Through four lessons and three hands-on activities, students learn the concepts of refraction and interference in order to solve an engineering challenge: "In 2013, actress Angelina Jolie underwent a double mastectomy, not because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but merely to lower her cancer risk. But what if she never inherited the gene(s) that are linked to breast cancer and endured surgery unnecessarily? Can we create a new method of assessing people's genetic risks of breast cancer that is both efficient and cost-effective?" While pursuing a solution to this challenge, students learn about some high-tech materials and delve into the properties of light, including the equations of refraction (index of refraction, Snell's law). Students ultimately propose a method to detect cancer-causing genes by applying the refraction of light in a porous film in the form of an optical biosensor. Investigating this challenge question through this unit is designed for an honors or AP level physics class, although it could be modified for conceptual physics.

Writers and film buffs alike will sharpen their skills in this multimedia unit as they work together to author and design a digital video.

Students tell their life stories in this lesson about autobiographies based on family photographs.

Students use both analytical and creative skills to adapt passages from a novel with significant internal dialogue and conflict, such as Toni Morrison's "Beloved", into a ten-minute play.

Use a reference that you all have access to to complete this text features chart/cheat sheet. Students can use this as a reference as they read non-fiction.You can complete this together as a class, in small groups or individually, depending on the needs of your students.  Consider filling out each feature as you explicitly teach it and demonstrate how to effectively use the feature.  Then allow students to practice the skil with your guidance. 

Students have the right to have fun in this lesson in which they create a PowerPoint presentation about civil rights and the Supreme Court.

Generating Ideas:
Rapid Writing
Setting the Context (What Do My Readers Want to Know?)
Adding Content (Pass It On!)

Developing and Organizing Ideas:
Webbing, Mapping and More
Supporting the Main Idea
Adding Details

Revising and Editing:
Reorganizing Ideas
Asking Questions to Revise Writing
Peer Editing
Proofreading Without Partners

Writing for a Purpose:
Using Templates:
Writing a Procedure
Writing an Information Report
Writing a Business Report
Writing an Explanation

Posters for Instruction: Writing
Generate Ideas
Organize Writing
Revise and Edit

Students examine story elements through teacher read-alouds and independent reading and then use reader-response journals and graphic organizers to prepare for the creation of their own scary stories.

Through Mala's Eyes takes a look at the Inuit community and helps students understand and appreciate one of the diverse cultures that exist within Canada. This resource looks at the life of an Inuit community in northern Quebec, through the eyes of Mala, a twelve year old Inuk boy. Through his first person narratives, Mala provides interesting background information about life in his community.

Downloadable teaching resource provided.

This is an excellent resource for teaching students about Inuit life. This resource speaks directly to students as it is given from the point of view of a twelve year old child. Students ages nine to fourteen should enjoy relating to these stories. It is rare to find a resource about Inuit life that is this modern, positive and engaging.
There are a variety of activities included within the resource, and teachers are encouraged to choose those which best apply to their classroom. There is also a lot of good background information provided in the resource, such as a glossary of Inuit terms and the Inuit alphabet. As well, online links are provided for more information.

This series of lesson plans, built around the first-person narrative of a 12-year-old Inuk boy, will help you and your students appreciate life in the Inuit community of Salluit, in the northern part of Nunavik, Northern Quebec. Although designed for students from 9 to 12 years of age, some of the lesson plans and strategies in this unit can be adapted for other grade levels. Suggested activities and lists of research resources offer exciting and engaging opportunities to learn more about the history, customs and traditions of Inuit in Canada.

The aim of this booklet is to enhance the knowledge of students about the history, cultures and traditions of Inuit and, in particular, those who live in Canada's northern Inuit community of Salluit.

By completing the lessons in this booklet, students will be able to:

- express an appreciation for the strong traditions and unique culture of the Inuit people, in various ways
- describe the various developments that affected Canada's Arctic from its early history to the present
- locate the community of Salluit and its neighbouring Inuit municipalities on a map of Canada
- relate the similarities and differences between life in Salluit and life in their own community.

Through Mala's Eyes...Life in an Inuit Community offers educators opportunities to address provincial learning outcomes in the social studies, history and geography portions of their curriculum. Given the nature of the suggested activities, students will also address learning outcomes in language, the arts and mathematics.

*Audio recordings of student readings are available through the website, but are not hyperlinked in the pdf document.
*With some slight adaptations, this unit can be completed without technology.

This lesson provides teachers with support for using text-dependent questions and Common Core literacy strategies to help students derive big ideas and key understandings while developing vocabulary using the text "Tomas and the Library Lady". With the help of the English-speaking local librarian, Spanish-speaking Tomas is encouraged to assume the role of family storyteller, finding that he cannot only be a learner but a teacher as well.

Canadian Kindergarten through Grade 12 Educators – Investigate the effects of outer space on seed germination with your class. Tomatosphere™ is a hands-on program that builds scientific inquiry and experimentation skills.

Tomatosphere™ offers an excellent opportunity to have your students think and act like scientists as they practice their inquiry skills and develop understandings of the nature of science and the concept of a fair test.

In the spring, participating classrooms receive two packages of tomato seeds. One package contains seeds sent into space or treated in space-simulated conditions. The other contains untreated "control" seeds. Students plant the seeds and conduct experiments to explore the effects of the space environment on the germination of tomatoes. Through Tomatosphere™, students learn how to conduct a scientific experiment and compare the number of seeds that germinate for the two groups of seeds.

While completing the Tomatosphere™ program, students investigate how to supply space exploration missions with life-support requirements—food, water, oxygen and a way to consume the carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts—while also discussing the many issues and research involved in space exploration.

Teachers can expand on the basic Tomatosphere™ Seed Investigation by connecting it to studies of plants, space, nutrition, math or the environment, depending on grade and curriculum.

"Tomatosphere™ offre une excellente opportunité pour permettre à vos élèves de penser et agir comme des scientifiques tout en pratiquant leurs compétences en recherche et en développant leur compréhension de la nature de la science et du concept d'une expérience équitable.

Au printemps, les salles de classe participantes reçoivent deux paquets de graines de tomates. Un paquet contient des graines envoyées dans l'espace ou traitées dans des conditions simulées d'espace. L'autre contient des graines "témoins" non traitées. Les élèves plantent les graines et réalisent des expériences pour explorer les effets de l'environnement spatial sur la germination des tomates. Grâce à Tomatosphere™, les élèves apprennent comment mener une expérience scientifique et comparent le nombre de graines qui germent pour les deux groupes de graines.

Pendant le programme Tomatosphere™, les élèves étudient comment fournir aux missions d'exploration spatiale les besoins en support de vie tels que la nourriture, l'eau, l'oxygène et un moyen de consommer le dioxyde de carbone expiré par les astronautes, tout en discutant des nombreux problèmes et recherches liés à l'exploration spatiale.

Les enseignants peuvent étendre l'Investigation de base sur les graines Tomatosphere™ en la reliant à des études sur les plantes, l'espace, la nutrition, les mathématiques ou l'environnement, en fonction du niveau et du programme d'études."

Tous droits réservés

"Download our Toolkit for Promoting Empathy in Schools. You can download the toolkit in Spanish, French, and Korean, too.

The Start Empathy Toolkit is the product of interviews with more than 60 educators and leading social entrepreneurs. We asked quite simply, “What works?” We wanted to know what it would take to create a classroom where kids’ social and emotional needs are met and how to cultivate the kinds of skills that are critical for success in today’s (and tomorrow’s) world. The result is not a prescription or a formula, or a silver-bullet fix. Consider this a living set of tools: tools that will grow and evolve over time, as each of us adds our own. We encourage you to think beyond your classroom walls to what it takes to mobilize your entire school community. Together, let’s creatively reimagine what changemaking education can look like.

The toolkit contains the combined wisdom of dozens of teachers, organizations, and people who live this everyday: tips and tools, lesson plans and examples, and, most importantly, insights that can help inform everything from how you design your classroom to your daily interactions with students and colleagues. Some exercises can be done in as little as two minutes, while others can take the form of months-long class projects, applied to a range of subjects. Others simply offer a strategy you can adapt to your existing lesson plans, and tips that are proven to improve teacher and student performance alike. Some you may be familiar with, and others may be new. We invite you to test these in your classroom, and use them to generate ideas of your own."

In this trickster tale, Bear and Hare are involved in a gardening partnership. Industrious, clever Hare makes a deal with BearÄ Hare and his family work Bear's land and split the crops in half. In the end, Bear learns that he has to do hard work to be rewarded.

Everyone knows that "Star Wars" character Darth Vader is a villain. This lesson asks students to explore how they know such things about heroes and villains they encounter in texts. After examining how moviemakers communicate the villainy of Darth Vader, students examine a passage from Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone that describes the villain Voldemort, noting how Rowling communicates details about the character. Students then read novels in small groups, with each group member tracking a character in a reading log. When they finish their novels, students design posters and present details on their novels to the class. After the presentations, students make observations on how authors develop character and write journal entries reflecting on what they learned.

An excellent resource from the Eastern Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperative. This resource includes an in-depth simulation to place students into the “shoes” of those living in poverty. “This unit will help engage students to actively explore international trade, development and co-operation issues as they pertain to Canada, its trading partners, and the fair trade system.”

A crew of sailors captained by Sir Ernest Shackleton is trying to reach the South Poles ice cap when their ship, Endurance, is blocked by the ice and is crushed by moving ice a month later. The crew camps on the ice and then Shack decides they should travel in lifeboats to Elephant Island and from there to the whaling station on South Georgia Island.

Students learn how to walk a mile in someone else's shoes by reading historical fiction about the Underground Railroad.