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Planet Dance
High schoolers examine Anna Halprin's philosophies and choreography and perform one of her Planet Dances. They find a site that inspires them to create a dance based on the environment's design, levels, textures, and atmosphere.
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The Gummywolf
Students read a story about "Gummywolf," stopping periodically to answer questions about the progression of the story. Next, they create a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast "Gummywolf" to "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." Students...
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Author! Author!
Beverly Cleary is the fabulous author focused on, in this author study. Students conduct Internet Research in order to find out as much as they can about Ms. Cleary. They then use their findings and the Garageband program to create a...
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Presentations Come Alive!
Partners create oral presentations about a short story or poem incorporating audiovisual aids. Then they make presentations to their classmates. Linked story map will help guide readers' organization of their presentation;...
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Holidays Around the World
Students explore how different holiday traditions are celebrated around the world. Scholars write a paper describing how they celebrate their own favorite holiday. Email partners, from different states and countries, share their...
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Can you Follow Me? Conventions
Use the present tense to create written assignments. Critical thinkers take a passage written in past or future tense and rewrite it in present tense. They then write a set of instructions in present tense.
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1900 America: Historical Voices, Poetic Visions
Students examine the United States at the turn of the century. Using primary source documents, they interpret them within a specific historical context. Using this information, they write a poem with metaphors and a specific meter They...
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The Grapes of Wrath: Scrapbooks and Artifacts
High schoolers complete research to enhance their reading of "The Grapes of Wrath". Using the text, they identify and locate cultural artifacts and discuss their symbolic connotations. As a class, they create a museum exhibit of the...
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Shared and Guided Reading with Ice Cream Money
Here is a lesson plan which has young scholars locate an exclamation point and a comma from the text. They locate previously learned words on the page, and create a word map from the word "Money." Students write about and illustrate...
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English Words from Greek and Roman Names of Gods
Hydra/hygiene, Muse/music. Many English words are built on roots derived from the names of Greek and Roman gods. After examining a list of Greek and Roman gods and the meaning of their names, class members find the root in a list of...
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Time Line of the Year
Students record special events and memories on a timeline of the school year. In this timeline lesson, students understand the purpose of a timeline as they chart important events of the school year using photos, drawings, handprints,...
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Latin American Film
Students identify characteristics in a Latin American film. In this filmography lesson, students describe their favorite movies and the reasons why they like them. Students are shown a short clip of a Latin American movie and discuss the...
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Integrating the Craft of Writing into Physical Education
Incorporate writing into your physical education class. In groups, learners unscramble a list of words related to exercise and use them in their journal writings. Using their name, they write one word related to physical activity that...
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Semiotics and Set: Year 9
Drama enthusiasts explore the importance of set and action in conveying dramatic tension. They act out a polished dramatic piece using the set as a key component of their story. This should be connected to setting as it is also used in...
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Poetry in Song
Have your music lovers examine song lyrics and identify the poetry elements or tools used by a lyricist. They review the song individually before working in groups to discuss what they discovered about the song's narrator or character...
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Finding and Authenticating Online Information on Global Development Issues
Students discover how to find authoritative resources. For this research skills lesson, students examine strategies for using the Internet effectively to research global development issues.
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Camera Shots
Understanding how visual codes such as long-shots, close-ups, and camera angles affect meaning helps prepare young filmmakers to plan their own productions. The concepts embedded could also be used to analyze photographs and paintings.
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You Bleed, You Learn?
Jump back into the 90s with Alannis Morissette's song "You Learn." After hearing the song, small groups analyze the lyrics and write an essay about a mistake they've learned from. Use the example sentences to identify the denotative and...
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Prince Ibrahima
Sixth graders read and utilize the facts from the story "Abd al-Rahmen Ibrahima" by Walter Dean Myers to analyze the main character's life which is ruined by conflict, jealousy, and greed. Journal entries are created in response to the...
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1900 America: Primary Sources and Epic Poetry
Using Walt Whitman's Song of Myself and Hart Crane's The Bridge as models, class groups first craft their own epic poems for 1900 and, using primary sources, create a multi-media presentation that captures the sights and sounds of life...
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Biopoem
Reinforce the actions, emotions, and characteristics that determine what a character is like by having your middle schoolers create a biopoem using the model presented here. You could engage them first by having them write a poem about...
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Haydn's Surprise
Students listen to Haydn's "Surprise" and use the score to create themes and variations with other rhythms. They create poems using Haydn's rhythm in the symphony and research his life. They also use "body percussion" to play parts of...
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Dynamics
Third graders recognize and identify the three types of balance. They analyze and identify the type of balance used in various works of art. Students create a symmetrically balanced work of art. They use a ruler, shape templates, an...
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Rhythm Compositions
Fourth graders collaborate in small groups to create simple rhythmic patterns in different time signatures. Each group creates rhythms in a competitive "game" atmosphere and then constructs entire rhythmic groups for presentation to...