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Westward Expansion : Mapping
Fifth graders travel along exploring the expeditions of John F. Fremont. For this Westward expansion lesson, 5th graders gain understanding of the events that shaped the west through the use of maps. Students use mapping skills to...
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America, A Home for Every Culture
Students investigate the many cultures that are represented in America. In this American culture activity, students look at the food, languages, music, and traditions that immigrants have contributed to the face of America. They complete...
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Zen and the Work of Frank Lloyd Wright
Students experience Zen philosophies reflected in artwork, poetry, and architecture. Students will explore these connections and expand the discussion to include a professional author of their choice.
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Do You Hear What I Hear?
Students explore and review punctuation. They discuss examples of poorly punctuated paragraphs and how it affects writing. Students describe the types of punctuation used for writing. They correctly punctuate a variety of sentences and...
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Exploring Values Towards Conservation
Students read First Nation story, identify values expressed in it and discuss how those values relate to conservation issues faced today. Students then seek out stories relevant to climate change from their own Elders and respected...
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In the Middle - Middle School Poetry
Students analyze and interpret poems. In this poetry lesson, students are read poems aloud, discuss the meanings in groups, and complete two worksheets after listening to the poems. Links to the worksheets and discussion questions are...
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A Way with Words or Say What?
Students examine Shakespearean language. In this word study lesson, students investigate the meaning of words that Shakespeare invented. Students draw and pantomime with the words prior to writing short stories that feature Shakespeare's...
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The Ugly Truth about Hate
Students investigate examples of hate crimes and their causes by participating in a round-table discussion. They also write a personal essay describing their personal views on the subject and describing a plan for putting their views...
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Debating for Land
Learners discover about the varying attitudes and definitions of land ownership held by Native and European Americans. They study a variety of primary documents from the nineteenth century.
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Defending Great Literature
Students defend Mark Twain and the study of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn using persuasive techniques, appropriate word choice, and correct letter format, in response to a fictional letter by an upset parent.
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Working Together to Improve Our Community
Students from the fourth grade research a solution to a community problem and converse with eighth graders via email. Eighth graders study the political process and work with the fourth graders to present information to the public to...
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Effective Literary Analyses
Twelfth graders discuss a fictional text that they are given, they identify passages, which highlight the author's style, language naances and textual ambiguities. Pupils brainstorm possible topics for an analytical essay, they are...
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Teens on Screens
Students articulate the ways in which they use the Internet and envision and propose new uses for the Internet. They examine one teenager's vision and expression of teen culture and individual personality online by reading and...
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Write Away
Students examine the effect of computers and other word processing programs have had on traditional forms of communication and expression after reading and discussing the article "Where the Pen is Mightier Than the PC" from The New York...
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Total Physical Response Storytelling
Fifth graders are introduced to the strategy TPRS (Total Physical Response Storytelling) for studying world languages. They utilize this strategy as a vehicle to storytelling and expand their vocabulary by contextualizing it in high...
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Can We Switch Genders of Story Characters?
Students read and review the main elements of a story. In this language arts lesson, students predict what the story read to them would have been like if the genders of the characters had been different. Students write a new story in...
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Quilting
First graders investigate the color spectrum by painting their own pictures. In this artistic expression lesson, 1st graders discuss their own families and create ways to express their culture and family history on a picture quilt....
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What is Drawing?
Students explore visual arts by participating in a drawing activity. In this artistic expression instructional activity, students discuss how our thoughts and emotions are conceptualized by illustrating or painting. Students utilize...
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A Walk Through the Past: A Grave Undertaking
Learners explore how historians construct a story out of fragments of the past; a discussion of nineteenth century poetry and art leads students to connect art and literature to their place in time.
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The Rise of the City States in Greece
Sixth graders examine Ancient Greece and its development of democracy. In this Greek History instructional activity, 6th graders explore the rise of city-states in Greece and its overall effect on the development of democracy. The class...
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Strangers
Students learn and discuss what to do when approached by a stranger. In this stranger lesson plan, students answer questions based on a book that the teacher reads. They then participate in a discussion about rules and guidelines to...
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High Crimes and Misdemeanors
Students analyze the Constitution's wording regarding impeachment and discuss the impeachment process. They then design a survey based on student-generated questions about the charges against President Clinton and write a letter to the...
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The Surreal World
Students explore the concept of Surrealism and how it can be expressed in various art forms. They next create a Surrealist collage, and engage in a Surrealist process to invent a title for their work. They critique a class exhibition of...
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Much Ado About Nothing?
Students explore their feelings regarding the celebration of various holidays. Using the New York Times article as a model, students write articles critiquing what they consider to be inappropriate expressions of holiday spirit.