California Department of Education
Learning About Myself
Let the journey begin! Fifth graders take their first steps down the road of self-discovery during the first of five career and college readiness lesson plans. After taking an interests inventory, groups create a graphic representation...
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Coast-to-Coast Book Design-Part 1: What is a book?
In this first of four lessons on book design, students are introduced to the vocabulary of book design through the use of bookwalks and a non-linear PowerPoint presentation in game-show (Jeopardy!) format.
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Growing Poems
Students write garden inspired poetry. In this poetry lesson plan, students go out into the garden and write poems about how they feel, what they see, and what is going on in the garden.
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Word Wake
Put your common writing errors to rest with this resource, which prompts high schoolers to create eulogies and tombstones for overused and incorrect words. They work on correcting common errors in spelling and usage mistakes in their own...
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Time Capsule Survey
Here's a fun way to incorporate technology into your curriculum. E-mail each of your class members a picture and 10 questions about the photo. Individuals then imagine the story behind the image and e-mail back their responses. Although...
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Assignment # 1: Merry-Go-Round Story
Class members use e-mail and the merry-go-round story format to create a science fiction story. Each writer begins by selecting one of three prompts, crafting the introductory paragraph and sending the paragraph to the next person on the...
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Fluency Is Too Cool for School
What does a successful reader sound like? Help readers gain fluency and become successful readers through repeated readings of given poems. They use the cover-up method to help them decode new words and chart their progress as they...
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Cardboard Radial Weaving
Students explore cultural history by participating in an arts and crafts activity. In this weaving lesson, students identify the many cultures that used weaving methods and local plant life to create baskets and other useful tools....
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State Parks: A Spanish Vocabulary Lesson
Ninth graders create a PowerPoint about state parks using Spanish vocabulary. In this Spanish lesson, 9th graders work in groups to research about area recreational facilities. Students use information collected on-line to create and...
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Image to Word
Students research art and write about how a certain art piece relates to their own life. In this art lesson plan, students go to Brooks museum and discuss the art they find there.
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Multimedia Book Report
Young readers plan and draft a book report focusing on the five key components of a novel: plot, character, setting, conflict, and theme. After completing a story board, pupils then prepare a PowerPoint book report that is shown to the...
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Your Attention Please: Iatmul Orator's Stool
Students investigate art by observing historical sculptures from New Guinea. In this art history instructional activity, students observe pictures of the "Orator's Stool"from Papua New Guinea, while identifying the small details that...
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The Writing Process
Show your young researchers how to find information, brainstorm a topic, map or outline their own stories, and create rough drafts. This lesson also shows learners how to peer edit, conference with the teacher, and write their final...
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African American Literature in Art
Students compare art and literature by examining a contemporary painting by Glenn Ligon and the essay by James Baldwin that inspired it. They write an essay about a personal experience that relates to the theme of being an "outsider."
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Terrific Topic Sentences
Capture the interest of your reader with terrific topic sentences. To practice hooking the reader, your class will be given writing prompts, and they must create topic sentences for each prompt provided. Encourage them to use different...
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Character Development Through Song
High schoolers use songs to analyze their sense of identity and self-worth. In groups, they discuss and explore their own character development and discover how far they have come in recent years. They also identify the positive and...
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Treasure Hunters
Students design an on campus treasure hunt to find various architectural vocabulary words which they then create definitions for on the blog page on the Environmental Design website.
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Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
Do your young readers know that poems can be performed as a team? They listen to a few examples from Paul Fleischman's book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, paying attention to how the how readers work together....
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Coast-to-Coast Book Design -Part 2: What is Design?
Students explore the concept of design, and identify items in their lives that have been designed. They explore the concept of book design and create and arrange their own page layout.
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Debate Topics and Ideas
Students examine both sides of arguments surrounding given debates. They use the internet and other research to collect information to support their stand on the controversial issue. Students debate their chosen topic. This lesson plans...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Exploring Text with the iMovie Application
Get your class going on one of the final assessments for a unit on short stories by introducing iMovie and its main features. In this tenth lesson in a series of fourteen, pupils take some time to explore iMovie before conducting an...
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Teaching Grammar Without the Hammer: Five Fun Activities
There are five lessons on teaching grammar here for you to peruse. Two of them work well for kindergartners; one on teaching synonyms and one on teaching parts of speech by reading Tall Tales. These lessons are especially engaging and...
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Friday Forum
Middle schoolers research a variety of controversial articles to gain knowledge. They form an opinion and defend their position with supporting data. They evaluate opposing arguments and present their viewpoint both verbally and in the...
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What If?
Second graders read WHAT IF? up to the page that ends "Suddenly, across the field they saw..." and discuss how the animals are feeling. They then discuss their feelings and in pairs discuss a possible ending to the story.