Lesson Plan

Inventors & Inventions Lesson Plan: Bigs Edition

Read real patents, run the engineering design process, test a prototype, and pitch it.

This is the Bigs Edition of Inventors & Inventions: one ready-to-teach week written just for grades 7-8. Every day follows the same rhythm: Reading on Monday, Writing and Words on Tuesday, Science and Math on Wednesday, a Hands-on Project on Thursday, and Show and Tell on Friday.

The big question: What turns a clever idea into an invention that works, is protected and changes the world?

The Week

• Mon: Read a Real Patent (Reading) • Tue: Should Ideas Be Owned? (Writing & Words) • Wed: Glider Lab: The Wright Way (Science & Math) • Thu: Prototype Day (Hands-on Project) • Fri: The Pitch (Show & Tell)

Teaching more than one level? The all-levels edition of Inventors & Inventions has Littles (K-3), Middles (4-6) and Bigs (7-8) in one file, so siblings or a mixed classroom can study the same topic together.

Perfect for homeschool families, grade 7-8 classrooms, co-ops and substitute plans.

What's inside

• 5 ready-to-teach days for Bigs (grades 7-8), about 90 to 120 minutes a day
• Lab sheet: Glider Lab: The Wright Way
• Sequence cards (The Engineering Design Process) and a cut-and-sort page (Patent, Copyright or Not Protected?)
• Writing page: Should Inventors Own Their Ideas?
• Hands-on project: Invent, Test and Pitch
• Word search, crossword, scramble and secret code puzzles
• 8 fact cards, 9 vocabulary cards and a book list of 4 titles
• A certificate and an answer key for the grown-up

Instant PDF download after checkout. Print at home.