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.

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.”

These Ministry of Education Treaty Education Learning Resource Guides outline:

Treaty Education - Key Questions for K-4, 5-9
Treaty Education Outcomes and Indicators
Inquiry Questions for each grade
Teacher Background Information
Suggested Resources

This resource effectively illustrates the ways in which animals are important to the health and future of the planet. Four lessons demonstrate how human activities, including those related to climate change can result in habitat fragmentation and threaten the viability of entire ecosystems. The resource includes a teacher's guide, background information, student activity pages, videos and extension ideas for individual, group and community action.

Activity One: What’s your View? (1 x 60 minutes)

Teachers set up a 'four corners' activity in which students read a variety of statements concerning animal welfare and decide if they agree or disagree. The class then discusses as a group the importance of animals in sustaining healthy ecosystems and the value of their relationships with humans.

Activity Two: Video (1 x 60 minutes)

Students watch a video called “Why Animals Matter” and complete a short quiz to check their understanding of key concepts raised in the video. A discussion follows on what can be done to make the world a better place for animals. Suggestions for extension activities are included.

Activity Three: Eco-investigation (3 x 60 minutes)

Students go outside to study local biodiversity. Working in groups, they select a 2m square sample site near the school yard and determine the variety of plant, fungi and animal life found. The inventory includes the abiotic characteristics of soil, rocks, water sources as well as any evidence of human disturbance. Students are also asked to take notice of the resources that species need to survive (food, water, cover and space) and how humans have impacted these resources.

Activity Four: Understanding Habitat (3 X 60 minutes)

After a discussion on the inter-dependency of the four core elements of a habitat, the class is invited to brainstorm ideas as to the causes and effects of habitat fragmentation and the importance of wildlife corridors. Students then review a newspaper article describing how habitat fragmentation due to road construction in parts of India has impacted elephant populations. Four groups of students take on the role of stakeholders in a wildlife corridor project for the benefit of these elephants. Groups must develop a persuasive statement to reflect their point of view. Peer evaluation and class discussion follow.

An extension activity suggests students research the habitat requirements of a wild animal, how these needs can be threatened by human disturbance and what solutions should be considered.

This site offers Intriguing Times images stripped of their captions -- and an invitation to students to discuss them live. The same images could also be used as writing prompts as well.

Word Connections is a supplemental reading intervention program.

It includes 40 lessons (40 min each), divided into four units of instruction.

Developed for students in third grade and above who continue to experience challenges with word reading even though they have developed foundational decoding skills.

The lessons focus on promoting automaticity with reading “big words.”

Using morphology as the framework to teach students how to learn the meaning of words that are new or unfamiliar to them.

Independant writing assignments for grades 1 through 9 including descriptive, expository, narrative paragraphs; poetry; scripts, letters, biographies, rebus stories, story from a picture, and reports. 

In 2022, two collaborative groups of Australian educators formed to create Syntax & Punctuation and Morphology resources.

These resources are available for free to promote a culture of sharing and collaboration amongst schools.

The lessons can be edited and adapted to reflect the topics & curriculum content taught in your classroom.

You must sign up for an account to access the resources.

*These activities also align with The Writing Revolution!

The Syntax Project & The Morphology Project; Lessons; PD & More

Write interactive stories, choose your own adventure stories, etc.

This is a great tool to boost writing engagement.