This integrated OER unit focuses on the 4th grade NGSS bundle addressing Structure, Function, and Information Processing (Performance expectations 4-PS4-2, 4-LS1-1, and 4-LS1-2). Students are engaged in a storyline which presents them with the problem of preserving the pika population who live in the Columbia River Gorge, a species which has recently been threatened in this region due to climate change. Through a series of activities, labs, and field STEM experiences, students engage in scientific modeling and investigation, while building their understanding of how an organism’s internal and external structures enable survival, growth and reproduction. The unit culminates with the development of a product that can be shared with a public audience to instigate positive change in the community and help protect the pika.

How does the media influence peoples’ opinion of the government during a national crisis? Students will read several articles on a current (or historical) national crisis and write an argumentative essay analyzing how the media influences the opinion of the people toward the government during a national crisis using relevant evidence from both current and historical resources.

The inquiry helps students examine the responsibility of  being a citizen both in the real world and the online world. In answering the compelling question “How is being a citizen online the same as being one in real life?” students will identify the attitudes and actions necessary to be a good citizen. The unit offers 12 lessons with formative performance tasks for educators to choose from depending on the age and needs of their students. Each provides students with opportunities to collect evidence and an understanding of how online behavior and boundaries are comparable to those necessary in the real world. At the end of the inquiry, students create an explanation and identify examples of the correlation between online and real life communities.  Unit created by NCESD teachers: Sara Bedient, Sasha Dart, Brittany Jones, Krystina Nelson, Julia Spanjer, Keirstin Stansbury, Brittney Therriault   

Human Geography: An open textbook for Advanced Placement is aligned to the 2015  College Board course articulation for AP Human Geography. The purpose of  AP Human Geography is to introduce students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth's surface. Students employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to examine human social organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their science and practice.

Identifying Media Bias in News Sources through activites using relevant news sources to answer the following essential question:Why is this important and relevant today?Students are engaging with a growing number of news sources and must develop skills to interpret what they see and hear.Media tells stories with viewpoints and biases that shape our worldviews.Students must become critical consumers of media which is essential for being an informed citizen.

Every media source has a story to tell--a driving purpose. The media that people consume largely shapes their world views. The US public is becoming more divided partially due to the consumption of increasingly biased news. As a critical consumer of media, It is important to be able to separate fact from opinion. In this unit, adapted from the high school version, students will become critical consumers of news, by identifying media bias in order to become better informed citizens.  NOTE: This unit has been adapted for use at the middle school level from the resource Identifying Media Bias in News Sources by Sandra Stroup, Sally Drendel, Greg Saum, and Heidi Morris.

10-lesson fifth grade unit to build classroom culture focused on identity, diversity and community.

10-lesson first grade unit to build classroom culture focused on identity, diversity and community.

10-lesson fourth grade unit to build classroom culture focused on identity, diversity and community.

10-lesson kindergarten unit to build classroom culture focused on identity, diversity and community.

10-lesson second grade unit to build classroom culture focused on identity, diversity and community.

10-lesson third grade unit to build classroom culture focused on identity, diversity and community.

An inauguration is the act or ceremony of bringing someone into a position or an office. Every president of the United States has been inaugurated, dating back to the first executive, George Washington. These inaugurations symbolize a peaceful transition of power between administrations. Although the Constitution provides an oath for the new president to take, all other elements of the modern presidential inauguration grew from traditions, changes, and preferences that evolved over 200 years. As the president's residence, the White House plays an important role in inaugurations. Gain a deeper appreciation of presidential inaugurations and transitions at the White House by learning about the history behind the Oath of Office, inaugural parade, parties, and more.

This resource includes multiple lesson plans developed by Washington State teacher John Zingale and can be taught as part of in-person, hybrid, or remote instructional settings. The core content areas include social studies, civics, and media literacy and are designed for use with students in grades 6-12. Additional integrations include ELA, world languages, mathematics, physical education and science. These lessons integrate both state and national civics instruction using project-based and collaborative learning strategies. Features of these lessons include:student researchcollaborative learningdigital learning strategieslateral readingdesign and creation of infographicsTo support these lessons, additional resources are provided to help educators and families with understanding and teaching information and media literacy to young people. Resources include:introductions to media literacyeducator guidesparent guidesstudent learning standards

Washington’s initiative and referendum powers let regular people participate directly in lawmaking! This lesson presents the initiative and referendum powers as tools and shows students how to use them.

Got a 1:1 classroom? Find fillable PDF versions of this lesson’s materials below. Register with iCivics (free) in order to download materials.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Explain the purpose and procedure of the initiative and referendum in Washington State
Compare and contrast the initiative and referendum powers in Washington State
Analyze and evaluate aspects of the initiative power and procedure

As part of Washington's Kip Tokuda Memorial Civil Liberties Public Education Program, which strives to educate the public regarding the history and the lessons of the World War II exclusion, removal, and detention of persons of Japanese ancestry, KSPS Public Television and Eastern Washington educators Starla Fey, Leslie Heffernan, and Morgen Larsen have produced Injustice at Home: the Japanese American experience of the World War II Era.

This educational resource--five educational videos and an inquiry-based unit of study--will help students understand Executive Order 9066 and the resulting internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, the failure of political leadership to protect constitutional rights, the military experience of Japanese-Americans during WWII, and examples of discrimination and racial prejudice the Japanese-American community faced before, during and after WWII.

In addition, students will analyze the short and long term emotional effects on those who are incarcerated, identify the challenges that people living outside of the exclusion zone faced, examine how some Japanese Americans showed their loyalty during the period of incarceration, and learn about brave individuals who stood up for Japanese Americans during this time.

With KSPS's Injustice at Home: Overcoming Discrimination and Adversity (a series of four educational videos and a curriculum unit), grade school students will learn the stories of Frank C. Hirahara, Kazuko Sakai Nakao, Kaz Yamamoto, and Fred Shiosaki through oral history interviews. As survivors of the Japanese Incarceration
Camps during WWII, the powerful stories of these survivors reveal the damaging nature of racial discrimination upon the Japanese American community.

Throughout the unit, Grades 4-6 students will witness the fortitude and courage of those who suffered racial discrimination but overcame it due to the resiliency of their culture and character. Students will analyze paintings and poetry made by incarcerated Japanese American youth to determine the diverse impact on their daily lives. Students will conclude the unit by creating a biographical presentation of one of the survivors and demonstrate what can be learned from those who have experienced and overcome
discrimination.

Students kick off the unit with an analysis of images by engaging in a Four Corners activity, in which they begin to unpack the many positive and negative impacts of innovations on communication, infrastructure, and workers’ rights. After this initial analysis, students listen to oral histories, read narrative accounts, and study photos of people and places, to answer the question: How does innovation impact communities in Washington? Throughout the unit, students research a transformative innovation in workers rights, communication, and infrastructure in order to create a thought-provoking photo essay about how their chosen innovation impacts people and places in Washington.

As Adam Smith said, everyone lives by exchanging. They exchange—buy and sell—to make themselves better off. Does the same principle apply to international trade? Do nations benefit from importing and exporting? The November 2016 issue of Page One Economics explains the basics of international trade and its importance to the economy.

This collection of lessons represent adapted and remixed instructional content for teaching media literacy and specifically civic online reasoning through distance learning. These lessons take students through the steps necessary to source online content, verify evidence presented, and corroborate claims with other sources.

The original lesson plans are the work of Stanford History Education Group, licensed under CC 4.0. Please refer to the full text lesson plans at Stanford History Education Group’s, Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum for specifics regarding background, research findings, and additional curriculum for teaching media literacy in the twenty-first century.