Orange County Department of Education
Katie's Trunk
Fifth graders read the story of "Katie's Trunk". They identify the traits of integrity and fairness in the characters John Warren and Katie. Students explore how people can experience the same event but interpret it differently. They...
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From Where Does Prejudice Come?
Students explore the concept of discrimination. In this social studies instructional activity, students view pictures and write down the first thing that comes to their mind. Students discuss if stereotyping or prejudice affected their...
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Dear Diary
In this narrative learning exercise, learners compose a diary entry that includes different facets of writing. Students then respond to different narratives in the class by answering 11 different questions.
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Exploring the Sonnet
Students research English/Shakespearean and Italian/Petrarchan sonnet forms. They write an original sonnet on their preferred form (English or Italian), write the poem on the wordprocessor and publish and post it on the net at the Sonnet...
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Doing Our Jobs
First graders identify traits of good listeners and speakers and role-play these traits in pairs. They brainstorm acceptable and unacceptable behaviors for the classroom and identify what jobs are appropriate for first-graders to perform...
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"Et tu, Brute?" - The Characters, Conflict and Historical context of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
Students analyze the Shakespearian play, "Julius Caesar" in this seven lesson unit. Through readings, hands-on projects, and the study of plot development, comparisons are made to the movie and the historical records available.
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Analysis of Character in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine a character from the short story, John Steinbeck's, "Flight." students respond to questions about the story and illustrate the character's journey.
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I'm Nobody Bio Poem
Eighth graders analyze Emily Dickinson's poem, I'm Nobody. After discussing it, they create their own bio poem. They draw and label mandalas and display them in class.
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My Secret War: Lesson 12
Fifth graders explore how the war affected American children. In this social studies lesson, 5th graders discuss how quotes made people feel about the war effort. Students write reflections on their reading.
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Hats
Students listen to a read aloud of "Hats, hats, hats," by Ann Morris focusing on the variety of hats. They play a file folder game categorizing hats from the book.
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Alliteration
Students write and illustrate a sentence which names a letter of the alphabet. The sentence should have subject, verb, describing words, and incorporate alliterative techniques.
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Why are you special?
Learners, after listening to book called People, by Peter Spier, discuss what are some things that make people different.
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Female Poets Speak For Themselves
Student examine selected works of twentieth-century female poets that speak to the stereotypes about women inherent in Western culture. Individually, students explore these stereotypes and their experience with them. Students create a...
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Night by Elie Weisel
Students read "No News from Auschwitz" and answer the study questions as an introduction to the novel. They record reactions to the essay and compare with reactions after reading "Night".
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Language Arts: Character Comparison
Fourth graders, using Kidspiration, compare and contrast the two main characters from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. They use a teacher-created template to describe their characters. Students then create their own character analysis.
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Language Arts: Character Analysis
Fourth graders identify the character traits of Peter in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. They find quotations in the story that illlustrate the traits. Students use Kidspiration to write their reports on a template.
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Longfellow Amongst His Contemporaries: the Ship of State Dbq
Young scholars evaluate the ship of state metaphor in relation to the historical events in America from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War. They synthesize ideas presented in ten different primary source documents and compose an...
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Buddy, Are You Ready?-Preparing for School Emergencies
Pupils explore natural disasters by reading stories about volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. They explore safe behaviors in order to understand what to expect in a catastrophe. Students practice safe evacuation procedures...
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Using the Food Pyramid to Make Healthy Food Choices
Students investigate how to make healthy choices. In this food pyramid lesson, students read about making healthy choices. Students chart the food they eat to see where it is on the pyramid. Students then create a collage of healthy...
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Koala Lou Measurement
In this centimeter measurement worksheet, students measure the jumps of five Australian animals in the Bush Olympics. Students record the lengths in centimeters and declare a winner.
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Shakespeare and the Web
Twelfth graders gain a better understanding of Shakespeare through lecture and the Internet.
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Why Come To America?
Eighth graders investigate reasons large numbers of people immigrated to the U.S. They identify hardships and risks involved in coming to America and identify the affects immigration has had on the traditions and cultures in the...
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Spend, Save or Donate
Young scholars identify the difference between spending, saving, and donating. They brainstorm reasons to give and options to donate. They sing a song about donating to charity.
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Introduction to "Julius Caesar"
Students discuss American form of government. They read the play Julius Caesar.