Not surprisingly, many of the edtech tools we have come to enjoy using for teaching and learning have been updated to include AI functionalities. As a result, the learning activities we have designed can be modified to provide us as educators and our students the opportunity to leverage the AI technologies.

In addition, modifying lessons to include new technological advancement provides the chance to review our lessons, and incorporate different ways that students can approach gaining content knowledge, experience learning concepts through active and experiential learning activities, and gain mastery in varied subject areas.

In this article, we revisit four popular Tech & Learning lesson plans and provide guidance on how to modify aspects of the teaching and learning activities to take advantage of AI.

Revisiting Canva Lesson Plan

AI functionalities within Canva’s Magic Studio can be used in the Canva Lesson Plan under Guided Instruction where the teacher creates the lesson video walking students through the different types of biodiversity.

For example, instead of searching for images that represent ecosystem diversity, genetic diversity, and species diversity, the AI-powered text-to-video or text-to-image tool can be used. As the teacher planning the lesson, you can type in what you are looking for, and then a video or image will be produced using the AI functionalities within Canva’s Magic Studio.

You can also use the AI-powered magic resize and background generator to ensure that the visuals match the learning content.

Revisiting Blooket Lesson Plan

In the Blooket Lesson Plan under the Guided Practice section of this lesson, you may want students to engage with specific content on Blooket.

By taking advantage of the collaboration between Khanmingo and Blooket, you can use the AI-powered question creator to align questions to specific content of the lesson, as opposed to using the existing pre-made question sets within Blooket. This would also provide the chance to differentiate instruction, and have different gamified question sets available to students depending on where they are with the content and support they may need.

The Khanmingo and Blooket AI functionalities have two access pathways; from the dashboard in Khanmingo and from the Question Set Creator tool in Blooket.

Revisiting IXL Lesson Plan

For the IXL Lesson Plan, consider trying out the IXL’s new Spark Studio.

In the lesson under Individual Skill Development, you can create specific materials in the Spark Studio using the AI-powered teacher workspace. In this way, you can provide more specificity and targeted activities that can help your students develop specific skills.

In addition, you can click one button and your lessons, learning activities, and other created content can be translated into a foreign language. This could be helpful for students and their parents whose first language is not English. And with the AI functionality, it can all be done with a click of a button.

Revisiting Powtoon Lesson

In the first part of the Powtoon Lesson Plan under Content Instruction, you can use the new AI Avatars features to deliver the lesson. You would still personalize the content that the Avatar shares and can use the templates provided and customize the text and concepts you would like included. The AI will create a video based on what you provide that can serve as the instruction for your students.

For students, as they create their characters, they could use the Imagine Script-AI tool. They will still need to have their own ideas to put into the AI, which would take their initial idea and help them flesh it out and further develop.

I hope the ideas shared can help you get started with revisiting your lesson plans to take advantage of new and added AI functionalities to the edtech tools you and your students have enjoyed using for teaching and learning. Remember, AI is not always perfect and it is important to check the outputs to ensure accuracy and that the content you share with students is representative of the learning goals.

As you prepare, here are other related articles that may be useful:

• Explaining AI Use in the Classroom to Families
• AI Lesson Plan Tips
• ChatGPT Lesson Plan
• Developing AI Pedagogical Practices
• 10 Free AI Trainings and Certifications for Educators

Deck.Toys is a website that offers lesson planning, building, and tracking options that make the process enjoyable and engaging for both teachers and students alike.

The idea is to simplify the process of lesson planning while also integrating tools into one place. As such, the result has a look and feel like a coding platform that's easy to use and is self-explanatory for everyone involved.

Thanks to integration with current apps and software, such as Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint, it makes lesson planning and building very intuitive. That can mean making new lessons or using old ones and digitizing these for better tracking.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about Deck.Toys to see if it could work well for your class.

What is Deck.Toys?

Deck.Toys is a lesson planning website, at its most basic. But thanks to a host of integrations with apps, it can become far more rich in its offerings without being complicated. Teachers can use this to plan lessons, then share digitally so students can then use it to work while being tracked as and when is needed.

This tool is very helpful as it not only acts as a place for educators to plan their lessons but also as a way for students to explore these. They can follow along as a group or go into self-exploration paths as offered or needed, allowing everyone to take part at their pace.

While this uses a path-based system to explore, it is essentially a slides-based tool. Consequently, any resources that need to be used or interacted with are going to be in slide format. That makes this a little limiting but can be very liberating if you get creative with what's available.

How does Deck.Toys work?

Deck.Toys allows you to sign up for an account through which you will be able to get started right away. Beginning at the dashboard, it's possible to create lessons immediately. Select the path and activity you want using the wizard tool, and it's easy to get started creating original lessons.

After you pick a path type, you then select the key concepts which students are going to be working on and mastering. This allows for great variation so you can teach virtually anything with this system.

The third step is to select the review and customize tab in which you can see the map of what's been created based on what you've entered so far. The locks along the path are pre-populated, as is student instructions -- all of which you can edit as needed before you get started. You can preview and change until you are happy with the final version.

Share this with students and they can begin learning. Do this by creating a classroom and adding students, allowing you to share with everyone at once. Simply give them the link and they can sign-in and get started. You are then able to monitor their progress as they go.

What are the best Deck.Toys features?

Deck.Toys allows educators to create paths that have a video-game feel in which students progress by completing tasks along the way. This can give a sense of progress, achievement and determination that allows for great flow-like teaching and learning.

Since Deck.Toys works with existing materials it can be very easy to get up and running, with rich resources on offer, right away. Integrations with the likes of Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, Quizlet, and more, all make it possible to use a great range of materials when laying out tasks. From slides and flashcards to images and videos, there is a huge range that allows for great creative potential here.

Live-tracking is a great addition as you are able to monitor student progress. You can also select a synchronize class mode, which puts all the students on the same slide so they can follow you as you teach -- perhaps in the room with students -- before allowing them to progress freely again.

The ability to create classroom groups, and lessons themselves, is useful as you can go into any lesson and share with any classrooms you want. So you can share lessons across groups of classes with ease.

How much does Deck.Toys cost?

Deck.Toys comes in two formats of free and Pro, each offering varying levels of access and benefits for teachers.

The Free plan gets you two classrooms per teacher, up to three private decks, up to 100 public decks, 40 students per classroom, seven-day classroom data retention, and the ability to assign up to two decks per classroom at a time.

Go for the Pro plan at $8/month and you get 10 classrooms per teachers, 100 private decks, 200 public decks, 60 students per classroom, 30-day data retention, the ability to assign up to 10 decks per classroom at a time, and uploading voice clips to study sets and slide activities, plus exclusive access to new features and apps.

Deck.Toys best tips and tricks

Start with what you know
Use preexisting slide presentations to build a lesson pathway so you can quickly set a course without needing to create new slides from scratch.

Use templates
Take templates of lesson presentations from others apps such as Slides or PowerPoint to create lesson paths easily with rich content options.

Get interactive
Integrate quiz-style slides so students can have their learning testing and reinforced as they progress along their pathways.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

We are all probably familiar with TED Talks and similar videos of intelligent, engaging, and influential people discussing a broad range of topics relevant to society. In that vein, TED-Ed offers a platform dedicated to teachers and students to speak, view, and learn from others across the world. In addition, TED-Ed is focused on teaching and learning, providing a space for educators to create interactive lessons.

For more information about TED-Ed, check out What is TED-Ed and How Does It Work for Teaching?

This lesson plan provides an idea on how to use the TED-Ed platform for a ELA lesson focused on helping students develop their oral communication skills.

Subject: English Language Arts

Topic: Oral Communication/Public Speaking

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Develop talking points for a oral presentation
• Record a Ted Talk-style public speaking presentation

TED-Ed Lesson Plan: Topic of Interest Selection 

One of the special aspects about TED Talks in general, and TED-Ed as well, is the broad range of topics covered, including education, finance, politics, and business. This diversity of videos provides the chance for students to explore and learn about a topic of interest that they typically would not focus on in the traditional school curriculum.

To start, allow students to browse the TED-Ed videos. Once they have chosen a video, there are questions to encourage deeper thinking and discussion.

As an alternative, if you want students to focus on a specific topic, they can use TED-Ed’s database, which is organized by subject areas:

• The Arts
• Business & Economics
• Design, Engineering & Technology
• Health
• Literature & Language
• Mathematics
• Philosophy & Religion
• Psychology
• Science & Technology
• Social Studies
• Teaching & Education
• Thinking & Learning

For younger elementary students, the short, animated videos may work better, such as What Animal Can Hear the Best, whereas older students could watch a more traditional TED-Ed video, such as The Difference Between False Empathy and True Support.

Prep, Practice, and Perform 

Inspired by the TED-Ed videos that the students have watched, have them prepare their own videos starting with preparing a script. It may be helpful to provide students with your school district’s standards on oral communication and a checklist to follow.

Students can use a digital tool such as VoiceThread to practice recording themselves, which has an immediate pause feature and the ability to re-record a segment. You can decide when students give their talk live in class with an audience (their classmates) or if the final version will be recorded.

Share And Discuss

In the spirit of TED-Talks being shared widely, share your students TED-Ed with other educators, students, and their families.

If you do not want to house the videos on YouTube or other public video platforms, consider using a Padlet or similar tool to house the videos in one location that can be easily accessed by those with whom you share the link.

What Other Lesson Plan Options Are Available through TED-Ed? 

In addition to lessons that you create using a lesson plan such as this, TED-Ed offers the ability to create a lesson by using a YouTube video of your choice (you can search for one within the TED-Ed platform). You can develop corresponding questions for discussion with associated resources.

Also, an option is available to create collections in which all of your videos will be easily accessible for your lessons.

Can Teachers Get Involved with TED-Ed? 

Absolutely! TED-Ed encourages teachers to participate in the TED-Ed community and has a dedicated space for educators on the website to connect with resources. In addition, there are opportunities for educators to share their voice and create their own TED-Ed talks to be shared.

TED Talks are very entertaining, but TED-Ed adds an exciting layer to the oral communication format. Students can learn course content more deeply while developing the skills needed to effectively speak in public. Try to incorporate TED-Ed into your lesson and share widely with your learning communities.

Related:

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is TED-Ed and How Does It Work for Teaching?

This YouGlish lesson plan is designed to help students connect with learning content while leveraging an online digital tool to support them meeting learning goals.

YouGlish is an amazing video platform that is focused on sharing content in a wide range of languages. While similar to YouTube in that it houses hundreds of thousands of videos, YouGlish provides a space to learn, focus, and practice the pronunciation and contextual factors of words and phases.

For more information about the components of the YouGlish video platform, see What is YouGlish and How Does YouGlish Work?

This sample YouGlish lesson plan can be used for all age groups. What would change is the level of words and phrases, depending on where students are in their language training.

Subject: Foreign Languages

Topic: Pronunciation

Learning Objective:

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Pronounce target words and phrases in the language they are studying
• Recognize target words and phrases in the foreign language they are studying

YouGlish Lesson Plan: Starter

To begin the lesson, create a list of the target words and/or phrases on which you would like students to focus. Model for students the pronunciation and provide different examples in related contexts.

It might be helpful to use a Padlet or similar edtech tool to organize the content for the lesson. You can use the column feature to have the different words and phrases, a definition, and then a link to the YouGlish website.

YouGlish Lesson Plan: Practice

Provide time for students to practice engaging with their language pronunciation on YouGlish. Students should use the targeted words and input these into the search browser. Thousands of videos are available for students to review, so if they are not interested in the first one, they can click to the next one until they find one of interest.

Have students listen to the videos first, either a segment or the entire video, depending on the length. Students can control the pace of the video so they can choose the speed that works best for them.

Next, have students rewatch the video but this time have them read along with the video. During class time, have students use headphones since they will likely be listening to different videos. If practice happens at home, then headphones can be optional as long as the students have a space where they can focus.

YouGlish Lesson Plan: Recording

As a formative assessment activity and more practice for the students, have students record themselves saying the targeted words and phrases that were modeled for them in the YouGlish videos.

To record themselves, you may want to use VoiceThread or another voice-recording tool. With VoiceThread, students can stop and start the recording easily, and can demonstrate a progression in their pronunciation. You can also share a class link to the VoiceThread that can capture and house each students’ recordings.

In addition, if a student is struggling with pronunciation, you can record on the same screen as the student so they have another model available. Words of encouragement from you as the instructor as well as from other students can also be shared on the VoiceThread.

What Languages Does YouGlish Offer?

In addition to English, YouGlish offers videos in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Uranikian, Vietnamese, and Sign Language.

Can You Use YouGlish to Practice More Than Pronunciation?

Absolutely! YouGlish can be used to target instruction for language learners across languages. They can focus on syntax, sentence formation, speaking flow, and so much more. Each video also has subtitles, so students learning all languages can follow along. Teachers of English language learners, bilingual education programs, special education, and speech and language pathology may find YouGlish to be a particularly useful edtech tool.

Most students seem to enjoy watching videos online. With YouGlish, they can look for videos of interest while practicing how to pronounce words or anything else related to learning languages. Students may forget that they are in classes and stay engaged in the learning experience!

Related articles:

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is YouGlish and How Does YouGlish Work?

IXL is an online platform designed for personalized learning experiences focused on skill development across a wide range of content areas and K-12 grade levels. Through a comprehensive suite of features, IXL focuses on targeting specific areas of development that students may need to further develop by using engaging video tutorials, games, and customized lessons. IXL offers flexible learning activities that can be used for whole class instruction, small group work, individual learning and tutoring.

For an overview of IXL, check out What is IXL and How Does It Work?

What follows is a sample lesson that could be used for high school algebra.

Subject: Mathematics

Topic: Algebra

Grade Band: High School

Learning Objective:

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Understand algebraic concepts
• Collaborate with peers
• Build individual algebraic skills

IXL Lesson Plan: Starter

Use one of the whole-class lessons within IXL to instruct students on the algebraic concepts that you want them to learn. Within IXL you will have the option to choose the grade level to target specific skills that align with your lesson’s learning objective(s).

As you review different examples as a class, students will get the chance to see the IXL platform and work through different problems together. A cool feature within IXL is “Group Jam'' that allows peers to work collaboratively to figure out correct answers to the questions posed.

Alternatively, you can put together a lesson using interactive slides through Slido, Google Slides, or any other similar edtech tool, and save the IXL engagement for the next phase of the lesson which is individual skill development.

Individual Skill Development

After the whole-class lesson, have students work individually within the IXL platform to ensure that they are working on the specific skills for which they personally need development.

Students will start with choosing their grade, for example 9th grade, and then the subject area, algebra 1. Then, more than 350 skills will be available but these are organized by broad topics such as numbers and operations, linear functions, quadratic equations, and so forth. The “Recommendations” option in IXL will use previous data to recommend activities to start with for students.

Within this 9th grade algebra 1 example, there are also 75 lessons and more than 300 videos, so students will have plenty of content from which to learn and enjoy. If students incorrectly respond to any question, a detailed explanation will appear that walks them through correcting it, as well as additional skill-building resources, including games, interactive worksheets, and teacher-created activities.

Student-Teacher Conference

IXL provides a robust suite of analytics for teachers to monitor students’ progress including how many questions answered, the time spent answering questions, what has been made in terms of skill development, and so much more. Graphics and charts are also available to show the progress by categories with score grids to see how every student in the class is doing on each specific skill, when compared to their peers.

Using these analytics, identify the areas of concern and share with students their progress, ask questions about their experience and areas of needs in their view, and discuss a plan for future development in individualized conferences. The other students can work on their skill development within the IXL platform while you meet individually with each student.

What Does IXL Offer for Test Preparation?

In addition to the individualized skill development lessons for mathematics, science, language arts, social studies, and spanish, IXL offers a wide range of test preparation content for several standardized test including: the ACT and SAT, which is used for college admissions; the GED to obtain the highschool completion equivalency; and state specific tests such as the Keystones, which is required in Pennsylvania.

What Community Features Does IXL Offer?

The IXL website offers regular posts to keep the community of IXL users connected. In addition, there are different awards and targeted activities throughout the year in which educators can get involved. An option to subscribe to the newsletter is available as well if you would prefer to get automated updates.

IXL is a great site to include in your lesson time for students to target specific skills that are personalized to their development. Give it a try and see how your students enjoy and learn with IXL.

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is IXL and How Does It Work?

Since ancient times, astronomers have observed solar eclipses, with the earliest known documented example occurring around 1223 BCE. Although we no longer believe that a celestial shadow passing over the sun is a supernatural event, humans are still fascinated by the transient interruption of this essential source of Earth’s energy, without which no life would be possible. 

The relatively rare total solar eclipse event that will occur April 8, 2024, offers a wonderful opportunity for teachers to inspire interest not only in STEM subjects such as astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology, but also in history and social studies. 

Speaking of social, the widespread eclipse buzz on social media will drive student engagement as well! Use the following solar eclipse lessons and activities to make the most of this astonishing and dramatic rare event. 

Q&A with Dr. Jeffrey Bennett
From astronomer and educator Dr. Jeff Bennet of Big Kid Science, this downloadable PDF covers the basic information teachers and students need to know about the upcoming 2024 Total Solar Eclipse. An excellent starting point for further inquiry. 

Eye Safety During a Total Solar Eclipse
First things first when you’re talking about looking at the sun: This article from NASA describes several methods for safely viewing a solar eclipse and links to approved sites for eclipse related purchases.

The LightSound Project
Created by Harvard astronomers and billed as a “solar eclipse sonification tool,” this remarkable device translates the visual action of an eclipse into sounds for the Blind and Low Vision community. Complete building instructions are provided in English, Spanish, and French. Educators and those interested in hosting workshops are invited to collaborate with project lead Allyson Bieryla. A great undertaking project for advanced STEM students.

Easy Solar Heat Beam Activity
This hands-on activity demonstrates the power of the sun in a way that students of any age can readily grasp. Ideal for younger learners up to age 13. 

The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
From NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio comes this high-quality collection of downloadable maps covering every aspect of the 2024 total solar eclipse’s path across the continental U.S. 

NASA Eclipses
Facts, interactive maps, stories, and breathtaking images from the experts in all things astronomical. Included is a fascinating comparison between the upcoming 2024 total solar eclipse and the 2017 total solar eclipse, which some students and many teachers may remember. 

EarthSpaceLab.com: Solar and Lunar eclipses
A fine collection of simulations that model solar and lunar eclipses, as well as seasons, time zones, and tides. Users can vary the speed, distance, time of year, and view to generate various perspectives of each phenomenon.

Snap it! An Eclipse Photo Adventure
A simple but surprisingly challenging game in which players align a digital camera with targets moving across the face of the sun, generating images of eclipses and objects that transit the sun. Matches reveal identification and other details about the images. 

Eclipse Stories from Around the World
While teaching about solar eclipses typically involves STEM subject areas, educators can also explore the social, cultural, and historical aspects of eclipses. This fascinating illustrated article examines how various cultures from the past viewed eclipses—both literally and figuratively. 

Solar Eclipse Memory Game
Choose your difficulty level, then start matching solar eclipse-related images. High-quality images make this game both fun and educational. 

Hands on Solar Eclipse Activities
Six hands-on solar eclipse activities that use common materials to teach about this uncommon event. Each activity provides analysis, detailed instructions and ideas for further inquiry.   

Solar Eclipse Lesson Plans and Activity Guides
From the U.S. National Science foundation, these eight PDF lesson plans provide almost everything needed for teaching students age 4 and older about the sun and solar eclipses. Each lesson includes multiple activities, excellent background information and images, and video links to investigate further.  

Great American Eclipse
Build excitement and anticipation for the upcoming total solar eclipse by viewing animated maps and images that illustrate the path and coverage across North America, as well as the exact timing and duration of totality for dozens of American cities.   

• Best Astronomy Lessons & Activities
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Curipod brings an exciting addition to the available presentation and slideshow digital tools available for educators. It has a focus on integration and interactivity, which brings students closer to the learning material. And to assist users with content creation, Curipod has an AI option. 

For an overview of Curipod, check out What is Curipod and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips & Tricks. 

While it is designed to be used across K-12 grade levels and subject areas, this Curipod lesson plan is focused on high school-level United States history.  

Subject: Social Studies

Topic: United States History 

Grade Band: High School

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Confirm accuracy of United States history facts 
• Create interactive content explaining segments of United States history 

Curipod Lesson Plan: Lesson Introduction 

Use Curipod to review content on United States history. Depending on the grade level and time of the year, some topics may include events such as the American Civil War or American Revolution, prominent people such as the first president George Washington or inventors such as Elijah McCoy. 

Curipod’s interactive features, such as polls, word clouds, drawing, and open questions, allows you to explore the subject in different ways, and serves a twofold purpose. First, students will be able to participate and contribute to the lesson, and second, you will model some of the features for when students create their own lessons.

Slide Creation 

Have students create a presentation using Curipod presenting on some aspects of United States history. The goal is to create an interactive presentation that they can engage their peers with while demonstrating their own learning to you as the teacher. 

If you allow the students to use the AI assistant for content generation, have them review the content that is generated and check the accuracy. This is a great way to have students practice using technology that includes AI, and building their understanding that content cannot be simply used from AI without reviewing and ensuring that the facts are correct.

Curipod Presentations 

Have students present their slideshows within the Curipod platform. This will give them a chance to see how their peers have approached the assignment differently, and inspire them. Also, if information is not accurate or if students still have questions, seeing alternative presentations could spark healthy debate and discourse. 

It also might be helpful to create a peer review template that other students can use to provide feedback for one another on their presentations. To capture the reviews for the class to see, Padlet would be a good option. If you would prefer to have the reviews private, a Google Form would do the trick. 

How Can I Connect with Other Educators About Curipod? 

An online Facebook community exists to connect with other educators who are using Curipod in their classroom. Since Curipod is a global company based in Norway, there is a built-in opportunity to connect with educators internationally to see how learning is taking place there. Global exchanges such as this can benefit students and elevate their learning experiences.  

What Type of Curipod Training is Available? 

Curipod offers a PD suite of resources on its website that educators can access, and educators can also earn badges and certificates for completing certain classes. Curipod also has a YouTube channel with more than 100 videos with screencasts showing how to use certain features within the platform. 

Curipod is a neat addition to available digital tools that educators and students can use to create presentation and slideshow materials. Consider trying this lesson or others with your students, and see how Curipod helps to engage your students in the learning activity.

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is Curipod and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips & Tricks

Pi Day was first formally celebrated in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium, when staff physicist Larry Shaw organized events around March 14, or 3/14, aka 3.14, which are the first three digits of pi (π), the mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives recognized it as an annual event, and since then, much like pi itself, has become a source of infinite joy.

These Pi Day lessons and activities are perfect for teaching your students about trigonometry, geometry, physics, cosmology, statistics, thermodynamics, and much more as pi appears in numerous formulae. So help yourself to a slice of pi here and enjoy!

Pi Day Lessons & Activities

Pi Day Challenge Games
A fun and quirky set of math/logic games that are slightly addictive. Practice with the 24 puzzles from 2025 or the archive dating back to 2017, while the Pi Day Challenge Team prepares the new 2026 problem set. Adding to the fun is the inclusion of ancient mythology, history, art, and ordinary circumstances, such as traffic jams and bread recipes. Create a free account or login with Google.

NYT Learning Network: Taxicab Geometry
What’s taxicab geometry, you may ask? Well it’s something along the lines of (sorry!) how an Etch-a-Sketch works—i.e., only vertical and horizontal moves are allowed. But it’s more complicated than that. And oh, by the way, pi equals 4 and circles aren’t round. Intrigued yet? This imaginative article dives into not only taxicab geometry but also related math topics. Questions and ideas for further exploration are provided. Free with no account required.

Pi-Search
Widely acknowledged to be completely useless for most purposes, Pi-Search is nonetheless absolutely required to fully celebrate Pi Day. The point of Pi-Search is simple: In less than one second, find any series of digits that occur in the first 200 million digits of Pi. A helpful odds table displays the likelihood that a series will be found, based on its length. For example, the eight-digit string commonly used to denote birthdays carries an 86% chance of being found within 200 million digits. What’s more, this humble (pi) site is packed with all kinds of other useless (and occasionally useful) information, such as how the search is actually performed and pi numeric trivia. Great fun.

Mensa for Kids: Pi Day Palooza!
Fine collection of Pi Day lessons and activities, including a homemade Spirograph, trivia, greeting cards, and even Pilish poetry. (If you’ve never tried writing in Pilish, you’re in for a keen challenge).

A Brief History of Pi (π)
Which has been around longer -- pie or pi? The answer may surprise you. Learn how ancient mathematicians deduced the concept and approximate value of pi in this article from San Francisco's Exploratorium museum.

14 Fun Pi Day Activities for High School Students
A lighthearted—yet academically challenging—collection of pi-related activities that incorporates music, language, poetry, art, statistics, history, American date abbreviations and more. For full appreciation of activity No. 3, “Throw a Pi-Themed Party,” students should watch Why is the area of a circle equal to π r² ? 2000 year old proof, but with pizza.

The Discovery That Transformed Pi
Before Isaac Newton transformed mathematics, the calculation of pi was laborious and slow. This entertaining, yet in-depth, video explains the principles underlying Newton’s elegant proof. And yes, there will be pizza.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pi Challenges
Care for a bit of pi-in-the-sky thinking? Explore illustrated lessons that take pi out of Earth’s orbit in service of solving solar systems problems, such as the density of the asteroid Psyche and frost in lunar craters. A “stellar” collection.

Learn About Pi
A dynamic, illustrated explanation of pi that grabs the reader’s attention with its colorful, lively graphics which clearly demonstrate the properties of pi and how it can be used in calculating volumes of many two- and three-dimensional shapes. This webpage from PiDay.org would provide an excellent, clarifying accompaniment to the pi-related lessons included in this article.

Teach Pi
A plethora of pi activities, stories, music, lessons and trivia, TeachPi.org was founded by math educator and speaker Luke Anderson, whose enthusiasm for pi and numeracy cannot be contained. Be sure to check out Anderson’s alter ego, Pi Daddy, and his rap song, “Lose Yourself (In The Digits).” A super fun site to peruse.

PBS LearningMedia Pi-Related Resources
An abundance of K-12 pi-related lessons and interactives that includes calculating pi with darts, the square-wheeled tricycle, music from the Golden Ratio, and more fascinating topics. Lessons and activities are standards-aligned, shareable to Google Classroom, and include plenty of support material for teachers. And, yes, there will be pie. And pizza.

• Best Online Math Platforms for Education
• Best Sites & Apps for K-12 Education Games
• What Is Equatio and How Can I Use It To Teach Math and STEM?

BrainPOP is an edtech platform with a robust suite of learning content that transcends grade levels and academic subject areas. It provides lesson plans, videos, games, and quizzes to support teaching and learning.  

For an overview of BrainPOP and its many features, check out What is BrainPOP and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? 

Here is a sample middle school lesson plan on proportional relationships that builds from content available within the BrainPOP platform. Please note that this is only one idea for building on BrainPOP’s content for a lesson as the platform is quite comprehensive. 

Subject: Mathematics 

Topic: Proportional Relationships 

Grade Band: Middle School 

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Describe a proportional relationship 
• Create a visual that demonstrates proportional relationships 

BrainPOP Lesson Plan: Starter Instruction

To begin the lesson, use a slideshow edtech tool such as Google Slides to show students images that illustrate a proportional relationship using real-world examples that students can easily identify. If you want to add a polling aspect to the presentation, use the Slido-add on within Google Slide, or you can use Mentimeter instead to display the initial instructional content. 

After you have defined and described what a proportional relationship is, “show” students what it “looks like” in their lives. For example, you can show them a chart that demonstrates the proportional relationship between arcade games and the number of tickets needed to play each game (i.e. 1 arcade game is equal to 2 tickets, 2 arcade games is equal to 4 tickets, and so forth). Another example you could share with students is in online gaming (i.e. 1 daily quest completed in Roblox equals 10 coins, 2 daily quests equals 20 coins, and so forth). 

BrainPOP Engagement 

After you have completed the initial instruction on proportional relationships, let students engage within the BrainPOP platform page aligned with proportional relationships. On the page, have students first watch the movie, then explore the other activities, including the games, vocabulary, and related readings. You can also have students make-a-map, engage in creative coding, or make a movie. 

You will notice that there is a lesson plan button at the top right-hand corner of the page that provides more details on those three activities. And, you can always use these as a base and modify based on your own creativity and instructional needs.

Independent Learning 

After students have engaged with the content on the BrainPOP platform, provide them with space to demonstrate their learning. More specifically, ask students to choose any real-life area on which to focus (you can remind them of the beginning of the lesson during which you provided the arcade and Roblox examples). 

Once students have their area of focus selected, have them visually demonstrate two different proportional relationships. Students should also include their own definition of what a proportional relationship is. It may be helpful to provide a free infographic edtech tool for students to create their visuals, such as Canva. 

How Does BrainPOP Connect with Academic Standards? 

BrainPOP has a robust academic standards alignment feature that is prominently connected to content and lessons. In addition to Common Core State Standards (CCSS), there is alignment with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as well as international education standards from Australia, Canada, England, and Scotland. 

What If Students Want to Engage with BrainPOP at Home?  

An online section within the BrainPOP platform is available and dedicated to home activities organized by grade bands. In addition to activities ideas being accessible through Google Docs, there is a family tips PDF, distance learning plans, and video tutorials. 

BrainPOP is an exciting and comprehensive platform with learning content for all ages and subject-matters. Try this lesson plan and see if it helps to elevate your teaching and learning in your classroom! 

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Baamboozle is an online platform of games that are intentionally connected to teaching and learning. It offers a flexible suite of games that teachers of any subject area or topics can use to support their instruction while engaging learners. 

Because Baamboozle’s gamified learning offerings are so widespread, covering a plethora of areas, this lesson plan can be used to support any education lesson. 

For an overview of Bamboozle, check out What is Baamboozle and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks. 

Baamboozle offers several ways to interact with the online games, including Slideshow, Play, and Study modes. As such, this sample lesson plan provides guidance on using those three modes in an integrated manner. 

Subject: Any   

Topic: All 

Grade Band: Elementary, Middle, High School 

Game Search 

The first step is to choose the games you want to use to support instruction. Since there are more than a half million games, the most efficient way to decide on one is to use the search feature. Within the first box, you can type in the topic you are searching for based on the lesson. As a reminder, you can focus on any topic or subject area that you are working on improving! Then choose games that align. 

For example, you search “biology” and nearly 900 games will appear. If you provide more specificity and search “ecology,” you will be shown closer to 200 games. If you are a physical education/health teacher you could search “fitness,” which would give you more than 600 games, or “health,” which would give you 2,500+ games. 

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of games that are premade, you as the teacher can customize your own game, so whatever your need, you will be sure to find a game that connects with it. You can also filter the search by language and view alphabetically or by popularity.

Slideshow and Play 

Once you have the game(s) that connect(s) with your lesson subject and topic, you can use the slideshow feature to play the game, while also teaching content to students. 

The collections option allows you to pull from where there are multiple games already packaged based on the same topic. For example, the “adverbs” collection has 12 games included. 

You will be able to create a class pin for students to access the game from their devices, or you can use the projector and interactive whiteboard in your class for the entire class to participate without the need for separate devices. 

After going through a game or two using the slideshow feature, you can play the game as both friendly competition and as an engagement activity. Decide on whether you want to have students work in teams while in play mode, or even create their own games. 

Study

If you use the study mode, the games are transformed into study squares in which students can work independently, revisiting content from earlier in the lesson. This makes for a great homework or general extra practice option to complement the lesson. 

What If I Am Not Familiar With Baamboozle? 

Check out the Baamboozle blog! It’s jam-packed with information, tips, and tricks on using the platform. In addition, the blog highlights some of the most popular games that other teachers and students have engaged in. Within the blog space, there is also a beginners guide available which is helpful to review as a new user. So, even if you have never heard of Baamboozle before or used similar platforms, you will be able to lean into the provided resources and quickly learn to navigate and utilize the system. 

What If All Students Do Not Have Compatible Devices? 

This is one of the unique aspects of Baamboozle. You can use a projector and interactive whiteboard and have the game appear for the entire class in person, or share your screen for an online class. Not having to have individual screens may also help students stay focused on the same thing that you are teaching 

Baamboozle is fun, simple, and full of opportunities to elevate lessons while peaking students’ interest and interaction with content. Try one of the Bamboozle games for any of the subjects and topics that you are up next for your lesson and enjoy students’ engagement and learning.

• What is Baamboozle and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
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This Wayground (formerly Quizizz) lesson plan is designed to engage students in learning while leveraging a digital tool to help meet learning outcomes

Wayground is an exciting and comprehensive edtech tool that makes answering questions fun! Quizizz does more than just ask students quiz questions online, incorporating myriad multimedia dimensions in a gamified manner.

For more about all of the specific features of Wayground, check out What is Wayground (Quizizz) and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips & Tricks.

This sample Wayground lesson plan for middle and high school students is focused on strengthening students’ critical thinking and comprehension questions. Quizizz’s content and structure, however, transcends grade levels and can be used for all learners and subjects.

Subject: Reading Comprehension

Topic: Critical Thinking

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Analyze, interpret, and evaluate content within a reading passage
• Respond to questions and make judgements about what they have read

Wayground Lesson Plan: Getting Started

Provide students with a reading passage to focus on for the lesson. You can choose a passage from any subject area that you are teaching.

Once you have the passage, decide if you will use the text version, will read it for students and put in an audio or video file, or if you will capture the passage as an image. These are the options within Wayground to for displaying whatever you select.

 Wayground Engagement and AI Use 

Students will engage in the lesson within the Wayground platform based on the questions you have developed. Since the focus is on reading comprehension and critical thinking, add a mix of fill-in-the-blank and open-ended questions. You also have the option to use multiple choice questions, which may work better for middle school students, or to get started with as you build toward more difficult questions.

If you would like to use AI to develop questions, you can do so once you have uploaded the passage into Wayground. You can prompt the AI with how many questions you want as well as what types (multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and open-ended). Wayground allows you to change language if it is helpful to a student or the class to switch the content from English.

Before you use AI-generated questions, review and make sure the questions ask what you are looking for, and if not, revise accordingly. Pay close attention to wording and any bias that may be present.

Wayground has a student-side experience option in which the passage (text, audio, video, or image) will stay on the screen while the questions appear. Give students the appropriate amount of time, based on the type and number of questions included.

Sharing Learning

Have students share their Wayground experience with the larger class community. This gives them a chance to see how others may have interpreted the content differently. It might be helpful to use a Padlet or similar edtech tool for students to contribute to, to share their learning. If you want students to verbally discuss and reflect on their learning, consider using VoiceThread.

What Resources Does Quizizz Provide Teachers? 

Wayground provides Wayground University, which offers online professional development for teachers to strengthen their familiarity and facility with using the platform for teaching and learning. Similarly to the gamified nature of Wayground, Wayground University offers the chance to earn badges as different learning modules are completed.

What if Students Want to Wayground At Home? 

Wayground can be used in school and at home, and because of the way that the technology focuses on self-regulation, students will be able to work independently, even if their parents are not familiar with the platform. Also, the redemption and retake questions built into Wayground will encourage students to keep going and not to give up.

Many options are available on the edtech market in terms of online quizzes, however, Wayground takes questioning to the next level. Try Wayground in your class and see how your students are able to practice their learning and share where they are with you, while engaging in a gamified learning environment.

• What is Wayground (Quizizz) and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips & Tricks
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Beloved winter holidays present an excellent opportunity to engage students while teaching about cultures and traditions from around the world, as well as winter-related science and language arts topics.

All of the following winter holiday lessons and activities are easy to access, use, and enjoy. Best of all, these are all 100% free!

Best Free Winter Holiday Lessons and Activities

NYT Lesson Plan: How Nature Comes Alive in the Winter
A gorgeous, photo-rich lesson that guides kids in exploring nature at a time of year when the wonders of life are subtle compared to the other seasons. Included are a lesson overview, vocabulary, warmup, questions for discussion, and extension activities. As with all NYT lessons plans, no account is needed to access this lesson or linked articles.

Science Buddies: Why Are Skis So Long?
Maybe you take it for granted that skis have to be a certain length. But did you ever consider why, or what would happen if you donned shorter skis? You don’t need snow or cold temperatures to investigate this question. Gather a few common ingredients—flour, cardboard, glue—and a child’s action figure, and you’re off to the (downhill) races. Includes background, step-by-step instructions, questions, and extension activities.

Why on Earth are Winters Getting Worse If the Planet is Getting Warmer?
A complete standards-aligned lesson that examines a question many of us have wondered about. How can average global temperatures be increasing, while many locales are seeing a substantial increase in snowfall? Find out why this phenomenon is not a contradiction, but rather a predictable consequence of global warming. Contains teaching tips, questions, research activities, handouts, and vocabulary.

National Geographic Kids: Winter Solstice
What is the winter solstice and why is it important, both culturally and scientifically? This article answers basic questions about the winter solstice while highlighting ancient monuments.

8 Winter Solstice Celebrations Around the World
The shortest day of the year has long been a subject of fascination for ancient civilizations. Even before people understood the astronomical basis for the event, they knew through observation when it would occur and what changes would follow. In this article, learn about traditional festivals that looked ahead to the lengthening days while making the most out of the darkness.

National WWI Museum and Memorial: The Christmas Truce, Winter 1914
From the National World War I Museum and Memorial, this remarkable online exhibition explores the unofficial but documented truce between trench warfare combatants along parts of both the Western and the Eastern fronts. Includes extensive primary source material as well as photos, video, and explanatory text. In a quirky twist, users may declare a truce of their own on any topic, as well as voting on others’ truces.

Counting Christmas Trees
A standards-aligned lesson based on sales of Christmas trees that can be customized for students in grades K-8. Included are PDF materials, questions, lesson extensions, and a brief assessment.

Weather for Kids
Obviously, “weather” is not limited to the winter. Nonetheless, in many parts of the country wintertime is associated with colder temperatures, snow, ice, and other weather-related phenomena. This robust collection of experiments, videos, lessons, projects, and games offers a broad range of teaching and learning options.

PBS Learning Media: Why Do We Have Seasons?
A complete, standards-aligned interactive lesson exploring Earth’s year-long trek around the Sun. Grades 3-12, shareable to Google Classroom.

Snow Crystals
An inventive, engaging and educational site, Snow Crystals.com is the brainchild of Kenneth G. Libbrecht, professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology. While Libbrecht studies the physics of snowflakes, he clearly also appreciates the artistry and whimsy of snowflakes. Everything is here, from the hard-core science to snowflake fun facts and activities to time-lapse videos of growing snowflakes.

Googley Wintertime Activities for Kids
Google expert Eric Curts presents awesome digital activities for holiday fun and learning. Try the all-digital magnetic poetry, holiday greeting cards, pixel art, or any of the eight activities. All include full instructions as well as digital templates.

Make your own holiday greeting card
Select images, font, background colors, and greeting to create a customized printable greeting card for your favorite winter holiday. Don’t forget to include a fun graphic on the back. Great for kids of all ages.

All about Christmas
A treasure trove of Christmas traditions, customs, and activities, including Christmas crosswords, quizzes, and puzzles. Christmas song Karaoke, anyone?

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights
Teach the story of Hanukkah, then add the grade-based reading, writing, and art activities to your December classroom instruction.

Kwanzaa
This detailed article from the History Channel covers the history, principles, and symbols of Kwanzaa. Educators can use it to launch a classroom discussion about the importance of rituals in building communities, or how students can put the seven principles into use in their everyday lives.

Give your students the Dickens!
According to some scholars, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is the single greatest literary influence on our modern Christmas customs. Explore these student-friendly ways to study not only A Christmas Carol, but also 19th-century English society. Both encompass themes relevant to today’s world, such as poverty, inequality, and how we treat our fellow humans.

Online Kwanzaa Games
Practice math and language skills while having fun with these Kwanzaa-themed digital games and puzzles.

Online Hanukkah Activities
Kids learn the history and rituals of Hanukkah through engaging activities, including digital Dreidel games, crossword puzzles, and coloring pages. These digital activities are printable too!

Online Christmas Puzzles and Games
Fun online interactives for younger learners include puzzles featuring Santa and the elves, a Santa and Rudolph coloring page, and a digital math game, video lesson, and worksheet.

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Roblox may be known as a computer game that youth spend hours playing, but it also has relevance for education. 

Roblox can be used in teaching to engage students in the lesson and to help them build specific skills, while also enjoying the experience. The multiplayer aspects of Roblox allows for learning activities centered on collaboration and communication. 

For more information on Roblox, check out What is Roblox and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks. 

What follows is a sample lesson plan focused on using Roblox to teach elementary students in social studies.

Subject/Topic: Social Studies/Community and Neighborhood Resources 

Grade Band: Elementary School 

Learning Objective: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to build a community that includes targeted neighborhood resources and services.

Roblox Lesson Starter 

Using a presentation tool such as Slido, provide students with background information regarding neighborhood resources in their community. Leverage the interactive live questioning and polling features of Slido to allow students the opportunity to actively participate in the lesson. 

For example, you can use the open-ended question feature on Slido to ask students what community resources are present in their neighborhood and/or the school’s neighborhood. Students will name community resources such as the grocery store, library, and post office. For younger elementary students, you can use the multiple choice option and pre-list a few community resources. 

Then ask students about other community resources they would like to add to their neighborhood.

Roblox Community Creation 

Provide an open platform through Roblox for students to create neighborhoods that include the resources that they would like to see. You have many platform options to choose from as Roblox is available through the Google Play Store, Amazon Appstore,  and Apple App Store, as well as by using Playstation, Xbox, or MetaQuest devices. Microsoft’s website also has an option to join Roblox. 

Allow students to take creative license to build their virtual communities. If you would like students to work on soft skills such as collaboration and communication, have them work in teams. Working in teams will also allow for problem-solving and critical thinking to be part of the learning activity as they will need to negotiate with one another on which community resources they should include and why. 

Virtual Gallery Walk & Class Discussion 

Instead of having a traditional presentation of each students’ work, coordinate a virtual gallery walk in which each student or team can explore their peers’ neighborhoods. To assist with the exploration, you could have students complete a form in which they notate similarities and differences between their own created neighborhoods and those of the other students or teams. 

To engage students in design thinking, you could have a whole class discussion about the virtual gallery walk experience in which you ask students and teams if there is anything they would do differently to their designed neighborhood after seeing other  examples. This can be a reflected piece, or you can have students continue with the building of their neighborhood within Roblox.

What Support Does Roblox Provide Families? 

The Roblox website has a Student & Families section that provides myriad resources for parents of students who use Roblox, including guides for families to navigate Roblox, the ability to customize parental controls, and information on The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). 

What if Students Use Inappropriate Language? 

We know that sometimes language usage changes when students are in online social forums versus in the physical classroom. Within the chat features in Roblox, there are built-in structures to filter out language that is inappropriate. Also, there is an option to report abuse within the Roblox platform.

So yes, Roblox can absolutely be used within formal education settings for informal learning experiences. In addition to trying to implement the lesson plan described above, check out our article on Creating a Roblox Classroom for other learning activity ideas that incorporate Roblox. 

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Gimkit is an exciting game-based online platform that can be used in different ways for students of all ages to reinforce their content knowledge and learning. 

For an overview of Gimkit and some of its features, check out our Gimkit: How to Use it for Teaching. 

Here is a sample Gimkit lesson plan that is focused on using Gimkit to enhance a social studies or history lesson at the middle or high school levels. However, Gimkit can be incorporated into elementary level lessons and other academic subjects too. 

Subject: Social Studies/History 

Topic: Historical events, places, and people 

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Respond to questions based on the lesson 
• Develop questions to test knowledge of learning 

Gimkit Lesson Plan: Starter

To begin the lesson, provide students with content related to the historical events, places, and/or people you are focusing on for the unit. For example, a middle school lesson may be focused on the American Revolution whereas high school students may focus on World World II, taking a deep dive into the countries and people connected to it. 

To provide live instruction to students on the content, it may be helpful to use slides through a tool such as Slido or Canva. Or for asynchronous consumption of the content, VoiceThread or WeVideo could be used to provide instruction to students. 

Regardless of the edtech tool used to present the content, focus on the areas that students need to know in order to meet the learning objectives.

Guided Practice and Question Development  

After students have been taught the content related to the historical events, places, and and/or people, provide a formative assessment check-in by engaging in a few rounds of a question-and-answer game using Gimkit. Not only will you be able to see how students are retaining the content, the types of questions being asked of students can serve as examples for students to create their own questions. 

Once you are finished with a few rounds of Gimkit games, have students work on creating questions to contribute to a shared class Gimkit game set. Students can work individually on the questions, developing 3-5 questions each, adding the answers as well. This is another opportunity for students to go back into the lesson’s content as they come up with the questions. 

Competition 

Using the collective question set created by the students, have a friendly competition using Gimkit. Be sure to go through the questions first to make sure that at least one question from each student is asked, and that the answer is correct. 

The “KitCollab” option within the Gimkit platform allows questions to be added by students during the live game. Don’t worry, the questions will not automatically appear as the teacher will still need to approve any in real-time. 

Prior to the start of the competition, decide if you will set up the game based on creating a question set from the students’ submissions or if you want to allow questions in real-time. 

How can Gimkit be Used for Teamwork? 

Gimkit provides a great opportunity to incorporate team learning into the lesson. For the competition, you may want to split students in teams to build collaboration and class spirit. Teams also means that you will not need to have the paid version of Gimkit, as the free version does limit the number of players at a time. 

Can Gimkit be Used at Home? 

Absolutely! In fact, Gimkit would be a fun alternative to traditional homework assignments. In addition, Gimkit may be a great way to involve families in the lesson, as families can work together to develop questions for a game and play against one another. 

So much learning can happen through the use of edtech tools such as Gimkit. In fact, the founder of Gimkit created it as part of a high school project. Try out Gimkit with your students and see what they can develop as a result. I am sure that your students would be interested in a lesson that involves gaming! 

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AI (artificial intelligence) is becoming a mainstay in discussions around technology use in the classroom. 

We are already ubiquitously surrounded by AI in our everyday lives, with our smartphones, homes, and transportation, to name a few examples, so this is a logical progression. In fact, in many K-12 schools, myriad learning technologies that we already use to instruct, engage, and assess learning use AI technologies. 

As some schools are discussing policies around AI use within teaching and learning, it might be helpful to know some of the best practices, do’s, and dont’s as you develop lessons that use AI and similar technologies.

AI Lesson Plan Tips & Best Practices  

Intentionally Use AI to Support Students with Meeting Learning Outcomes. Learning must be at the forefront of all technology use, and the same is true for AI. Only use AI (or any technology tool) if its use will contribute to students being able to meet the learning goals that drive the lesson. We must not have students just use AI because it is “cool” or a new thing that the teacher wants to try. Instead, we must center learning in the lesson and leverage AI to help students get where they need to be academically. 

Focus on Skill Building. One way to ensure that learning is at the center of any lesson that uses AI is to focus on how AI can support students’ building skills. This could be anything from helping students develop the 4Cs of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, or specific mathematical computation skills or reading fluency skills. Any skill that students that your lesson is targeting works just as long as your use of AI is supporting skill building and not on just using AI. 

AI Lesson Plan Do’s 

Do use AI to Elevate Learning Activities. The best part of lessons are the learning activities in which we get to see how students are engaging and connecting with the newly introduced content. Because AI tools are dynamic, these can be used to support student engagement within lessons. Use students’ interest in AI technologies and create learning activities that students are excited about. As a result, they will not only enjoy the lesson but learn more! 

Do use AI to Assist with Real-Time Progress Monitoring. The reality is that class sizes are not getting any smaller. It can be a challenge to meet with individual students throughout the day and gain awareness of where they are in the lesson. By using AI tools within the lesson, you can maintain a record of how students are mastering the content, plus AI technologies can offer students more practice or challenges depending on where they are with the content. 

Al Lesson Plan Don'ts 

Don’t Create Assessments that Can Easily be Completed 100% Through the Use of AI. As one of the major concerns with AI is the potential for students to use it to do their work, it is imperative that as you plan assessments for your lessons, that you do so in intentional ways. This means having specific metrics and check-ins with students that require them to provide non-generic responses. Instead of having close-ended questions with answers that can be easily determined, ask open, thought-provoking questions to stimulate cognition of students, and have them use real-world examples to support their narratives. 

Don’t use AI Without the Permission of Your School. While you may be tempted to jump and try to incorporate the use of AI into your lessons to enhance learning, you also should make sure that its use does not violate any school or district acceptable use policies. Share your plans with your principal and/or instructional coach during lesson review planning, and be prepared to use some of the best practices and do’s above to support your use of AI, as well as pivot, if necessary. 

Just as we want students to develop information literacy and fluency to determine “fake news” from trusted scholarly sources, we also want students to understand AI, how it is used, and the potential uses it has to enhance their learning. 

Hopefully these AI lesson plan tips and best practices will be helpful as you craft your own lessons that incorporate the use of AI in your classroom.

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Mentimeter is a dynamic online platform that can elevate any lesson presentation materials. In fact, Mentimeter combines some of the best features that we love when using Kahoot, Quizlet, and Slido, offering surveys, live polling, world clouds, quizzing, Q&A, and more! 

For an overview of Mentimeter, check out What is Mentimeter and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks. 

Here is a sample high school lesson plan focused on geometric word problems, which uses the Mentimeter platform as a robust and all-encompassing presentation tool that can be incorporated into any subject area and grade level. 

Subject: Mathematics 

Topic: Geometric Word Problems 

Grade Band: High School 

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify geometric shapes 
• Solve geometric word problems 

Mentimeter Lesson Plan Introduction

Start the lesson with a quick and fun icebreaker featuring a slide that uses the word cloud feature of Mentimeter. Ask students to share a word or phrase that comes to mind when they hear “geometric.” You can discuss the responses as a group and introduce the lesson on geometric word problems. 

Throughout the lesson, students can respond with their personal cell phones (if allowed at your school) and/or tablets or computers they have available.

Instruction and Engagement  

As you go to the next slide, show students different geometric shapes (e.g. rhombus, trapezoid, parallelogram, and triangle). Throughout the lesson, ask students live polling questions that will be embedded into the Mentimeter presentation slide. Since Mentimeter allows for the addition of images within poll questions, you can add the different geometric shapes to see if students are able to identify these as well as the sides, angles, degrees, etc.

You can also embed video within the lesson and it will seamlessly appear on the slide to explain different content. You can use videos that you have created yourself using apps such as PowToon, or videos you have found elsewhere that you want to incorporate into the lesson. Video can be helpful as you transition from helping students being able to identify geometric shapes to solving geometric word problems. 

Based on students’ responses, you can either move forward to the next slide or go back and refresh students’ understanding.

Student Practice and Informal Assessment  

After you have instructed students on geometric shapes and solving geometric word problems, use the quizzing feature within Mentimeter to allow students to practice solving geometric word problems. The open-ended question type available can be used and will allow for students to type their answers and even “show their work” by including information on how they arrived at the final answer. 

The narrative information will be helpful as informative assessment data as you can review students’ final answers and the process they are following to get to those answers. By knowing the process that students are following, you can determine where they may have gotten lost and provide specific instruction to get them back on track.

How Can We Control Student Responses for Appropriate Language? 

While having the ability to capture students’ responses in live time is an exciting and engaging feature available within the Mentimeter platform, there may be concerns about students using inappropriate language in their responses that will be broadcasted to the entire class during the lesson. Thankfully, Mentimeter has a built-in profanity filter so even if your student’s response includes profanity, it should not appear on the white board screen for other students to see. 

What If I Don’t Know How to Create? 

Do not worry if you do not have the time or capacity to create background slides. Mentimeter provides templates galore! 

In addition to full templates that can be used as the background for presentation slides, Mentimeter offers free resources that teachers can use to elevate their presentations, including word cloud templates, starter questions for quizzing and brain teasers, and trivia question sets. 

Mentimeter is a well thought-out platform for teaching, and as mentioned previously, has many individual features that you are probably already using but possibly via separate apps. Give Mentimeter a try and see if you can bring fun to learning for any subject area and grade level!

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This ChatGPT lesson plan is designed to help educators creatively use artificial intelligence to maximize teaching and learning experiences 

ChatGPT is all the rage these days, proliferating education landscapes, conferences, books, and journals. Unfortunately, much of the discussion regarding ChatGPT has surrounded the dangers of using AI in schools due to potential academic integrity and cheating issues as well as privacy and ethical concerns. While all of these are important to be cognizant of and should absolutely be points of further consideration for new policies and pedagogy, there is an opportunity to leverage ChatGPT and similar generative AI platforms in ways that benefit students and teachers. 

For an overview of ChatGPT, check out What is ChatGPT and How Can You Teach With It? 

What is presented here is just one idea on how to incorporate ChatGPT into a lesson, but there are countless ways to do so.       

Topics: Any   

Grade Band: Middle School and High School   

Learning Objective: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Develop a robust team presentation 
• Collaboratively present using any creative medium 

AI and ChatGPT Review 

While students may have heard of ChatGPT, they might not know the specific science around it. Because of this, start the lesson with a slide presentation using a tool such as Slido, explaining what generative AI is, how it is used in everyday life, some of the ethical and privacy concerns, and the benefits of it. Then, introduce students to the ChatGPT platform and show how it works, and guide them through creating prompts to get the best results. 

By using Slido, you can incorporate interactive check-in polling throughout the lesson to make sure that students are following along and to add an engagement aspect.

Student Topic Selection and ChatGPT Interaction  

Once students have gained an understanding of generative AI and ChatGPT, they can be placed in teams. You can have each team choose a topic based on what you are currently teaching them. 

For example, if you are in a social studies or history course, students can choose a topic related to government or economics. Or if you are teaching English language arts, students might select literature or public speaking. 

Once teams have decided their topics, they can start to outline their presentation subtopics. With the assistance of ChatGPT, students can ask:

• Questions of clarification (What is meant by the 7 wonders of the world?) 
• For examples (What is an example of a renaissance literary work?) 
• To hear alternatives (How can individuals save money beyond a traditional bank account?) 

In this case, ChatGPT is not doing the work for students, but enhancing the experience, encouraging critical thinking by forcing them to ask certain questions, and serving as a support system to the teacher who may not have the time or capacity to work directly with each group. 

Presentations 

Since you are allowing students to creatively present using the medium of their choice, the end products may vary widely. If you want to suggest specific technology tools for students to choose from for their presentations, PowToon, VoiceThread, and WeVideo are appropriate options. 

What if Students Cheat? 

A well-planned lesson that positions the use of ChatGPT in specific ways can help ameliorate potential cheating. Remember, in this lesson, ChatGPT is being used to support idea generation and critical thinking. The students will still need to develop the final product using their own knowledge and words. For this lesson, it may be helpful to create a grading rubric as well with measures included that would make it difficult for students to use ChatGPT for the final product. 

This article and discussion on cheating within online courses may be helpful to review for additional ideas as well. 

From this sample lesson plan, you can see how ChatGPT can be used in schools to support teaching and learning. Instead of banning something that students will inevitably access, guide their use of the technology purposefully, leveraging the benefits of ChatGPT. Many of us already use AI in our daily lives, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. Now, we can offer students the opportunity to use similar technology tools while they learn new content, making lessons more exciting and engaging.

• What is ChatGPT and How Can You Teach With It? Tips & Tricks
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

Learning languages in schools comes in many different forms. In pre-kindergarten and elementary classes, there are often translated words at centers around the room. In middle and high school, students often have the opportunity to choose a language as an elective. Bilingual schools and classrooms also integrate foreign languages into daily instruction. 

Regardless of the format in which language is being introduced, Duolingo offers an exciting technology-based platform for students to improve their foreign language skills. Thanks to the game-based format of Duolingo, students will be encouraged to continue to use the app. 

For more information on Duolingo, check out What is Duolingo and How Does it Work? Tips and Tricks. 

This sample lesson plan is focused on using Duolingo to support students' development of their foreign language skills. 

Subject: Foreign Languages

Topics: Vocabulary and Conversational Phrases 

Grade Band: Middle School

Learning Objective: At the end of this lesson, students will be able to: 

• Identify at least 10 vocabulary words in a foreign language 
• Speak at least 3 conversational phrases 

Setting Up Duolingo For The Class

Create an introduction to Duolingo with Google Slides and screenshots so students can get a sense of how you want them to engage with the app. With the free teacher account, you can set up a class for your students and all of their interactions within Duolingo will be connected. 

Once you have set-up a classroom and added your students, create an assignment, which is an easy automated process in the Duolingo teacher site. The assignments are a combination of the interactive activities within the app, such as listening to stories, practicing conversational phrases, and matching what is heard to what is written. You must also choose how long you want students to engage in the app, which will dictate how long each unit takes to complete. 

Add the link to your class Duolingo to your LMS, and your students can quickly go into the assignment. Students will be prompted in English first, then can move through the different language learning activities. 

Be sure that students have headphones so they do not get distracted with other students’ engagement with Duolingo. If you choose to have students repeat words and phrases, try to space them out in the classroom as much as possible. 

You will also be able to monitor student progress and see what areas they need more support in through the analytics through reports that Duolingo provides.

Connecting to Other Lessons 

Instead of having students go through random modules to improve their foreign language speaking and listening skills, you may want to connect the lesson to other lessons students are engaged with. For example, with a Google Earth Social Studies lesson focused on landforms, students can choose a language that is connected to the country where the landform was located to learn related vocabulary.  Or with a Storybird Writing lesson focused on fictional storytelling, students can try to use learned foreign language conversational sentences within the story.  

Duolingo Support for Teachers? 

Duolingo offers a wide range of support for teachers as you incorporate the use of the app into your lessons, including activity templates, a guidebook, and a robust help center. 

If you would like to connect with other teachers for peer support, there is a Duolingo Educators Facebook group, for which the link is available on the Duolingo site. 

What if Students Are On Different Ability Levels? 

The great thing about Duolingo is that the content is offered at the introductory, beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. 

If you have students who need more time with the concepts, have them repeat modules before moving on to more difficult ones. For students whose language skills are more developed, encourage them to move on to more advanced modules. Also, because you will set-up the lesson by time, a student who is more advanced can easily move on to other concepts while students who need more time work on their items.  

Duolingo is a fun learning tool that can be used for students to start or build their language experiences. Give it a try and see how your students’ develop their language skills.  

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is Duolingo and How Does it Work? Tips and Tricks

Blooket, the game-based edtech platform, provides various opportunities for students to engage in learning activities to develop new content knowledge as well as build on prior learning.   

For an overview of Blooket and more specifics of the many features and its applicability within the K-12 learning environment, check out What is Blooket and How Does It Work? Tips and Tricks. 

This sample elementary school lesson plan is focused on using Booklet to teach counting. However, there is a wide range of topics and subjects within the Blooket platform that can be incorporated in other lessons and grade levels.   

Subject: Mathematics 

Topic: Counting 

Grade Band: Elementary 

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 

• Skip count

Blooket Lesson Plan Starter

To begin the lesson, use one of the Brain Teasers within the Blooket platform. The Brain Teaser does not have to be related to counting as its main purpose is to get students’ thinking activated. And in this lesson, using one of the Brain Teasers offered through Blooket will also introduce and help students gain some familiarity with the Blooket platform. 

After the Brain Teasers, use an already created overview of skip counting to teach students about counting. You may want to use a slide based platform such as Google Slides or Flip to teach this background content to students. As an alternative, you could create a VoiceThread with your recorded voice over the slides. The VoiceThread would allow students to review the content as many times as needed before and after engaging guided practice. 

Guided Practice 

Once the students have enough information about counting, it is time to practice (the fun part!). Choose one of the games that is related to counting and that has already been created and shared within the Blooklet platform for your students to practice skip counting games. To do this, go to the “Discover” search option and enter “skip counting.” You can host a game first so the class can play together. A QR code, Game ID, and URL link that you can put within your LMS will be provided with directions so your students can join. 

After the students have played as a class, you can allow them to choose a different skip counting game and play individually or in teams. An option is available for the games to end based on an allotted amount of time, or once each student reaches a certain point. Think about your students and the learning goals for the lesson, and decide which one game timing option is best. 

Extended Learning 

Blooket has many games within each topic area, which means that engagement in learning can extend past this lesson. You may also want students, who are ready, to explore other types of counting games that are available through Blooket. Go through the different options and have them ready to assign to students for extended learning opportunities. It might be helpful to have the list linked to your classroom LMS or even create a one page infographic through Canva with the information. 

Can Blooket Be Used at Home?  

Absolutely! In fact, Blooket offers a “Homework” feature through which teachers can assign their students games to play at home. While students may not be eager to engage in traditional homework, I imagine that being assigned to play a game would be welcomed. In addition, parents will know that their children are engaged in learning at home while having fun. 

How Can I Keep Track of Student Progress? 

The online Blooket teacher account offers analytics to support teachers in tracking the progress of their students. In addition to being able to view students’ history of games played, also available are statistics on time played, total points earned, and wins. Having this kind of data is helpful to see the types of games and questions in which students are thriving, as well as those that may be more challenging to them. 

Blooket is bright, fun, and mostly importantly, connected to academic learning. Try this lesson plan to teach and engage your elementary students in skip counting, or explore other game sets on the Blooket platform to support your lesson. 

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What Is Blooket And How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks

“When arts meets history” can describe the dynamic online platform known as Google Arts & Culture. With a wide array of cultural content, artifacts, and information, Google Arts & Culture provides an accessible and robust resource that teachers and students can use to elevate the teaching and learning experience. Moreover, Google Arts & Culture is free, so the use of a high-quality tool comes with no financial burden for teachers. 

For an overview of Google Arts & Culture, check out What is Google Arts & Culture and How Can It be Used For Teaching? Tips and Tricks. 

This sample Google Arts & Culture lesson plan demonstrates how it can be used across different subject areas and grade levels. 

Subject/Topic: Varies 

Grade Band: Elementary/Middle/High School  

Learning Objectives:  At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 

• Identify a historical or contemporary event, place, or person 
• Using a digital technology medium, articulate how a historical or contemporary event, place, or person has impacted/impacts society 

Introducing Google Arts & Culture to Students 

Provide students with an overview of how people, places, and events throughout history and in the present have impacted and impact society in some way. Then, walk students through some of those examples by going to the Google Arts & Culture site. 

You may want to start with the “Artists” option for the example, and choose a well-known person such as Vincent van Gogh so students can learn of the contributions he made to western art history. Once you click on Vincent van Gogh, you will be taken to 24 related stories and hundreds of images that can be viewed through augmented reality or even street view. 

In addition to the “Artists” option, there is “Mediums,” “Art Movements,” “Historical Events,” “Historical Figures,” and “Places” that you can explore with students.

Student Exploration of Google Arts & Culture 

Once you have acclimated students to the Google Arts & Culture platform, have them decide on one event, place, or person on which to focus. Then, over several class sessions, provide time for them to explore every story, image, and other provided information about their chosen subject within Google Arts & Culture. 

Be sure to encourage and guide students to read the content on each page, experience the 360 degree view and AR/VR options, as well as street view when applicable.

Creation and Sharing of Learning 

Once students have completed their exploration and research, they can put together their articulation of their learning. Instead of having them prepare a traditional presentation with slides, allow them to choose a digital technology medium to share their learning. 

Some of the options you may want to consider:

• Canva: Infographic, flyers, pamphlets 
• Padlet: Creative “walls” that can house a variety of content in many forms 
• Powtoon: Animated presentations 
• Storybird: Digital stories 
• TikTok: Short clips on a social communication platform 

Many other options are available as well but allow students to choose and align the assessment piece of this lesson with Universal Design for Learning’s Multiple Means of Action and Expression, in which you provide students with different ways to demonstrate their learning and show you what they know. 

What Else Can Students Do on Google Arts & Culture? 

In addition to immersing themselves in the AR/VR technology as they explore new places, people, and culture, there are games and other activities that can be played while supporting learning, including the Art Coloring Book, Cultural Crosswords, Puzzle Party, and Visual Crosswords. These would be fantastic options for younger students to engage with the Google Arts & Culture online platform. 

Can Google Arts & Culture be Used for Students to Explore their Own Communities? 

Absolutely! At the top of the right-hand corner of most screens within the Google Arts & Culture website there is a “Nearby” tab. Using location metrics with sharing permissions, students can explore beautiful imagery of people, places, art, and cultural artifacts in their own city!

Google Arts & Culture offers so much content and more that teachers and students can embrace, enjoy, and use to energize and enhance teaching and learning for multiple assignments throughout the year.

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is Google Arts & Culture and How Can It be Used For Teaching? Tips and Tricks

These free edtech lesson plans from Dr. Stephanie Smith Budhai are designed to provide a template for implementing specific popular digital tools into your instruction and classroom.

Please feel free to use these, modify for your own needs, and share!

Edtech Lesson Plans for Elementary Grades

• Blooket Lesson Plan
• Kahoot! Lesson Plan
• Google Earth Lesson Plan
• Nearpod Lesson Plan
• Roblox Lesson Plan
• Storybird Lesson Plan
• Scratch Lesson Plan
• Minecraft: Education Edition Lesson Plan
• Powtoon Lesson Plan
• Ted-ED Lesson Plan
• YouGlish Lesson Plan

Edtech Lesson Plans for Middle Grades

• Flip (formerly Flipgrid) Lesson Plan
• BrainPOP Lesson Plan
• WeVideo Lesson Plan
• Slido Lesson Plan
• Edpuzzle Lesson Plan
• iCivics Lesson Plan
• Jeopardy Labs Lesson Plan

Edtech Lesson Plans for Middle & High School Grades

• Baamboozle Lesson Plan
• ChatGPT Lesson Plan
• Duolingo Lesson Plan
• Wakelet Lesson Plan
• Padlet Lesson Plan
• Quizlet Lesson Plan
• Screencastify Lesson Plan
• VoiceThread Lesson Plan
• Canva Lesson Plan
• Google Jamboard Lesson Plan
• Google Slides Lesson Plan
• Quizizz Lesson Plan

Edtech Lesson Plans for High School

• TikTok Lesson Plan
• Fanschool Lesson Plan
• Mentimeter Lesson Plan
• IXL Lesson Plan
• Curipod Lesson Plan

Edtech Lesson Plans for Special Ed

• Boom Cards Lesson Plan

Animation is the core of the online multimedia platform known as Powtoon, which is a multifaceted interface that provides beautiful templates that can be used as a base to create dynamic and innovative presentations. 

Because of the versatility within Powtoon, teachers can use it to teach content to students, and likewise, students can use Powtoon to demonstrate their learning to teachers. 

For an overview of Powtoon, check out What is Powtoon and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips & Tricks. 

Here is a sample elementary English Language Arts lesson focused on using Powtoon in a character development lesson. However, Powtoon can be used across grade levels, content areas, and academic disciplines for teaching and learning. 

Subject: English Language Arts 

Topic: Character Development 

Grade Band: Elementary 

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Describe what a character of a story is
• Develop an animated presentation describing a character of a story

Setting Up a Powtoon Classroom 

The first step is to create a classroom space within the EDU teacher tab of Powtoon. This way, once the students create their Powtoons, these will be within the same online space. After setting up your Powtoon classroom, you must name it, potentially either on the subject area or the specific lesson. 

After the classroom is created, a link to join the Powtoon will be generated. Upload the link into your LMS and send it to parents to help their student join at home. If students already have a Powtoon account with their school email address, they can use those credentials to join your classroom. 

Powtoon Lesson Plan: Content Instruction  

The best way to teach using a new technology tool is to model use of that tool. To start this Powtoon lesson, create a Powtoon that teaches students what a character in a story is, and how to develop the character attributes. It would be helpful to use a character of a story that students are already familiar with. 

Once you log into Powtoon under the EDU tab, choose “Animated Explainer” templates. Although there are other options such as Whiteboard, Video, and Screen Recorder, you are modeling for students while teaching so choose the same Powtoon type that students will use in the next phase of the lesson. 

Since the lesson will be recorded on Powtoon, students will have the chance to re-watch as needed. Be sure to allow time for questions from students. You may also want to use a quick Slido as a formative in lesson assessment tool to ensure that students understand how to develop a character. 

Student Powtoon Creation 

Once you have successfully taught students about character development, the students can use their learning to develop their own characters. 

Instruct students to develop a character for a short story with different attributes. Since this lesson is at the elementary level, have students focus on basic elements such as the character's physical attributes, geographical location of where they live, some of their likes and dislikes, and motivations. Then, have students design the physical character using the “Character Builder” feature in Powtoon that they will bring over to their animated Powtoon presentation introducing their character. 

Students will be able to use the drag-and-drop features and ready-made templates easily. They can also use the text box features to add short details about their characters.

Does Powtoon Integrate With Other Applications? 

Yes, Powtoon integrates with many applications such as Adobe, Microsoft Teams, and Canva. The Canva integration allows for elevated presentations and videos using the dynamic animation features of Powtoon with the templates within Canva. 

What If I Need Practice with Powtoon before Introducing to the Students? 

While Powtoon’s drag-and-drop functionality coupled with the ready-made templates makes using Powtoon a seamless experience, Powtoon also provides a library of tutorials for those who may need helpful reminders and tips.

Bring excitement and lots of fun to your elementary classroom with Powtoon! Your students are sure to love using the online platform and share their learning with you.

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is Powtoon and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips & Tricks

Answer: JeopardyLabs is an exciting online and educational take on the popular TV game Jeopardy. It is formatted similarly to the TV version, with the main focus being answering questions that are organized by categories, and earning different levels of points depending on the difficulty level of the question. 

Question: What is JeopardyLabs and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? 

JeopardyLabs is extremely versatile, and teachers of all subject matter can use the platform to enhance their lesson and engage students. For this sample lesson plan, the focus is on middle school social studies, covering a wide range of related topics. 

Subject: Social Studies   

Topic: Civics, Economics, History, Government, and Citizenship  

Grade Band: Middle School  

Learning Objective: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Understand content related to civics, economics, history, government, and citizenship
• Develop questions related to civics, economics, history, government, and citizenship at different levels of difficulty
• Accurately respond to questions related to civics, economics, history, government, and citizenship

Social Studies Content Review 

Using any type of creative presentation tool, such as Canva or Slido, provide an overview of the different content and topics that have been covered throughout the unit or academic term that relates to social studies topics of civics, economics, history, government, and citizenship. If the class is asynchronous online or you would like the content available online for future review, consider using VoiceThread to create the review. 

Since social studies is quite robust, and because you will have multiple columns in each Jeopardy Lab game, consider covering content from all of the social studies domains (civics, economics, history, government, and citizenship). 

If your unit or class only focused just on one of those, for example, a history course, you could have five areas focused on different decades, wars, events, etc. Or, if your class is focused solely on government, you could have five areas focused on governmental branches, laws and legislations, important governmental figures, etc.

Team JeopardyLabs Creation 

After the social studies content has been reviewed and students are re-familiarized with it, they can use their learning to create questions for the JeopardyLabs game. ​​Since each JeopardyLabs board will require at least 25 questions (five questions per column, with one column per each of the five domains of social studies being covered in this lesson), creating the Jeopardy board in teams would be ideal. 

By having students engage in creating questions for the JeopardyLabs board, they will have additional opportunities to learn and master the content. In addition, soft skills related to strong communication and collaboration skills can also be fostered. 

You can decide if you split students in teams by topic area or have each team cover all topics and create a full JeopardyLabs board. The goal is to have multiple Jeopardy Lab boards to use for the JeopardyLabs Tournament.

JeopardyLabs Tournament 

After spending time in teams creating the questions for the JeopardyLabs games, it is time to experience answering the questions. 

As opposed to a traditional test or question-and-answer session, the JeopardyLabs games from each student team can be used to set up a JeopardyLabs Tournament. Each team can have one member represent their team each round, and then at the end, a tournament of champions (previous winners) can further compete with one another.

How Can JeopardyLabs be Used with Families? 

Many ways to engage families with JeopardyLabs are available. Teachers can share the links to the student team-made Jeopardy boards with families, and practice answering the questions at home. 

The JeopardyLabs tournament created by the students can also be a fun family engagement experience, in which families can join in either virtually or in person for a family game night and play as teams with their children.

The ways to use JeopardyLabs to engage students in lessons are numerous. For this sample lesson, you were provided with an idea to include team learning into the lesson, as well as gamifying learning. 

Since JeopardyLabs is so versatile with the ability to be used in a wide range of grade levels and subject areas, give it a try for your next lesson. Not only will students be able to better retain the content by putting together the questions, they will also improve their collaboration and communication skills working with teams, and enjoy learning through positive and supportive competition. 

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is Jeopardy Labs and How Can It Be Used for Teaching?

Though women make up more than 50% of humanity, only since the 20th century have they achieved full legal rights and privileges in the U.S.—and in some countries, they are still second-class citizens. Consequently, women’s role in history and contributions to culture have been woefully overlooked.

Designated as Women’s History Month, March is a great time to dive deeply into women’s struggle for equal rights and triumphs in every arena. The lessons and resources here are an excellent way to investigate and understand women as changemakers, activists, and heroines—worthy of becoming an integral part of the curriculum all year long.

Best Women's History Month Lessons and Activities

iCivics Women’s History Month Resources
A wealth of resources for teaching women’s history, including downloadable planners, videos spotlighting pioneering women, and standards-aligned lessons.

Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum: Women Making Change Video Series
Videos exploring lesser-known aspects and personalities of women’s history, including Portia K. Gage, the sisters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, activist Ruby Duncan, and other notables. Want to go deeper? Check out Becoming Visible: Bringing American Women’s History Into Focus, Smithsonian’s first digital exhibition, opening March 8, 2024.

PBS Teaching Women's Suffrage
Women’s right to vote, and the struggle to achieve it, form the foundation for all successive rights. This extensive collection of multimedia lessons and activities is grouped according to topics such as the 19th Amendment, advocates and organizers, primary sources and modern-day legacies. Each standards-based lesson includes downloadable support materials for teachers.

7 Women’s History Month Lesson Plans for Elementary Students
Complete lessons based on (included) digital poetry. Each poem is accompanied by teacher’s guides, optional guided reading mode, assessment questions, multilingual translations, and paired texts. An excellent resource for teaching poetry in general, or women’s poetry specifically. Free educator or student account required.

Unsung Women Who Changed America
26 short films and a one-hour documentary examine the lives of trailblazing women from the turn of the 20th century. Although most of these women are not widely known, their accomplishments call for recognition. Available in Spanish.

5 SEL Activities For Women’s History Month
Prompts, leading questions, and suggested readings for K-12 social-emotional learning based on the struggles, ideas, and achievements of girls and women, both famous and ordinary.

HMH: 10 National Women's History Month Activities for Students
A diverse collection of activities using research, writing, critical thinking, and art to explore women’s history and the changing social mores about women’s role in society.

65 Famous Women in History Everyone Should Know
From astronauts to politicians to athletes to writers, these 65 women—some famous, others less so— have made their mark on the world. Read the brief biographies, then explore the links provided to learn more about Sally Ride, Shirley Chisholm, Soraya Jiménez, Empress Dowager Cixi, and many more.

Clio Visualizing History: Click! in the Classroom Lesson Plans
Organized by grade level, these lesson plans examine women's history through the lens of feminism, politics, careers, sports, and civil rights.

16 Wonderful Women Scientists to Inspire Your Students
Learn all about 16 women scientists, many of whom you’ve never heard of. These women were pioneers in the fields of aviation, chemistry, biology, mathematics, engineering, medicine, and more. Each brief biography is accompanied by recommended readings, activities, and ideas for further exploration of women in science.

Scholastic Action: From Out of This World. . . To Under the Sea
What do the depths of Earth’s oceans have in common with outer space? Both are otherworldly realms, inhospitable to human life while captivating our imaginations. Meet a woman who has traveled to each place and find out why. A video and quiz round out the article. Integrated with Google drive.

Marie Curie Facts and Activities
Start with the facts about Marie Curie—who won not one but two Nobel prizes—and branch out into relevant and fun science activities. Consider also using the facts of her life and death to teach kids about why radiation is hazardous and potentially deadly.

Edsitement Teacher's Guide to Women's History in the United States
The guide provides prompts, questions, and student activities related to women's history, as well as podcasts, films, and databases exploring women in sports, careers, art, and more.

Scripting the Past: Exploring Women's History Through Film
A detailed lesson plan that will inspire your students to learn, collaborate and create. Working in teams, students research topics, brainstorm visualizations and outline the plot. This rich and layered lesson offers multiple ways to view accomplished women, their dreams and their goals.

Women's History Month: Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote
An online version of the Library of Congress exhibition "Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote" looks at the history of the struggle for suffrage via handwritten letters, speeches, photographs, and scrapbooks created by American suffragists.

National Women's History Museum Digital Classroom Resources
A wealth of digital resources for women's history featuring lesson plans, quizzes, primary source documents, videos, and more. Searchable by type, topic, and grade.

Alice Ball and 7 Female Scientists Whose Discoveries Were Credited to Men
Learn about women who broke barriers in science but who were, until recently, not credited properly for their achievements. Compare this to the list of women recognized with the Nobel Prize.

National Trust for Historic Preservation: 1000+ Places Where Women Made History
A fascinating site that looks at women's history through the lens of place. Find out where women made history, searching by date, topic, or state. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is dedicated to preserving America's historic places.

DocsTeach: Primary sources and Teaching Activities for Women's Rights
Explore a wealth of primary sources covering topics ranging across women's suffrage, political cartoons, the Equal Rights Amendment, and many others. Teaching activities include online interactives exploring all aspects of the fight for women's suffrage and the passage of the 19th Amendment.

Learning for Justice: Women's Suffrage Lesson
This Common Core-aligned lesson guides students in learning how women achieved voting rights and in evaluating the role of the federal government in the fight for suffrage.

National Museum of Women in the Arts Curriculum & Resources
On the website of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, find free resources to support teaching about women artists, including a complete curriculum, "Art, Books, and Creativity," and pre-K12 educator guides. Be sure to explore the extensive online exhibitions.

National Women's History Alliance: Women's History Quizzes
Seven quizzes on women's history cover topics including women in STEM, peace activists, Black women's history, and more.

Nobel Prizes Awarded to Women
Note how the rate of female Nobel laureates has changed dramatically in the 21st century.

Smithsonian Learning Lab Women's History
Sixty-three collections of digitized objects related to women's history add a rich context to the written word. The Learning Lab is a free, interactive platform allowing educators and other users to find digital resources and create content with online tools.

Smithsonian Magazine: Henrietta Wood
Ever heard of Henrietta Wood? Formerly enslaved, Wood successfully sued her enslaver for reparations in 1870. This Smithsonian magazine article details her amazing story, forgotten until very recently.

• Facing History and Ourselves: How to Use It to Teach
• Best Deaf Awareness Lessons & Activities
• Best Free Earth Day Lessons & Activities

Look around. What do you see?

Perhaps computers, phones, desks, and lights. Possibly chairs, backpacks, and textbooks. Likely walls and windows. Maybe a parking lot with cars.

We are surrounded by the products of engineering. Every human-made object, no matter how small or common, contains within it the engineering design process from start to finish. Accounting for the “E” in STEM, engineering is an essential but mostly unseen aspect of human existence.

This year, National Engineers Week falls on Feb 18-24, making it a great time to explore the top engineering lessons and activities detailed here. Engineering lessons are a natural fit for science classes, as well as project-based learning. All are free, except for a single modestly-priced exception that’s too good not to include.

Best Free Engineering Lessons and Activities 

TryEngineering Lesson Plans
Searchable by age, category, and keywords, these highly detailed lesson plans are classroom-ready. Each lesson includes a specific design challenge, materials required, background, vocabulary, and much more. From TryEngineering.org, a collaboration of IEEE, IBM, and the New York Hall of Science.

The Tech Interactive Engineering Lessons
More than two dozen lesson plans and related challenges that look at engineering through the lens of diverse subjects, from data science to English Language Arts to systems design. From the highly regarded The Tech Interactive science and technology center in San Jose, California.

PBS Kids Design Squad Global
Strong selection of videos, activities, design challenges, games, and more that engage kids in hands-on engineering. Visit the dedicated educator section for lesson plans and professional learning.

2026 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge
Science Buddies' upcoming engineering challenge will be announced January 2026. In the meantime, explore past challenges, which include standards-aligned complete lesson plans and videos of past winners and their creations. Elementary, middle, and high school challenges available.

Engineering Design Process
Engineering is essentially problem-solving. To start, you must first define the problem. Then what? Use this information-packed flow chart to teach design thinking to your students. A video plus links to other resources makes this a complete lesson.

Machine Learning for Kids
Machine learning forms the basis for the exploding field of artificial intelligence. On this-easy-to use site, students can follow the step-by-step guidance to start teaching the machine something about human experience. Be sure to check out the premade downloadable guides. Create a free account or try it with no account needed.

Engineer Girl Design Challenges
Engineering isn’t just about high-tech materials. Students take on the challenge of using everyday goods to design airplanes, batteries, bridges, and more.

Cyberchase Science and Engineering
Explore games, videos, activities, and topics related to engineering and science on this PBS Kids site based on the educational children’s television series Cyberchase. Included are interesting downloadable lessons, sortable by topic and sharable to Google Classroom. No account required – just start the fun and learning.

Teach Engineering K-12 Curriculum
Strong collection of complete, standards-based K-12 engineering lessons, searchable by grade levels. Each lesson includes a video, background information, learning objectives, standards, worksheets, investigating questions, pre- and post-assessments, and more. Topics range from the basics of design thinking to creating working models of physiology to creating spaghetti bridges (naturally!).

PBS Learning Media
A rich resource for diverse topics in engineering, from design to history to careers. Browse interactive lessons, audio, video, documents, and images, or search by grade and type or resource. Questions such as, “Why can’t humans fly?” and “Is there life in space?” will keep students engaged, learning and asking questions of their own.

Engineering For Good Plastic Solutions
Plastic is everywhere. It’s in our oceans, in our soils, and—not surprisingly—in our bodies. This three-week project-based learning unit aims to help students develop solutions to the plastic pollution problem, through classic engineering workflow. Included are lesson plans, videos, and documents for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. NGSS-aligned and shareable to Google Classroom.

Design a Robotic Insect
What allows insects to crawl and fly the way they do? In this fascinating lesson that combines biology with engineering, students will learn about insects and robotic analogs, then design their own.

The Lithium-Ion Battery Supply Chain
The 21st-century explosion of mobile devices and the looming threat of climate change have made the lithium-ion battery extremely important to modern life. Learn about all facets of the battery life cycle, from lithium extraction to e-waste in this robust lesson from Underwriters’ Laboratory (UL). This lesson includes guides for students and teachers, as well as revealing video and engaging graphics.

ASCE Bridge Florida software
Free for education users, this downloadable bridge design software is intended to provide the sophistication of a robust professional CAD software while offering a simpler interface for students. The video tutorial will help students to start designing and testing quickly. Will your virtual bridge hold the weight of a tractor-trailer? Don’t worry, you can always go back to the drawing board.

TEDEd Engineering lessons
A diverse selection of animated video engineering lessons. Investigate ideas such as the world’s biggest battery, building the Hoover Dam, and how jetpacks work (hint: when's the last time you saw a jetpack?). Each video includes questions to ponder and resources for further study. Filter by grade level, duration, and type of video.

Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy Virtual Robot Curriculum
An ingenious way to teach and learn robotics online, without physical robotics equipment. Students and teachers can access the program anytime, from any connected device, and all progress is automatically saved. Account options include single licenses at $9 per student and 12 licenses for $100.

► Best STEM Apps For Education

► Best Technology Lessons and Activities

► Best Science Lessons & Activities

Formerly known as Kidblog, Fanschool is a fun social communication, blogging, and portfolio-type platform that can be used in teaching and learning. This Fanschool lesson plan can help you implement the tool in your classroom.

Fanschool is a great alternative to traditional social media platforms such as TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook as it provides a bounded and safe online space for students. It offers many interactive features that can be used to strengthen student engagement during teaching and learning, and allows for teacher moderation.

For an overview of Fanschool, check out What is Fanschool and How Can it be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks.

Below is a sample lesson plan geared toward the English Language Arts (ELA) subjects, specifically focused on the topics of expressive communication and creative writing for high school students.

Subject: English Language Arts (ELA)

Topic: Expressive Communication and Creative Writing

Grade Band: High School

Learning Objective:

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Draft a series of short, creative dystopian stories
• Post a series of short, creative dystopian stories within a social communication online space
• Communicate online with peers regarding their work

Fanschool Lesson Plan: Teacher Instruction 

Using a slide deck through a presentation edtech tool, such as Google Slides, teachers can create a lesson focused on what creative writing is, how to write short stories, and genre writing.

For this specific lesson, a few slides can go into detail on dystopian stories. Even if students are not immediately familiar with the term dystopian, you can share with them that many popular books that have been turned into movies are dystopian stories. To do this, you can use The Maze Runner, Hunger Games, the Divergent series, and The Giver as examples of the dystopian stories, sharing what the societal state and nuances of each are. This would provide students with not only an idea of what dystopian stories are but inspiration for their own dystopian stories.

Student Fanschool Pages Creation 

Providing students with the opportunity to publish and use their authentic voices to share their learning, and engage with their peers and teachers is at the core of Fanschool. Over several weeks/months/academic year, have students create 5-10 entries that are creative short dystopian stories. The teacher can decide the time frame and how often a new story should be posted.

Each story should include the narrative text, but also related images and/or links to other related content. Some students may want to have each story build off of the previous one, or each story can be new, such as an anthology. It is also fruitful to provide students with choices and allow them to use their strengths to demonstrate their learning.

Peer Interaction 

After each student publishes one of their creative short dystopian stories on Fanschool, peers from the class should read at least three other stories and add comments, ask questions, and offer alternative plot points. It is the hope that the author and readers will engage in several rounds of expressive communication, similar to on traditional social media platforms. Teachers can moderate the discussion, pose additional questions, and share additional resources.

What if My School District Does Not Allow Social Media? 

What makes Fanschool unique is that it is designed as a bounded social communication tool, which is different from traditional social media outlets such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. The content and conversations that will occur within the Fanschool platform created by students will only be accessible by other students in the class, their teachers, and families as authorized by the teacher.

What Resources Does Fanschool Provide to Families?  

Fanschool incorporates families into the use of the platform and offers the opportunity to create a parent account. Within the account, parents can connect with their children’s content and conversations within Fanschool. In addition, Fanschool provides dedicated content and resources for families who homeschool.

What was once Kidsblog has grown to Fanschool; a robust social communication platform that students would want to contribute to, while giving teachers the chance to document learning and progress. Give this Fanschool lesson a try and see how it benefits your students’ and their families' engagement in learning.

• What is Fanschool and How Can it be Used for Teaching? Tips and Tricks
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

Filled with content related to politics, history, economics, and government, the engaging and interactive iCivics online platform provides exciting civics experiences for students and their teachers. 

For an overview of iCivics, check out What is iCivics And How Does It Work? Best Tips & Tricks. 

The content within the iCivics platform provides extremely useful materials that can be used for lessons in social studies and civic education for elementary, middle, and high school students. As the lessons provided on the iCivics online platform may not be as robust as you need, below is a sample lesson that provides an idea of how to enhance an already existing lesson.

iCivics Lesson Plan: Topics/Skills

Government 

Grade Band

6-8

Aim

Build on and expand the premade Why Government? lesson plan on the iCivics platform to include a project-based learning team activity 

Description of Expanded Lesson 

After students have completed the iCivics lesson, which includes identifying the basic ideas on government, exploring the ideas of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, defining the terms “state of nature,” “natural rights,” and “sovereign,” as well as tracing the social contract idea from Hobbes and Locke, divide your students into small groups of 3-5. 

Each group will use what they have learned about the philosophy of and necessity behind a government to create their own ideals around government, and design the content within their own social contract. Require students to leverage shared technology, online, and media tools to meet with their team, capture everyone’s ideas, put together their initial governing documents, and finally present their efforts to the class. 

This project-based assignment can be longitudinal, lasting a full marking period.

Platforms, Tools & Resources

Ensure that each team has the following: 

Virtual Meeting Tool: Use breakout rooms within your school LMS or Zoom to provide teams time to meet.  You can check in with each during their team meetings. If you use Google Classroom, iCivics seamlessly connects with the platform. 

Curation Tool: Have students choose a tool such as Wakelet or Padlet to curate all of the team's materials. This is especially important since the project will last several weeks or months. Having everything stored in one accessible online place will be helpful for collaboration as well as in moving forward each meeting and when team members are absent on meeting days.

Infographic Tool:  Each team should use a tool such as Canva to create an infographic to summarize their main ideas of their government. 

Presentation Tool: Allow teams the option to create interactive presentations sharing their team’s social contract and related content. Some teams may choose to use Slido and engage the audience after each slide, while other teams may prefer to voice record their presentations through VoiceThread, allowing asynchronous interactions. 

How Can I Learn of New Content on iCivics? 

The iCivics online platform offers a blog for its users, which is a great way to stay connected to any new items or pathways available. Browsing through some of the past blog entries you can find everything from becoming a teacher fellow, earning awards for your students, and new collaborative curriculum offerings. 

What if Families are Concerned About Any Political Connections? 

The focus of the content within the iCivics online platform is civic education, not political party affiliations. The goal of iCivics is to help students develop their civic understanding, prepare them to be active members of a democratic society, and to increase their future civic engagement efforts. Share the link to the iCivics website with families and encourage them to read about the impact of the platform and the educational awards it’s earned. 

The iCivics online platform is fun, easy to use, and already comes with many lesson ideas for teachers. Try to pull one of the many exciting lessons already available to teachers, and expand or modify to meet the needs of your students and the learning objectives you have for the unit. 

Finally, there are games that can be played on iCivics before, as part of or after the lesson!

• What is iCivics and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

Everyone knows what STEAM stands for: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. And odds are, most teachers can easily define the S, E, A, and M elements. But what exactly defines “technology”? Is your computer “technology”? How about your cell phone? What about an old-fashioned phone booth? Your grandfather's Oldsmobile? Horse and buggy? Stone tools? Where does it end?!

In fact, the term technology encompasses any tool, object, skills, or practice related to humanity’s continual attempts to modify the natural world. Under the umbrella of technology lies a wide range of learning that’s not only highly practical, but also hands-on and physically engaging.

The following top technology lessons and activities span a diversity of teaching resources, from DIY websites to coding to physics. Most are free or low-cost, and all are easily accessible to classroom teachers.

Best Technology Lessons and Activities 

TEDEd Technology Videos
TEDEd’s collection of technology-focused video lessons features a wide variety of topics, from the heaviest, such as “The 4 greatest threats to the survival of humanity,” to lighter fare, such as “How to get better at video games, according to babies.” One consistency across the TEDEd platform is compelling experts presenting fascinating and novel ideas, sure to engage viewers. Though you may not assign “How to practice safe sexting” to your students, it’s good to know they can find it if they need to.

Share my Lesson Free Technology Lessons
Free technology lessons designed, implemented, and rated by your fellow educators. Searchable by grade, subject, type, rating, and standards, these lessons run the gamut from “The Advancements of Battery Technology” to “Technology: Then and Now” to “Jazz Technology.”

The Music Lab
An unusual site dedicated to investigating all aspects of music, The Music Lab features games to test users’ listening ability, musical IQ, world music knowledge, and more. Results compiled from these games will contribute to Yale University’s musical research. No account setup required, so all participation is anonymous.

Physics for Kids
Underlying all technology are the laws of physics, which govern everything from subatomic particles to massive human-built structures such as the International Space Station. Fortunately, you don’t need an advanced physics degree to navigate this easy-to-use site, which provides dozens of lessons, quizzes, and puzzles about physics topics. Lessons are divided into seven major areas and include images, audio, and links to further inquiry.

Instructable K-20 Projects
Technology is about making things—from electrical circuits to jigsaw puzzles to Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Bars (cookies are a product of technology, too). Instructables is a wonderful free repository of step-by-step lessons to make almost anything imaginable. Bonus for education: Search projects by grade, subject, popularity, or prizewinners.

Best Free Hour of Code Lessons and Activities
Turn “Hour of Code” into “Year of Code'' with these top free coding and computer science lessons and activities. From games to unplugged computer science to secrets of encryption, there’s something for every grade and student.

Seek by iNaturalist
A gamified identification app for Android and iOs that combines technology with the natural world in a kid-safe environment, Seek by iNaturalist is a great way to get students excited about and involved with nature. Includes PDF user guide. Want to go deeper? Explore the Teacher’s Guide on Seek’s parent site, iNaturalist.

Daisy the Dinosaur
An enjoyable introduction to coding by the creators of Hopscotch. Kids use the drag-and-drop interface to make Daisy do her dinosaur dance while they learn about objects, sequencing, loops, and events.

CodeSpark Academy
A multiple-award-winning, standards-aligned coding platform featuring fun-loving animated characters who will have kids engaged and learning coding from the start. Remarkably, the word-free interface means even pre-verbal youngsters can learn coding. Free for public schools in North America.

The Tech Interactive at Home
Although aimed at home-schooled children, this DIY educational site is perfect for in-school instruction as well. Using inexpensive, readily available materials, teachers can guide students in learning about biology, physics, engineering, art, and more. Best of all, everything is hands-on, enabling kids to take ownership of their learning.

15 Apps and Sites for Augmented Reality
Whether simple or sophisticated, these mostly-free augmented reality apps and websites provide an excellent opportunity to pair real learning with cutting-edge technology.

Best 3D Printers For Education
Considering adding a 3D printer to your school’s tech toolbox? Our roundup of the best 3D printers for education looks at the pros and cons of the most popular models—as well as pointing readers to the best deals available right now.

PhET Simulations
The University of Colorado Boulder’s acclaimed STEM simulation site is one of the longest-running and best free technologies to explore physics, chemistry, math, earth science, and biology. PhET is easy to start using but offers the ability to go deeper into topics as well. Be sure to check out the dedicated education section for ways to integrate PhET simulations into your STEM curriculum. Want to go further in online tech? Delve into the best online virtual labs and STEAM-related interactives.

• Best Science Lessons & Activities
• What is ChatGPT and How Can You Teach With It? Tips & Tricks
• Top Free Sites for Creating Digital Art

Edpuzzle is an easy-to-use, yet dynamic, video-creation platform that can be used for teaching and learning. 

With Edpuzzle, both asynchronous and synchronous lessons can be enhanced to demonstrate content to students, increase learner engagement, and serve as an informal assessment opportunity to gain an understanding of how students are grasping the concepts being presented. The flexibility and ease-of-use with Edpuzzle allows teachers to record video lessons for students as well as for students to work on video projects to demonstrate their learning. 

For an overview of Edpuzzle, see What is Edpuzzle and How Does It Work? 

The following sample middle school science Edpuzzle lesson plan focused on the solar system is just one example of using Edpuzzle within pedagogical practices.

Subject: Science

Topic: Solar System

Grade Band: Middle school 

Edpuzzle Lesson Plan: Learning Objectives

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Describe one of the planets within the solar system 
• Produce a short video with images and narratives depicting on of the planets within the solar system 

Setting Up Video Content

The first step to setting up your Edpuzzle video is deciding from where the content will come. A nice feature that EdPuzzle offers is the option to use existing YouTube videos, incorporating other already-made videos, or allowing you to start from scratch. 

As teachers do not often have time to create full-length videos for each lesson, following this sample lesson plan, you could use the Solar System 101 YouTube video produced by National Geographic as the background content. Then, you can record your voice over the video, adding instruction and additional content and as needed. If a longer video or more content is needed, The Planets in Our Solar System, produced by Beyond Nature, could be included too. 

Learner Engagement with Edpuzzle

The ability for students to engage with the content being presented, instead of passively watching, is one of the unique features of Edpuzzle. Formative assessment questions can be added throughout the video, creating stopping points of your choice. The questions types that Edpuzzle offers include multiple-choice, true/false, and open-ended. For open-ended questions, students can also leave audio responses as an alternative to text comments. 

If you want to notate something to students at certain points in the video lesson, the Notes option is available. Questions regarding what the solar system is, how many planets there are, and what are the characteristics of each planet, can be embedded into the video lesson.

Student Edpuzzle Video Creation

Edpuzzle is not only for teachers to create video lessons for students. You can assign students to make a video using Edpuzzle to demonstrate their learning or expand the lesson the students are studying. 

For example, in this sample lesson, after students have watched the video lesson on the solar system and engaged and responded to the embedded formative assessment questions, have students choose one of the planets in the solar system to focus on, and create a video going to detail about it.

How is Grading Handled with the Embedded Questions? 

All of the multiple-choice and true/false questions are automatically graded and will appear in the Gradebook. The Gradebook offers many features to check on student progress. You can also see how much time a student spent on answering a question, when the question was answered, and download the progress. If you include open-ended questions, those will need to be manually graded. 

With What Other Edtech Tools Does EdPuzzle Work? 

While Edpuzzle can be accessible directly through individual or school accounts, class codes and invited links are available that teachers can send to students, Edpuzzle also offers integrations with Blackbaud, Blackboard, Canvas, Clever courses, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Moodle, Powerschool, and Schoology.

The Edpuzzle platform provides a wide variety of ways to teach, engage, and assess student learning. Given the ease of use with Edpuzzle and available resources, give it a try and see that you and your students enjoy the learning experience.

• What is Edpuzzle and How Does It Work?
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

Scratch, the user-friendly and free coding program, provides young students with the opportunity to learn to code and create a wide variety of animated creations. 

Scratch is quite robust, allowing students to combine STEM and other subjects by coding different games, audio, characters, cartoons, and animations, all based on their own ideas of what they are thinking and want to create. 

For an overview of Scratch and some of its features, check What is Scratch and How Does It Work? 

This sample Scratch lesson plan focuses on helping elementary students build visual animations through coding that can accompany their own original stories.

Subject: English Language Arts 

Topic: Creative Writing  

Grade Band: Elementary 

Scratch Lesson Plan: Learning Objectives

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 

• Write a short creative story 
• Use Scratch to code and creative visual animations to accompany a short story 

Story Writing 

Have students write a short, 10 to 15 sentence story about anything in which they are interested. Have them organize the writing into 2 to 3 paragraphs with each paragraph having 1 to 5 sentences. 

If students are in upper elementary and middle school, you may want them to create longer stories. To help students to get started with writing their short stories, Scholastic offers great story starters on their digital platform that are organized by theme and grade level. 

Coding With Scratch

After students have written their short stories, they can start coding! First, students should log into their Scratch account using the accounts you made for them from your Teacher Account. This way, their work can be saved within the platform. 

Next, have students click on the Create tab to get started. Students can use the Costumes tab to start building animations related to their story. For example, if a student’s story is about a girl, they can choose a “Sprite” character of a girl under the Costumes tab. Then, they can customize and code for size, shape, color, etc. The Sounds tab will allow for sounds to be coded into the different animations. 

All of the coding that will occur will be through clicking, dragging, and dropping. Students can keep coding and adding to their Scratch projects until they have completed the animations needed to align with the short stories they have written. If students run out of time in the lesson, they can log into the account at another time to complete their Scratch projects.

Sharing

After students have created their Scratch projects, they may want to share. An option to embed Scratch projects into web pages or an online curation site such as Wakelet is available. 

Be mindful that Scratch does offer an online community in which Scratch projects can be shared. Other Scratch users can offer feedback on your students’ Scratch projects, and share ideas on how to code and build in a different way. Decide if you want your students’ projects accessible to the online community, and if so, be sure to monitor the communication piece.

What If Students Need Help for The First Time? 

While Scratch is very easy to navigate with its drop, drop, and click coding format, some students may benefit from additional support with getting started. Luckily, Scratch offers free video tutorials that include audio directions and screencasting. A tutorial in American Sign Language is also available for students, and Scratch is offered in more than 70 different languages. 

What Other Skills Can Students Learn With Scratch In Addition to Coding? 

In addition to coding skills, students can develop and strengthen their problem-solving, creativity, collaboration, and communication, computational thinking, and innovation skills, which are all part of the 4Cs and soft skills needed to be successful as adults. 

Scratch is bright, fun, and free! Thanks to MIT, students of all ages can engage with Scratch and you as a teacher can include Scratch to enhance lesson plans. Give Scratch a try and see how your students respond to it. You never know what can happen and you may not be able to get your students to stop asking to code.

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What Is Scratch And How Does It Work?

Boom Cards, the online skill development platform, provides a gamified experience for students to practice a wide range of concepts and content. Due to the customizability, media options, and independent practice opportunities, many special education teachers find Boom Cards to be a useful edtech tool for their students. 

For an overview of Boom Cards and more details on some of the various features, check out What is Boom Cards and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks. 

This sample lesson plan for special education allows teachers to incorporate Boom Cards in their instruction, however, Boom Cards could be used for any student who may need extra support.

Boom Cards Lesson Plan: Subject

Social Studies 

Topic

Neighborhood Places 

Learning Objectives

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 

• Identify six places in a neighborhood including a grocery store, post office, fire station, hospital/clinic, school, and playground 

Starter

Before starting the lesson, create a classroom with Boom Cards. This way, all of your students' work will be housed there. Also, you need to already have a Boom Cards classroom in order for students to create a student account. 

As an alternative, you can create the student accounts. Do not worry, if you have hundreds of students, there is a bulk creation option which can be done quickly. Boom Cards provides directions and steps for student accounts to be created. The number of accounts you have depends on which plan you select.

Create "Decks"

Boom Cards refer to each set of cards as decks. By clicking the Studio tab at the upper right hand corner of the Boom Cards webpage, you will be taken to the interactive deck-maker platform. You start with the template card that will be present on each card in the deck, and then add cards to the deck. Options to help build each card are abundant, and with the drag-and-drop feature, you simply drag into the card the type of media you want to add. 

For this lesson, you may want to use the following:

Text: To name the different neighborhood places (grocery store, post office, fire station, hospital/clinic, school, playground).

Button: To place the text in, which also helps add a design layer to the card.

Image: To add an image of the different neighborhood places to match the associated text. Images can be uploaded or purchased (starting from 20 cents each) directly from Boom Cards. 

Multi-Picts: To have multiple pictures appear in one frame. For example, you could have four types of hospitals/clinics: traditional/ER, urgent care, pediatrician office, and veterinarian office, and then students would need to identify one.

Video: You may want to add a video of what the inside of each of the different neighborhood places looks like. 

Other media options offered within the Boom Cards studio include caption pic, fraction, fill in the blank, sound, and multi-choice. A host of color, shape, font, and resizing options is also available.

Practice and Independent Learning 

Once you have completed decks, you need to go to the Library where your decks are housed, and assign each one to students. 

Boom Cards allow for individualization, so you can create decks that meet the specific needs and goals of students, or you can have decks for the entire class. 

If you do not want data on students' performance and want them to quickly engage with the cards, the “Fast Pin” option can be chosen, which will take students to FastPlay. If you would prefer student reports and ensure you get feedback from their performance, you will need to use the “Hyperlink” option, which creates a link for the student and takes them to the deck.

What If I Do Not Have the Time to Create Boom Cards? 

If you do not have the time or interest in creating your own decks, there are free and paid options of decks offered within the Boom Cards platform. Many options already exist, covering a wide variety of subject areas and grade levels, including speech therapy, social-emotional learning, world languages, and holiday/seasonal. 

Try out Boom Cards and see what you come up with. Whether for a lesson such as this, or others, you may gain joy with the creation and creativity process. For students who are ready, you may want to have them join you in the creation process of Boom Cards too!

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is Boom Cards and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks

From infographics to multimedia video presentations, Canva is a dynamic, interactive, and fun way to create and design. It offers a host of design options, tools, and features that can be used to enhance teaching and learning experiences for students and teachers alike. 

In addition to being used to present content to students, Canva can be used as an engagement tool by which students can demonstrate what they have learned in any subject area. For an overview of Canva, check out What is Canva and How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks. 

While what follows below is a sample science lesson plan that is focused on biodiversity, Canva can be used for any subject, topic, or grade level to teach content and for students to demonstrate their learning. 

Subject: Science

Topic: Biodiversity 

Grade Band: Middle/High School  

Learning Objectives:

 At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 

• Describe the three types of biodiversity including ecosystem diversity, genetic diversity, and species diversity 
• Create a multimedia representation demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of one of the three types of biodiversity 

Setting Up the Canva Lesson

Once you log into Canva, create a class space through Canva for Education that will serve as the central online area where all of your students’ work on Canva can be housed. The class space will also allow you to review students' work, provide feedback as needed, and manage access to content. Don’t worry about having students type in the Canva URL in an external web browser to access their work. Several LMS platforms such as Google Classroom or even popular online shared spaces used in education such as Microsoft Teams directly integrate into Canva, so students do not have to leave their school’s online ecosystems. You can check your eligibility to access Canva for Education, which offers free education services and based on your current K-12 teaching position. 

Guided Instruction

Create a lesson video walking students through each type of biodiversity (ecosystem diversity, genetic diversity, and species diversity), while leveraging and illustrating different features of Canva. Start by choosing one of the hundred of thousands presentation templates. Canva allows for easy drag-and-drop creation, and you can edit each slide and text easily. Use the Elements tab to add a wide variety of graphics, photos, videos, tables, charts, and shapes. 

For example, put in the word “species” in the search box for content related to the species diversity slides, and hundreds of results related to species will appear. You can refine the search results, so don’t be overwhelmed. You can then narrow down the results by type, for instance, maybe you only want to see the videos or graphics related to species. 

To further enhance your slides, use the Upload tab to upload media files or record over the slides and provide more detail.  

Guided Practice and Canva Creation 

After students have engaged with and completed the Canva presentation, have them choose one type of biodiversity to focus on, and have them prepare a multimedia representation that demonstrates their comprehensive understanding. 

Students can choose from any of the Canva template options including: an Infographic, Pamphlet, Poster, or Slide Show. While each project will be different, you can require students to use at least five different types of media to ensure that they benefit from all that Canva has to offer. You may have other requirements depending on the grade level too. For example, you may want students to include at least one video and include links to additional resources. 

Canva will automatically save students’ work, so they can work on it during class or at home, and will not need to save anything on an external drive.

What if Students Do Not Know Where to Start? 

One of the most amazing features of Canva is the incredible variety of templates available. Choosing a template can be fun, but also overwhelming. Have students first choose the type of multimedia representation they will focus on to help limit the number of options available. 

What if Students Are Working in Teams? 

Canva offers a team option in which your students will have the ability to work together on a shared project. There are also additional opportunities to collaborate in the shared  class spaces. 

How Can Students Share Their Work? 

By using the “Present” or “Share” tabs at the upper right-hand corner of the Canva screen, students will have many sharing options, including being able to download final projects, have it appear on a website, export it to social media, and even print a high-quality version.  

It is an exciting time to try out Canva for a similar lesson or a different one. With so many design and creation options, there is bound to be at least one option that your students can connect with, engage more deeply with content, and show you what they learned.

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What Is Canva And How Does It Work? Tips & Tricks

The comprehensive and interactive online platform Nearpod is an all-encompassing edtech tool that can be used to carry out lesson plans for a variety of subject areas and grade levels. For an overview of Nearpod and some of the different features, check out “What is Nearpod and How Does it Work?” 

Below, is a sample Upper Elementary and Lower Middle School lesson plan that is focused on a US States and Capitals Social Studies lesson.  

Subject: Social Studies 

Topics: U.S. States and Capitals 

Grade Band: Upper Elementary and Lower Middle School

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• State the number of states within the United States of America 
• Define what a state capital is 
• Name at least 10 U.S. states and the respective capitals 

Nearpod Creation and Instruction 

To begin the lesson, you will need to create a Nearpod module. This can be done by searching within Nearpod for learning standards and objectives that match your lesson. You can either create activities adding video, text, and audio content, or by using some of the premade lessons and activities that Nearpod offers. 

Start with a Quick Launch activity, using the Nearpod Collaborate Board, which is similar to a Padlet, and have students answer an open-ended question regarding what they already know about state capitals. Then, start instruction in which you introduce the different states and capitals using interactive slides within your Nearpod. 

As you go through the content, have stop points for formative assessments. This can be a quick poll, quiz, or open-ended question that are all features of Nearpod that can be easily integrated. This way, you will know where students are before moving on in the lesson. 

In addition to interactive slides, you can also create interactive videos or upload existing ones in which you are explaining content on the screen with dynamic images and captions.

Guided Practice and Engagement  

There are many ways for students to practice and engage with content within Nearpod. For this lesson, you could include the following engagement activities: 

• Have students use the matching pairs feature to match states with the respective capitals. 
• Use the draw tool to write how they define a state capital, or enable the audio record feature and allow students to verbally answer. 
• Place a map of the U.S. on the screen and have students use the drag-and-drop feature to place the capital in the correct state. 
• List the state name and have students use the fill-in-the blanks feature to add the state capital, or vice versa. 

You can also use live annotation on the screen to highlight, circle, or draw on items that you want students to focus on, and as you do, it will appear on the students’ individual devices in real-time. 

Extending the Learning  

After the live Nearpod lesson on states and capitals, you could have students take a Virtual Reality Field Trip through the United States, exploring some of the states and capitals that they have learned about. Through these VR technologies, students will be able to view diverse scenery and natural elements, as they travel from state to state. Nearpod has a built-in button to seamlessly add the Virtual Reality Field Trip to your Nearpod lesson that also includes mini learning activities and field notes templates to guide the experience for students. 

Should I Use Nearpod for Live Instruction or Independent Work? 

Both! Actually, what makes Nearpod great is the versatility in using it in three different ways. 

You could:

1. Have students on individual devices while teaching from the Nearpod lesson live 
2. Use Nearpod to show videos and engage students in the content without them having a device.
3. Use it for independent student-paced personalized instruction.  

What Type of Professional Learning Community Does Nearpod Offer Teachers? 

Similar to the Google Certified Educator program, Nearpod offers a Certified Educator program. Community connections is a unique feature of Nearpod’s certified educator program with access to a private Facebook group and opportunity to become a school leader for Nearpod. Having other teachers to exchange ideas and build content through Nearpod can help strengthen your own lessons. As a Nearpod Certified Educator you will also receive a 6-month gold subscription, access to new features before any become widely available, and possibly some Nearpod swag.  

Using Nearpod to carry out dynamic and engaging lessons in both live in person and remote online settings allows students the opportunity to deeply engage with learning content while providing them with varied opportunities to demonstrate their learning. Consider trying out Nearpod for one of your next lessons or trying a new feature of Nearpod if you have already been using it for a while. 

• What is Nearpod and How Does It Work? 
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

The extremely fun and engaging Minecraft for Education online platform provides thrilling experiences for students to escape the real world and participate in virtual learning without them even realizing they are learning! 

For an overview of Minecraft for Education, check out “What is Minecraft: Education Education?” 

Minecraft: Education Edition provides a comprehensive collection of sample lessons for a wide range of topics including: art and design, climate and sustainability, computer science, equity and inclusion, digital citizenship, language arts, history and culture, math, science, and social-emotional learning. Consequently, this sample lesson is focused on using Minecraft: Education Edition to develop students’ soft skills, specifically the 4 Cs of critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity, all of which can be incorporated with one of your existing lessons or one from the Minecraft: Education Edition resources. 

Topic/Skills: The 4 Cs (Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, and Creativity)

Grade Band: All  

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 

• Use critical thinking skills to problem solve, make decisions, and reason 
• Collaborate with a peer 
• Communicate ideas
• Create alternative options and structures within a digital word platform 

Minecraft: Education Edition - Critical Thinking 

While using Minecraft: Education Edition, have students practice their critical-thinking skills by having them problem-solve, make decisions, and reason, while building structures, cities, and worlds. You could create a critical-thinking companion template for students in which they will need to stop and answer questions about their process, the decisions that they have made in choosing materials, and placement of materials, as well as how they would or could do things differently. While students are already using higher-level thinking skills during the game, having targeted questions for them to respond to will only enhance the experience. 

Collaboration

While Minecraft: Education Edition can be played independently, playing with peers exacerbates the excitement and experience. Collaboration takes skill and effort from all parties involved. 

To build students' collaboration skills while playing Minecraft: Education Edition, teach them about the importance of shared responsibility and flexibility. Compromising and co-creating shared solutions while engaging in the game should be the focus, while also placing value on what each peer individually contributes. 

Also expose students to different peers each time you create an assignment so they have a chance to work with people who have different perspectives and abilities than them, which they will also experience in adulthood.

Communication

Having the ability to express ideas through verbal and written modalities is an important skill for students to have. Luckily, when playing Minecraft: Education Edition, there are many opportunities for students to communicate with their peers who they are collaborating with. 

Require students to share their ideas and next moves with their peers, including their rationale, before making any moves. Similarly, students should be able to communicate how their experience was and ideas for improvement in the future.

Creativity

Minecraft: Education Edition can be used to develop students' creativity skills. By emphasizing divergent thinking and having students brainstorm ideas, they will be well-positioned to develop their creative capacities. 

It is important to note that when focusing on students’ creativity skills, explain that you are concerned with the process, not the product. You can also have students create work on Minecraft: Education Edition individually, and then exchange and share how to build off of their peers’ worlds to create something different.

Does Minecraft: Education Edition Offer Teacher Training? 

Similar to other programs such as the Google Certified Educator program, Minecraft offers a Teacher Academy for free in which teachers can become Minecraft certified. Not only will you learn more about using Minecraft for Education, but you can also engage in free PD and build your professional resume. 

What is a Special Feature of Minecraft: Education Edition? 

Minecraft: Education Edition has partnered with the Nobel Peace Prize Center and Games for Change, to teach students about being an active citizen. As our world continues to experience civil unrest, violence, and shifts in power and privilege, it is important to expose students to their challenges as well as provide solutions in which they can take an active role in society in ultimately making the world a safer and more inclusive place for all. Within the active citizen content within Minecraft Education Edition, students will have an opportunity to digitally engage with Nobel Peace Prize laureates, go through the world virtually, and learn and experience how to make decisions that impact change. 

Minecraft may be an online game that you see students spending hours enjoying, however, Minecraft: Education Edition provides pathways to build students’ critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity skills, while also helping them to grow as social innovators and active citizens. Give Minecraft: Education Edition a try in one of your lessons!

• What is Minecraft: Education Edition?
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

Slido is an exciting online engagement edtech tool that can be used to connect all students with academic content while getting them involved in the lesson. 

While Slido is often used to incorporate polling into virtual workshops and presentations, there are a wide range of student engagement features within the Slido platform that can be used by teachers during lessons. 

For an overview of Slido, check out What is Slido for Education? Best Tips and Tricks. Below is a sample lesson plan that can be used for middle school grade levels to teach mathematical word problems while involving students in the learning experience throughout the lesson.   

Subject: Mathematics   

Topic: Word problems   

Grade Band: Middle

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Understand what a mathematical word problem is
• Solve two-step mathematical word problems
• Describe the differences between the types of mathematical word problems

Slido Lesson Flow 

Since Slido is a highly interactive engagement tool, it can be used throughout every aspect of the lesson. Using Slido, a lesson on mathematical word problems can: 

1. Start the lesson with an open text poll that asks students, “What is a word problem?” You could also use a multiple choice slide if you want to give students starter options. Regardless of which question type you choose, Slido makes responding to polls seamless as it embeds into Google Slides amongst other platforms such as Teams, PowerPoint, and Webex. 

Once you start your slideshow to begin the lesson, the poll will automatically appear. Students will have the option of scanning the QR code on the screen or typing in the URL to participate. Slido automatically generates this slide with the information, so you do not have to create one, which is a great feature for busy teachers. Also, once students sign in for the first poll within the lesson, as you go through the lesson, each subsequent poll will automatically appear on students’ devices.

2. As you go through the lesson, explain what a mathematical word problem is, the different types, how each connects to computing mathematical equations, and how to solve any. 

3. After explaining what a word problem is, include a poll where students use the word cloud feature to share what word they associate with a mathematical word problem. Show students how to break down the steps required to solve mathematical word problems. 

4. After students have learned about mathematical word problems, you can have them practice as you continue through the lesson. Start with the multiple choice poll format so students will have answer choice options to choose from as they begin working through the mathematical word problem. Then, as the practice problems become more challenging, move to the open text polls in which students can both share their answer to the mathematical word problems but also explain their process. 

5. As a close to the lesson, you can use the ranking poll option for students to share which types of mathematical word problems (e.g., comparing, joining, separating) that they feel most confident responding to or any other general question to get a sense of students’ comfort level with mathematical word problems.

Remote and Independent Learning Interaction  

In addition to the live engagement opportunities, Slido offers live video integration, which is great for remote and independent learning. You can record mini-lessons for students, for example explaining how to solve a word problem by going through the process step-by-step. Then, you can embed the video directly into Slido, including all of the interactive polling and questioning features. This means that students are not just watching the video, but can answer and ask questions along the way, while they work independently on the lesson. 

Slido offers the capability to stream Slido and embed video in several platforms, including YouTube and Vimeo. 

Leveraging Special Features of Slido 

Slido offers other special features that teachers can leverage to further enhance lessons. 

One feature is analytics, which provide student responses to the questions asked within the Slido quiz mode. Teachers can learn which questions students have the most difficult time answering, which can be used in subsequent lessons to re-visit certain parts of the lesson to ensure that all students are able to master the related concepts and content. 

The timer feature can be used to help students learn to respond to questions that are timed, such as in standardized testing. And while standardized testing is not something that teachers or students particularly look forward to, preparing for it and learning to respond to questions under time constraints can make the experience more tolerable. 

Ultimately, Slido provides a wonderful opportunity to engage your entire class into the lesson plan. While this lesson was focused on mathematical word problems, Slido can be used for any academic subjects. Give it a try using one or more of the different features that Slido has to offer.

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is Slido for Education? Best Tips and Tricks

Storybird is an attractive and easy-to-use reading and writing online edtech tool with beautiful images to inspire students as they develop their literacy skills. Storybird goes beyond reading online books, and provides an accessible platform for learners of all ages to engage in a wide variety of reading and writing genres including descriptive, creative, and persuasive writing as well as longform stories, flash fiction, poetry, and comics. 

For an overview of Storybird, check out What is Storybird for Education? Best Tips and Tricks. This sample lesson plan is geared toward fiction storytelling writing instruction for elementary students.

Subject: Writing   

Topic: Fiction Storytelling  

Grade Band: Elementary 

Learning Objective: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Draft short fiction stories
• Select images that correspond to written narratives

Storybird Starter

Once you set-up your Storybird account, create a class by entering the class name, grade level, your name as the teacher, and the class end date. The class end date just means that students will no longer be able to submit work after that point, however, you still will be able to go into the system and review their work after that. After the class is created, you can add students and other teachers to the roster by sending a randomly generated passcode, email invitation, or inviting existing users. Note that for students under the age of 13, you need to use the parent’s email address. Once the class is set, walk students through the Storybird platform and allow them to peruse the different images.  

Guided Practice

Now that students have become familiar with the Storybird platform, review the basics of fiction writing. Go to the assignments tab within your class portal, and start with one of the pre-reading/pre-writing challenges. Students can go through the lesson and there is a teacher’s guide to support your instruction. Many of the assignments and challenges include the related Common Core state standards as well. 

After students have gone through the practice challenge, have them try to create their own story. Allow lower elementary students to choose a picture book or comic that requires less words. For older elementary students, the flash fiction option may be a better alternative. Easy-to-use templates for each type of writing style are available and students can choose the images that best align with the stories they want to tell.

Sharing

Once students are ready to share their published writing, you can add their work to the class showcase. This is a great way to safely share students’ work with the class and other teachers as well as students' family and friends. If you or your students only want to share certain writing, you can make those public. You can also see who is enrolled within the showcase tab.  

How Do I Use Storybird with Early Writers? 

Storybird has a variety of pre-reading and pre-writing lessons, with corresponding writing prompts and tutorials, that can be used to support early writers. Storybird also offers “Leveled Reads,” which use Storybird-authored features writing to help learners develop their writing skills. And, very young writers can use Storybird’s picture book templates.  

What Resources are Available to Support Storybird Use at Home? 

Feel free to extend the lesson and allow students to work on their stories at home. There are over three dozen “How to Write Guides” available that families can leverage while supporting their children's learning beyond the school day. Some of the topics include getting started with writing, choosing a topic for any kind of writing, and writing for an audience. Dedicated parent plans for families are available as Storybird invites family members to join and be part of a shared literary journey. 

Storybird indeed has the potential to inspire learning to read, write, and create narratives across genres, from young to older learners. 

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
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VoiceThread is a multidimensional cloud application that can be used across learning settings. In fact, both students and teachers can seamlessly use VoiceThread for a wide range of assignments, assessments, and instruction. 

For an overview of VoiceThread and details on its application within the field of education, check out “What is VoiceThread for Education?” There are no limitations on the age range or academic content areas that VoiceThread has relevancy. 

For the sample lesson plan described below, a breakdown of how to use VoiceThread to teach language skills is provided as one of many examples. 

Content Areas: Language/foreign languages 

Topics: Pronunciation, translation, and spelling 

Grade Band: Middle and high school  

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the correct pronunciation of several keywords and phrases in a foriegn language
• Provide the correct translation and spelling of keywords in a foriegn language

VoiceThread Starter

Create a VoiceThread that you will use to teach the pronunciation and spelling of key words and phrases in the foreign language you are teaching. You can create the VoiceThread by uploading media that can serve as the background. This can be any combination of PPT slides, images, videos, or audio. Media content libraries are also available within VoiceThread from which you can pull. 

If you would like training on VoiceThread before incorporating it in your lessons, check out one of these free workshops. You can record over your slides and use the highlighting tools to hone in on certain pieces of the lesson. 

Once you are finished, upload the VoiceThread into your school’s LMS. Currently, VoiceThread integrates with Blackboard, Canvas, Desire2Learn, Moodle, BrainHoney, and Sakai.

Teacher Modeling and Guided Practice 

Students will be able to use the uploaded teacher VoiceThread presentation for the teaching modeling component. For guided practice, students can use the commenting feature of VoiceThread and use audio and/or video to respond to questions as well as practice pronouncing and spelling different words and phrases. 

Since VoiceThread recordings are completed asynchronously, students can access the platform and record while you are working with other students in small groups. Or students can record when they are home as an extended learning option. VoiceThread allows you to listen and see your recording before publishing, so students can continue practicing until they are satisfied.

VoiceThread Creation 

To have students demonstrate that they have met the learning objectives, you can have them create their own VoiceThreads. A feature on VoiceThread allows you to create a shared space for the class, however, each student would create their own VoiceThread presentations. 

For the lesson, you can have students upload key words and phrases in the foreign language they are learning, and translate into their native language. Or in the reverse order, students could write up key words and phrases in English and upload any as their background slides in VoiceThread, and then translate into the language they are learning. 

Students will have the chance to hear their pronunciation and practice before the final submission, which is not always possible when doing similar learning activities in a live class session without an edtech tool such as VoiceThread. 

How Can My Students Interact with One Another On VoiceThread? 

Using the commenting feature through text, audio, or video, peers can provide one another with feedback on their work, and offer suggestions for refinement. In case you are concerned about the types of comments from peers, there is a setting in VoiceThread in which you as the teacher would have to approve any comments before it becomes available to the larger class. 

What Accessibility Features Does VoiceThread Have? 

VoiceThread makes it known that the platform was built with the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in mind. Options for uploading and integrating with closed captioning applications are available, and students and teachers can comment by calling from their telephone in addition to using text, audio, video, or even uploading comments recorded elsewhere. For more information, can you review VoiceThread’s Accessibility Conformance Report. 

VoiceThread is exciting, easy to use, and an excellent way to engage students in the learning experience while building their knowledge base in the subject they are learning. While this lesson focused on one way to use VoiceThread, the options are truly endless. Think about a way that you can use VoiceThread in your own class and once you become a pro, there is an option to become a VoiceThread Certified Educator. 

• What is VoiceThread for Education?
• VoiceThread: Best Tips and Tricks For Teaching
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

The multimedia edtech tool Screencastify is a dynamic digital screen recording platform that can elevate teaching to meet the needs of diverse learners. For an overview of Screencastify, check out “What is Screencastify and How Does it Work?” 

This sample lesson plan is geared toward middle and high school students, and is focused on building information literacy skills. 

Subject: Information Literacy 

Topic: Varies 

Grade Band: Middle and High School  

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Effectively navigate online educational research and article databases 
• Identify quality and credible published works 

Create Screencastify Teaching Video 

Part of being a good digital citizen is having the ability to be critical consumers of online content. As students start working on research projects, they will need to use online databases to secure content. Navigating online databases can be quite the challenge without previous experience. 

To make this learning task more accessible, create a screen recording using Screencastify in which you teach students how to secure credible online articles, books, and other published works. Use education databases that your school may already have access to such as: Britannica Kids, EBSCO or ERIC. These education databases filter content by grade level. 

In the Screencastify screen recording, you can explain to students how to filter for publication type, date of publication, author, and a host of other options. Screencastify has the following features that you can use to show students what part of the research database you are highlighting:

• Mouse: This feature allows for students to see where on the screen your mouse is pointing to. This will enable students to mimic and click in the same areas as you when they practice on their own as there are so many different pages with education research databases. 
• Pen: This feature allows for circling, underlining, adding a star, or even writing words. You may want to use the pen to highlight key words and names of  different academic journals. 
• Rectangle: If you want to highlight a large area and bring students attention to it, you can place a rectangle around it. For example, any filter panel that is located with the education database may be worth putting a rectangle around. 
• Stickers: These may be more useful for middle school students, but there are a variety of stickers that can be added too. 
• Eraser: If you want to write something but do not want to keep it there or start your recording over, the eraser feature will be quite useful. 

Students Demonstrate Learning with Screencastify 

Students can demonstrate their understanding of what you taught them using Screencastify in many ways. Two of those options include:  

1. Embedding Interactive Questions: You can include questions at different points of the video to ensure that students are gauging the content. The analytics feature will allow you to see which students answered the questions and if they answered correctly or need additional support from you. 
2. Student-Made Demonstrations: You assign each student to create their own Screencastify screen recording, demonstrating the process that they went through in navigating a research database to secure credible content. If students can explain and show you, then that means that they understand. 

How Can Screencastify be Integrated with my LMS? 

If you are using Google Classroom as your LMS, Screencastify has a seamless integration directly into Google Classroom or Google Drive. If you are using another LMS, you can add the Screencastify extension within Google Chrome. You may even want to upload the recordings into a class Wakelet for students and their families to access. 

What If I Do Not Want Students to See Items on My Computer? 

No worries, you do not have to record your entire screen! Before recording, you can choose whether you want to record a specific browser screen or your entire desktop. You also have a third option of recording using the webcam only, however, the students would see you and not what was on your screen. 

Screencastify is a simple, yet comprehensive screen recording tool that can be used in teaching across grade levels and academic subject areas. While this lesson focused on middle and high school students, upper elementary students can also benefit from their teachers using Screencastify to teach content and demonstrate.

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• What is Screencastify and How Does it Work?

As an academic subject, music is like no other. It consists not only of theory, notes, scales, and harmonies, but also the capacity to deeply move its listeners and practitioners. This mysterious influence that music exerts can be a powerful means to engage the minds and hearts of learners of any age.

The free online music lessons, activities, and apps below will bring the joy of music into any classroom or subject, whether it be language arts, history, math or science.

Best Free Music Lessons and Activities

WEB

Virtual Theremin
If you’re thinking, “Hmm, theremin, that sounds familiar – what is it?” recall classic movies such as The Day The Earth Stood Still and Spellbound. Typically employed to create an other-worldly or eerie atmosphere, the theremin relies not on touch, but rather on the operator’s hand movements through the instrument's capacitor field. Use your mouse or webcam to play this delightful virtual theremin. A user’s operation manual offers practical guidance. No account required.

Ableton’s Free Synthesizer Learning Tool
Learn to play a synthesizer, right in your browser window. Drag the circle around the square to create various sounds. For a more nuanced approach, open your game in Playground, which allows adjustment of amplitude, frequency, pitch and other properties. No account required.

The Music Lab
A citizen-science experiment conducted by researchers at Yale University, the Music Lab offers a wide selection of musical games that test your ability to distinguish sounds and rhythms as well as your musical I.Q. and style. Be a part of citizen science and have fun while you’re doing it! No account required, but players must anonymously answer a few simple questions prior to playing.

Teach Rock
Fine selection of diverse lessons and activities covering the arts to geography to STEAM topics. Each lesson is based on a rock music composition or artist whose work illuminates the questions posed. Lessons include objectives, activities, images, videos, handouts, teacher’s guide, questions, and lesson extensions.

Music Producer Masterclass: Making Electronic Music
A free course that uses the popular FL Studio software to teach students how to create, mix, and edit electronic music and songs. High-quality video instructions guide learners through the course modules, from developing musical ideas to publishing music online. Students who successfully pass the course’s final assessment will receive a certificate of completion.

Fiddlerman
An amazingly comprehensive free resource for students of any age and experience level who want to boost their violin skills and knowledge. Run by professional concert master Pierre Holstein, aka Fiddlerman, Fiddleman.com boasts an active user forum in addition to its extensive tools for learning violin, from video tutorials to sheet music to basics for beginners. Be sure to check out the annual Christmas project, in which users collaborate by uploading a recording of themselves playing or singing a beloved Christmas tune such as “White Christmas.” Super fun.

Omni Online Music Maker
Are you familiar with hexany? How about hirajōshi? You may have no idea about these terms, but if I said “major,” you'd probably guess that we’re talking about musical scales. Omni is devoted to digital investigation of 40 musical scales, spanning the globe. This brilliantly simple site provides an online keyboard and choice of scale, reverb, and sustain. Use your mouse to play, and your ears to note, the differences and similarities.

Inside the Orchestra Virtual School Curriculum
Dedicated to cultivating music appreciation in children, the nonprofit organization Inside the Orchestra provides a wealth of free virtual music programs in English, Spanish, and French. Lessons and activities include STEM topics, musical storytime, outdoor musical games, and much more.

Inside the Orchestra Online Musical Games
Fine assortment of online musical games, ideal for K-6 kids. Students can test their recognition of musical instruments, create a music map, or play musical bingo. For an extra challenge, have interested students compose their own works using the built-in digital keyboard. In English, Spanish, and French.

Google Tools and Activities for Music Education
Edtech guru and Google apps expert Eric Curts dives into 12 online music tools that allow users to experiment with musical ideas right in their browser windows. Conduct an orchestra, “see” music, or create your own beats. Serious learning that’s seriously fun.

New York Philharmonic Digital Education Resources
Videos, detailed lessons and teaching guides from New York Philharmonic musicians. Arranged by grade, these lessons offer imaginative and unexpected ways to think about, learn, and practice music. Almost as exhilarating as being there.

VIDEO

Polyphonic Overtone Singing Explained
If you’ve never heard polyphonic overtone singing, you ought to check out this star of the field, Anna-Maria Hefele. She demonstrates this other-worldly sounding vocalization and provides a thorough explanation of the phenomenon. Hefele’s YouTube channel offers many other fascinating videos exploring oversinging.

Violin Lab Channel
Professional violinist and educator Beth Blackerby seeks to explain the science and art of violin playing so that all violin enthusiasts can improve their performance. Although targeted at adults, the videos are perfect for self-motivated students of any age, covering topics such as “8 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I First Learned To Play Violin,” “Vibrato Basics,” and “ Unwanted Bow Bounces.” Her clear, straightforward style makes it easy for anyone to grasp the concepts demonstrated.

Drumeo Free Drum Lessons
An impressive assortment of free videos aimed at not only aspiring drummers, but also advanced students. Explore diverse playlists such as Lessons for Beginners, Advanced Drum Lessons, Must-Know Drum Grooves, Electronic Drums, and many more.

APPS

Perfect Ear: Music & Rhythm
Android | iOS
Train your ear and mind using Perfect Ear’s exercises in scales, chords, intervals, and rhythm.

Piano Chord, Scale, Progression Companion
Android | iOS
Top-rated by users, this piano chords and scales “dictionary” allows budding musicians and composers to practice both musical play and composition.

• What Is Flat for Education And How Can I Use It To Teach Music?
• GarageBand: How To Use it to Teach
• How It's Done: Enhancing Music Class With Technology

The popular social media tool Tiktok is a robust video platform that has been used by millions. For an introduction to TikTok and an overview of some features, check out How Can TikTok be Used in the Classroom. 

This sample lesson is geared toward high school students, and is focused on physical education and health subjects, offering ideas for using TikTok in both in-person and virtual learning environments. 

Subject: Physical Education & Health 

Topic: Varies (Teacher/Student Choice)

Grade Band: High School  

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 

• Demonstrate proper use of sporting equipment and form 
• Articulate the appropriate use of sporting equipment 

An Initial Discussion on Digital Citizenship 

Since TikTok is a social media platform, it is important to remind students about their use, language, and privacy. All of these topics are part of being good digital citizens and can provide students with reminders on how to behave responsibly and ethically in online forums. If you need ideas on how to approach this, we offer tips on how to teach digital citizenship. 

Teacher-Made TikToks 

Since physical education and health courses do not typically meet as often as traditional subjects such as math and English language arts, it can be difficult to teach different topics in-depth. Also, students may not be interested in watching video recordings as they can become monotonous. 

For this lesson, you can use TikTok to teach students how to properly use different sporting equipment such as badminton rackets, lacrosse sticks, or tennis rackets. Modify the lesson to align with the equipment in the sport or activity you’re covering. The video should include a narrative explanation to accompany the demonstration. Then embed the TikToks with your instruction into your school’s LMS. 

Student-Made TikToks 

After learning about the proper form and usage of the different sporting equipment, students will naturally be anxious to try it out themselves. With permission from your school administration and parents, you can either assign students to create a TikTok demonstrating their learning while at home, or during class time. 

If students do not have access to the sporting equipment at home, it might be helpful to have a lending library or allow students to use other household items. For example, a fly swatter could be used instead of a tennis or badminton racket in the TikTok videos. This can also help students build their creativity skills which are part of the 4Cs (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity). 

What Safety Features Has TikTok Put into Place? 

It is important to make sure all permissions from your school and families are in place before using TikTok, and TikTok has added several features focused on the safety of children and teens. 

Tikitok now offers a Youth Portal, which is focused on safety and has myriad tips on keeping accounts secure, controlling one's own public presence, limiting unwanted comments, and filtering what others may view on one's account, as well as other tips and advice. Also, Family Pairing was introduced in 2020, in which parents can customize some of the safety features on their child’s TikTok account.  

What if My Administrator or Families Do Not Want Students to Use TikTok? 

There may be situations in which TikTok is not allowed to be used in your school. If this is the case, consider using an alternative video platform that your administrators and families may be more familiar with, such as WeVideo or Flipgrid. In any case, be sure that you have the proper permissions for your students to use TikTok. If students do end up recording these videos on different platforms, you could house these all in one place on a Wakelet. 

While TikTok is a social media platform, it can also be used as an edtech tool to enhance lessons, engage students, and bring a unique and varied element into different learning environments. While this lesson focused on TikTok in physical education and health classes, it can be incorporated into any other subject as well. 

• How Can TikTok Be Used in the Classroom?
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

Quizlet, the multidimensional edtech platform, provides a multitude of exciting ways for students to access content, build skills, and demonstrate their learning. 

For an overview of Quizlet and more specifics of the many features and its applicability within the K-12 learning environment, check out What is Quizlet and How Can I Teach with It? 

This sample Quizlet lesson plan for middle and early high school is focused on using the platform for mathematics, however, the flexibility of Quizlet transcends subject area and grade levels. In fact, physical education, health, and arts teachers can use Quizlet  when instructing students related to their non-traditional academic subjects. 

Subject: Mathematics 

Topic: Algebra 

Grade Band: Middle and Early High School  

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify algebraic expressions
• Define the algebraic terms  

Starter 

To begin the lesson, use the Quizlet “Create” feature to generate flashcards related to algebraic expressions with the entire class. As you create the flashcards, you can discuss the terms, expressions, and properties related to algebraic expressions so that students are being introduced to the content during the process. 

Start with teaching students the more familiar terms such as dividend, quotation, and sum, before moving to more robust terms such as exponent, expression, and factor. These are just a few examples, but you can have more or less terms as aligned with your unit-level objectives. The goal is to start the lesson by building content on Quizlet while instructing students, and allowing them to co-create content with you. 

Guided Practice 

Now that the flashcard content is created, students can practice on Quizlet. Have them work on answering the flashcards. They can use the matching feature, add or interpret diagrams, and use rich text features such as highlighting, bolding, and underlining to draw attention to certain concepts. 

During the guided practice, you can also have students create their own set of flashcards, with definitions presented in their own wording. By having students create their own set, it will help with their retention of information. 

While students are engaging with the lesson, note which ones need extra support and assign them specific flashcards to focus on by using the Staring feature on Quizlet. In addition, use the Explanations feature to assist with explaining the concepts in a visual way. 

Quizlet offers a test mode as well with multiple choice and true/false options. You may choose to use this feature featuring the content from the flashcards that the students created during the guided practice. 

Extended Learning 

For even more practice and engagement with the lesson’s content, Quizlet offers  “Quizlet Live,” which turns the flashcard content into an interactive and competitive edtech game. Since Quizlet Live is customized with the content of the lesson, it is a great opportunity for students to extend their learning and further develop their understanding of the course concepts. 

Quizlet Live allows for both individual and team play, and teams can be randomized. It can be played in person with the class or even in a virtual classroom environment through your LMS, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom.   

A Note Regarding Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Features 

What makes Quizlet special are the features that support the different aspects of UDL, including Multiple Means of Action and Expression and Multiple Means of Engagement. As mentioned above, Quizlet provides a wide variety of options for students to learn and study content, and uses a diverse range of question types to meet the needs of different learning styles. 

It also offers an audio feature that lets students hear the question being read aloud, which would support students who are more auditory. In addition, images can be added to the questions to assist students who are visual learners. 

Quizlet Lesson Plan: Troubleshooting Tips & Tricks 

When creating flashcards, there is an option to import content from your existing files so you do not have to start from scratch. You can actually customize already existing flashcards to align with the learning objectives for your lesson. 

As students start to study and gain mastery with the content, you can start the flashcards that students are struggling with so more of their focus can be on those. 

If the students have access to mobile devices, the Quizlet app can be downloaded for easier access to studying. Another feature within Quizlet includes popular textbooks that students can refer to for more support in understanding the content. This can be helpful to students who are learning asynchronously online without always having immediate access to the teacher.

This lesson is just one example of the many ways that Quizlet can be used to not only introduce students to academic content, but also allow them to engage with the material and demonstrate their learning in diverse ways. We hope you will incorporate Quizlet into your lesson, and if you are using Quizlet, try a new subject area or feature that you have not explored yet.  

• What is Quizlet and How Can I Teach With It?
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

WeVideo is a robust and multifunctional video creation edtech tool that can enhance any learning experience across academic subject areas. WeVideo can be used as an alternative option to traditional in-class presentations, allowing students to demonstrate their learning in creative ways. 

While multidimensional and comprehensive, WeVideo is quite user friendly and would be a great option for elementary learners all the way to high school. For an overview, check out What is WeVideo and How Does it Work for Education. 

Below is a sample lesson plan for middle school students that is focused on weather and meteorology. While this sample lesson shows just one way WeVideo can be used for teaching and learning, the options are truly endless for other subject areas and grade levels.  

Subject: Science/STEM  

Topic: Weather/Meteorology 

Grade Band: Middle School  

Learning Objective: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to present on various concepts related to weather.

Pre-Planning  

Prior to students using WeVideo to record their weather reports and forecasting, introduce students to the main components of WeVideo. This includes how to login, set-up a recording from their school devices, and adding content to the background slides. It is also best to decide if WeVideo will be used for podcasting, screencasting, or  greenscreening. 

WeVideo Creation 

WeVideo can be used as a tool for students to record themselves as they provide information on the daily weather as well as periodic weather-related disasters that impact the country and beyond. 

Assign each student a state, region, or city to focus on for their forecast and rotate throughout the year. WeVideo offers an Essentials Library that consists of more than a million royalty-free media files that students can pull from to enhance their videos. This feature is an excellent option for those who may be reporting the weather of locations that are quite different from where they are located. 

Students will build on their critical-thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills while putting together content for their weather reports and forecasting, and there is a variety of key scientific, meteorological, and weather-related vocabulary in which students can gain fluency. As part of the learning activity, students could be required to correctly include the following keywords:

• Atmospheric pressure 
• Barometer
• Climate
• Degrees (Celsius and Fahrenheit) 
• Precipitation
• Temperature

Additionally, weather reporting and forecasting is a great way for students to gain fluency in using adjectives. For example, instead of saying that the temperature is cold or hot, students can provide more specificity and use descriptions such as windy, freezing, or mild. Similarly, instead of saying that it is simply snowing or raining, words such as hail, lightning, downpour, blizzard, rainbow, and overcast can be used. It might be helpful to create a rubric for students detailing clear expectations on how many descriptive adjectives should be used in each recording. 

Students can also be creative with their videos as WeVideo allows for adding GIFs, text, graphics, and greenscreen capabilities.

Broadcasting and Sharing WeVideos 

There are a variety of ways to share students’ WeVideos! Once a video has been downloaded in either SD or HD, one of the many connected apps can be used as destinations to broadcast and share. The connected apps options include Dailymotion, Dropbox, Google Drive, FTP, One Drive, Vimeo, and YouTube.  

How Can Students Curate Shared Content? 

You may want to have students work in small weather teams to develop the WeVideo content. In small teams, students can take turns on who will report via WeVideo and who will lead the research. It may be helpful to use a Wakelet as a shared curation tool for each small team to hold their materials. In this case, all of the content will be accessible to each team member, at any time, but students can add information at different times and from different locations. Finished copies of the weather reporting and forecasting videos can also be housed on Wakelet. 

Tech Troubleshooting Tip 

Even though WeVideo is an intuitive and easy-to-use edtech tool, you and your students may need more time to explore the different features or learn to better navigate WeVideo. Thankfully, there is a WeVideo Academy with myriad tutorials and training for users. WeVideo is also compatible with Android, Chromebook, iOS, and Windows. 

WeVideo can be used to enhance the learning experiences for students in your class while they demonstrate their learning and build on key skills. After you get started with the lesson above, you can visit the resource sharing database on the WeVideo website to connect with other educators as well as use pre-made templates. 

• What Is WeVideo And How Does It Work For Education?
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

Thanksgiving is a day to reflect with gratitude on the blessings of our lives. It’s one of the most beloved American holidays, celebrated by people of all religions and backgrounds, and ideal for incorporating into your curriculum.

However, our understanding of the day has changed over the years. While some of the following Thanksgiving lessons, activities, and games include familiar elements such as turkey and pumpkin pie, others inquire into the historical record and modern social perspectives, helping students gain a fuller, more authentic understanding.

Before diving into the following free Thanksgiving lessons, activities, and games, educators can get an overview of the changing way Thanksgiving is taught through the articles listed below under Thanksgiving Perspectives, Past and Present.

Thanksgiving Perspectives, Past and Present 

The Wampanoags' Thanksgiving
Historian David J. Silverman’s essay delves into the Wampanoag side of the Thanksgiving story. What was the state of the Wampanoag nation when the Mayflower landed? What motivated the Wampanoag to create an alliance with the English settlers? This revealing examination from a historian’s perspective is ideal for high school students. Lesson idea: Before assigning the essay, ask your students to write a few sentences on what might have motivated the Wampanoag. Then have them read the essay and write about how their views may have changed.

Thanksgiving: Another Serving
What happened to relations between the Wampanoags and the European settlers? In a span of a single generation, they went from Thanksgiving comity to the bloody battles of King Philip's War. Historian and professor of Early American History at Harvard University Jill Lepore explains in this fascinating video hosted by The Gilder Lehrman Institute.

Time: The Way American Kids Are Learning About the “First Thanksgiving” Is Changing
Should we be teaching students myth or history? This excellent article is a great starting point for teachers to learn the truth, the myths, and the historical interpretations surrounding the first Thanksgiving. Best to read before planning your lesson.

Native Educators Say Thanksgiving Lessons Can Be Accurate, Respectful, And Fun
If you’re wondering whether there’s anything suitable left to teach about Thanksgiving, don’t despair. This article details simple steps you can take right now to make your Thanksgiving lessons accurate and inclusive.

Best Free Thanksgiving Lessons and Activities

Thanksgiving Math Activities for Kids
Two engaging Thanksgiving-themed math activities include printable handouts and an exploration of math skills. Aimed at kids in grades preK-3, the Thanksgiving Coloring Activity combines arithmetic with coloring by number. For older students (grades 4-8), try the Thanksgiving graphing activity, in which a correctly plotted graph reveals a surprise message. Great fun!

Squanto's gift: A Thanksgiving science lesson
A hands-on Thanksgiving science lesson that demonstrates the importance of Patuxet tribe member Squanto (Tisquantum) to the early settlers. Ideal for grades preK-5, this lesson requires only simple materials, a bit of time and careful observations. An excellent introduction to the scientific method for younger students.

The First Thanksgiving Celebration Lesson Plan
A K-4 reading-based Thanksgiving lesson that teaches students about the lives of the Wampanoag people and their participation in the first Thanksgiving celebration. Includes key questions, extension activities and suggested reading.

Thanksgiving Music Activities
These five terrific Thanksgiving-related songs will have every kid in the classroom singing along. But there’s much more than just the joy of singing in these lessons from Beth’s Music Classroom. Included are tips for teaching music principles, activities and videos.

Thanksgiving Science Experiment
Perhaps more than any other American holiday, Thanksgiving celebrates the abundance and variety of delicious foods. And nothing makes food taste better than butter! This detailed butter in a jar experiment is perfect for teaching science with a Thanksgiving flavor. Includes chemistry discussion, photos, video, worksheets and printables.

Plimoth Patuxet Museum Teacher Toolkit
A five-unit curriculum that takes a deep dive into the first Thanksgiving. The standards-aligned lessons comprise sections on the Patuxet people, leadership and diplomacy, the crucial role of corn, the celebration as a historical event, and ways to think about giving thanks. Included in this comprehensive resource are vocabulary, themes, historical notes, and bibliography.

StoryCorps: The Great Thanksgiving Listen
The nonprofit organization Storycorps has been capturing the voices and stories of Americans since 2003. Storycorps’ Great Thanksgiving Listen invites young people to take part in this oral history project by recording an interview with an elder, mentor, friend, or anyone they admire. The Educator Toolkit provides step-by-step guidance on every aspect of the Great Thanksgiving Listen and includes printable handouts for students.

Lesson plan: After helping Pilgrims, today's Wampanoag tribe fight for their ancestral lands
A lesson for grades 6-12 that teaches about the Wampanoag people of today in the context of their historical role at the first Thanksgiving. Choose from among topics such as Thanksgiving history as told by the Wampanoag, land disputes, and gambling, then ask the provided questions. Lesson available as a Google Doc.

Celebration, Conflict and Contemplation: Digital Thanksgiving Activities and Lesson Plans for Students
Ideal for distance or hybrid learning, these free preK-12 digital Thanksgiving lessons include thought-provoking writing assignments, recipe-based math lessons, humorous turkey hijinks, and a look at the modern day lives of the Wampanoag People.

Thanksgiving Directed Drawings
Directed drawings are a great way for kids to gain basic drawing skills and confidence while creating their own artwork. Whether apple pie, cooked turkey, Happy Thanksgiving message, or cartoon turkey, these free and fun video drawing lessons are perfect for both classroom and remote learning.

Turkey Templates for Thanksgiving Creativity and Writing
Education technology expert and Google app guru Eric Curts shares Google Slides templates for building and disguising a turkey. Use it as a fun art lesson, or as a jumping-off point into a discussion about empathy with animals.

Best Free Thanksgiving Games and Interactives

PBS Kids: An Ellwood City Thanksgiving
Join beloved cartoon character Arthur the aardvark as he visits various friends and relatives for Thanksgiving, and learns about different ways of celebrating the holiday. This interactive game allows kids to select whom to visit, participate in the meal and acknowledge the role of Indigenous people. Options in this high quality game include closed captions, music, sound effects and dialog.

Plimoth Patuxet Museums: Activities and Games
Living like people of the 17th century is an excellent way to learn social history. Talk like a pilgrim, cook 17th-century food with modern recipes, and ponder 11 tricky riddles. Fun for students and teachers alike.

6 fun Thanksgiving-themed games for young learners
If you’ve never tried ABCYa games, here’s the perfect opportunity. High-quality digital games are accompanied by an amusing soundtrack that only adds to the fun. Best of all, five out of these six games are CCSS-aligned. Try the Thanksgiving printables too!

You Are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving
A great way for students to investigate and learn a more nuanced history about Thanksgiving, from both the Indigenous and Colonial perspectives.

• Best Free Indigenous Peoples Day Lessons and Activities
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• Best Free Winter Holiday Lessons and Activities

Google Slides is a robust, interactive, and flexible presentation and learning resource tool that can be used to bring content to life in all academic subject areas. While Google Slides is known primarily for being an alternative to PowerPoint, the comprehensiveness of features and tools within Google Slides allows for active learning and consumption of content. 

For an overview of Google Slides, check out “What is Google Slides and How Can It Be Used By Teachers?” 

Below is a sample lesson plan that can be used for all grade levels to not only teach students vocabulary, but to have students demonstrate their learning.

Subject: English Language Arts  

Topic: Vocabulary 

Grade Band: Elementary, Middle, and High School   

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Define grade-level vocabulary words 
• Appropriately use vocabulary words in a sentence 
• Locate an image that illustrates the meaning of a vocabulary word 

Starter

Start the lesson by using a shared Google Slides presentation to introduce the set of vocabulary words to students. Explain how to pronounce each word, what part of speech it is, and use it in a sentence for students. For younger students, it may be helpful to have more than one visual aid on the screen to help students understand the content more easily. 

If you are using video to teach students about vocabulary words, you can quickly embed a YouTube video into a Google Slides presentation. You can either search for videos or, if you already have a video, use that URL to locate the YouTube video. If the video is saved within Google Drive you can easily upload it through that process. 

Google Slides Creation 

After you have reviewed the vocabulary words with students, provide time for them to create their own vocabulary Google Slides. This serves as an opportunity to spend time with the content, and as Google Slides are housed online in the cloud, students can use their finished product as a study guide. 

For each Google Slide, students will have the vocabulary word at the top of the slide. In the body of the slide, they will need to use the following features within the “Insert” function:

Text box: Students can insert a text box to type out the definition of the vocabulary word in their own words. For older students, you can also have students use the text box to write a sentence using the vocabulary word. 

Image: Students can insert an image that represents the vocabulary word. Google Slides provides several options for inserting an image, including uploading from a computer, conducting a web search, taking a picture, and using a photo already on Google Drive, which is helpful for younger users who may need to have a preset collection of images to choose from. 

Table: For older students, a table can be inserted and they can break down the vocabulary word based on the part of speech, prefix, suffix, root, synonyms and antonyms. 

If students finish early, allow them to use some of the formatting tools to decorate their Slides by adding different colors, fonts, and borders. Students can present their Vocabulary Google Slides to both their in-person and virtual classmates using the Google Meet option.  

Providing Real-time Support 

What makes Google Slides an excellent interactive learning edtech tool is the ability to work in real-time and see students’ progress as they work. While each student is working on their vocabulary slides, you can pop in and offer support by either going to the student in person or virtually conferencing with one who is working remotely. 

You may want to upload an audio file to Google Slides so students can be reminded of the assignment expectations. This would be helpful if you are teaching in a dual audience environment and some students are working on the lesson at home. Or, if students in class need more time to complete the assignment at home and need a reminder of the directions. There are also accessibility features within Google Slides that allow for screen reader, braille, and magnifier support. 

Extended Learning with Add-Ons 

One of the unique features that differentiates Google Slides from other interactive presentation edtech tools is a host of Add-Ons that elevates the learning experience. Even other platforms such as Slido, Nearpod, and Pear Deck have add-on features which allow Google Slides content to work seamlessly within those platforms.  

The learning engagement options are truly endless with Google Slides. Whether Google Slides are being used to present or engage with content, it is an exciting and interactive tool that can be used in a variety of learning settings to teach all subjects. 

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• 4 Best Free and Easy Audio Recording Tools for Google Slides

Google Jamboard is an interactive, multidimensional edtech tool that can be used in a wide range of learning settings (online, face-to-face, dual audience) to connect students to learning materials in a collaborative way. For an overview of Jamboard and a breakdown of its unique features and recent updates, check out “How to Use Google Jamboard, for Teachers.” 

Jamboard can be used in any academic subject and to teach any topic. Below, is a sample lesson plan that describes just one of the many ways that Jamboard can be used to bring learning to life. 

Subject: Science 

Topic: Anatomy and Physiology  

Grade Band: Middle and High School  

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 

• Identify the major body parts of the human body
• Describe the functions of the organs within a human body

Teacher Pre-Planning  

Before facilitating the lesson, review the different annotation features within Jamboard with students, and encourage them to use a wide variety of colors and drawing options. Jamboard allows for the use of simulated drawing tools such as a paint brush, highlighter, pen, and markers. 

In addition to writing on the Jamboard with one of the drawing tools, digitally integrated sticky notes in different colors can be used to help organize the content. For this sample anatomy and physiology lesson, you may want students to use different colors or drawing tools to identify the different body parts and organs. 

Finally, since the content is focused on the human body, pre-select appropriate images that students can label and save to a shared Google Doc. Other options for selecting an image file on Jamboard include uploading from a file on your device, by the image’s URL, with the camera feature, or searching in Google Photos. 

Teacher Instruction 

Google Jamboard features frames, similar to a PowerPoint or Google Slide presentation. Each Jamboard can have up to 20 frames. On the first Jamboard frame, have the pre-identified image(s) uploaded through the Google Drive file select feature. Then, go over each body part to provide an understanding of the official names and functions. Students can contribute to the Jamboard by labeling and adding notes while you, as the teacher, are instructing. 

Peer Exploration 

In subsequent frames, students can focus on one or more of the organs. For example, you can have students work in small teams with each one responsible for a particular organ. Since all students, regardless of their physical location, will have access to the Jamboard, they can all simultaneously contribute to the learning activity. 

For each frame focused on a particular organ, you could require the students to add the following:

• A unique background (either from the Jamboard options or one you upload)
• An image of the organ
• A sticky note with the official definition
• Annotated notes around the organ, explaining the function
• A table or diagram illustrating how different body parts and/or other organs are connected to the organ
• A fun fact related to the organ

The frame(s) can remain on Jamboard, saved as an image, or downloaded as a PDF. The saved work might be helpful as quick study guides for subsequent assessments.  

Sharing Learning 

Google Jamboard integrates seamlessly into the virtual conferencing Google Meet platform. After each team or student has completed their Jamboard, they can go into present mode and share their work, right from the Jamboard.  

How Can Google Jamboard be Used to Support Dual Audience Learning? 

As mentioned above, Google Jamboard is an extremely flexible and versatile edtech tool that can be used in a variety of learning settings. As students continue to learn online at home as well as in person, Jamboard has the potential to authentically connect students who are learning in either environment at the same time. Students can use their individual devices to contribute to the lesson as well as work on content independently. 

With Jamboard being part of the GSuite family of tools, everything is saved automatically, and students can pick up where they left off, regardless of if they change locations or even the device that they use.

• How to Use Google Jamboard, for Teachers
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

The 3D interactive online exploration platform Google Earth provides a pathway to endless learning adventures around the globe. For an overview of Google Earth and a breakdown of its unique features, check out How to Use Google Earth for Teaching. 

Below, is a sample Google Earth lesson plan geared toward elementary and middle school that is focused on teaching geography. It is important to note that while geography is a natural fit for leveraging Google Earth, other content areas and Google Earth tips and tricks for teaching can be used. 

Subject: Geography  

Topic: Landforms 

Grade Band: Elementary/Middle  

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 

• Locate different types of landforms across the world 
• Describe characteristics of landforms on different continents 

Starter 

To start the lesson, go to the Google Earth home page and make sure students can see your screen. For online classes, students should be within the LMS that you are using for a live virtual class, and for in-person learning, students can see your computer screen either on their individual devices or on a larger screen in the classroom. Type in the search window the type of landform you would like to show students. For elementary students, you may want to focus on a few simple landforms, such as a lake, hill, and desert. For upper elementary and middle school students, you can add to the list and also review mountains, oceans, and plains. 

Guided Exploration 

After you have shown students examples and described each landform, students will explore Google Earth by searching for landforms across the world. Have students choose any three continents to focus on, and discover one type of landform on each continent. For example, you could have elementary students start with locating a lake, hill, and desert in North America, Asia, and Africa, while you may want middle school students to also locate a lake, hill, desert, mountain, ocean, and plain in Europe, Australia, and South America in addition to North America, Asia, and Africa. 

Using a comparison note sheet, students would fill in as they locate the different landforms. The comparison note sheet could be created on a Google Doc with columns in which students can enter the landform type, the continent location, and some of the characteristics (size, shape, color, and unique features). Once the student is on the specific landform in Google Earth, facts and characteristics about it will appear in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. You may also want to have additional columns for the specific name and country within the continent (e.g. “Mount Kilimanjaro“ and “Tanzania” instead of just “mountains”). 

Extending the Learning

As students finish their landforms exploration lesson, you could have them explore the continent of Antarctica and discover additional landforms. You could also have students   continue to pursue Google Earth and engage with the Games and Quizzes feature or take Guided Tour of one of the landforms or related areas that they explored during the lesson. 

As an alternative, you may want to use the Guided Tour feature to get students acclimated and excited about Google Earth and introduce it at the beginning of the lesson.  

Technical Tips 

Google Earth has a variety of features that can assist students in navigating the virtual globe. It may be helpful to have a cheat sheet available for students that can be easily accessed during the lesson that reminds students how to zoom in, rotate, and tilt within Google Docs. It may also be helpful to create a screencast for students to view as needed that demonstrates how to use the search navigation feature. 

Google Earth creates an exciting and immersive experience for students, and with traveling across the world being a difficult feat, they can at least see amazing sites virtually. Google Earth can be used as an interdisciplinary tool as well, particularly connecting social studies, world history and environmental science with geography. 

• Top Edtech Lesson Plans
• Padlet Lesson Plan for Middle and High School

Padlet is a multidimensional, yet easy-to-use online platform and interactive space that can enhance any learning experience. Padlet can be used as an alternative to note taking using pencil and paper or even Microsoft Word, as an online curation tool, as a collaborative space for team projects, or as a way for students to demonstrate their learning. 

The intuitive nature of Padlet makes for seamless use of its many features. For an overview, check out “What is Padlet And How Does it Work for Teachers and Students”. 

Below is a sample lesson plan for middle and high school students that is focused on social studies. While this is just one idea for using Padlet for teaching and learning, the utility of Padlet can transcend across grade bands and subject areas. 

Subject: Social Studies  

Topic: Historical Events 

Grade Band: Middle and High School  

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify primary and secondary sources connected to a historical event 
• Digitally document artifacts related to a historical event 

Pre-Planning  

Before facilitating the lesson, create a screencast for students explaining how to login and make a blank Padlet. Depending on what email platform your students use, they may be able to log in using their existing Google, Apple, or Microsoft account. Or, students can set-up a free account or use the Backpack user entry point if your school has a Padlet license.  

There are seven different Padlet layout options: wall, stream, grid, shelf, map, canvas, and timeline. You can decide whether to allow students to choose the layout or you can assign a specific layout depending on the assignment. For this social studies lesson on historical events, it might be useful to recommend using the timeline layout.

Padlet Creation 

More often than not, historical events are presented as these singular moments without going into detail beyond dates, location, and important figures. With Padlet, deeper learning can take place and allow for students to learn more comprehensively about these happenings. 

During social studies class, students can create a Padlet that digitally documents various artifacts related to a historical event being studied. Using the “post composer” feature on Padlet, students can type in a word and search for related images, GIFs, YouTube video, Spotify audio, and webpages. This is a chance for students to practice being critical consumers of online content and discern the difference between primary and secondary sources. 

Have students follow a rubric which outlines the criteria for the content that they need to have on their Padlet, which may include all or some of the following related to the historical event an/or time period:

• Speeches or letters 
• Image or artwork 
• Documents, legislations, or decrees 
• Podcasts or audio files 
• Video or documentaries 

As students gather content for their historical event Padlet, they can drag and drop it to the position on the Padlet that they would like. They can also add notes to each artifact by using audio, video, images, or typing text. In this way, students are not just posting different types of content to the Padlet but they are also demonstrating to you that they understand what the artifact is and its relation to the historical event. 

Sharing Padlet 

Once students have completed their Padlets, they can share with their classmates via a URL link, QR code, embed code to be placed within the class LMS, or through email. If students are focused on different historical events, then the other students can learn about each event by engaging with their classmate’s Padlet. Even if students are covering the same happening, they will likely have different content and can learn more about it through a different lens. 

Be sure to have students select the visitor permissions as “secret” so the public cannot access the Padlet but those who are given permission (i.e. other classmates) can. Students and teachers can also decide if they want peers to just read, write comments, or edit the shared Padlet.

How Can All Students Work on One Padlet Together? 

As an alternative to students working on individual Padlets, they can all contribute to one class Padlet on a historical event. This would be a great project for studying significant incidents that lasted for a long period of time or that have a large amount of related content. Look at your school’s social studies curriculum and use that as a guide to choosing which events to cover. 

Since Padlet is online and has an autosave feature, students do not need to be in the same physical space to work with one another, which makes Padlet a great choice for connecting in-person and online students in dual audience learning environments.

Tech Inclusion Tips 

One special feature of Padlet is that it is available in 42 languages. Use Padlet in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and with English Language Learners. Sample Padlets can be created in the student’s home language as a model, or students in language classes can create their Padlets in the language that they are studying. 

You may want to also consider using Padlet as a message and document board for families of your students whose first language is not English. Additionally, because of the visual nature of Padlet and ability to use so many diverse content types (images, video, audio, documents, etc.), students who are more visual learners can be accommodated as well as students who need auditory support.

• Flipgrid Lesson Plan for Upper Elementary and Middle School Classes
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The multimedia video discussion edtech tool, Flip (formerly Flipgrid), is an interactive and engaging platform that can be used for creative lesson plans that promote critical-thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration. 

Flip has many features and learning enhancements. For an overview, check out “What is Flip And How Does it Work for Teachers”. 

While this is a sample Flip lesson plan for upper elementary and middle school students that is focused on digital storytelling in an English Language Arts class, Flip can be effectively leveraged in all content areas to provide instruction, help students develop skills, connect with one another, and assess their depth of knowledge. 

Subject: English Language Arts 

Topic: Digital Storytelling 

Grade Band: Upper Elementary/Middle School  

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Create and present a digital story that includes a beginning, middle, and end 
• Provide a peer with an alternative ending suggestion to their digital story 

Starter 

Set-up the Flip prior to the lesson. Simply log into your Flip account and “Create a Group.” Be sure that you click the “Active” instead of “Hidden” option so your students can engage in the discussion on the Flip. Once you have created the group, you can change the cover image and name. You might want to have the cover image correspond with the group name, which would make it easier to locate the Flip if you end up using it regularly throughout the year. You can also create different topics within the Group. 

Teacher Modeling 

Using a teacher-created Flip Short, explain to students the elements of storytelling. Key vocabulary words to cover include “plot,” “characters,” and “climax.” Flip shorts allow you to record videos directly from your computer with screen capture capabilities (screencasting). In your Flip Short, you can review the differences between a traditional story and digital storytelling, as well as other ways digital storytelling can be used. Encourage students to asynchronously post their questions regarding the lesson directly to Flip. 

Guided Practice 

In your English Language Arts class, have students work on drafting a short story, a few paragraphs or pages, depending on grade level. The story topics can be about fairy tales, historical events, or original works created by students. The goal is for students to include a story plot that includes a beginning, middle, and end (climax). Students can use Google Docs to draft their stories, and can work individually or collaboratively with their classmates in a “think tank” set-up.  

Flip Creation 

Students will use the stories they crafted in the Google Doc to create a digital story through Flip. Flip works with many different multimedia tools that can be used to enhance their digital stories. Videos can be uploaded, and then filters, boards (backgrounds), frames, and animated effects can be used. Accessories and emojis can be added to give characters or the story its own look. There are also American Sign Language and text options that can complement the narrative. 

Peer Interaction 

After each student, or team of students, have created and shared their Flip grids, have each student watch the digital stories of at least one other student, and leave comments with a suggestion on an alternative ending or additional character that could complement the story.

How Will Students Access Flip to Add Their Digital Story? 

Students can access Flip through the link or embed code that automatically generates when you create the group or topics for the lesson. You can also post the code within the LMS for online courses or create a QR code that is generated by Flip for in-person classes. Other automatically generated options provided by Flip include a direct link to Google Classroom, a share link for the Remind app, or a post to Twitter. 

Technical Considerations 

Think about the way you want your students to access the Flip and provide them with secure permissions with either their student email or username, or through Google Classroom if your school has an account. 

Notifications are also something to consider. You need to decide if you want to be notified daily, weekly, never, or after every new video and comment. Additionally, if you do not want students to receive notifications when they receive new responses and comments to their videos, be sure to turn off group notifications for new responses and comments when you create the group.

• Best Flip Tips and Tricks for Teachers and Students
• Kahoot! Lesson Plan for Elementary Grades
• Wakelet Lesson Plan for Middle and High School

The digital curation tool Wakelet is a robust online platform that can be used to collect, organize, and share myriad academic content that can be embedded into a variety of lessons. For an introduction to Wakelet and an overview of some features, check out What is Wakelet and How does it Work?

This sample lesson is geared toward middle and high school students, and is focused on team projects. While Wakelet provides students the opportunity to work on the development of soft skills such as the 4Cs (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity) while working in teams on a class-related topic, it can also be used for individual projects, assignments, and assessments. 

This sample lesson can be used as a guide, offering ideas and strategies for using Wakelet in your own in-person and/or virtual classrooms.   

Subject: Environmental Science

Topic: Varies (Student Choice)

Grade Band: Middle and High School  

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Locate, store, and organize appropriate content found online with a team 
• Share project artifacts with peers, teachers, and families 

Set-Up Teams 

Decide on how you will divide the class into teams. You may have students in person working with students who are online or decide to have all in-person teams and all online teams. (For best practices, check out designing effective team projects.) 

Once teams have been set, create team spaces within Wakelet and provide students with a link to their team space or use the QR code that goes directly to each team’s Wakelet. Each Wakelet is known as a collection and can be uniquely titled, and each team can add a cover image that is specific to their project’s topic. For example, if one team’s topic is pollution, the image can be a picture of poisonous air. 

To avoid having students log into the Wakelet, you may want to use the sub-collections feature in which they can contribute a Wakelet by entering a code that is auto-generated. 

Guided Exploration 

At this stage, students locate content related to their teams’ topic. For example, one team’s project could be focused on global warming. Instruct students to find relevant text, audio, and video content and add it to the Wakelet. Students can use the bookmark feature to save website links for future review or during the next class session. 

Wakelet makes it easy to add content to the shared collection, allowing links to be copied and pasted into a box, which will then create a thumbnail image. Text and images also can be added, including PDFs. If students have content stored within Google Drive or One Drive, these applications are integrated within Wakelet. 

To ensure that students are critical consumers of online content, encourage them to take time when reviewing each item. This will also help maintain the quality of the curated content rather than amassing large quantities of unrelated content. Once a student feels that the content will be a helpful resource for their teams’ project, they can add it to the Wakelet collection or sub-collection. Check in with each team throughout the process and casually look over each teams’ collections as they progress.

Artifact Showcase 

Decide how you want students to share their work. You could have them create a presentation that is linked to the Wakelet, turn the Wakelet into a blog sharing their findings, or share the Wakelet as is in a portfolio-type format. Regardless of how the work is showcased, Wakelet provides several ways to share the collection with other students, teachers, and families, including embedding directly into Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and Remind to name a few, as well as on the Twitter and Facebook social media platforms. 

How Can Students Access Wakelet? 

In addition to using a shared link or QR code that is autogenerated by Wakelet, free student accounts are available. If you want to have more classroom control, you can use the admin panel feature to manage student accounts. If your students already have Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, or Clever accounts, they can be aligned for a single sign-in experience with Wakelet. 

Troubleshooting Tricks & Tips 

A wide range of content can be contained within each Wakelet collection. Have students decide on a layout before adding content. The options are include: 

• Media view: A linear format in which content can be accessed by scrolling down 
• Compact view: Provides thumbnails of content so the page scrolling is not too long when there is a large amount of content 
• Grid view: Creates a tile-like structure in which content is side by side instead of just in a linear format 
• Mood board: Customizable collections that are great to use with a variety of content types 

Also, provide each team with a checklist so they can self-check that they included all of the required components to their Wakelet collection, per the assessment rubric. Google Forms is a great and simple tool to use to create a checklist for students. 

Wakelet is an easy-to-use, yet comprehensive, online curation tool with many features to support lesson plans, assignments, and assessment activities across academic subjects. While this lesson focused on middle and high school students, upper elementary students can also use Wakelet. Teachers can use Wakelet to organize their lesson plans, prepare learning materials, and present content to students.

Dr. Stephanie Smith Budhai is an associate professor of teacher education at Neumann University in Pennsylvania, and former teacher holding K-12 instructional certifications in Technology Education, Instructional Technology, Special Education, Elementary Education, and Computers, Business and Information Technology. Dr. Budhai has more than a decade of online teaching experience, and has published dozens of books, articles, and invited editorials surrounding the use of technology and online learning in education and holds a Ph.D. in Learning Technologies from Drexel University. Some of her publications include: 

- Increasing Engagement in Online Learning: Quick Reference Guide- Teaching the 4Cs with Technology- Best Practices in Engaging Online Learners through Active and Experiential Learning Strategies- Nurturing Young Innovators: Cultivating Creativity in the Classroom, Home and Community 

• A Kahoot! Lesson Plan for Elementary Grades
• Best Wakelet Tips And Tricks For Teaching

The game-based learning platform Kahoot! is an exciting technology tool that can be incorporated into any lesson plan. 

For an overview of Kahoot! and some of the general ways teachers can use it in the classroom, check out “What is Kahoot! And How Does it Work for Teachers.” 

Below is a sample elementary-level lesson plan that is focused on mathematics, a subject area that many students may not be looking forward to. Thankfully, the game-based nature, upbeat music, and interactive components of Kahoot! will endear all students to engage in the lesson, which will result in more learning for them -- our ultimate goal as teachers.     

Subject: Mathematics (Geometry)

Topic: Geometric Shapes  

Grade Band: Elementary 

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify the different geometric shapes 
• Define the attributes of different geometric shapes 

Starter

Using the “blind” Kahoot! feature, you can create a kahoot to introduce the topic of geometric shapes. On the homepage of your Kahoot! page you will see in the upper right hand corner a button that says “Create.” Click on that and select the “Introduce topics with a ‘Blind’ kahoot” option.  

For this lesson, your starter question could be: What are the names of different shapes?  

You can also import PowerPoint, Keynote, and PDF slides with a question and/or shapes already there. If you need inspiration on a starter question, Kahoot! offers a question bank.

Teacher Modeling

After the starter question, you can move on to the part of the lesson in which you explain concepts and demonstrate for students. Kahoot! has the ability to incorporate slides with content for that.

Your slides could show students different geometric shapes (triangle, circle, rectangle, eclipse, cube, pentagon, cone, parallelogram, hexagon, octagon, trapezoid, rhombus, etc.). Choose which shapes and how many to focus on based on your students’ levels. Other slides can focus on the attributes of geometric shapes, such as the number of sides each has, whether sides are equal or parallel, and the degree of each shape’s angles. 

Between slides you can incorporate polling questions to make sure that students are keeping up with the lesson, or use word cloud questions so you can capture students’ thoughts about the topic. 

Guided Practice

This is the time when you can have the traditional Kahoot! experience. Using a combination of multiple choice, true or false, open-ended, and/or puzzle question types, you can go through a series of questions in which you review the content on geometric shapes while gaining a barometer of where students are in understanding the concepts. Students will also be able to earn points. This will make a much more exciting alternative to completing a practice worksheet. And, as you go through each question, you can pause to explain and elaborate as needed. 

Extended Learning

After the students have gone through the Kahoot! lesson, you can provide them with the opportunity to create their own kahoots on geometric shapes. Kahoot! calls this “Learners to Leaders” pedagogy and it’s a great way for students to demonstrate their learning in an exciting way with their peers. If you are using Google Classroom, students can use their accounts to log into Kahoot! to make their own kahoots. If not, students can sign-up for a free basic account. 

How Will Students See the Lesson Using Kahoot!?

To carry out the lesson in a physical classroom, you can simply open your interactive kahoot with slides and display it on your classroom projector and screen. For online courses, you can use an online conferencing tool such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or whatever option your school’s learning management system (LMS) has available, and put your interactive kahoot with slides there. You can also use one of these conferencing tool options for simultaneous learning when you have students who are physically in front of you and online at the same time, so everyone can participate.

Troubleshooting Tips & Tricks

The answer choices for a kahoot are in the form of shapes and colors pairings (red triangle, gold circle, blue diamond, and green square). If your students experience technical difficulties and you do not have time to stop the lesson and address it, have back up printed red triangles, gold circles, blue diamonds, and green squares so that students can hold up their answer choices and still participate in the learning experience.

Using Kahoot! to introduce students to new topics, engage them in the lesson, and provide the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge by creating their own kahoots is sure to make for an exciting learning experience.

While this lesson focused on geometric shapes, what is great about Kahoot! is the ability to use it across all K-12 grade bands and subject areas. We hope you will give Kahoot! a try as you develop your next innovative lesson!

Dr. Stephanie Smith Budhai is an associate professor of education at Neumann University in Pennsylvania, holding a Ph.D. in Learning Technologies from Drexel University. Dr. Budhai has more than a decade of online teaching experience, and has published myriad books, articles, and invited editorials surrounding the use of technology and online learning in education. Her publications include: 
- Teaching the 4Cs with Technology
- Best Practices in Engaging Online Learners through Active and Experiential Learning Strategies
- Nurturing Young Innovators: Cultivating Creativity in the Classroom, Home and Community
- Online and Engaged: Innovative Student Affairs Practices for Online Learners. 
- Increasing Engagement in Online Learning: Quick Reference Guide

• What is Kahoot! and How Does it Work for Teachers?
• Best Kahoot! Tips and Tricks for Teachers
• Top EdTech Lesson Plans