Learning Activities

In this learning activity, students will learn how to find the components of a vector by subtracting the coordinates of an initial point from the coordinates of a terminal point. The students will be asked to consider the vector in the diagram of the teaching video. They will answer the following questions: What are the coordinates of the terminal point? What are the coordinates of the initial point? And what are the components of the vector? This learning activity can be used as a stand-alone activity or an introductory activity. 

This learning activity is a Google Slides presentation with an embedded video of actor Sean Astin reading A Bad Case of Stripes. Students will practice using academic vocabulary terms to identify plot elements in the picture book and complete a plot diagram.

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

In this learning activity, students will learn how to find the components of a vector by subtracting the coordinates of an initial point from the coordinates of a terminal point. This learning activity can be used as a stand-alone activity or a core lesson activity. Corresponding activities can be found in the Notes or Recommendations section.

This learning activity includes a prefix, root word, and suffix randomizer wheel created on Flippity. The teacher will share this resource with the students. Students will spin the wheel to create new words. Each word will have a prefix and suffix added to the root word. Many of the words will not make sense and that is why this activity is so fun! 

This resource was created as part of the ALEX Resource Development Summit. 

This activity is completed using Google Jamboard. The purpose of this assignment is to allow students to discover the affixes that affect the part of speech of a word. This would be a great opening lesson for a morphology lesson. 

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

The students will listen to a read-aloud of "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs," and jot down opinion sentences they hear as they listen. They will learn how to write strong introductions and conclusions for their paragraphs. They will write a paragraph summarizing the wolf's opinions in the book.

This resource was created in partnership with Dothan City Schools.

Students will locate new academic vocabulary terms in the paired reading Welcome to The Underworld after reading chapter 18 from The Lightning Thief. They will create a digital Frayer Model or handwrite the model in their composition notebooks for their selected top 3 most difficult vocabulary words from the list after they read the short story. As the students find the new vocabulary words, they will add them to the “Word Wall” for the week and write the words so all students can make sure they have the same vocabulary list. 

This resource was created in partnership with Dothan City Schools.

Students will use a graph created by using color theory and conflict resolution to solve a scheduling problem. They will provide an explanation for their reasoning.

In this learning activity, students will use a learning strategy for solving unit rate problems from the PBS video. In the accompanying classroom activity, students will solve each problem provided in the student assignment. The students will use a ratio to represent each situation and use division to find the unit rate. To get the most from the activity, students should be comfortable finding equivalent fractions and have had some exposure to the concepts of ratio and unit rate.

In this activity, students will use a teacher-provided menu and generate a list of a three-course meal with all possible combinations containing one appetizer, one main course, and one dessert.  The students will work individually to start the lesson and then move to partner work. The students will work with a partner to determine the best way to create a complete list and answer follow-up questions.  Finally, the students will be asked to use the Fundamental Counting Principle to determine the number of outcomes instead of making a list. This learning activity is intended to be a Before Activity prior to a lesson on the Fundamental Counting Principle.

In this activity, the teacher will introduce students to the video, "What Is a Syllable?" The teacher will discuss the different syllable patterns; closed, open, silent e, vowel team, r-controlled, and consonant-le. The teacher will explain how knowing the different syllable types help you know where words are divided. The teacher will use the Google Document, What Does the Syllable Part Spell? to help students to see the syllable division in multisyllabic words. 

This resource was created in partnership with Dothan City Schools.

Students will decipher between a fact and an opinion. They will do a warm-up activity to help them brainstorm things they like or dislike.  The teacher will highlight keywords to use when discussing opinions.

This resource was created in partnership with Dothan City Schools.

In the warm-up activity, students will read about Gavin and Chase, two students who disagree when they compare two 3-digit numbers. The students will decide who is correct and defend their thinking using their knowledge of place value and appropriate academic vocabulary.

In this activity, the teacher will begin with the video, Partition Shapes Into Equal Shares. The teacher will review the definition of partition, whole, equal shares, halves, thirds, and fourths. The teacher will use paper plates, construction paper, and card stock to demonstrate partitioning the whole into equal shares of halves, thirds, and fourths.  

This resource was created in partnership with Dothan City Schools.

During this learning activity, students will identify phonics skill-specific words in a passage and then get with a partner to read the passage to become more fluent in their reading. This learning activity can be used with any fluency passage that targets a specific skill. The digital resource attached to this activity has free r-controlled vowel passages available, but any skill-specific passage that is grade-level appropriate will work. 

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

This learning activity should be used at the beginning of a phonics/word study lesson. In this learning activity, students will use a Ten Frame to break a word into separate sounds and then write the sounds to correctly spell the word. This activity should be used with words less than 5 sounds and the words should all use the same skill. 

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

This learning activity should be used at the end of a word study/phonics lesson. In this learning activity, students will use their knowledge of phoneme-grapheme correspondences to write a short story about their favorite animal (or any topic chosen by the teacher).

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

Students will work to solve an open-ended multiplicative comparison task. They can use manipulatives as a hands-on introduction to the topic.  They will need to write equations and solve a word problem involving multiplicative comparison.

With the help of the school librarian, students will use a library database and search filters to locate a graphic text on a teacher-approved topic. They will engage with the graphic text in order to analyze and evaluate the information. Finally, they will record and share their analysis responses and textual evidence with the teacher using a digital document.

Students will reflect on their previous analysis of their chosen graphic text on the Graphic Texts in Action form and make a decision based on the information in the graphic text. They will verbally summarize the content of the graphic text to a small group in class. Other group members will use the Backward Note-Taking Strategy to make a decision based on the graphic text and summary of each group member. The group members will discuss each team member’s decision and compare and/or contrast it to their own until every group member has had a chance to share, summarize, predict, and compare or contrast decisions.  

In this learning activity, students will choose a key revolutionary leader from the American Revolution and research that leader. Using Canva or another graphic design platform, students will create an authentic-looking trading card of that person including his or her contributions to the American Revolution. It allows students to review material at the end of a unit of study.

Before students begin to search Alabama Virtual Library databases for both scholarly and popular sources, students need to know what a database is. In this activity, students will learn the definition of database and the characteristics of this type of search tool. They will also access Alabama Virtual Library to see the variety of databases within this free state resource.

Students will explore one or more databases within Alabama Virtual Library. They will look for accessibility features like audio and translation. They will also look for options for refining results such as source type, date, and subject and productivity features such as cite, email, print, and download.

After exploring one or more databases from Alabama Virtual Library, students will share features of the database(s) that they reviewed. Students will add to the class Jamboard so that all students can see the best features of each database. The teacher will lead a class discussion on the similarities and differences between the databases during which students may volunteer or be selected to demonstrate database features for the class.

Students will demonstrate their knowledge of aerobic and anaerobic exercises by completing a two-question pre-test. After the pre-test, the teacher will discuss the answers provided by the students and the main differences between the two types. A graphic organizer such as a Venn Diagram or a T-chart could be used to accommodate visual learners. By the end of the introduction, the students should understand that aerobic exercise uses oxygen and increases the heart rate and anaerobic exercise doesn’t use oxygen and is high intensity, but that both types are important in how the heart performs and strengthens the body.

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.

The students will participate in aerobic and anaerobic exercises. They will record their heart rates before and after the exercises and record the data. They will evaluate their body’s responses to the exercises and analyze the differences in how they feel in each round. The students will be able to easily explain why they would categorize the exercises into aerobic or anaerobic types and explain how the exercise affected their cardiovascular system.

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.

The students will analyze the heart rate data they recorded during exercises to compare and contrast aerobic and anaerobic exercises. They will create a double bar graph to visually represent the data. The students will reflect on their performance of the exercises. Finally, they will develop an appropriate workout plan with balanced aerobic and anaerobic exercises.

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 provides resources meant to engage and inform students about the importance of teamwork in everyday life as well as academic life. Students will be shown a short video to spark a discussion about the benefits of working collaboratively with fellow peers to accomplish a goal. Students will communicate key ideas from their discussion using a digital tool selected by the teacher.

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.

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 is designed to help students learn and understand what a claim is and what evidence is. Students will collaborate to create a definition for both claim and for evidence. The teacher will assist students in solidifying their understanding of each term.

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

This activity is designed to get students thinking about the ways we use informational media to support arguments and make claims. In this activity, students will analyze infographical information to determine what claim is being made with the evidence provided. Students will have previously built a definition of claims and evidence to transfer to this activity.

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

This activity is designed to challenge students to find a claim and evidence within a graphic data set. Students will previously have learned about claims and evidence and will use this activity as a way to show that they can identify them within a set of data. Teachers are welcome to present any argument, but the chosen resource argues around cell phone use in school making it relatable to today's students.

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

In this learning activity, students will be introduced to information regarding electronic cigarettes and vaping by answering Fact or Myth questions. Students will indicate their answers using whiteboards or by hand-raising. The teacher will be able to use student responses to gauge their understanding about the effects of electronic cigarettes and vaping on respiratory health. 

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

Students will complete a guided research activity about electronic cigarettes and vaping and their effects on the respiratory system. Students will read and take notes on two articles retrieved from the Alabama Virtual Library. After taking notes, students will organize the information according to Statistics, Health Effects, Pros and Cons (related to conventional cigarette smokers), and Other Information. 

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