Lesson Plans

YMI's educational outreach programs tap into popular culture to create a dynamic learning experience. Browse by subject through our library of free study guides and online resources, to find standards-based lesson plans for your grade level and programs for learners outside the classroom.

Health & Safety

K-12

Adopt a Cow is a FREE year-long educational enrichment program that pairs K-12 classes with a dairy calf in New England. Once registered, your class…

Elementary (K-6)

The Peanuts Gang is celebrating an anniversary! It was 55 years ago when the Peanuts comic strip introduced its first African American character, Franklin Armstrong….

Grades 9-12, 6-8, 3-5

Raise awareness about the connection between sleep and physical and mental well-being with standards-based activities that will present the facts on the benefits of developing…

Grades 5-6, 7-8

Research shows that children begin to self-medicate at around age 11 — in fifth and sixth grades. This free multi-media educational program is designed to…

Secondary School

Go For Real teaches students how to make smart buying decisions early on as they become more independent. Purchasing counterfeit products could risk their health…

Elementary Grades 2-4

Add a close-to-home perspective to your curricula with three new programs and activities inspired by dairy farmers. How Dairy Cares teaches students ways in which…

Grades 3-5 and 6-8

Check Out What’s Chilling! teaches students in grades 3-5 and 6-8 that eating nutritious foods is not only important for them but for the health…

Grades 6-12

Help keep students safe on the roads with Drive2Life! When it comes to driving safety, passengers have responsibilities just like drivers. This includes speaking up…

Grades K-12

Equip your students with the tools they need to “fuel up” their bodies and minds for a successful school year. This free school nutrition and…

Grades 2-4

With standards-based activities for ELA and health classes, students will learn about dairy as a nutritious food source that can be integrated into meals throughout…

Preschool & Daycare

Inform and educate the parents and grandparents of every child in your care about the key role they play in protecting their children against serious…

Elementary (2-3)

Let the Home Fire Safety Patrol help your students learn how smoke alarms help families stay safe from home fire. Use these resources to educate…

4-8

For centuries, festivals have inspired communities around the world to come together in celebration. And popcorn, a centuries-old grain that remains one of the most…

K-12

Prepare your students for safe adventures online with Into the Cloud, the new NetSmartz® web-series that takes kids on an exciting journey across the internet…

Middle School and High School (Grades 5-8 and 9-12)

Give your students the tools they need to “fuel up” their bodies and minds with Fuel Up to Play 60, the free in-school nutrition and…

Elementary & Middle School (K-8)

One in five children today is living with a mental illness. That’s why it’s important to talk about children’s mental health. The NEW Breaking Stigmas…

Elementary (K-6)

Join the Peanuts gang and embrace the messages of positivity and caring for ourselves, for each other, and for the Earth. Inspire students with these…

Daycare, Pre-school, K-2

Bring smiles to your classroom with this easy to implement program from the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. Help set up children for lifelong…

K-2, 3-8

Help support your students’ language skills and social-emotional learning with two programs from got milk? For K-2, the “Never Doubt What You Love” program uses…

Grades 3-5, 6-8

Help your students discover how frozen and refrigerated foods can be a smart, convenient, eco-friendly way to eat healthy, ensure food safety, and help our…

Grades 6-12

Raise awareness about the dangers of opioids to help your students make informed choices if they are in a situation involving these drugs. Connecting the…

Elementary (Grades K-2)

Teach your students about emergency preparedness with the Prepare with Pedro emergency preparedness program, featuring lesson plans for grades K–2, with separate activity sheets for…

6-8 and 9-12

With the school year underway, many young people are taking increased care of themselves and making many of their own food choices. Helping them to…

K-12

Help prepare your students for whatever the school year brings by encouraging eligible families to enroll in free or low-cost health coverage through Medicaid and…

Grades 2-4

At school, at home, and in their communities, students are increasingly aware of the importance of caring for the environment and the effects of climate…

Ages 14-17

Inspired by the film Dear Evan Hansen, this teaching kit invites high school students to explore the film’s themes, including concepts of identity, empathy, inclusivity,…

Grades 5-12

Test-drive this free online STEM resource designed to help you teach physics and biology. Engaging videos and NGSS-aligned lesson plans turn the results of highway…

2-4

Introduce students to the healthy, delicious dairy products and produce available from farmers in your state. Use these activities to create a farm-to-school connection in…

Elementary K-2, 3-5

Usher in Spring by helping students create new beginnings and opportunities to make healthy choices for the mind, body, and spirit! Use these fun activities…

Elementary K-2, 3-5

Promote positivity in your classroom by motivating students to focus on what’s good in their lives. Inspired by Glass Half Full News — an online…

Elementary Grades 2-4

Introduce your students to how dairy farmers and their cows bring families the dairy foods they enjoy. With this series of five teaching kits, students…

Grades 2-4

As with running any business, numbers are top of mind for dairy farmers as they calculate how much feed their herd will need to stay…

Elementary (Grades K-2, 3-5)

Raise student awareness about nutrition and physical activity and help support positive choices with the “All About” series being rolled out throughout the year. Topics…

K-3

The Junior Fire Marshal® program is a life-saving fire prevention and safety program turning millions of kids into everyday heroes. It serves as an important…

Middle & High School

Explore with your students how sustainability practices have helped pig farmers increase food production while reducing environmental impact, and discover pork recipes from around the…

K-12 & Families

Fireworks are an exciting part of every Fourth of July celebration, but with the colorful displays comes the potential for injury. Every year, hundreds of…

Middle School (6-8)

One out of five kids ages 12 to 18 has been bullied.* To help change this statistic, Pilot Pen launched the Erase Bullying for Good…

High School

Empower your students both in the classroom and on the field with these high performance handouts from Potatoes USA. Students will learn how potatoes promote…

Elementary (1-6)

Let the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters and Heelys help your students build a classroom culture that will support their goals and dreams throughout the new school…

Middle & High School

Food waste is a serious problem. Each year, the average American family throws away as much as $2,200 worth of uneaten food, and 40% of…

Elementary & Middle

Part of the New England Dairy & Food Council’s “Farm to School” initiative, What’s Your Moo I.Q.? provides school food service managers and classroom teachers…

Elementary & Middle (5-8)

Help your students make a personal connection to the people and families responsible for producing the nutritious dairy products they enjoy every day. Students virtually…

Middle & High School

Your students can take the lead in helping your community reduce the risks of wildfire by planning a wildfire safety project for Wildfire Community Preparedness…

Middle School (6-8)

Tobacco remains a serious threat for today’s students. That’s why the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has created Taking Down Tobacco, an interactive youth training program…

Elementary (2-4)

October is National Farm-to-School Month! Celebrate by introducing students to the healthy, delicious dairy products and produce available from farmers in your state. Use these…

Elementary (2-4)

Find out how milk and other nutritious foods make their way from local farmers to your students’ homes and school lunches. Students learn about dairy…

Elementary (2-4)

Take your students on a virtual field trip to five dairy farms in the southeastern United States with Meet the Milk Makers!, a video-based online…

High School & College

Help Take a Bite out of Crime® with this consumer education program designed to inform photography students about the dangers of buying counterfeit camera accessories,…

Middle & High School

Sharpen your students’ culinary arts skills with the Chopped: Cool Food for Kids™ Challenge, a “cool” in-class cooking competition based on the popular Chopped television…

Middle School (6-8)

Celebrate National School Lunch Week, October 9-13, with Love Your Lunch, a program designed to help students in grades 6-8 (and their families) learn the…

Elementary & Middle (5-8)

Help your students make a personal connection to the concept of sustainability through their own eating habits and through the example of New England’s regional…

Elementary (2-4)

Help your students become water wise as they learn how local dairy farmers conserve water on their farms, and how they and their families can…

Elementary

Celebrate National Nutrition Month with these free, fun learning activities your students can enjoy as they share breakfast in your classroom. Students learn why eating…

Elementary & Middle school

Explore one of nature’s most fearsome weather phenomena with this companion study guide to the film Hurricane, which combines footage collected over five years to…

Elementary & Middle School

Kids can become heroes in their own homes and communities with this Consumer Product Recall Effectiveness Program that teaches children 8-12 years old how they…

Elementary (2-4)

What do kids and cows have in common? They both use high-tech devices! Show your students how dairy farmers use 21st century technology to keep…

Elementary (2-4)

Take your students on a virtual field trip to five Michigan dairy farms with Meet the Milk Makers!, a video-based online learning game (COMING SOON!)….

Middle School

Introduce your students to the new 2015-2020 USDA Dietary Guidelines with these standards-based lesson plans for family and consumer sciences, health, science, social studies, and…

Elementary (K-5)

Introduce your students to Florida dairy farms and the farmers who provide nutritious products for their communities. Lessons for students in grades K-4 and 2-5…

Middle School

Take action to reverse the rising use of e-cigarettes among tweens and teens with lesson plans that provide students with facts about the health dangers…

Elementary (Grades 4-6)

Power up your health curriculum with these standards-based activities teach students how protein works in the body and why high-quality protein, like the protein in…

Elementary (K-4)

Take your students on a virtual field trip to five Florida dairy farms with Meet the Milk Makers!, a video-based online learning game. Then explore…

High School

Start a concussion discussion at your school with Blow the Whistle on Concussions, a student athlete outreach program designed to help change attitudes with locker…

Elementary (2-4)

Explore the science behind your students’ dairy favorites — milk, cheese, and yogurt — with these standards-based classroom activities. Students follow milk from the dairy…

Elementary (K-6)

Download this special resource sheet to alert parents to the alarming spread of pesticide-resistant “Super Lice” and to correct the common misconception that these lice…

Middle School

Use these standards-based lesson plans to help your students learn more about where eggs come from and how they move from the farm to our…

High School

Here’s news that high school students and their parents need to hear. Vaccines are now available that can help protect against meningitis B, the strain…

Middle School

Add some extra excitement to the end of the school year with this unique science program inspired by the new film San Andreas, coming to…

Elementary (ages 7-11)

America’s safety legend shows kids how to stay safe with these fun and engaging activities based on Paul Blart’s Safety Smarts, a free online video…

Elementary (3-6)

Introduce your students to the All-American grain — rice! Students learn how rice growing has contributed to American history since colonial times, and how today’s…

Elementary & Middle School

Make Good Skin Knowledge part of your health curriculum with classroom activities from the American Academy of Dermatology. Start with these introductory resources — student…

Elementary (3-5)

Cook up some excitement in your classroom with lessons that help students discover how science plays a part in everyday life. Kitchen Science introduces basic…

Elementary (2-4)

Take your students on a virtual field trip to five dairy farms with Meet the Milkmakers!, a video-based online learning game. Then explore the history…

Elementary (2-4)

Explore how milk and other nutritious foods make their way from local farmers to your students’ homes and school lunches. Students take a virtual tour…

Elementary (2-4)

Find out how farm and city lifestyles connect to help both kids and our planet stay healthy. Students use a Venn diagram to compare Annie’s…

Elementary (1-5)

Let Max help you educate students and parents with this complete head lice awareness tool kit. Includes classroom activities that dispel misconceptions about head lice,…

Preschool & Daycare

Each year, more than 60,000 young children age 5 and younger — roughly four busloads of kids each day — end up in emergency departments…

Elementary (Grade 2)

Good hydration is essential for a healthy lifestyle. Help your second-graders and their parents learn why with this standards-based health education program, available in English…

Elementary (3-6)

Cool Food for Kids™ provides a library of learning resources to enhance the health and nutrition curriculum for grades 3-6, including a Farm to Fork…

Elementary (3-5)

This teaching kit, The Science of Safety, is designed to help you bring The Pillowcase Project into your classroom, with standards-based learning activities that provide…