Virginia Department of Education
Ecosystem Dynamics
Searching for an eccentric way to enhance lessons on ecosystems while ensuring pupils remain creative and motivated? Upon viewing The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, designated groups design and construct a pop-up book that...
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Use iPads to Enhance Your Classroom
Cut through the numerous available iPad apps to find the ones that will help you to start using this terrific tool right away.
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Developing Good Written Communication Skills and the Word Processing Student
Students are introduced to the skills needed to complete a word processing assignment. In groups, they identify the reasons why it is important to communicate in different situations and participate in role-playing exercises. They...
Newspaper Association of America
By the Numbers: Mathematical Connections in Newspapers for Middle-Grade Students
A cross-curricular resource teaches and reinforces mathematical concepts with several activities that use parts of a newspaper. Scholars use scavenger hunts to find the different ways math is used in the paper along with using data...
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Shaquille O'Neal: Using A Basketball Star To Motivate Readers
Students read two different versions of a story--the classic version of Jack and the Beanstalk and the version written by Shaquille O'Neal, Shaq and the Beanstalk. Students gather ideas and compare and contrast the different versions of...
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Health: Overweight Youth
Investigate the primary causes for the increase in overweight youth and discover its impact on the health care system. After watching segments from the Bill Moyers Now program, your students develop campaigns to implement in school that...
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Learning Vocabulary by Using Reference Materials
Finding engaging ways to help your middle schoolers build their vocabulary is not easy to do. The lesson presented here offers a great way to motivate them to build vocabulary by making it into a game. Teams of pupils use a dictionary...
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I am the Greatest
Students participate in a game blending skill with chance to enhance students' understanding of the concept of place value. They explain that the value of a number increases when digits farthest to the left have greatest value.
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Vocabulary 8
Students define vocabulary words from the, The Pearl. In this vocabulary lesson plan, students discuss their vocabulary words and create sentences for them. Students also complete a worksheet with the most important...
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Run/Walk Across America
Walk, jog, or run across America. Maps of individual states, visual progress, competition, and rewards, seem to be great motivational ideas. Make sure that the distances that each class has to walk or run are the same, because getting...
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Short Story Commercials
Students read short story selections, and work with classmates to produce commercials using digital video equipment.
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The Roving Robotic Chemist
Junior oceanographers and underwater geologists describe the four major steps of mass spectrometry. They compete in small groups to simulate the tracking of a deepwater methane plume using imaginary autonomous underwater vehicles. Give...
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Exploring Parts and Wholes
Students explore the concept of parts making up a whole. In this parts and whole lesson, students come to understand that parts of a system must come together in order for the system to work properly. Students investigate items indoors...
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Avoiding Consumer Fraud: Financial Scams and Schemes
Young consumers get a hefty dose of information on how fraud can put their financial health at risk. The resource provides detailed lecture notes, scaffolded notetaking sheets, vocabulary worksheets, transparencies, and seven links to...
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Character Worksheet Two
In this character worksheet, students answer questions about themselves and about their motivators and external characteristics. Students answer 22 questions.
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Write It, Read It, Solve It
Writers create an original mystery and have a chance to put it into movie format. The classic elements of a mystery must be present: the crime, the suspects, the motive, the solution and clues. Use iPhoto and Quicktime Movie to integrate...
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Workshop Lesson: Digital Camera
Students perform an activity in small groups in order to investigate different types of shapes found in photographs taken with a digital camera. The integration of technology is used to engage students in the lesson.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The President Under the Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation sounds like one big, fancy title to middle schoolers. Here, scaffolded steps help to ease novices into understanding this all-important American document. Discussion questions, lesson activities, and ideas...
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Teaching Descriptive Word Usage
Second graders practice their creative writing by using descriptive words. In this language arts lesson, 2nd graders utilize their best descriptive writing to elaborate on one of 20 different bean bag characters. Students...
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Creative Writing Poem
Fifth graders write poetry using imagery and practice poetry presentation. In this poetry activity, 5th graders listen as the teacher reads a humorous poem using different voice modulations and presentation techniques. They discuss the...
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Look at Those Leaves!
Students observe leaves in hands-on ways. As they observe attributes, they will group the leaves according to these attributes and consider any patterns they see emerge. In addition, they will communicate what they have learned about...
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Cost Effective Buying
Learners evaluate energy-related purchases. In this consumer awareness lesson, students visit an appliance store and rank the products' cost effectiveness by using a mathematical formula.
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Look At Those Leaves!
Pupils collect, measure and classify leaves. In this inquiry-based sorting and classifying lesson, students look at various types of leaves they have collected and measure them using a standard unit of measurement. Next, they relate the...
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Character Traits
Explore character traits using this resource. After reading the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, learners fill in a graph identifying character traits. Then, they write and put on a skit. This resource provides a motivating way to...