Find the theme of a story by acting it out!

Take out your magnifying glass detectives-in-training, because you’re about to solve The Case of the Missing Theme. By acting out a story with Carmen and Detective J, you will remember important clues. These clues will help you find the story’s theme!

Learning Objective: Infer the theme of a work, distinguishing theme from topic.

Become a detective to solve the case of the smelly backpack! Act out the clues and draw conclusions to solve the mystery.

When Detective Bentley cannot figure out why his backpack is smelly, he retraces the events in his day to find clues. Taking on the role of detectives, the viewers act out the events of Bentley’s day and use textual clues to solve the case.

Learning Objective:
Draw conclusions from the facts presented in text and support those assertions with textual evidence.

In this video segment from Cyberchase, the CyberSquad and Digit construct a physical profile of the person who kidnapped Choocroca, a giant cybercrocodile.

This interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service presents the key concepts of cave and karst systems, including how and where they form, different types, and various cave environments.

This interactive feature describes some of the most important structures and functions of the cell membrane.

In this interactive activity from NOVA, discover how centripetal force can affect you when riding in a car or flying at high speeds in a fighter jet.

This video segment explains centripetal force and illustrates how roller coasters rely on it to give you a thrilling ride.

Chad Hasegawa paints portraits of bears and notable artists, and his style is influenced heavily by the Abstract Expressionist movement, and a thrifty approach to materials. He has created murals throughout San Francisco and shown his paintings and sculptures in galleries. His work balances between abstract and figurative art, with dense, wild brushstrokes that are often pieced together to create recognizable forms.

Learn about the Chandra X-Ray Observatory's telescope system, science instruments, and spacecraft system in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.

In this video adapted from the Arctic Athabaskan Council, learn how warmer temperatures in the Arctic are transforming the landscape, triggering a host of effects such as permafrost thawing and insect infestations.

This video segment adapted from NASA describes the basic characteristics of our star, the Sun.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists are on the hunt for tornadoes. Using Doppler radar, they gather data in the hopes of solving the mystery of how tornadoes form.

This video segment from Between the Lions is a reading of the heartwarming story Cheesybreadville. In this animated story set in Puerto Rico, a wife bakes a bread overnight to surprise her husband, not knowing that he has hidden a surprise gift for her as well of cheese in the oven. The husband and wife go to bed, only to wake up to the smell of burning bread and cheese. The husband and wife acknowledge that the mishap just proves their love for each other, and they head back to bed. A young girl from the town follows the smell of the cheesy bread, sneaks into the kitchen and tries some. Finding it so delicious, she shares it with others who live in the town. The cheesy bread is such a hit that all the villagers want the couple to keep making more. The town is renamed "Cheesybreadville." This video segment provides a resource for Fluency, Text Comprehension, and Phonological Awareness. ***Access to Teacher's Domain content now requires free login to PBS Learning Media.

In this video produced for Teachers' Domain, learn about MIT professor Cathy Drennan's research into microorganisms that remove carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere.

Enjoy a sweet way to learn about opposites, and explore what is the same and what is different as you read, watch and play together.

Chompers is a trio of abstract coyotes with levers to lift and lower their heads and open their mouths so that they can appear to be howling at the moon. They were built by the artists at Opera-Matic, a neighborhood art group from Chicago that specializes in community engagement. Opera-Matic was invited to bring Chompers to the BLINK festival in Cincinnati. The BLINK festival was a celebration of light and art with a focus on interactivity. The “coyotes” were a big hit with festival-goers, especially children. They are mounted on recycled ice cream bikes for easy mobility in parades.

In this video segment from Cyberchase, the CyberSquad must locate a crystal with the highest fraction of orange color.

Welcome to the CIRCLE OF STORIES lesson plans. These lessons will allow students to examine the complex and rich oral tradition of Native American storytelling, create their own stories to share, explore indigenous and Native American cultures and the issues which face them today, and research and explore their own cultural heritage by recording their unique family stories and heritage. These lessons are directed toward grades 6 through 12, for use in the following subject areas: language arts, theater, history, social studies, multicultural studies, technology, and life science.

Learn about the techniques gold miners used to collect gold ore from the area around South Pass City, as well as the hazards they faced during the mining process.

In the accompany lesson plan (found in the Support Materials), students will watch a video that explains the mining process and hazards, and then create caution signs to show their understanding of the challenges the miners faced. Finally, the students will take part in a collaborative STEM challenge to build a working hoist using a limited amount of supplies.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Students will develop grade level appropriate speaking and listening skills, as described by the standards.
Students will understand how technology impacted the mining process of early gold miners, as well as the hazards the miners faced.
Students will define a design problem and use limited resources to solve it.

Learn about the Wyoming gold rush that occurred in South Pass City, and explore the varied perspectives of the people who experienced the gold rush in the 1840’s-1860’s.

In the accompanying lesson plan (found in the Support Materials), students will watch a video that introduces the gold rush and the people who were impacted by it, and then hold a discussion to understand the multiple perspectives. Then, the students take part in a creative writing activity in which they create a piece of text from one of the perspectives.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Students will develop grade level appropriate speaking and listening skills, as described by the standards.
Students will learn how to write a fictional narrative based on nonfiction resources, following a set of parameters.
Students will understand the motivations and perspectives of various people during the Wyoming gold rush.