Students consult primary and secondary sources to identify the events leading to Abraham Lincoln's assassination and consider whether his assassination was avoidable.

This professional development course consists of a series of workshops focused on NGSS-aligned & local phenomenon-centered curriculum, developed by IslandWood with funding from the OSPI ClimeTime Grant. It is currently structured to be delivered online and for Upper Elementary (3-5) educators. A slide deck and accompanying handouts are available to complement the course outline. 

This worksheet poses a number of sharing scenarios to which users need to propose their best selection of options for sharing. There are no right or wrong answers, but rather an opportunity to start conversations about how, where and why they might share their work with the world.

In this fun activity, students and teachers will watch short clips and try to decide what will happen next. The purpose of this activity is to build speaking skills as well as vocabulary.

What if there were no bees? How would it affect our grassland animals? How would it affect humans? This book offers insight into the problems that countless animals and plants face with the potential loss of the bees. Discover just how important this tiny species is to the food web of this ecosystem.Grade Level: 3rd-5thLexile Level: 890LGuided Reading Level: NGenre: Nonfiction

The growing number of electronics that are becoming obsolete is staggering. The responsible disposal of these materials remains to be a highly debated topic and is one that does not have an easy answer. In this problem-based learning module, students will research this growing issue and provide them opportunities to determine what actions to take. Students will then take their findings and use their research data as evidence to support their position. Groups will create a finished product in the form of a speech, radio broadcast, presentation or persuasive essay to help solve this problem.

This video segment from Between the Lions uses a fun hip-hop song about names to highlight the /uh/ sound that the letter u makes and to boost phonemic awareness--an understanding of the sounds within words.

In this problem-based learning module students will connect these standards to their personal life by completing a random sample from their environment in the area of careers to investigate to see if their own career is environmentally challenged.  Students will work independently as well as with a partner. Students will also complete a reflection in the form of a final product to make an inference and draw a conclusion about the population of their area in relation to careers.  The final product will be presented to their peers and teachers, but also can be exhibited to their families.    This blended module includes teacher-led instruction, student-led stations, partner comparisons and technology integrated investigations.

Based on the Wyoming PBS program What’s in a Name, students will view episodes of the program to learn about how Wyoming towns got their names. In the introductory video Phil Roberts from the University of Wyoming introduces the PBS series entitled “Main Street Wyoming: What’s in a Name”. This introductory clip discusses how early explorers first named the rivers, streams, and mountain ranges and passes of Wyoming. Students will then work as a group to create a fictitious Wyoming town.

What's in the Bag? invites primary students to play with vocabulary common to their environment.

This lesson would be used to follow up with the “What’s in the Water? Lab Activity.”

You are employees of competing Water Testing companies. You recently received a request from the municipality of Cavour to test their water for an unknown/suspected parasite that they suspect has been causing nausea and intestinal distress in their community.

Your mission after developing the Method for testing for the parasite found in the City of Cavour’s water is to submit your report for approval by the City of Cavour.

Your report and presentation will be used to determine whether Cavour accepts your bid for the contract.

You are employees of competing water testing companies. You recently received a request from the municipality of Cavour to test their water for an unknown/suspected parasite that they suspect has been causing nausea and intestinal distress in their community.

Your mission is to develop the proper Method for testing for the parasite and provide a detailed lab report.

Professor Kate Rushin describes the Harlem Renaissance as a large social and cultural movement fueled by many factors in this video from A Walk Through Harlem.

This collection uses primary sources to explore coal mining and labor in West Virginia. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This article provides a lesson plan that teaches elementary students to write poems about home using sensory language and imagery. Examples of student work are provided.

Geospatial data analysis is a growing field in science with practical applications in government and industry.   This problem-based learning module guides learners through exploring the relationship between the amount of trash found relative to the location of waste receptacles in their community. Recording the location of identified items of trash/recyclables and placing them on a map allows students to identify if there is a correlation between the amount of trash and the distance away from waste receptacles.  While this module uses trash, almost any item can be tracked and plotted for analysis.  Some other ideas were: locations of Pokemon in Pokemon Go, animal migration, safety devices, various plant species, texting and driving are just a few examples.  

This "jigsaw" activity will give students the opportunity to work in groups to summarize a 1 to 2 page informational text. It "jigsaws" down to 1 class summary and can be done in 2 or 3 days. This plan was designed for a class of 22 students but can be easily modified by varying group size.

Students will look at social medias and what identities are crafted in those formats, both for social media celebrities and their own digital footprints. This lesson is part of a media unit curated at our Digital Citizenship website, "Who Am I Online?"

This lesson focuses on women who are too often overlooked when teaching about the "foremothers" of the movements for suffrage and women's equality in U.S. history. Grounded in the critical inquiry question "Who's missing?" and in the interest of bringing more perspectives to who the suffrage movement included, this resource will help to ensure that students learn about some of the lesser-known activists who, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, participated in the formative years of the Women's Rights Movement.