Lesson Plans

This lesson will allow students to gather evidence to better understand how plants and animals provide for themselves by altering the environment. Students will observe plants and animals. Students will discuss their findings with group members. The students will write or draw about their findings. After writing with their group members, students will produce and present their knowledge to the class via Chatterpix.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

This lesson will demonstrate that in order to find the coordinates of the special angles on the unit circle, students will need a knowledge of the first quadrant angles only. Students will use special right triangle relationships for 30° - 60° -90° or 45° - 45° - 90° triangles to find the first quadrant coordinate values. These values will then be reflected across the x- and y-axis to locate the coordinates in the remaining quadrants. Students will also convert the angle measurements from units in degrees to units in radians.  They will become familiar with finding angles in the quadrants by using reference angles (π-x, π+x. 2π-x).

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

This lesson is an introduction to the concept of light sources (both natural and man-made), as well as levels of light (bright, dim, dark, pitch black). Students will explore these concepts through a children’s literature read-aloud, discussion of personal experiences, brainstorming and sorting activities (with optional technology use), and hands-on activities with lightboxes. Students conclude with a narrative writing assignment. This lesson can be divided and taught over the course of several days, or integrated into multiple subject areas (reading, science, and writing blocks) as time permits.  

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

The lesson will introduce the concept of a matrix. The matrix is labeled by its rows and columns. This lesson will teach the concept of adding, subtracting, scalar multiplication, and multiplication of matrices. This lesson will be a prerequisite for solving systems of equations with matrices.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

This lesson is designed to teach students to measure angles with a protractor. The student will be taught how to read the protractor correctly by using either the top or bottom set of numbers. The lesson will reinforce classifying angles as acute, right, and obtuse. The student will sketch angles given a specified measure.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

This lesson will use the process of inverse operations to solve formulas for a given variable. Some formulas will not be recognized by the student. The actual formula is not important, but the variables are.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

This lesson will use the substitution property to determine solutions to equations and inequalities. The students will be given a replacement set of values. The student will check the values to determine if the result is true or false. The values that are true will be the solution. The student will graph the inequality solutions on the number line.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

This lesson is designed to teach the students that some quadratic equations will have imaginary solutions. The lesson will examine the concept of complex numbers in terms i. The student will use the quadratic formula to solve the equations and write the the solutions in the form a +bi.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

The lesson will make the connection between isolating a guilty person in a “who-dun-it” with isolating a given variable in an equation. In addition, this lesson will involve students creating a list of procedures to use when solving for a given variable. At this time it is not necessary for students to know the formal names for the properties. It is important for students to understand the concepts and take part in creating a set of procedures for isolating a variable and solving equations.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Are cell phones really safe for humans to use frequently? In this mock trial lesson, students will use claim, evidence, and reasoning to construct a scientific argument on the safety of the electromagnetic waves involved in cell phone technology. During the lesson process, students will hold a “trial” and each individual student will construct their own written “verdict” based on the evidence presented at the mock trial.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

At the turn of the 20th century, illiteracy was common across the United States. Percentages ranged from 10-30%, depending on location. Rural Alabama suffered from a high illiteracy rate. During this lesson, students will read and analyze primary documents that focus on the importance of literacy for Alabamian soldiers - LIT2010 (6-8)(2 & 7). Students will create a propaganda poster that asks citizens to do their part [SS2010 (6)(3)] in changing the culture of Alabama illiteracy and for teaching  Alabama soldiers that literacy is a powerful weapon [SS2010 (6)(1)].

This lesson was created in partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

James Reese Europe was an "accomplished orchestra conductor, bandleader, and composer of popular songs, marches and dance music during the early twentieth century...Europe was an effective champion of African-American musical performers and composers and helped to gain acceptance for them in the United States and abroad." Born in Mobile, Alabama, Europe accomplished much in his brief lifetime and deserves a place in every study of World War I.

Students will annotate a biography of James Reese Europe and analyze two photographs of the orchestra Reese led across France. Students will view a documentary film of Europe and his "Hellfighter" orchestra as they fought, performed, and received medals for their efforts during the war.

As a culminating activity on the second day, students will write a eulogy for Europe detailing his role as a leader in Jazz and as an African American officer.  

This lesson was created in partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

HyperSlides are digital lessons/units that help students learn the material in a way that is engaging and inquiry-based. Students will work together to complete a HyperSlides unit centering around animal adaptations for standards in grades 3-5. Students will work creatively and collaboratively with a variety of Course of Study standards that engage students through using Google Slides and Hyperlinks to assist in the understanding of animal adaptations. This project will take several class periods to complete. After an introduction to the Hyperslides, students are encouraged to work at their own pace, but Hyperslides can be assigned on a daily basis.

This Lesson Plan was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo.

This is a multi-session interactive lesson plan about animal adaptations for kindergarten through second-grade students. The goal of this interactive digital lesson plan is to guide students through activities that help them understand how characteristics such as body covering, body parts, and behaviors help animals survive. These lesson plans also build cooperation and communication skills for students. There are additional resources provided for the teacher to use before or after using the HyperDoc. 

This Lesson Plan was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo.

Students will be guided through a review of the special angles on the unit circle in degree measures.  They will use a circle/paper plate and paper strips to measure and mark these special angles.  Students will be introduced to the definition of a radian and will discover the number of radians in a circle as well as the measures of the special angles in radian measure.  The students will find the formulas for converting degrees to radians and radians to degrees.  They will then use these formulas to convert angles from degrees to radians and from radians to degrees.  

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Students will examine and evaluate both college and high school students' support of and involvement in the World Wars. Students will research both photographic and textual resources in order to produce factual information about how students reacted to World Wars 1 and 2. This lesson will culminate in a student-driven Socratic Seminar-style discussion which will allow the students to verbally articulate their findings from the resources provided.

This lesson was created in partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

This lesson is an introduction to Binomial Expansion and the Binomial Theorem. Students begin by expanding binomials using multiplication. They will examine the expansions looking for patterns. These patterns will be used to develop the Binomial Theorem. Both Pascal's Triangle and Combinations will be used to complete the Binomial Expansion.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

In this lesson, students are asked to provide a written description of both an exponential function and its inverse. They are then introduced to the logarithmic function and will practice writing exponential functions as logarithms and logarithms as exponential functions. Students will evaluate logarithmic expressions and will solve logarithmic equations.

This lesson results from the ALEX Gap Resource Project.

Throughout this lesson, students will discover how the lens in your eye helps focus light. First, students will discuss the parts of the eye and how these parts work together to allow us to see. Then, students will use a clear plastic bag filled with water to create a model of an eyeball to investigate how the lens in your eye helps focus light.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

This is an inquiry-based lesson that allows students to investigate different ways animals receive information through the senses, process that information, and respond to it.  Students will place earthworms in a lighted area and see if they move toward a dark environment or stay in the lighted environment.  Students will observe the behavior of the earthworms and use data from the investigation to conclude how an earthworm uses its senses to affect its behavior. 

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Students will discover how plants, animals, and fungi are all interconnected in a giant web.  They will construct a model of a food chain to explain that energy in animals' food is used to sustain life.  They will also acknowledge that all food chains start with energy from the sun.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

In this activity, students will model how the directness of sunlight affects the heating of Earth’s atmosphere at the equator. Students will demonstrate that Earth’s shape has a direct effect on the unequal heating of the atmosphere. The students will discover how the tilt of Earth’s axis affects the amount of sunlight that reaches different regions of the earth’s surface thus causing different seasons.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

After reading, What if You Had Animal Ears? by Sandra Markle, students will plan, design, and create bat-like ears from various materials for a STEM challenge. Students will test their models and redesign them to improve the effectiveness of their models to increase their own ability to hear by mimicking the external parts of a bat's ear. The students will measure and collect data from tests and compare results between the design and the redesign. This lesson can be completed in two 45 minute sessions or one 90 minute session. 

This lesson plan was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo. 

This lesson will focus on American symbols. Students will identify American symbols and explain how they represent the United States of America. Symbols include the Liberty Bell, Bald Eagle, Statue of Liberty, United States Flag, Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. Students will work in pairs and conduct research about American symbols and create a digital story about a symbol of their choosing.

This lesson was created as part of a collaboration between Alabama Technology in Motion and ALEX.

Each student becomes an expert on a natural disaster, investigating and discovering how they can prepare for it.  Students initially create traditional motivational posters using paper, pencils, markers, and crayons.  Then, students create an electronic version to motivate others to prepare for natural disasters.  Next, students create storyboards/scripts and digital stories on a natural disaster of their choosing to inform others of ways to prepare for natural disasters. 

This lesson was created as part of a collaboration between Alabama Technology in Motion and ALEX.  

Imagine if the world as you know it never changed. Students will embark on a journey back in time and research what life in Alabama looked like in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Students will compare and contrast the information they research with their present-day lives. Students will then identify how technological advancements changed life for Alabamians and reflect on how they feel their life would be today if things never changed. Students will create an Adobe Express digital story to communicate their researched information and personal reflections.

This resource was created as a result of the Alabama Technology in Motion Partnership.

Students will use the free online coding program, Scratch, to learn the basics of coding and how to use blocks and animations to create an animated animal. Students will show how an animated animal will receive, process, and respond to information using its senses. The students will go through a series of coding steps to create a background and make an animal move and change according to factors in its environment.

This lesson plan was created as a result of the Girls Engaged in Math and Science, GEMS Project.

This lesson provides a formative assessment of previously mastered concepts and skills. Students in the Health Science Internship Course or completing the Certified Patient Care Technician or Certified Nursing Assistant training programs should be proficient in analyzing a patient encounter as well as applying skills and knowledge to formulate a plan. Students will complete a pre-learning activity and pre-briefing before the simulation experience. A structured debriefing follows the simulation experience and serves as a formative assessment. This lesson will focus on standard and transmission-based precautions as well as communication skills.  

This lesson is part of the Nurse Aide Training or Patient Care Technician Course. Students will be able to proficiently perform height and weight measurement skills as outlined by the Nurse Aide or Patient Care Technician Certification. Students will also understand the importance of assessing and analyzing these measurements. This lesson plan could also be used to teach Course of Study Standard #1 in the Health Science Internship Course.

Students will learn about Zora Neale Hurston at the beginning of a unit on Their Eyes Were Watching God. Using the essay "How it Feels to be Colored Me," students will discuss the use of metaphors in correlation to Hurston's life. Students will also construct a poem using metaphors about their own lives. 

This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

This lesson provides a review of evaluating functions and finding function rules as well as an introduction to the composition of functions. The review is accomplished through the use of an online exploration using a function machine. The idea of a function machine is also used to explain the composition of functions. Instruction is provided in finding the composition using several different representations of functions (input/output tables, graphs, and function rules). 

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

This lesson will lead students on a guided discovery to find the inverse of a function given the graph or a table of values. Students will relate the inverse of a graph to finding the reflection of the graph over the line y=x. They will identify characteristics of functions whose inverses are also functions (One-to-One Functions) and will be introduced to the horizontal line test. Students will also apply their knowledge of a graph to a table of values to determine if the table represents a One-to-One Function.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.