Learning Activities

In this lesson, students will use an online spinner to explore theoretical and experimental probabilities. Students will also make predictions and support their reasoning before completing a probability experiment. Then students will design a spinner where all the sections are not uniform. To be able to compare results, the only variable changed is the size of the sections. Students will express probability results in both percent and fraction forms. Finally, students will reflect on a simulation of a given event.

What's the Chance Activity Page

Students will use ReadWorks to read two articles and discuss that there are many different kinds of living things and that they exist in different places on land and in water. The students will create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast water and land animals.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

After students have had a lesson on the "Super 3!" research method and how to maneuver the Alabama Virtual Library site, students will complete a shared research activity answering the essential question: How do animals adapt to the area in which they live? The teacher will model how to research using the PebbleGo database from the Alabama Virtual Library.  Finally, students will complete an extension activity where they will research a specific animal and how it survives in its own habitat.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

In this activity, students will use keyword searches in Pebble Go to research a chosen animal and curate information about that animal. The information will be collected on a note-taking graphic organizer.  The students will record four facts about their animal. Students will choose 2 favorite facts from the four they curated.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

In this learning activity, students will watch a video about Google Assistant. In this video, students will witness artificial intelligence being used via Google Assistant to call a salon to book an appointment for a client. Students will then use an artificial intelligence-generated text-to-voice website to create an audio file of their own.   

This lesson should be used at the end of a poetry unit or lesson. Students will use technology tools, including the internet, word processing tools, and Canva to produce a page of original poetry which will be published in a collaborative e-book. 

This activity was created as a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

This activity is for a virtual hundreds chart puzzle game.  Students can use the puzzle to explore number patterns within 100, finding 10 more, 10 less, 1 more, and 1 less of a given number. This activity will be best used after students are familiar with a hundreds chart.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

Molly's More or Less Quest is an interactive game that reads students a short word problem and asks the student to tell if the numbers are less than, greater than, or equal to that are given in the word problem. The numbers are visually displayed. When a student hovers over the word it also reads the word to them before clicking.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS Resource Development Summit.

This culminating activity will assess students' ability to describe the importance of their role as a team member. Students will reference real-world scenarios from their lives, to illustrate and explain how vital teamwork is in the community. Students will use a digital tool to develop an informational writing product.

This learning activity was created as a result of the Girls Engaged in Math and Science (GEMS) Resource Development Project, in partnership with Dothan City Schools.

This activity will guide students through a discussion of why, how and when passwords are used to protect individual privacy, how to create strong passwords, and who to share passwords with. The activity will also show students how they can adjust their privacy settings on their online accounts.  After the presentation and discussion, students will practice what they have learned by playing “InterLand,” an online game resource that is part of the “Be Internet Awesome with Google” digital citizenship curriculum, designed for students in grades 3-6. The “Tower of Treasure” learning game focuses on protecting privacy and creating strong passwords.

This activity was created as a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

This activity provides the students with a visual description of the four types of chemical reactions using cartoon illustrations and then allows them time to interact with their peers so they will understand the components of each reaction. Students will also create a flip-book for the following reactions: synthesis, decomposition, single, and double replacement in order to describe the conservation of mass. Finally, students will use a digital tool to produce a "Cartoon Chemistry" artifact which will allow them to demonstrate their understanding of chemical reactions.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

While students are in pairs and without being able to see each other, student 1 designs and provides oral instructions to student 2 in order for student 2 to recreate a shape and/or structure only student 1 can see. Student 2 can ask clarifying questions, but that is all. This activity builds skills in sequencing, classifying, sorting, orientation, and relative position of objects. It also builds listening skills for oral comprehension and asking and answering concise questions.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

Following their research into the positive and negative effects of cell phone usage in schools, students will read a brief article that shares recommendations for healthy habits for young people with phones. Students will create a Public Service Announcement promoting healthy habits for peers. This Public Service Announcement will be shared with peers. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

This learning activity may be used before a lesson on Democracy to engage students in the principles of American democracy. It may be used around some holidays or celebrations such as Constitution Day.

This learning activity explores the chronological life of Benjamin Franklin. Students will read along with the Educator via the website about Franklin's life. Students will choose a year and research what happened during that year and report their findings to the class. The entire class will create a talking timeline that chronicles the life of Benjamin Franklin.

This activity is a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the concept of coding through unplugged activities that require students to (1) give directions, (2) listen and follow directions, and (3) understand and apply knowledge of directional vocabulary such as right, left, up, down, in, out, above, and below. Through the unplugged coding activity, students will create an algorithm, or sequence steps, to complete a maze to gain the skills of completing a task by breaking down a task into smaller steps.The connection with computer coding with the activity is to introduce students to the concept that computers follow directions just as we do. We can use code to communicate with a computer in order to give it directions to complete a task. Through a discussion on how a computer understands the code, students can relate the way a computer understands code to how they understood the directions given to them during the activity to complete the maze.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS Resource Development Summit.

Your ship is damaged and must rely on mission control to lead you on a rescue mission to save one of your astronauts. Students will design the game board, create the instructions (algorithm), look for mistakes (debug), and finally run the mission (program) to save the astronaut. Resources such as a blank game board, instructions, task cards, and debriefing and reflection sheets provided.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

In this activity, students will create equivalent expressions using an online tool. Students are provided two expressions and asked to find the value of the variable to make the two expressions equal. Then, students are provided an expression and a value of the variable and asked to generate a different expression equal to the original expression. Through the online digital tool, students are able to substitute values and develop strategies for creating equivalent expressions. This provides a great opportunity for students to investigate how to solve problems using multiple methods.

Balancing Act Student Response Page

Students will participate in online conversations using a video conferencing tool to share the class' top ten book recommendations. Each class will begin by taking turns sharing their number ten book with a one-minute explanation of the key ideas of the book using illustrations or details in the text, then share number nine in the list and so on, until they reach the top book of their class. 

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

In this activity, students will use De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, a problem-solving process, to discuss and evaluate the United States’ decision to use atomic weapons on Japan during World War II. This activity will allow students to think critically about this big decision while looking at it through a multitude of perspectives. By the end of this activity, the students will come to a decision as to what they would have done if they were to make this difficult decision.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

In this learning activity, students learn about artificial intelligence and how it is being used in real-world applications. They are introduced to IBM's Watson and watch Star Wars footage as they are reminded of creative ways artificial intelligence has been used in movies. Students are asked to brainstorm ways they use artificial intelligence in their daily activities.

This online article and infographic from the Institute of Public Speaking explains the components involved in active listening, an important skill for students to develop when communicating and collaborating.

Use of this tool will serve as an aid in helping students to meet Alabama's Course of Study standards for locating, recalling, curating, and correctly summarizing information while also learning about the components of active listening.

This activity is a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

This activity will allow students to explore and examine the efficiency of Henry Ford's assembly line in a way that is hands-on and interactive. Students will be competing against one another to see if it is more efficient to create paper airplanes individually or by using the assembly line method. 

This Digital Breakout is a perfect way to enhance a unit of study with animal standards for grades 3-5. It can be used before or after a unit of study or a field trip to the Birmingham Zoo. Students will work creatively and collaboratively to solve academic puzzles to unlock an answer. Academic puzzles are centered around a variety of Course of Study standards that engage students through the Breakout process. This activity can be done as a whole group for students that are not familiar with the Digital Breakout process. This activity can be done in small groups in grades 2-5 with students that are familiar with the Digital Breakout process.  

This Learning Activity was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo. 

Students will read about the life cycle of a butterfly and moth. Students will discuss the unique characteristics of each stage of the life cycle. Students will then use algorithms to code robots through the various stages of the life cycle of a butterfly. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

This authentic learning activity gives students the opportunity to become a news anchor or journalist. Students will choose any significant scene from a story/drama and present the plot/scene as a breaking news story. This activity can be used as an after activity after reading a drama, short story, or novel. It will also work great with major events in history or discoveries in science. Students will use a graphic organizer to guide them as they create their breaking news story. Students can have voice and choice and may use any medium (newspaper article, a radio announcement, or news report) to share the details and analysis of characters.

This activity was created as a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

Students will collect and analyze data from the website, Broadband Now, to understand that not everyone has the same level of access to technology in the U.S. based on their geographic location. Data will be collected for each U.S. state and discussed with a partner and the whole class.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

This learning activity allows students to explore exciting places online while emphasizing the importance of following certain rules to remain safe. Students will take a virtual field trip and discuss the safety rules for traveling online and in the real world. Students will learn that being a good digital citizen includes knowing the rules to work safely.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will review content that should not be shared online. Students will then create a digital portfolio to be published online so that the student is in control of the information tied to his/her identity.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

This lesson looks at a valid print source, valid Internet source, and an example of fake news. Students will learn how to differentiate between real and fake news in preparation for research.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

This activity will introduce students to researching using basic keyword searches with digital tools. The students will research animals on Pebble Go accessed through the Alabama Virtual Library. Throughout the activity, the teacher will model DLCS 2.12 - Conduct basic keyword searches to gather information.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

The Illuminations tool, Product Game, is an excellent resource for students to gain a deeper understanding of factors and multiples. This tool challenges students to make offensive and defensive moves to obtain four products in a row by selecting factors ranging from one to nine. The challenge comes when one of the factors must be from your opponent’s last move. Students can either play against the computer or with a partner in their class.

GCF Venn Diagrams

Product Game Reflection

In this learning activity, students will watch small video clips similar to text-to-speech technology. This video shows artificial intelligence-generated sound clips that have been matched to each short video clip. Students will try to guess which audio clip is real and which one has been artificially generated. 

Thinglink is a digital resource that provides click-and-learn tags within images and video to enhance learning and take it beyond the textbook or classroom walls!

Students can use this specific Thinglink as a digital source to meet the Alabama Course of Study standards for gathering and recalling relevant information, paraphrasing and creating grammatically correct content, and giving proper credit to digital sources. 

This activity is a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

Google Drawings is a tool that allows students to be creative in sharing what they know. Students will use Google Drawings to create a word cloud of words chosen by the teacher. These words will come from sight words and spelling words that follow a phonetic pattern. It is available on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will test their problem-solving skills in this NASA Pipeline Challenge. In this activity, students will work in groups of ten to test their ability to use communication positively to contribute collaboratively to a team goal. Give each participant one short length of half pipe and challenge the group to deliver a ball down the pipeline from the starting point to the finish line. A successful pipeline team-building activity requires participating groups to exercise excellent communication, creativity, and teamwork. This activity can be used as a culminating lesson to assess students’ understanding of the relationship between the speed of an object to the energy of that object or as a team-building exercise. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the Girls Engaged in Math and Science (GEMS) Resource Development Project, in partnership with Dothan City Schools.