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Advertising Books
Students experience a variety of ways to share their favorite books with their classmates. They write and present commercials to "sell" their favorite books to the class and participate in a community of readers who regularly discuss and...
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Poetry With the Sages
Students write poems and input them into a word processing program. In this poetry lesson, students listen to Chinese poems and draw mental images. Students compose poems and illustrate them. Students share their work.
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Introducing Biographies-Getting to Know You
Young scholars study biographies as a nonfiction genre while examining a variety of examples. Next, they access and complete an online tutorial about biographies. They choose one person that interests them to conduct further research...
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2002: The Year In Review
Students research and create a book highlighting significant events and trends throughout the world in the year 2002. Then, through creative writing, they respond to the events or trends themselves and how they affected our world.
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The Power of Persuasion
Students explore the power of persuasion. In a classroom setting, students discuss incentives, testimonials and deceptive pricing schemes that are used to influence others. After observing professionally made infomercials, students...
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Bloody Business
Students research word frequencies in Macbeth and create a frozen picture inspired by a word. In this Macbeth lesson, students view Blood Will Have Blood and discuss the dual meaning of the word "blood." Students identify...
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Ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian Writing
Middle schoolers research cuneiform and hieroglyphics from the internet and use educational software to create their own cuneiform tablet in this excellent World History lesson. The use of the computer software program Inspiration 7.5...
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Hamlet's Denmark
Students analyze literature and apply it to current times. They organize complex information and communicate it in writing. They edit their own communications and that of their peers.
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"O Captain! My Captain!"
Who was Walt Whitman, and what link does he have to president Abraham Lincoln? After Lincoln's assassination, Whitman wrote "O Captain! My Captain!" This poem and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" are the focus of...
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Looking at French Decorative Arts
Young scholars compare the role of a marchand-mercier to that of a modern-day business counterpart and write a persuasive letter. For this French art lesson, students discuss the role of the marchand-mercier in French design and...
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Looking at French Decorative Arts: Makers of Nothing, Sellers of Everything
Students imagine they are a 'marchand-mercier' (or salesman) and write a persuasive letter to sell French items. In this art analysis lesson, students identify the role of a 'marchand-mercier' and write a three-paragraph letter to sell...
Crafting Freedom
George Moses Horton: Crafting Virtual Freedom Through Poetry
What is "virtual freedom"? How about "enslaved entrepreneurship"? Class members will learn about these terms and much more as they read the poems and examine the life of George Moses Horton.
NPR
Distracted by Everything - Being Wired at All Times
This multimedia activity challenges media-savvy learners to look at the critical issue concerning the inundation of technology and multitasking in the classroom, and its effects on the education of themselves and others. The tasks...
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Greed is Good?
From Mr. Merdle to Mr. Madoff? A viewing of the PBS adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Little Dorrit” launches an examination of greedy characters in literature and a study of greed, unfairness, and economic hardship today. The richly...
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Dear FCAT Checker
Learners practice writing business letters by writing a letter to the person who grade their FCAT test.
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To Whom It May Concern
Fourth graders produce and peer edit typed rough drafts of the business letters following the guidelines illustrated in the Eight Essential Parts of a business letter and save to disks. They complete the Where's the Math? scavenger hunt...
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Critical Literacy in the 21st Century: Sitti's Secrets
Fourth graders write persuasive letters. In this letter writing lesson, 4th graders read Sitti's Secrets by Naomi Shihab Nye and discuss their areas or topics of concern. Students select a person to write a letter to and how they...
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Recycling for Raptors
Students write persuasive letters in support of the Recycling for Raptors campaign. They review raptor groups and names and categorize the raptor species and the groups which they belong. They research businesses, schools, and...
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Risky Business
Students distinguish the attitudes of other students their age regarding whether or not they are concerned with contracting HIV and why they might have these attitudes.
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Persuasion
Students explore the characteristics of a persuasive letter. They label each characteristic and they create a persuasive letter using the correct business letter format. Students recommend a school rule or change of a rule and justify...
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Dear Congressperson...
High schoolers identify their local, state, and national officials. They create a short blurb about each official and their function in office. Students choose an issue of concern they would like to write to their local official about,...
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Letters of Compliment and Complaint
Students practice writing letters of compliments and complaints about products they use. They use standard business format for the letters and are expected to have them reviewed by a peer. They mail the letters in and wait for responses.
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Nursery Rhyme Mania
Young scholars become familiar with many different nursery rhymes. They use nursery rhymes for a variety of creative activities including writing, singing, poetry and acting.
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Language Arts: Ran Away Story
Learners write fictional stories about the search for a runaway slave. Their tales are based on the search by William Harris from South Carolina for his slave, George, in Detroit. Students include the answers to teacher-provided...