster in the classroom. This poster allows students to reinforce vocabulary while seeing how the verbs ser and estar work in context, comparing these to the way the verb 'to be' is used in English. Students can use this resource to vary their responses when asked 'How are you?'

This is a novice mid to novice high ASL activity in which students describe clothing worn by others. Students start with a fashion show as each student takes turns describing the outfit of another. This can be kept simple, describing what students are wearing at school or students can plan more elaborate outfits. If time allows, give students a bag of inexpensive supplies and ask them to create an outfit in 30 minutes or less. After the fashion show, students play a game similar to the board game Guess Who. Students describe the outfit worn by one person as well as their physical characteristics to see if their partner can guess who they are describing. Note: This lesson was prepared originally to be completed in a virtual environment with students using breakout rooms online. The activities can easily be replicated in the face-to-face classroom.

This intermediate mid to intermediate-high Spanish activity challenges students to consider what commercialization is doing to historically cultural sites throughout South America. Students start by reading a short article and watching a video about Machu Picchu and UNESCO's attempt to help preserve the important cultural area. Comprehension questions are provided so that students can check their understanding of the resources. Students are then asked to work in groups to research another city or monument that is in danger of commercialization. They then write a paragraph about the resources available to help limit the negative effects of tourism at these locations.

This novice high to intermediate low French activity allows students to reinforce food vocabulary while listening to an authentic resource. The featured artist, Nino Ferrer, is originally from Italy but moved to France where he gained popularity. This activity starts with preliminary questions before having students listen for lyrics that are missing in the provided cloze activity. Students then respond to comprehension questions that are posted on the included pdf worksheet. Finally, students participate in an interpersonal conversation about a picnic, using some of the vocabulary they gained from the song.

This activity is useful for intermediate Spanish learners but can be very beneficial to heritage language learners as well.  The poem presented in the lesson is a bridge between two languages. Students whose native language is Spanish and who are English language learners will be able to experience the languages together in one poem. Students whose native language is not Spanish but is other than English will experience a model for writing from their own complex identities in two languages. The activity includes a detailed explanation of the lesson preparation as well as step-by-step instructions for guiding students through the activities and optional extensions. Students begin by writing about someone or something they miss. Intermediate-level Spanish students should write in Spanish. Students will then read and listen to the poem before participating in a group discussion that ties the poem to their original work.

Many teachers don’t know where to begin with PE activities and what needs to be covered. For healthy physical bodies, agility, balance, and coordination (ABC’s) are three fundamental abilities that need to be developed. These activities include cooperative skills where students must work and engage with other students.

This resource includes activity ideas using graphics and video links. This resource includes a link to purchase more activities, however, this site is free and includes many valuable learning activities. 

CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) developed this presentation to educate youth on e-cigarettes, including the health risks, the factors that lead to e-cigarette use, and what youth can do to avoid all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. This resource is intended for adults who educate or serve youth ages 11 – 18 (teachers, youth ministers, coaches, scout leaders, etc.). Utilizing the talking points and information for users document, the presenter does not require additional information, nor permission to deliver the presentation.

This novice high to intermediate low Spanish activity provides several examples of native speakers discussing their favorite foods. Students are asked to gather information from authentic resources, focusing specifically on the names of dishes, ingredients, the origin of the dishes, and other pertinent information. As an extension students can use the information to create a written or oral presentation comparing the foods from the video with their own favorite foods. Students can also discuss their favorite foods with classmates in an effort to enhance interpersonal communication skills.

This novice high to intermediate low Spanish listening activity requires students to listen to a heritage speaker from El Salvador as she describes her childhood. Students interpret the information provided, specifically paying attention to the authentic use of the Spanish past tenses.  Students are asked to watch the video three times. The first time, they are encouraged to identify key vocabulary. The second time, they are to discuss a summary of the video with partners and after the third, they are to ask each other questions.

This intermediate-low to intermediate-high Spanish language activity focuses on interpersonal conversations as students discuss various celebrations and dating tips. Some cultural aspects are introduced but the focus is primarily on target language conversation. This activity includes a warm-up, main activity, and wrap-up. Included resources are printable vocab cards needed for the warm-up, question cards to keep students on task and engaged, and a Google slide presentation that will guide the teacher and students through the activity.

A wave is energy in motion or energy moving from point to point. To describe the traits of a wave, there are a few terms you need to know.

Students will choose a term in the activity to display its description in the diagram.

This Custom Polygraph is designed to spark vocabulary-rich conversations about transformation. Key vocabulary that may appear in student questions includes translation, rotation, reflection, dilation, scale factor, pre-image, and image. In the early rounds of the game, students may notice graph features from the list above, even though they may not use those words to describe them. After most students have played 2-3 games, consider taking a short break to discuss strategy, highlight effective questions, and encourage students in their use of increasingly precise academic language. This activity should be used to help teach a lesson on transformations. This Desmos activity offers sample student responses and a teacher guide.

Learn about Multiple Sclerosis or MS. Kerrie Giesen, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, describes what MS is and how to work with it using adaptive equipment for the best quality of life.

Students will be placed into diverse teams to develop a recreational game. The project will take place over a six-week period, with each individual week designated for separate smaller projects, each with specific learning objectives and outcomes.

This Chinese lesson revolves around the novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, an English language novel that children learning Chinese will find exciting and culturally relevant to their language studies. While the posted age maybe elementary school, this unit is especially useful for intermediate high Chinese language learners, even in high school. After reading the children's novel in Chinese (available for purchase at online retail sites), students can identify how the book illustrates the themes of courage and generosity. Following the activities (using Chinese in class rather than English) students will create their own personal narrative in the target language.

Cigarettes aren’t good for us. That’s hardly news -- we’ve known about the dangers of smoking for decades. But how exactly do cigarettes harm us, and can our bodies recover if we stop? Krishna Sudhir details what happens when we smoke -- and when we quit.

This Latin activity offers 5 warm-up style discussion activities encouraging students to talk about Roman culture as it relates to the role of gladiators. Some of the discussion activities have links to photos of graffiti discovered on ancient ruins while others provide a textual reference of graffiti uncovered by archeologists. Students are asked to interact with the text/graffiti as they discuss the translations uncovered by archeologists and discuss how each relates to the gladiator games.

In this intermediate low to intermediate-high Spanish activity, upper-level Spanish students select a children's story to read to an elementary-aged classroom. After selecting their story students work in groups to create a lesson in which they teach 10-15 vocabulary words, read their chosen story, and lead the elementary children in a short activity based on the story. This activity assists students in achieving community standards by creating a community-wide event that promotes the target culture.

This resource provides 12 separate video clips of French speakers, each of which illustrates comparative phrases throughout the conversations. Students use interpretive listening skills to identify main ideas and examine how comparatives and superlatives are formed and used through these authentic resources. The videos were prepared for intermediate and advanced level learners but could be used with novice learners as a way to introduce them to authentic language. Each video clip provides a French-language transcript and links to grammar reviews and activities for the concepts that are heard in the clip. The concepts covered include: comparisons with adjectives, superlatives with adjectives, bon/meilleur vs. bien/mieux

John Green covers the long, long history of ancient Egypt, including the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, and even a couple of intermediate periods. Learn about mummies, pharaohs, pyramids, and the Nile with John.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

An element is as simple as it gets: substances that cannot be broken down into simpler substances. When elements get together and mix chemically, they make compounds, like water and salt!

The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the difference between elements and mixtures. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.

You see it all over the aisles of the grocery store…. “whole grain”, “gluten-free”, “non-GMO”. But how much weight do these health claims really carry?

That was the question my students set out to answer as they began a new project analyzing the health claims made on packaged foods.

The purpose of this activity is to review or introduce personal safety concepts in a variety of areas common to the lives of students.