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Reading-Author's Purpose
Students review what author's purpose is by understanding that authors either persuade, inform, describe, or entertain with their story. In this language arts instructional activity, students bring in junk mail and in small groups...
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Author Study: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Students read novel, Little House in the Big Woods, explore web sites and other resources devoted to author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, complete Venn Diagram showing ways they and author are alike and different, and create diorama, read...
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Writing a Book Review - Non-Fiction
Fifth graders write a book review for a nonfiction book. In this response to literature lesson, 5th graders read a nonfiction book and write a review that gets others interested in reading the book without giving too much away. The...
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Writing a Book Review - Fiction
Fifth graders write a fiction book review. In this response to literature lesson, 5th graders read a story and share their understanding and opinion of the book. They write what the book is about, what they like about the book, and what...
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Anatomy of a Book
Pupils reference books to become familiar with locating information necessary for citing resources in a research paper. In this technical writing lesson students work in groups to find the answers to prepared questions.
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Nature Abstractions - Georgia O'Keeffe
Students examine the work of Georgia O'Keeffe and forms of nature. Sketches are made of natural objects and then abstracted. Clay forms are then made using draped slab method and hand building techniques.
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Georgia O'Keefe Inspired Flowers
Young scholars examine artwork by Georgia O'Keefe. They create their own abstracted flower. They use multimedia applications to manipulate and filter the colors.
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The Land and Other Books: Mildred Taylor
Students read summaries of the books written by the author Mildred Taylor. For this summaries lesson plan, students read the summaries of 6 books and answer discussion questions about them after they read them.
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Using Prepositional Phrases
The class reads the book Heckedy Peg. Stopping to point out the prepositional phrases, the teacher models and guides the young scholars to deeper comprehension. Small groups collaborate to read A Sweet Smell of Roses. They thenfind the...
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Narrative Writing
Fifth graders study narrative writing. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders review how an author uses vivid verbs, imagery, and adjectives to capture reader's attention. Students explore literary devices of foreshadowing, flashback...
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Comprehension-Characters/characterization
Fifth graders discuss characterization as well as to define antagonist and protagonist. In this language arts lesson plan, 5th graders write questions for an interview of a character in the book "The Three Little Pigs" and then answer...
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Summarizing
Fifth graders write summaries. In this summarizing instructional activity students decide which events of a chapter in a book are important to summarizing. Students also create a title for the chapter based upon the contents of the...
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Conventions - Punctuation Research
Study unusual punctuation marks in this punctuation lesson. Young grammarians work in small groups to research one of the unusual punctuation marks (semi-colon, colon, dash, comma, ellipses, or quotation marks) and discuss how the mark...
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Analyzing Elements of a Memoir
Young scholars analyze and identify elements of memoirs. In this literature lesson students explore qualities to listen for while the teacher reads a memoir; they then break into groups and analyze a memoir independently.
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Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
Third graders read the story, "Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt" and discuss slavery. After answering questions about the story, 3rd graders sing "Follow the Drinkin' Gourd" and explore the clues in each verse that allowed the slaves to...
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Organizational Structures of Nonfiction Text/Graphic Organizers
Fifth graders review the characteristics of a nonfiction text. For this language arts lesson, 5th graders understand that one can use a specific graphic organizer to help them in understanding an organizational structure. For example, in...
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Bolts Out of the Blue
Students research different types of lightning patterns and compare their origins to an experiment on static electricity. They research different types of lightning, and explain how different light patterns result from those charges.
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Survival of the Fittest Microbes
Young scholars explore the harsh conditions of Spain's Rio Tinto River and research the microbes that nonetheless manage to thrive there. They synthesize their knowledge by creating a reality television show set in the Rio Tinto with...
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How Much is That Monkey in the Window?
Students investigate exotic pets and the ecological and personal risks involved in trading and owning such animals. They synthesize their knowledge by creating advertisements that promote the sale of exotic pets and picket signs that...
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Coming of Age with H.I.V.
Students explore and examine some of the issues facing HIV positive teenagers. They research the lives of HIV positive teenagers.
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In a Class of Their Own
Students explore taxonomy and how birds are classified in this scientific system. They use this knowledge to create entries for a field guide to birds that can be used to identify different species.
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Curious Crossbreeds
Students discover the diverse roles of hybridization among animals. They research certain examples of animal hybrids as a springboard to analyzing a zoo's potential exhibit of animal hybrids.
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A Date With Chemistry
Students research certain elements and then analyze their potential bonds with other elements in a dating game where the dating pool is comprised of the elements featured on the Periodic Table.
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Talking 'Bout Regeneration
Students research the regenerative capabilities of certain organisms. They present their findings at a student regeneration symposium aimed at exploring the possibilities of human regeneration.