Explore the factors leading to the independence movement of Latin American colonies. Students will manipulate thematic layers using a geographic information system. Teachers must transfer the questions and instructions to a new document because the answers are included on the pdf linked here.

This video shows how learner profiles help students and teachers know what they understand and what to focus on. 

Through scientific research, this video from The Human Spark illustrates how a child’s views of what is right and wrong can be shaped by others.

This resource focuses on acid rain, the effects of acid rain on the ecosystems, humans, and materials as well as what people can do to help. This resource has a history timeline of the Acid Rain Program, 9 experiments, various activities, and games/puzzles with answer keys to all materials as well.

This website is perfect for teaching the difference between legal and ethical behaviors. First, the website provides a brief description about the difference between legal and ethical behaviors. The rest of the website provides interactive activities for students to become familiar with the content. I would recommend just the two exercises titled “the difference” and “legal or ethical” since those are most related to our topic. Students can complete these exercises individually, and then as a collaborative activity, students can discuss their answers with a partner. The goal of this activity is for students to be able to distinguish between legal behavior and ethical behavior, provide examples of the two, and explain the differences.

This site provides study units, articles, and videos focused on the life and achievements of Les Paul - musician, inventor, and sound pioneer. The music units were developed through a collaboration between the Les Paul Foundation, the Wisconsin School Music Association, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Additional resources will continue to be added.

At the time the Founders were shaping the future of a new country, John Adams suggested the President should be addressed as “His Excellency.” Happily, others recognized that such a title was inappropriate. Though the proper form of address represents only a small detail, defining everything about the Presidency was central to the idea of America that was a work-in-progress when the nation was young.
What actions are necessary in order to start a new government?
What would one of the major concerns be in preserving the new government and country?
What should be the role of the leader or president of the country?
Describe the role of the government and the president in establishing a new country.
Describe some of the actions the government bodies would probably take to ensure order and security.
List some of the challenges and problems, as well as accomplishments that might occur in forming a new government.

"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."

—President George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796.

Fear of factionalism and political parties was deeply rooted in Anglo-American political culture before the American Revolution. Leaders such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson hoped their new government, founded on the Constitution, would be motivated instead by a common intent, a unity. Though dominant, these sentiments were not held by all Americans. A delegate to the Massachusetts ratifying convention, for example, asserted that “competition of interest…between those persons who are in and those who are out office, will ever form one important check to the abuse of power in our representatives.” (Quoted in Hofstader, p. 36) Hamilton argued from a slightly different perspective in Federalist #70: “In the legislature, promptitude of decision is oftener an evil than a benefit. The differences of opinion, and the jarrings of parties in that department of the government, though they may sometimes obstruct salutary plans, yet often promote deliberation and circumspection, and serve to check excesses in the majority.”

Political parties did form in the United States and had their beginnings in Washington's cabinet. Jefferson, who resigned as Washington's Secretary of State in 1793, and James Madison, who first began to oppose the policies of Alexander Hamilton while a member of the House of Representatives, soon united, as Jefferson wrote in his will, "in the same principles and pursuits of what [they] deemed for the greatest good of our country" (on the Thomas Jefferson Digital Archive, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website The American President). Together, they were central to the creation of the first political party in the United States. In the meantime, those who supported Hamilton began to organize their own party, thus leading to the establishment of a two-party system.
What are the chief characteristics of political opposition in a democracy?
What are the essential elements of an organized political party?
Are political parties necessary for the advancement of democracy?
Analyze the factors that to the development of the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.
Evaluate the immediate effect of the establishment of political parties in the U.S.

This resource is a flexible lesson plan focusing on water pollution and the causes and sources of water pollution. This lesson plan contains directions, teacher advice, concept map, worksheets, and a Powerpoint presentation as resources.

This is a collection of three lessons that  can be added to the lessons about energy for fourth graders after the students have created a model of the concept of transfer of energy, before or after they have discussed renewable energy as an option. Skills could be reading a map or a graph and gathering useful information, discussing it and coming up with what the information meant. Intelligence was another pursuit. Intelligence meant more than knowing things. It meant knowing things and being able to apply it to the real world as useful information and action. As you learn something, you are also aware of yourself and those around you. Knowledge is intelligence when it can be used for good in the community. It can be useful for everyone and your job is to help apply it and share it with others with this in mind. Write these two pursuits on the board and a quick definition or a student created definition.

This lesson and its accompanying seven-minute video introduce students to a professional fact-checker, who describes the methods and processes he employs to verify information that appears in news stories. The video explains which claims can be fact-checked, and why some sources are more reliable than others. How do fact-checkers engage in analysis of contemporary and historical claims? How do we distinguish between “bad facts” and “bad narratives” when critiquing media sources? Examine the tools that fact-checkers use to identify and interrogate claims, and put those skills into practice.

The lesson plans presented here are a sampling from the National Wildlife Federation's collection of more than 1,000 lesson plans designed to introduce students to life science, ecology, wildlife biology, scientific identification, and observation. All lesson plans are aligned to the National Science Education Standards. Applicable to all grade levels.

This folder of resources was built to facilitate Lesson Study in grade level PLCs. The focus of the PLCs was implementation of a high quality instructional resource while aligning to the Wisconsin ELA Standards (2020).  A special focus was placed on ensuring alignment with the science of reading in a structured literacy setting.  Thanks to Parkview Elementary School for their dedication to high quality instruction!

Lesson plan explores how the U.S. Federal government spends tax monies by using actual U.S. government data

Spatial visualization is the study of two- and three-dimensional objects and the practice of mental manipulation of objects. Spatial visualization skills are important in a range of subjects and activities like mathematics, physics, engineering, art and sports! In this lesson, students are introduced to the concept of spatial visualization and measure their spatial visualization skills by taking the provided 12-question quiz. Following the lesson, students complete the four associated spatial visualization activities and then re-take the quiz to see how much their spatial visualization skills have improved.

Let’s Talk About Coping is an educational program developed by Wisconsin Health Literacy to help students learn about mental health and provide information on how healthy coping behaviors can reduce stress, depression, and other trauma related factors.This lesson plan highlights: difference between mental health and mental illness, why mental health is important, stigmas and myths of mental health, and coping strategies for mental health.

Let’s Talk About Medicines is an educational program developed by Wisconsin Health Literacy to help students obtain a better understanding of how to more safely and effectively use medicine, which can lead to better health. This lesson plan highlights: different types of medications, taking prescription medication safely, how to read and understand prescription medicine labels, and questions to ask your doctor.

Let’s Talk About Pain Medicines is an educational program developed by Wisconsin Health Literacy to help students obtain a better understanding of how to more safely and effectively use prescription pain (opioid) medicine. This lesson plan highlights: differences between opioids and other pain medicines, ways to take opioids, history of the opioid epidemic, common terms and dosage instructions, signs of an overdose and information about naloxone, the risks of taking opioids with other medicine/drugs, and how to store opioids in a safe place and get rid of unused opioids.

Students will explore the microscopic world found living on lichens and mosses. Using a simple collection and extraction process, students will observe extremophiles called tardigrades. This lab includes a reading activity with questions as well as an anticipation guide handout for use with a YouTube video.