Smarter Balanced
Growth and Expansion of America
Despite the difficulty of travel, the US expanded significantly between the 1800s and the early 1900s. To prepare for a performance task assessment on the rapid expansion of the US in the 1800s, class members engage in a write-pair-share...
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A Changing of the Guard: Traditionalists, Feminists, and the New Face of Women in Congress
Students explore the role of women as Congressional leaders. In this women's rights instructional activity, students identify and investigate the impact of women representatives and senators in the U.S. Legislative Branch. Comprehension...
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Scientific Method
Students conduct an experiment and complete a chart demonstrating some of the basic properties and components of water via the scientific method. They encompass strategies such as questioning, making predictions, comparing/contrasting...
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A Chorus For Us
Students examine "serious" choral music written for student choirs and the composers who write it. They reflect upon the notion of "serious" music, and examine the trend of concert composers writing pieces for student chorus
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Calling on Congo
Students listen to an interview with a former news coorespondent in Congo. They discuss an article about the instability in the country following their elections. They research Congo's history along with its connection to the United...
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Human Rights Arts Project and Research Paper
Students examine human rights abuses in thirty countries, specifically explore abuses in Dominican Republic's Trujillo regime, research one country with significant human rights abuses, use Preamble to U.S. Constitution as measure of...
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All About Bats
Second graders research everything they know about bats. They find out anything about bats that was not discovered by the class and to come back and share the new information. They color their own picture of a bat and will write at least...
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Seeing Art in Historical Context: An Activity to Promote Visual Literacy
Students consider works of art in their historical context. In this art in historical context lesson plan, students are encouraged to think about and record their prior knowledge of the historical period and to make inferences about the...
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Identify the Element of Line
Young scholars explore the element of "line." In this beginning art lesson, students listen to the book Harold and the Purple Crayon, then describe the types of lines Harold drew. Young scholars identify straight lines, jagged lines,...
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Got the Picture?
Students explore the power of photographic images to influence public opinion. Then, using both news images and personal photographs, they create dual timelines documenting their own life experiences and memories.
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Teaching with Objects The Gold Nugget
Fourth graders complete activities related to the California gold rush. In this gold rush lesson plan, 4th graders go to an Internet website video that discusses the gold rush. They complete discuss miner's experiences, sing a gold rush...
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A Nation in (Some) Context
Eleventh graders view selected websites to gain information about Puerto Rico and think about its relevance to Rafael Ferrer's "12 Variations on An 18th-century Map of Puerto Rico".
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Petroglyphs and Pictographs
Fourth graders make necklaces out of petroglyphs that they stamp into clay. In this petroglyphs lesson plan, 4th graders draw designs and explain where they come from as well.
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OTC Medications
Young scholars sort medications by likeness and use. They compare and contrast using a Venn Diagram, and find the differences and commonalities of over the counter and Rx medications.
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Francophone Tourism Package
Students research and write a report about a French-speaking country and present their research to classmates. They create a persuasive advertising brochure promoting one specific country as the best tourist destination.
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Southern Puritanism and Tennessee Williams
Students write an essay comparing Arthur Mille's The Crucible and one of Tennessee Williams' plays. For this Tennessee Williams lesson, students discuss the influence of Puritanism on modern American drama. Lesson includes a vocabulary...
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Reading Graphs
Students plot functions on the Cartesian coordinate plane. They explore lines and parabolas. Students analyze graphs and answer questions about the information presented on the graph using an online program.
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Growing a Winter Garden
Second graders listen to planting story, identify vegetables in pictures, and watch teacher demonstrate proper way to plant seeds in soil, and water. Students then plant seeds into their own containers.
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NYC From A to Z
Second graders create an ABC book about New York City. In this ABC book lesson, 2nd graders find places of interest in New York City from A-Z. Students will research their place of interest. Students create maps and write an address...
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Language and Runaway Slave Ads
Young scholars interpret historical evidence presented in primary resources. In this fugitive slave lesson plan, students research and analyze fugitive slave advertisements from Virginia newspapers.
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Folktale Unit Outline
Seventh graders analyze grammatical structures and identify literary elements in a variety of texts. Through the genre of folktales, ancient or indigenous cultures are studied.
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What's in the Box
Second graders verbalize, write, and illustrate descriptive vocabulary words and/or descriptive phrases while attempting to guess an unseen object, which has been hidden in a box by teacher.
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Cartesian Coordinate System
Young scholars explore the Cartesian coordinate plane and plot points on the graph. They interpret coordinates for a point from the graph and give the ratio of rise over run for slope.
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Floppy And the Puppies
Fifth graders reinforce and focus on the meaning derived from the text as a whole and identify and describe the main characters, events and settings in a fiction piece of writing. They incorporate a wide-range of adventurous vocabulary...