Research Guides: Lesson Planning (Elementary, Middle Years): Lesson Planning Resources (all grades and subjects)

BC’s Current Curriculum

General Lesson Collections K-12

The Critical Thinking Consortium: Creative, Collaborative & Critical Thinking Resources (Note: look for the FREE icon for free lessons and activities)

BC Ministry of Education: Cross-curricular resources

Better Lesson (sign-up required)

Education World

Get Outdoors (Gr. K-7)

The Learning Network (New York Times)

Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools: NLPS Learns

Ontario Curriculum Planner Grades 1 to 8

Rick Hansen Foundation: Accessibility and Inclusion Lessons (sign-up required)

Share My Lesson (sign-up required)

Teacher.org

Teachnology

From the Library: Books with Cross-curricular Lesson Ideas & Learning Activities

Powerful Understanding by Adrienne Gear
Call Number: HQ783 .G43 2018 (Print & Online)
Publication Date: 2018-02-28
In these challenging times, teaching children to think critically and reflectively AND be compassionate, responsible and caring citizens at the same time is a tall order. Powerful Understanding explores effective ways to build social emotional skills and help students make connections, question what they read, and reflect on their learning as they develop into stronger readers and learners. Strategic and critical thinking strategies revolve around core anchor books that help integrate thinking into everything you teach--from social responsibility, to immigration, to life cycles. This highly readable book includes a wealth of classroom examples and extensive hands-on activities designed to help students to think more deeply, learn more widely, and develop a more powerful understanding of what it means to be a responsible and compassionate person.
Classroom Starters and Plenaries by Kate Brown
Call Number: LB1027.4 .B76 2009 (Print only)
Publication Date: 2009-08-02
This title provides secondary school teachers with a wide range of highly creative suggestions for classroom starters and plenaries. Starters and plenaries are now established elements of all good lesson planning. A good starter gets a class engaged right from the word go, challenges and motivates students and sets a positive tone for the rest of the lesson. A good plenary allows students to focus on the key objectives of the lesson, and reflect on the progress they have made. These five minute slots at the beginning and end of lessons are an opportunity to be extremely creative and draw on a range of different ideas and sources. However, keeping them fresh engaging and challenging can be difficult, lesson after lesson. This book will provide teachers with a wide range of suggestions: from individual to whole class activities, from the energetic to the sedate, and from technical ideas that involve some planning to those which can be used straight out of the book. Most importantly, the structure of each activity would be the focus, allowing the teacher to include content relevant to their lesson. In this way the teacher can dip into the book when they are in search of a new idea and adapt the activity to suit their topic or group.
More Secondary Starters and Plenaries by Mike Gershon
Call Number: LB1027.4 .G47 2013 (Print & Online)
Publication Date: 2013-04-14
All New Classroom Starters and Plenaries provides busy teachers with a set of flexible, easy-to-implement activity ideas that can be used in any subject. The 50 starters and 50 plenaries have been crafted to fit with the structure of teaching, rather than specific content, so you can dip into the book when you are in search of a new idea for engaging your class and adapt the activity to suit your own needs. The activities have been organised into useful divisions, such as Assessment for Learning, Concepts, and Learning Objectives, and each includes a brief rationale for the activity. Many of the activities offer several examples of how it could be used, and there are online resources too, giving you everything you need not just in planning your starters and plenaries, but also in delivering them to your class.
40 Active Learning Strategies for the Inclusive Classroom, Grades K-5 by Linda Schwartz Green; Diane Casale-Giannola
Call Number: LB1027.23 .G738 2011 (Print only)
Publication Date: 2011-01-24
For Elementary & Middle Years Only

This book is a compilation of approximately 40 strategies that serve as blueprints for instructional design. The first chapter describes in depth the research and foundations that support these strategies. Chapter Two provides information for the reader in terms of how to use this book, and how to choose and use strategies to fit both the content and the needs of the learners. Chapter Three presents and describes several strategies. The book is a user-friendly resource that is directly applicable to practice. All of the book′s strategies support teachers in their efforts to engage and motivate diverse learners as they meet academic and social objectives. Each strategy is presented with an explanation, directions for use, sample applications and classroom vignettes. Applications for different ages, abilities, and learning needs of the students, and for a variety of content areas, are suggested. The book is focused on the primary school age level.
41 Active Learning Strategies for the Inclusive Classroom, Grades 6-12 by Linda S. Green; Diane P. Casale-Giannola
ISBN: 9781412993975
Publication Date: 2012-06-27
"Bueller?" Keys to engaging secondary students Motivating adolescents to learn can be a challenge! Often distracted and easily bored, these kids are also critical thinkers capable of thriving in the classroom while learning 21st century skills. How do we hold their attention and develop their abilities? Research shows that all students--regardless of learning style, disability category, or language difference--learn more effectively when they are engaged in active learning. 41 Active Learning Strategies for the Inclusive Classroom shows teachers how to help all students achieve positive learning outcomes. The authors provide a compilation of strategies that serve as blueprints for instructional design and directions for using them across a variety of content areas. The many benefits of active learning include: A more engaged and interactive classroom Increased self-directed learning Development of higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation Improved reading, discussion, and writing competencies Each strategy includes materials, directions, sample applications across content areas, ways to support students with learning differences, and sample vignettes. New teacher requirements and raised expectations to meet higher standards for all students might make the teaching challenge look daunting. The authors understand your journey, and will walk you through the process step-by-step so that you are fully prepared to achieve success!
It's Game Time! by Nicholas J. Rinaldi
Call Number: LB1027.25 .R56 2015 (Print only)
Publication Date: 2015-03-20
Successful teachers are typically capable of keeping their students actively involved, but one way to guarantee students' attention is through the use of classroom games. Besides being a welcome change-of-pace to routine lessons, games can be a lot of fun for both the students and the teacher. It's Game Time : Games to Enhance Classroom Learning enables the teacher to decide when and how to use games to effectively complement their teaching philosophy and style to meet the needs of their students by providing over 40 games that can be used in any class at any level. Playing games in the classroom can .enhance learning by providing a non-tedious, pleasant form of drill and practice .help the students to learn the course content .be useful in providing for individual differences .motivate students to improve study habits .relate course content to individual interests .give more students a chance to be successful .encourage cooperation among students .help promote student leadership"
Jumpstart! Thinking Skills and Problem Solving by Steve Bowkett
Call Number: LB1590.3 .B6945 2015 (Print & Online)
Publication Date: 2014-10-09
For Elementary & Middle Years Only

Jumpstart! Thinking Skills and Problem Solving presents a collection of simple to use, multi-sensory games and activities which will jumpstart students understanding of problem solving in action. If you are one of the thousands of teachers looking for a range of practical and fun ideas to engage pupils in effective proactive learning, then this is the perfect book for you. Specifically written to help teachers work within the guidelines of the new curriculum, activities in the book will help pupils to explore and learn a wide range of problem solving and independent thinking skills in an atmosphere of fun, mutual support and tolerance. Sections within the book reflect key areas of the new curriculum and offer a treasure trove of ideas for building problem solving and thinking skills into daily teaching.and provide tried and tested methods of helping children learn how to learn. Areas include:- Building problem solving confidence Thinking and problem solving in literacy Thinking and Problem solving in science Problem solving in philosophy Emotional resourcefulness and life skills. Jumpstart! Thinking Skills and Problem Solving will celebrate the joy of critical and independent thinking and become a vital resource for all classroom teachers at Key Stage 2 and 3.
Jumpstart! Creativity by Stephen Bowkett
Call Number: ONLINE
Publication Date: 2018-04-18
For Elementary & Middle Years Only

Jumpstart! Creativity contains over 70 games and activities that any primary teacher can use to quickly and easily boost students¿ creative and critical thinking skills, allowing their thinking to flourish. Now in its second edition, the book contains fresh material that will help children to engage with the new National Curriculum. Applicable across a wide age and ability range, Jumpstart! Creativity is designed to help children learn to generate, organise and refine their own ideas and to explore, question and connect knowledge presented to them in the classroom. Focusing on getting the children to do the thinking work, the jumpstarts cover: Creative thinking Creative questioning Creating reasoning Creative problem solving Creative wordplay Filled with practical, fun-packed and easy-to-do activities, Jumpstart! Creativity is an essential companion to any primary teacher looking to inspire creativity and independent thinking in their students.
Serious Fun by Carolyn Hirst-Loucks; Kim P. Loucks
Call Number: ONLINE
Publication Date: 2013-11-08
Discover how to improve student engagement, foster collaboration, and boost achievement with the power of fun. This book provides dozens of instructional strategies that can be implemented immediately into any classroom to increase student motivation and foster love of learning. Backed up with brain-based research, you can use these techniques, activities, and resources for: - priming students to learn at the beginning of class - promoting higher-level thinking and creativity - helping students master critical concepts and skills - without stress! - class-building and team-building Strategies are supplemented with content-specific examples and sample lesson plans. Learn how to make your classroom a seriously fun place to learn!
Assessment for Learning by David Spendlove
Call Number: LB3056.G7 S63 2015 (Print only)
Publication Date: 2015-03-12
The book develops a broader understanding of the impact and reasons for AfL in order to help teachers become outstanding teachers whilst their pupils also become outstanding learners. Emphasis is placed on helping pupils become autonomous and reflective learners in order that they don't become passive receivers in the learning process. Central to this is the development of strategies for ensuring progress in lessons is being maintained by all learners. Ultimately by using the assessment for learning strategies within this book you will sharpen your teaching, increase pupil autonomy and ownership and ensure rapid and sustained progress in learning is taking place. Assessment for learning is about better teaching and learning techniques yet such practices are still largely misunderstood even though the impact upon learners can be significant. All teachers should have a toolkit of AfL strategies to use in their lessons to ensure all learners make rapid and sustained progress in their learning. The book will cover- . Questioning and Dialogue . Using Feedback to monitor progress in learning . Improving Teaching through focusing on AfL . Increasing pupil ownership and autonomy in assessment
Q Tasks by Carol Koechlin; Sandi Zwaan
Call Number: ONLINE
Publication Date: 2014-10-01
Questions and questioning are key skills in successful learning. More than 100 practical, flexible exercises in this remarkable book provide a smorgasbord of choices for teachers to use to help students formulate good questions in an information-rich environment. They put the students at the centre of their own learning as they build the library and research skills that are essential to our information age. Teachers will find innovative ways to help students go beyond memorization and rote learning of facts to focus on personal understanding, and true ownership of the learning experience.
50 Strategies for Active Teaching by Andrea M. Guillaume; Jennifer M. Bay-Williams; Ruth Helen Yopp; Hallie Kay Yopp
Call Number: LB1025.3 .G85 2007 (Print only)
Publication Date: 2006-07-11
50 Strategies for Active Teaching: Engaging K-12 Learners in the Classroom is a practical book that gives strategies designed to help the classroom teacher, engage students actively in their own learning. KEY TOPICS: This book presents powerful principles of active teaching, helps select active teaching strategies and implement them across the curriculum, and provides advice on tailoring teaching to particular learners. Strategies include activating prior knowledge, encouraging student interaction, and generating and testing hypotheses. General K-12 teachers.

Lesson Ideas in Education Magazines and Journals

There are a number of professional journals and magazines for teachers in which you can find lesson and activity ideas and other information to inform lesson design:

Education Canada - Articles on current issues, trends, philosophies and practices in elementary and secondary education for practicing educators in Canada.
TEACH Magazine - Covers issues and topics of interest to any K-12 educator, from fundraising to curriculum development to the integration of technology.
Scholastic Teacher - Professional learning advice and lesson ideas.

Open Education Repositories

Check out Open Educational Resource Repositories (OERR) for lesson plan and teaching ideas. OERRs allow educators the share, manage and use free education resources and contain items such as:

open textbooks
lesson plans
quizzes (e.g. iclickers, etc.)
videos, animations, handouts
interactive activities and tools (e.g. apps)
powerpoint presentations

TeachBC https://teachbc.bctf.ca/

TeachBC is an online resource of teaching materials, lessons, and research relevant to the K-12 BC curriculum. The website is public and open to everyone through the generosity of BC public school teachers. Teachers and organizations can share their teaching resources or educational research by registering and uploading their materials or providing links. Anyone can browse and download the resources for classroom or professional use. Browsing is easy. Users can search by subject, grade level, resource type, title, description, language, and more.

OER Commons https://www.oercommons.org/

OER Commons aggregates Open Education Resources (OER) from a large number of partnership organizations and institutions. Resources are available in every subject area and a large variety of formats (including lecture notes, lesson plans, case studies, full courses, textbooks, and more).

The Open Education Repositories guide (https://guides.library.ubc.ca/open-education/finding) contains information on OERs and links to additional repositories.

Education Library Booklists

If you haven’t already seen the UBC Education Library booklists, we encourage you to also search there for specific book recommendations from our collection to support your teaching. There you will find teaching resources, picture books, and non-fiction recommendations for common teaching topics, inquiry-based learning design, BC’s core competencies, and other content areas in the curriculum.

Online Children's & Young Adult Literature

In UBC Library:

From the Library homepage, search "juvenile fiction" OR "juvenile literature" and apply the "Full Text Online" and the "Book/eBook" limiters.

E-book databases:

Canada Commons: You can find many picture books, young adult novels, and juvenile non-fiction through Canada Commons, a Canadian database with content in both English and French. Using the Advanced Search page, search "juvenile fiction" OR "juvenile literature" and select "Books" as the publication type to browse their selection of children's and YA literature.

Primary Search Reference eBooks Collection: A collection of roughly 100 fiction and non-fiction books for kids. Books in the collection cover a range of topics including math, science, social studies, and history.
MAS Reference eBook Collection: A collection of over 250 eBooks specifically geared towards teens. Includes books on developing money, life, and job skills, managing anxiety, math, science, history, and more.
Global Storybooks: This global project provides free access to illustrated and interactive stories from around the world. Includes access to Storybooks Canada and Indigenous Storybooks.

Additional Resources:

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) - Provides online information to help educators find books to meet their educational and collection management requirements. CLDC can be used for reader’s advisory, curriculum development, and more. Content includes:
- Records for over 3,000,000 children's and young adult titles
- More than 50 professional review sources (650,000+ reviews) and 850+ national and international young adult and children’s book awards
- Thousands of best books lists
- Curriculum tools
Diverse Book Finder - Helpful resource for finding children's picture books featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC).

Curio

Curio provides streaming access to educational content (including videos, podcasts, and teacher guides) from CBC and Radio Canada. Here you will find content for all grades and subjects, including content in French. UBC Library has access to Curio’s main channel, as well as News in Review. Many school districts in BC also subscribe to Curio. You can find out about access in your school from your school advisor or your teacher librarian.

SOGI Curriculum Resources

SOGI 123, created by the SOGI Education Network, has created a number of lesson plans and other curricular resources to help BC teachers incorporate inclusive SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) content into their lessons.

School District Learning Resources

In addition to the curriculum materials (picture books and YA fiction, education technologies, puppets, etc.) available to you through the UBC Library, you will have access to materials at your practicum school through school libraries and/or district resource centres. You can always reach out to the teacher librarian at your school for assistance finding resources for your planning.

Curious about collaborating with a teacher librarian? This document from the Surrey Chapter of the BCTLA and the Surrey Teachers' Association outlines the ways you can work with your TL.

You can also begin looking for resources available through your school and district by searching in the following places:

Abbotsford School District 34

Burnaby School District 41

Cariboo-Chilcotin School District 27

Chilliwack School District 33

Comox Valley School District 71

Coquitlam School District 43

Delta School District 37

Kamloops/Thompson School District 73

Kootenay Lake School District 08

Kootenay-Columbia School District 20