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Mrs. Katz and Tush
Students read Patricia Polacco's Mrs. Katz and Tush before comparing Jewish heritage with Black history using a Venn Diagram. They complete the diagram either as a whole group or in a small group setting. Next, they sample the Jewish...
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Ida Tarbell: Hysterical Woman vs. Historical Facts
Students examine journalism and its different styles. In this effective communication instructional activity students create an editorial message and articulate an article.
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Stories of Nepal
Students explore folktales and fairy tales from Nepal to help them understand the Nepalese culture, and to compare the stories to the ones the students may know. After reading the stories, students consider what rural life is like in...
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Science Meets Artistry: the Work of Cai Guo-Qiang
Students discuss and examine the work of artist Cai Guo-Qiang. In this art lesson, students analyze how cultural and historical factors impact the visual arts.
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"you Can't Order a Poem Like You Order a Taco": an Introduction To Poetry
Students explore what poetry is and certain aspects within it. They write their own knowledge and perceptions of poetry and the expand that knowledge and experience through listening to, reading, and writing poetry and exploring poetic...
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"Et tu, Brute?" - The Characters, Conflict and Historical context of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
Students analyze the Shakespearian play, "Julius Caesar" in this seven lesson unit. Through readings, hands-on projects, and the study of plot development, comparisons are made to the movie and the historical records available.
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Cause and Effect
Students identify cause and effect relationships in a short story. After reading a short story, they participate in a discussion of how one event in a story can lead to several others. Students are then paired for a matching task that...
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Eckstine, Stayhorn, and the Dorseys: Masters of Swing
Students explore the history of swing music. In this music history lesson, students research the Dorsey Brothers, Billy Eckstine, and William Strayhorn to learn about swing music. Students define swing, develop a timeline of events in...
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Come On, Rain!
Students read and analyze the story. In this language arts lesson plan, students read Come on, Rain! and examine how mood and tone are created, the use of figurative language and the characteristics of the genre. Students research the...
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The Great Gatsby
Eleventh graders investigate the concept of the American Dream. They use the novel "The Great Gatsby" as an example from literature. Students brainstorm in order to define the American Dream.
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Chocolate Chaos
Second graders demonstrate the ability to examine the elements of a story (theme, plot, setting, mood) and characters, by discussing and writing about each. They have fun with chocolate related activities and enjoy reading about some...
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Language Arts: Character Comparison
Fourth graders, using Kidspiration, compare and contrast the two main characters from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. They use a teacher-created template to describe their characters. Students then create their own character analysis.
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Building a Literature Pyramid
Pupils create a literature pyramid. They review and discuss their assessment task and rubric and select the literature for their pyramid. They read the literary selection and complete a pyramid sheet for one of the four literary...
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Getting Down and Dirty: An Exploration of the 1930's
Pupils complete an exploration of the 1930s. Using artwork and primary source documents, they compare, contrast and identify cause and effect relationships in the events of the decade. They discover how the events then affect people...
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Other Worlds
Students explore the variety of 'other worlds' in fiction and their uses in reflecting our own. They explore the role of myth and
legend as the basis for modern story telling. Book extracts are provide for classroom use.
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Christmas Carol Project
Eighth graders create a researched presentation comparing and contrasting holiday celebrations from the period surrounding Charles' Dickens 'A Christmas Carol.' For this Christmas celebrations lesson, 8th graders discuss differences...
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What's the Point? A Lesson on Point of View
Fourth graders read the book, Good Dog by Alexandra Day. In this writing instructional activity, 4th graders re-write the story from a chosen character's point of view. This instructional activity can be used with many other wordless...
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Folktales (African American, Chinese, Japanese and Korean)
Students participate in a variety of activities that are concerned with comparing different cultures through the literary genre of folktales. The stories are used to stimulate student interest and provide a context for how a society...
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Nursery Rhymes
Students recall details of nursery rhyme read by teacher, identify main characters, and demonstrate knowledge of poem by creating concept map about story that includes title, clip art, and changes in font and color.
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The American Dream Poetry
Students analyze how poetry can reveal themes of 'The American Dream.' In this poetry themes lesson plan, students discuss the elements of poetry and define imagery. Students read 'Lost Sister' by Cathy Song and complete a related...
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"The Block": Romare Bearden's and Mine
Students study Bearden's style of collage and create their own collage that reflects their neighborhood. They are read "The Block" and poems about neighborhoods and write one about theirs.
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Discovery of America
Students examine the European conquest of North America. They participate in activities which allow them to discover the indigenous peoples of the region. They also place events in chrongological order.
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Fables and Trickster Tales Around the World
Students analyze fables and trickster tales from various cultural traditions. In this fable analysis lesson, students identify the elements of fables and trickster stories. Students read Aesop's fables and Ananse spider stories. Students...
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"What is an American?"
Eleventh graders ponder about what it means to be an "American." They discuss the impact of an author's word choice and sentence structure on text. They identify some major themes and development of the Letters... Compose paragraphs and...