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Earth Day
Students examine evidence on Global Warming and then analyze the impact of their school community on the environment and propose ways to lessen our impact on the environment. They have access to a total of six articles for their...
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Too Large to be a Lunatic Asylum: South Carolina’s Mental Health
Eighth graders examine the history of South Carolina's mental institutions. In this South Carolina history instructional activity, 8th graders discover details about asylums built in the state in the 1800's. Students analyze primary...
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Picturing a Story: Photo Essay About a Community, Event, or Issue
Students research Dorothea Lange's documentary projects and create their own photo essay about a subject. In this photo essay lesson plan, students analyze examples of social-documentary photographs of Lange. Students define a social...
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Respect for All Kinds of People Inside and Outside the School
Fourth graders explore the concept of respect. For this diversity lesson, 4th graders play the Untangle Game and complete a diversity puzzle. Students consider how to emphasize similarities over differences.
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Respect: Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like
Sixth graders participate in a question and answer discussion on respect and then complete the "Planning to Use Respect" activity sheet. They describe the senses of a stuffed animal to their peers and assess how respect looks, sounds and...
Thoughtful Learning
Doing Random Acts of Kindness
Encourage scholars to perform random acts of kindness. A lesson challenges participants to choose a peer they wish to be kind to without them knowing. Learners list five good deeds and choose one to fulfill. Pupils reflect on the process...
American Documentary
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Plea Bargains
The outcome of 90 percent of criminal cases in the US is determined by plea bargains. Clips from the documentary Better This World create the backdrop for an investigation of the benefits and drawbacks of the plea bargaining process....
Curated OER
Air Quality: Everyone's Responsibility
Students identify and interpret the causes of air pollution in their local community. They collect and analyze data to identify pollutants in the air and seek solutions to eliminate the contaminants in the atmosphere. Finally, students...
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Philanthropy is Everywhere Lesson 1: Everyone Can Be a Philanthropist
Students examine their classroom as a community and find ways that individuals can support that community by doing philanthropic acts. They draw and label a picture of themselves participating in an act that betters the community.
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Introducing Culture
Young scholars analyze what it is that constitutes culture. They describe how the concept of culture relates to their own experience and imagine that they are extraterrestrials-peaceful, intelligent creatures from another planet who...
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Our Class, Our Earth day
Young scholars understand the importance of participating in recycling and clean-up efforts in the community. For this recycling lesson, students respond to questions after reading "The Wartville Wizard" by Don Madden. Young scholars...
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This I Can Do: The Drive
Students read The Garden of Happiness and discuss the importance of the common good in a community. In this common good lesson, students understand how overcoming diversity and working together for a neighborhood drive. Students create a...
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The End of the Civil Rights Movement
Students examine the relationships between blacks and whites in their community. In this racial discrimination lesson, students make race relations observations within their community and then write letters that reveal their observations...
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Mother Teresa
Fourth graders examine the life of Mother Teresa and her contributions to humanitarian services. They listen to a guest speaker, listen to a teacher-led lecture, write an essay, complete journal entries, and participate in a service...
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...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him
Students examine impressions of a community of migrant workers in Texas who go north to pick crops. The instructional activity highlights the poverty and discrimination that a family suffers in the 1970's.
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Real-Life History
Students collect artifacts which are part of their family/community history. They gather at home and share in the classroom at a specified time when extra care and supervision might be provided.
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The Art of Persuasion
Students write a persuasive letter. In this persuasion lesson, students listen to the story Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School and discuss the vocabulary and parts of a persuasive letter. They write their own letter to...
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Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink
Students discuss the importance of taking care of their water supply so not only they can use it but generations in the future. In groups, they examine a real pollution scenario in which a sewer overflowed into the ground water. They use...
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On the Job
Students identify the concept of occupational folklife and learn about occupations in their community and the state. Then they collect examples of occupational folklife such as special terms, equipment, or gestures, as well as stories,...
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Hatching Chickens
Students observe chicks hatching from eggs. For this science lesson, students view a video to develop an understanding of the proper care and needs of eggs and live animals. This is a great precursor activity for hatching eggs in class.
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Where's the Drip?
Students detect water leaks. In this water conservation ecology lesson, students take a tour of the school grounds and identify sources of water and possible leaks. Students report leaks to the custodian and administration.
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Adding "Homeside" to "Schoolside" Learning
Students participate in activities in order to improve their ability to work cooperatively in groups at school as well as with their family at home. They complete the activities at home with their family then discuss the results of the...
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Working Together As a Team
Students examine the need for rules to keep order at home, in school, in communities, and in the country using trade books and teamwork activities. They work in cooperative groups to define a positive learning community by writing a...
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Great Oaks From Little Acorns Grow
Students assemble an acorn craft to use as a puppet. They discover that acorns are the fruit and the seed from which oak trees grow. They give an example, of a historical figure or talk about a member of the community or family that...