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A Distant View
Students investigate the essential concepts of how lenses work to magnify vision, and then build simple telescopes to demonstrate their understanding. They write a description of how their telescope could be improved and how it works.
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Mom, Where Do TV's Come From?
Students explore the history of television using the lifetime achievements of Milton Berle as a springboard for studying social and technological advances in American entertainment. They, in groups, examine the role of television through...
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Keeping the Dream Alive
Students explore the life and works of black American playwrights to gain insight into how their works reflect and influence the black American experience.
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The Taming of the Few
Students consider the cultural, historical, and social implications of domesticating animals as pets. They create informative posters of various animals, illustrating their histories as pets.
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Looking Back to Move Forward
Students investigate, through interviews, personal reflection and research, the impact on the past, present and future of 20th century historic events in the United States.
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Dangling Modifiers
Students identify misplaced and dangling modifiers and correct these errors in their writing. They create illustrations to match the misplace and dangling modifiers.
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To Infinity and Beyond
Students examine NASA's next flight commander, Colonel Eileen M. Collins. They explore other extraordinary American women in various fields and create biographies celebrating their achievements.
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Going For The Gold
Students share opinions about athlete endorsements. They write articles that provide an economic profile of an athlete for submission to their school newspaper.
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The Story of My Life
Students complete autobiographical writing assignments throughout the school year that they save and rewrite to put into a published book during the last month of class. They include photographs, drawings and mementos of their lives in...
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The Problem with Prejudice
Third graders read and discuss "The Hangman" by Maurice Ogden and answer questions about the poem. They list things they can do to combat prejudice using each of the letters in the word and create a small poster with a slogan against...
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Time Changes Everything
Students analyze census data from 1915, 1967 and 2006. They read an article about how the world's population is growing at an alarming rate. They use primary source documents to create a timeline on the information they gathered. They...
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Tennessee Williams: Exploring the American Dream
Young scholars read and analyze selections of Tennessee Williams' work. They write journal responses, conduct Internet research, perform various scenes from one of Williams' dramas, and create a presentation.
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Allen Ginsberg: Poetry and Politics
Students explore the poetry of Allen Ginsberg. They read and analyze poems by Allen Ginsberg, conduct Internet research, collect examples of art of the 60s, and create a presentation.
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The Buffalo War: A Clash of Cultures
Students view a documentary on the different values and meaning placed on the buffalo. Examining various cultures, they link the attitudes to the treatment of the animal in the wild. They develop solutions to the conflict raised by the...
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Nazi Deportation of Hungarian Jews
Learners view a presentation introducing them to the deportation of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. Using the text from "Night" by Elie Wiesel, they examine how the Hungarians were treated during the war. They read and discuss the...
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Rainforest Animals
Third graders make a presentation or a booklet to help class learn about rain forest animals. They sketch or use a few words to describe the picture that goes with the facts. They use the computer to make a presentation or use...
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The Struggles Between "Something Old" and "Something New"
Students explore traditional life in Africa and assess how modern society may be impacting the values of the continent's traditional peoples. Students work in small groups to research various aspects of the infrastructures of African...
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Secret Agent Men
What does a secret agent really do? After reading an article, learners discover the connection between intelligence and espionage. Using the Internet, they will research the history and motivations of intelligence agencies throughout the...
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Holidays: Ramadan and Eid
Learners study ways some holidays are celebrated in this country, and share their experiences, the lesson focuses on Bangla students' celebration of Eid, an important holiday in Bangladesh for the Muslim People. Learners make a class...
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"The Big Orchard Book of Funny Poems"
Students read and analyze various poems from the book "The Big Orchard Book of Funny Poems." They clap to the rhymes, identify patterns, compare and contrast poems, and write an alternative poem based on the poem "Christine Crump."
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"Dr. Xargle's Book of Earthlets"
Students examine the expressive and descriptive language used in the books "Dr. Xargle's Book of Earthlets" and "Planet of the Robots." In pairs they take notes about each other's physical appearance and conduct interviews, identify the...
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Solar Energy Connection
Students conduct solar experiments. They calculate the solar gain and operate a solar cell devise used to generate electricity. Students compare and contrast solar energy gain with students in India. They analyze the difference...
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On My Honor-Marion Dane Bauer
Students read and examine the novel On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer. They choose to complete a variety of intriguing assignments on this novel. Critical thinking skills are intertwined throughout this lesson.
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Civil Rights Movement
Students identify and acquire an understanding of what the Civil Rights Movement consisted of, the issues that sparked the Movement, the people who participated and the events that occurred during the Movement. They also identify how to...