The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science created this resource as part of an online workshop series, but you are welcome to use or modify it for your classroom. It includes a video and written directions for creating nature journals and tips for incorporating them into your classroom. For information on taking any the Nature Neighborhood online workshops for CEUs or EE credit, visit: https://naturalsciences.org/learn/educators/online-workshops.

Students learn more about shoes of the past and shoes of the future by learning about Chinese foot binding and Nike shoe designer Tinker Hatfield before working collaboratively with a partner or group to create a shoe of the future that has a greater purpose using manila paper, scissors, and tape. Students will view and discuss Nike ads from Japan and Kenya before designing their own advertisement to "sell" their new design to the class. This lesson was developed by Laura Mitchell as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

Within the physical science strand of 7th grade science, students focus on the motion of objects. In this task, students assume the role of an animator who must convincingly demonstrate the motion of several objects using point of reference techniques. Students will then write fictional narratives to accompany their “flip book” animations. The interdisciplinary nature of this lesson allows students to creatively build meaningful connections between different science strands (physical and life) using written and visual expression while promoting 21st Century Skills. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.