Elementary School Resource

Definition of a Point by Math Open Reference

This web-based resource provides a definition of a point, a practice exercise for moving points, and links to other pages within the website that provide information on coordinate geometry.

This interactive application can be enlarged for use on a classroom projector. All materials found on this page are also accessible to the students from home without the need to login.

Related NY State Academic Standards: 4.G.1, 6.G.3, and MST3.4.G.2!

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Elementary School Resource

Learning To Respect Each Other by Discovery Education

In this activity, students will understand the following:

1. Dr. Martin Luther King was a strong advocate of nonviolent protest and fought for civil rights for all Americans with an eloquence that can be found in speeches such as his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
2. Throughout U.S. history, certain groups of people have been discriminated against for characteristics as superficial as the color of their skin. That racism still exists despite the passage of laws that make it illegal.
3. Stereotypes can lead people to make unfair judgments about individuals and groups.
4. Segregation is hurtful and unfair to those discriminated against.

Related NY State Academic Standards: SS.3.CIV.8.b, SS.3.CIV.8.b.1, SS.4.3.b.3, and more!

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Elementary School Resource

Pippin’s Story by NGA

In this activity, students will learn about the life and painting style of African-American artist Horace Pippin. They will discover how to “read” the clues in his painting Interior and write a story about the work. By solving counting and time problems, students will also create their own “secret number” painting.

Related NY State Academic Standards: NAS.VA.Cr2.1.1.a, NAS.VA.Cr2.1.3.a, ARTS.VA.E.1.1.A, and more!

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Elementary School Resource

Interactive Graphing

In this activity, students will interpret and analyze data from a student-generated graph.

Activity:

• Students engage in yearlong graphing activities that promote ongoing mathematics and science skill development, as well as career awareness.
• Teacher introduces, or reinforces graphs, discussion includes types of graphical representation, how graphs are created and used, and the interpretation of graphs.
• Teacher designates an area of the classroom where graphing activities will occur throughout the year. There should be places to post graphing questions, for students to work on the question (if appropriate), and for students to leave their answers.
• Teacher posts a graph title and specific questions regarding each graph for students to solve. Students interpret data by answering teacher-generated questions (e.g., finding differences, range, average) depending on age/grade level.
• Teacher should find ways to include graphing in various classroom activities in all subject areas (e.g., growth of a plant, number of students with a certain hair color, number of books read) so that this becomes an ongoing focus in the classroom.
• Teacher develops some questions regarding real examples of graphs found outside the school environment (e.g., newspapers, cereal boxes, travel brochures).
• Teacher designs some questions regarding real-life data (e.g., using a bus schedule, students could graph the number of times that buses stop at designated areas during a certain time period). This begins to give students experience in dealing with and interpreting graphs and data in the real world.
• It is important that the teacher changes the graphing activity regularly and includes a variety of topics.
• Parents or business representatives are invited to the classroom to discuss how data is used and presented in their jobs/careers.
• Older students use a spreadsheet and desktop publishing software to publish graphs (e.g., brochures, posters, advertisements) they create for certain projects.

Related NY State Academic Standards: 1.MD.4, 2.MD.10, 3.MD.3, and more!

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Elementary School Resource

Homemade Apple Pies

In this activity, students will:

• Learn about the life of an apple, from seed to tree to consumer.
• Make apple pies.
• Learn about jobs at the apple orchard and bakery.

Activity:
Pie-making is a school-based activity that culminates in a unit on apples. Students gain an awareness of careers in the apple orchard and bakery business. Books and poems about apples, visits to an orchard and bakery, and integrated learning activities engage the students throughout the unit.

• Students listen to/read books and poems about apples (e.g., Apple Picking Time by Michele Benoit Slawson, The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons).
• Students make apple art (e.g., apple prints, paintings of dried apple slices that are later shellacked by the teacher, apple books).
• The teacher talks to students about the life cycle of an apple (seed, tree, apple, consumer), and the students draw pictures of the life cycle.
• Class visits an apple orchard and watches the process of picking, sorting, washing, storing, and preparing the apples for market. Students are taught the correct way to pick apples, and they pick apples with assistance. Throughout the experience, jobs are highlighted and demonstrated.
• Students visit a local bakery and watch the pie-making process—measuring, crust making, apple preparation, and baking. Jobs at the bakery are highlighted and demonstrated.
• A bakery representative, local chef, or cafeteria staff visits the class to facilitate apple pie making with the students in the school’s cafeteria.
• Students hold an “apple pie tea” at which they will share their pies with their families.
• Developing sequencing charts, language charts, thank-you notes, and a class big book intertwine English Language Arts skills with the learning experiences.

Related NY State Academic Standards: HPF, HPF.HE.E.1, HPF.HE.E.1.1, and more!

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Elementary School Resource

Clothes I Wear In The Winter

• This fun activity will assist your children when they dress themselves to go outdoors as they learn to follow oral directions.
• To provide background knowledge for this activity, bring in your own articles of winter clothing. Show the articles of clothing to the children and have them direct you as you dress yourself for the outdoors. Problem solve as you go along. For example, boots must be put on after snow pants. Discuss with the children the order for putting on the items.
• Provide each child with an outline of a person and clothing pieces made of construction paper – pants, jacket, boots, hat, mittens, scarf, etc. Again, discuss which items should be put on first, second, third, etc.
• The children will then dress their figure in the correct order using glue to fix the clothing pieces to the paper person.
• Read the book – The Jacket I Wear In The Snow by Shirley Neitzel to reinforce the concepts taught.

Related NY State Academic Standards: RL.PK.11, SL.PK.2, SL.PK.5, and more!

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Elementary School Resource

Classroom Idea: Sorting

For this activity, provide students with a bag of small toys—perhaps a bag of plastic farm animals or a mixture of domestic and wild animals, a bag filled with toy cars, boats, and planes, or buttons or shells or stones. Let students work with a partner or in a group to sort their pieces in an open-ended activity.

With younger children, you may want to be sure they are comfortable with simple sorting activities before they work with the animal pieces. For example, sorting materials with different shapes, colors, or sizes provides good preparation. Instruct students to sort their pieces into different groups and provide a good name for each group. Then they should share what they did with their partner. Mix up the pieces and let the partner sort the pieces into new groups. They should check each other’s work, talk about the sorting with each other, and find a way to record their groupings. Let students describe their groupings with other members of the class.

A follow-up might be to challenge the students to put their sorted groups in horizontal or vertical graphing grids.

Related NY State Academic Standards: 1.G.1, 2.G.1, MST3.1.RP.6, and more!

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Elementary School Resource

Musical Chairs by ESL-KIDS

For this activity, line up the chairs and place a flashcard on each one. Play some music and have the students walk, skip, jump around the chairs. When the music stops, the students should sit down on a chair and shout out their flashcards. For more excitement remove a chair while the music is playing and make the chair-less student sit out until the next round.

Related NY State Academic Standards: ESL.E.PK-1.4.1.2, ESL.E.PK-1.4.1.7, ESL.E.PK-1.4.1.9, and more!

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Elementary School Resource

Thanksgiving: Then and Now by ECSDM

In this lesson, kindergarten students will compare and contrast life as a child in 1621 at the first Thanksgiving with life today.

Related NY State Academic Standards: RL.K.9, RI.K.8, RI.K.9, and more!

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Elementary School Resource

School Store

In this activity, students will gain life experiences in the world of work within a school-business setting.

• The school store is housed in a 4th-grade classroom. It contains school supplies, which are sold to the students. Inventory and prices are preset by the teacher. Students hold various jobs at the store.
• Week 1: The project is explained to the students. Jobs and skills are identified, defined, and practiced—purchasing through catalogs, selling to customers (role-play), inventory evaluation (setting a maximum volume and evaluating needs), money management (e.g., making change), receipt writing (role-play), and scheduling workers.
• Weeks 2-40: Under teacher mentoring, students run the school store the first 15 minutes of each day.
• Daily: Students record inventory and money received.
• Weekly: Students evaluate the need to order products.
• Monthly: Students “deposit” money in school safe.
• End of Year: Students project needs for next year and order inventory.

Related NY State Academic Standards: CDOS.E.1.1.B, CDOS.E.1.1.C, CDOS.E.1.1.E, and more!

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