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General Education: Teaching Resources

Table of Contents:

General Lesson Plan Web Sites
Lesson Plans by Content Area:
Business Business Skills Personal Finance	Fine Arts Art Theatre/Drama Music	Health Health Physical Education	Other Early Childhood ESL/Bilingual Multicultural Service Learning
Language Arts Reading Writing Literature	Languages French German Spanish	Social Sciences Civics Economics Geography History Social Studies	Science Biology Chemistry Computer Science General Science Mathematics Physics

General Lesson Plan Web sites

There are dozens of excellent websites that provide free lesson plans for teachers. The following five general lesson plan web sites contain material that can be used to teach directly to Wisconsin State Standards.

Gateway to Educational Materials - The Gateway provides access to high quality Internet lesson plans, curriculum units, and other education resources. The Gateway user can do a customized search using subject and grade level.
IDEAS - These resources at this web site help Wisconsin educators use technology to meet the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards. Subject coverage includes English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Information and Technology Literacy for grades K-12.
K-12 Portal at UW-Madison - K-12 at UW-Madison is a gateway to university resources that are useful for teachers, students, and parents. K-12 at UW-Madison has links to information on outreach programs, partnership programs, events, activities, information on a specific topic, lesson plans, courses, professional development, and much more.
MarcoPolo: Internet Content for the Classroom - MarcoPolo: Internet Content for the Classroom is a consortium of premier national education organizations, state education agencies and the MarcoPolo Education Foundation dedicated to providing the highest quality Internet content and professional development to teachers and students throughout the United States.
Wisconsin Educational Communications Board (ECB):Classroom Resources - The Wisconsin ECB is a statewide telecommunications system and supports education. There are professional educational development resources at this site in the form of online resources.

Lesson Plans by Content Area

Business

Business Skills | Personal Finance

Business Skills

Associations

Web sites

High School Business Education - Collection of links on High School business education from Baltimore County (Maryland) Public Schools.
Tanya Skinner's Business Education Lesson Plans and Resources - Lesson plans by topic.

Personal Finance

Associations

National Council on Economic Education

Web sites

CCCS WVA - Lesson plans for grades 3-6 by community counseling services of West VA. Lessons are use literature to teach a personal finance topic.
Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy
ASEC Online - the American Savings Education Counsel. The Tools section has a large range of calculators and topics.
MegaPenny Project - An interesting project that helps you visualize large amounts of money.
Practical Money Skills - See Teacher Resources/Lesson plans for detailed lesson plans and activities for PreK-Teen. Teen lesson plans are also available for students with special needs.

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Fine Arts

Art | Theater/Drama | Music

Art

Associations

National Art Education Association

Web sites

Art Education Page for K12 - From the Internet School Library Media Center (ISLMC). Sites are listed by topic.
ArtsEdge - ArtsEdge helps teachers teach through and about the arts.
ArtsEdNet - Extensive lesson plans on all aspects of art and art history.
Kinder Art - Ideas, lessons plans and more by topic.
Lessonplanspage.com - Lesson plans by age level/topic.

Theater/Drama

Associations

Educational Theatre Association

Web sites

Artlynx International: Theatre Resources - Resources by topic.
Teacher's Desk - Collection of lesson plans for middle school and high school.
Creative Drama and Theatre Education Resource Site - Classroom ideas and theatre games for a variety of ages.
Theatre lesson plans - Includes Emotional Intelligence Lesson Plans to teach assertiveness, conflict, decision making, etc.
Artsedge lesson plans - Use the drop down menus on the left to narrow to specific subjects and grade levels.

Music

Associations

Clef, The Classical Music Education Foundation
Music Educators National Conference (MENC)
National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS)
American Choral Directors Association
Directory to Musical Organizations, Societies and Clubs from the University of Washington Libraries
Professional Music Organizations from the University of Oregon Libraries

Web sites

Artlynx International: Music Resources - Resources by topic.
Educator's Reference Desk: Arts - Lesson plans for arts. Various grade levels

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Health

Health | Physical Education

Health

Associations

American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (AAHPERD)

Web sites

MyPyramid.gov - Information on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's nutrition guidelines, issued in April 2005.
Educator's Reference Desk: Health - Lesson plans on health topics for a variety of ages.

Physical Education

Associations

American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (AAHPERD)

Web sites

MyPyramid.gov - Information on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's nutrition guidelines, issued in April 2005.
The Virtual Library of Sport - Extensive information on a wide variety of sports. Sports are organized into the following categories: Ball, wheel, water, outdoor and the rest. Resources are added and updated by volunteers.
Dance Resources - The Dance Directory provides links to three kinds of dance web sites: 1) sites that have good collections of links, usually in a specialized area of dance, 2) sites that include information about an area of dance, and 3) selected sites of dance organizations and individual dancers.
Sports Resources - A long list of resources from refdesk.com.
PE Webring - List of the members of the Physical Education WebRing.
pelinks4u - Organized into categories such as elementary pe, secondary pe, and adapted pe, PELinks4U is a newsletter type publication that provides activity ideas and much, much more.
Education Index: Physical Education - Education Index is an annotated guide to education related websites. Pages are organized by subject and lifestage. The subject guide to Physical Education contains a long list of links.

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Other

Early Childhood | ESL/Bilingual | Multicultural | Service Learning

Early Childhood

Associations

Web sites

More lesson plans for Pre-K and Kindergarten may be found in subject specific categories.

Early Childhood Links.
TeacherSource - From PBS, PreK-2. Use drop down menus to select grade levels and topics.
CESA #2's Early Childhood - Information from CESA #2.
Preschool Coloring Book - Line and No Line coloring pages for preschoolers.
Activity Idea Place - Ideas by theme. **has a bulletin board section and lots of ads.
PEC: Preschool Physical Education Lesson Plans.
Earlychildhood.com - Activities, news and articles on early childhood education.

ESL/Bilingual

Associations

Web sites

Dave's ESL Cafe.
ESL Flow Lesson ideas for ESL - collection of links by level and by topic. Good information but No About information.

Multicultural

Associations

National Association for Multicultural Education

Service Learning

Associations

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Language Arts

Reading | Writing | Literature

Reading

Associations

Web sites

Educators Reference Desk: Language Arts - Lesson plans by topic.
EDSITEment lesson plans - for Language and Literature. Select subject area (drama, poetry, etc.) and grade level. Each lesson plan includes goals, objectives, a bibliography and includes a link on how the lesson aligns to professional standards (i.e., NCTE, NCSS, etc.). Hosted on the National Endowment for the Humanities website.
Reading Online An electronic journal of the International Reading Journal

Writing

Associations

Web sites

Educator's Reference Desk: Language Arts - Lesson plans by topic.
EDSITEment lesson plans - for Language and Literature. Select subject area (drama, poetry, etc.) and grade level. Each lesson plan includes goals, objectives, a bibliography and includes a link on how the lesson aligns to professional standards (i.e., NCTE, NCSS, etc.). Hosted on the National Endowment for the Humanities website.

Literature

Associations

Web sites

American RadioWorks - Documentaries on contemporary issues (categories include America, Health, History, Justice, and World) Downloadable audio files are available as are transcripts.
Doucette Index: K-12 Literature-Based Teaching Ideas - Lesson plans related to books for children and young adults. A must site for those intending to construct lesson plans based on children's literature.
BookSpot.com
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site
CCBC Cooperative Children's Book Center
Child Lit (a discussion list)
Children's Literature Web Guide
Children's Picture Book Database
Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature
International Children's Digital Library
Web English Teacher
TeachingBooks
Teen Reads
Favorite Teenage Angst Books

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Languages

French | German | Spanish

French

Associations

Web sites

EDSITEment lesson plans: Foreign Language - for Foreign Language. Select subject area (French, Russian, Latin, etc.) and a grade level. Each lesson plan includes goals, objectives, a bibliography and includes a link on how the lesson aligns to professional standards (i.e., NCTE, NCSS, etc.). Hosted on the National Endowment for the Humanities website.

German

Associations

Web sites

EDSITEment lesson plans: Foreign Language - for Foreign Language. Select subject area (French, Russian, Latin, etc.) and a grade level. Each lesson plan includes goals, objectives, a bibliography and includes a link on how the lesson aligns to professional standards (i.e., NCTE, NCSS, etc.). Hosted on the National Endowment for the Humanities website.

Spanish

Associations

Web sites

Learning Disabilities for the Foreign Language Teacher
EDSITEment lesson plans: Foreign Language - for Foreign Language. Select subject area (French, Russian, Latin, etc.) and a grade level. Each lesson plan includes goals, objectives, a bibliography and includes a link on how the lesson aligns to professional standards (i.e., NCTE, NCSS, etc.). Hosted on the National Endowment for the Humanities website.

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Social Sciences

Civics | Economics | Geography | History | Social Studies

Civics

Associations

Center for Civic Education
Civic Education Network from the APSA

Web sites

Educators Reference Desk - Lesson plans for various grade levels.
EDSITEment lesson plans: History - for U.S. History: Civics and Government. Each lesson plan includes goals, objectives, a bibliography and includes a link on how the lesson aligns to professional standards (i.e., NCTE, ACTFL, etc.). Hosted on the National Endowment for the Humanities website.
Educators: Lesson Plans: Civics & Social Studies - From KQED (public broadcasting station in California). Lesson plans based on public broadcasting programs. Various grade levels.

Economics

Associations

Web sites

Economics International - Two series of lessons geared to a wide range of ages.
EconEdLink - Lesson plans include links to handouts, quizzes and transparencies for classroom use.
H.I.P. Pocket Change Games - From The U.S. Mint's Games for Kids. These interactive games require Macromedia Flash.

Geography

Associations

Web sites

USGS Learning Web - Lesson plans and activities from the United States Geographical Survey. Most lesson plans and materials available free for download.
Geography Education - by National Geographic. Arranged by grade level.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition and the USGS - Discover America with Lewis and Clark! This website is full of charts, maps and imagery of Lewis and Clarks voyage.
USGS GEO-DATA Explorer - View world resources and hazards (such as the location and intensity of earthquakes and the location of the various types of volcanos) by geographic location.
Conservation Maps--MapMachine--atlas, street maps (National Geographic) - Generate thematic maps on land use, environment, natural hazards and weather.

History

News

The History Carnival - "The History Carnival is a floating twice-monthly roundup of the best discussions of history in the blogosphere (that we can find, either by nomination or incessant surfing)."
The Carnival of Bad History - Exposing bad history in movies, books, tv and more.

Associations

National Council for History Education
World History Association in partnership with the Woodrow Wilson Leadership Program for Teachers.

Web sites

American Memory from the Library of Congress
American RadioWorks - Documentaries on contemporary issues (categories include America, Health, History, Justice, and World) Downloadable audio files are available as are transcripts.
Best of History Web Sites - History websites for lesson plans, quizzes, games and guides on a wide range of time periods.
Teacher Resources - The Learning Page - Lesson plans from the American Memory division of the Library of Congress.
Picturing Modern America 1880 - 1920 - The goal of this website is to increase middle and high school students' skills in analyzing primary documents, especially visual documents. Features primary documents from the Library of Congress's American Memory project.
Military Campaign Maps Home Page - From the American Memory collection at the Library of Congress. Campaign maps of the American Revolution, American Civil War and other battles and campaigns.
Historic Maps in K-12 Classrooms - Published by the Newberry Library of Chicago, this site features maps organized by American History themes.
The Holocaust: A Learning Site for Students - Essays, a timeline, and a glossary contribute to a detailed site on the holocaust. From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Project Gutenberg - Project Gutenberg is a provider of free electronic books for books whose copyright protection has expired. Their catalog contains over 16,000 titles in over 40 languages.
CARRIE: An Electronic Text Library - Of special interest on this site are AmDocs (American primary documents) and EuroDocs (Western European primary documents)
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873 - From American Memory.
Perseus Digital Library - A digital library for the study of humanities.
HistoryWorld - Brief essays on topics in world history, including histories of specific countries. Unique features include the ability to "Mix" your own timeline and to print essays paragraph by paragraph.
Ocean Index - The Ocean (One-Click Edited-Access Network) Index is a companion website to HistoryWorld. Search Ocean for information from both HistoryWorld and other external sites.

Social Studies

Associations

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

Web sites

American Memory from the Library of Congress
American RadioWorks - Documentaries on contemporary issues (categories include America, Health, History, Justice, and World) Downloadable audio files are available as are transcripts.
Lesson Plans and Resources for Social Studies Teachers - Lesson plans and resources from the Internet which social studies teachers will find useful. Includes educational standards and curriculum frameworks, a section on teaching current events, and links to newsgroups and mailing lists.
National Archives and Records Administration - The Digital Classroom. Reproducible primary documents, educational units correlated to national academic standards, and cross-curricular connections.
Project Vote Smart - American Government, Elections, Candidates and Voting - Besides being a resource on current political issues, Project Vote Smart is collects speeches for the entire Federal Executive Branch (President, Vice President and all Cabinet members).
THOMAS - U.S. Congress on the Internet. Legistlation, the Congressional Record and committee information and more on the work of Congress. Dates of coverage vary, but searching and full text of information is usually available from the 100th Congress (1990) to present.
NMAH: Welcome to the History Explorer - A timeline of stories from the exhibits, collections and programs of the National Museum of American History. An interactive map allows for browsing by time period.
American Journeys - "Eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later."
Picturing Modern America 1880 - 1920 - The goal of this website is to increase middle and high school students' skills in analyzing primary documents, especially visual documents. Features primary documents from the Library of Congress's American Memory project.
Military Campaign Maps Home Page - From the American Memory collection at the Library of Congress. Campaign maps of the American Revolution, American Civil War and other battles and campaigns.
The Holocaust: A Learning Site for Students - Essays, a timeline, and a glossary contribute to a detailed site on the holocaust. From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

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Science

Biology

Associations

National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT)

Web sites

Biology Lesson Plans for Prospective and Practicing Teachers - from San Diego State University.

Chemistry

Associations

American Chemical Society

Web sites

The Science Spot: Chemistry - List of websites that contain chemistry lesson plans and experiment ideas.

Computer Science

Associations

Web sites

Educator's Reference Desk: Computer Science - Lesson plans for various grade levels.

General Science

Associations

National Science Teachers Association

Web sites

Megafauna - Compare the size of extinct animals to a human.
USGS GEO-DATA Explorer - View world resources and hazards (such as the location and intensity of earthquakes and the location of the various types of volcanos) by geographic location.

Mathematics

Associations

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

Web sites

ENC (Eisenhower National Clearinghouse) Online - Math lesson plans gathered from hundreds of web sites, categorized by math topic.
Math Forum @ Drexel - A selection of the best Internet sites providing mathematics lesson plans.
CCCS WVA - Lesson plans for grades 3-6 by community counseling services of West VA. lessons are use literature to teach a personal finance topic.
MegaPenny Project - Project that helps to visualize large amounts of money.
Practical Money Skills - See Teacher Resources/Lesson plans for detailed lesson plans and actvities for PreK-Teen. Teen lesson plans are also available for students with special needs.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics - Look at the problem of the week for elementary, middle school and high school students or browse the "Illuminations" section for K-12 lesson plans.
H.I.P. Pocket Change Games - From The U.S. Mint's Games for Kids. These interactive games require Macromedia Flash.

Physics

Associations

American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)

Web sites

SMILE Program Physics Index - Lesson plans arranged by topic.

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