20 Places to find Lesson Plans and Resources

Karen Schweitzer, guest poster extraordinairre, is back again, and this time she brings us a list of websites that can be very helpful to teachers with a little bit of bloodhound in them.

Karen is the About.com guide to business school, and she writes for onlinecolleges.net.

Here is her post:


20 Places to Find Open Source Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources

Are you looking for new lesson plans to engage your students in the classroom? Why not check out the Internet. There are many different websites that offer open source lesson plans and teaching resources to fit almost any need. Here are 20 great websites worth trying:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT offers a range of tools and resources through the school's OpenCourseWare site to assist teachers. Resources include introductory video courses, labs, demonstrations, and lesson plans for biology, chemistry, and physics.

Education World - Education World is a resource site designed specifically for teachers. The site contains lesson plans, teacher development tools, tips on technology integration, and much more.

NYT Daily Lesson Plan - The New York Times offers hundreds of free lesson plans teachers can use to connect the classroom with real world events.

Teachers.Net - With more than 4,000 lesson plans, Teachers.Net is a great place to find quality lesson plans for any subject. Along with lesson plans, the site also features chatboards, projects, mailrings, and articles.

ThinkFinity - ThinkFinity, courtesy of the Verizon Foundation, has a wide range of free educational resources for teachers, including lesson plans, interactive activities, training, and book lists.

TeAchnology - TeAchnology has a variety of resources to help teachers integrate technology into the classroom. The site also offers lesson plans, worksheets, and rubrics.

Teachable Moment - Teachable Moment features lesson plans and activities for elementary to high school teachers. The site focuses on lesson plans that encourage critical thinking and positive attitudes.

Federal Resources for Education Excellence - The federal government provides an assortment of interesting lesson plans and resources for teachers, including educational animations, primary documents, photos, and videos.

Smithsonian Educators - The Smithsonian Center for Educators and Museum Studies provides free lesson plans, resources, and information on professional development. Lesson plans range from art and design to language arts.

LessonPlansPage.com - LessonPlansPage.com features over 3,500 lesson plans to assist K-12 educators. This site also has discussion forums, math worksheets, and science experiments.

The Teachers Corner - The Teachers Corner is a great site with tons of free lesson plans. Other resources include bulletin boards, printable worksheets, and teaching jobs.

LessonPlanZ.com - LessonPlanZ.com is an online directory of lesson plans for all subjects and grades. The site is updated regularly and features a weekly newsletter.

Microsoft Educators - This Microsoft site gives teachers access to lesson plans, templates, teachers network, and more.

National Geographic - An entire section of the National Geographic site is dedicated to educational resources for teachers. Resources include lesson plans, interactive activities, and printer-friendly maps.

Awesome Library - The Awesome Library is an online library of resources for educators, students, and librarians. The site provides lesson plans for a wide selection of subjects and grades.

GEM - The Gateway to Educational Resources offers over 50,000 educational resources for teachers. A simple click of the mouse is all that is needed to find information on lesson plans, activities, worksheets, and more.

PBS - PBS provides many online resources for teachers, including lesson plans, interactive activities, teacher discussions, and career development materials.

Primary Resources - Primary Resources offers free online lesson plans, activities, and teaching resources. The site also hosts curriculum ideas for all ranges of subjects--from English to P.E.--and even includes sources for classroom management.

LearningPage - The Learning Page provides a large selection of professionally designed learning materials. Teachers can download and print the free lesson plans, worksheets, and books.

A to Z Teacher Stuff - This teacher-created site is designed to assist teachers in accessing resources more effectively. A to Z Teacher Stuff has lesson plans, discussion forums, tips, thematic units, worksheets, and e-books.