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Earth Day Number Sense
Elementary schoolers count and order objects using numbers 1-300. They bring recyclable items from home. Students group the items, skip count by 2's, 3's, and 5's, and arrange the items on a number line. Recyclable plastic bags are put...
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Life Cycle of a Butterfly: Kidspiration
Second graders view a video about butterflies and recall its life cycle. They will also complete a Kidspiration slide show to illustrate the life cycle of a butterfly and study a word list of butterfly vocabulary to include in their...
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Making a Magical Story
Fourth and fifth graders use their knowledge of developing character, dialogue, and setting to produce an original story. An excerpt from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is used as inspiration to get everyone's creative juices...
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Understanding Different Views on Death
A thought-provoking activity presents how different cultures view death. Upper elementary through high school pupils engage in a series of activities that will leave them with a new understanding of how death is dealt with globally....
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Pardon Me. Do You Have Change For a Dollar?
Upper elementary and middle school learners explore currencies from a variety of countries. They use the Internet, video, and engage in hands-on activities. They practice converting U.S. currency to foreign currency and vice versa. This...
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Teaching Justice: Schooling and the Four Waves of U.S. Immigration
U.S. immigration is the focus of a unit on social justice. Over the course of a school year, young historians read a variety of texts to learn about four waves of immigration that have occurred over time in the U.S. An emphasis on...
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Native Americans and Natural Resources
North American Indian civilizations had already been in place for over 10,000 years before the arrival of European settlers. Introduce your young historians to Indian tribes that lived in the Chesapeake region in the early seventeenth...
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Secret Writing Devices
Elementary and middle schoolers explore the world of secret writing, otherwise known as cryptography. After an interesting introduction to the activity, learners utilize a decoder badge which uses the St. Cyr cipher - which is a cipher...
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Writing a Topic Sentence
Here is an inventive, and easy-to-implement lesson on the writing of topic sentences. Learners review what a topic sentence is, practice identifying topic sentences in an informational article, then play a really cool game. All of the...
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Weather With a Latitude
Students read the temperature from a thermometer. In this weather instructional activity, students read a thermometer and record the temperature at twenty minute intervals. Students discuss results.
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Take Note2!
Students practice the note-taking skills of Pocket Note Taking, Outlining, and 2 column note taking. They use pocket notes, outlining, and/or two-column notes to summarize information taken from web sites or other sources. Afterward,...
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Wars and Conflicts
Students explore the concepts of war and conflict. In this research skills lesson, students use Internet and print sources to research the causes, effects, main events, and significant figures of selected wars.
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A Visit to Hogwarts
Students collaborate in groups to read excerpts or entire selections from two Harry Potter books, use educational software to create concept maps detailing similarities and differences between first two Harry Potter books, and analyze...
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We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution
Robert Coles’ The Story of Ruby Bridges forms the basis of this powerful cross-curricular study of civic education and civic responsibility. Class members consider how the book presents authority, responsibility, justice, and privacy.....
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Let Me Tell You About My State
State reports can be a lot of fun, especially when the learners get to choose the state they study. This research and writing-focused social studies lesson plan engages learners in collecting information, essay structure, research, and...
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Cultivating Caring - Filling Buckets of Caring Carrots
Students practice compassion. In this character education lesson, student read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. Students discuss the book as well as ways to demonstrate they care for one another. Students fill buckets...
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A Map Mystery
Second graders solve a map mystery. In this technology lesson plan, 2nd graders develop an awareness of maps and the symbols associated with maps as they the "Neighborhood Map Machine."
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Creating a Caring Culture: Appreciating the Diversity of Your School
Students explore community diversity. In this character education lesson, students read the book Is There Really a Human Race? discussing it with their classmates and teachers. Students design paper dolls to represent themselves and...
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Transportation and Mapping
Students view murals that depict various modes of transportation. They discuss the importance of maps to navigation and create a map. They compare and contrast transportation of the past with modes of transportation used today.
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Silver Blaze and Other Stories
In this Silver Blaze and Other Stories reading and study guide worksheet, learners respond to 8 multi-step short answer, multiple choice, and graphic organizer questions. The questions are designed to be answered before, while, and after...
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Using Color as a Pre-Writing Tool
To better understand how to compose a clear and well-organized paper, learners read short passages, write summaries, and make colored graphic organizers. This is a fully developed three-day lesson with suggested assessments.
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What's So Bad or Good About Conflict?
Learners of all ages discuss how conflict can be negative and positive. First, they create a class bulletin board about conflict, and provide their thoughts and connotations surrounding the word. In a class discussion, they ask questions...
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All Aboard
Explore the U.S.S. Nevada. Researchers use primary sources, secondary sources, children's books and websites to study the naval ship. Their study commences with a class alphabet book on the ship. Intended to be part of a activity on...
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Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar
Upper graders write word problems and research the uses of multiplication. They start off by taking a pre-test on multiplication and then read the book, Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar. They make up word problems to go with their...