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Citizens Together
Students examine the bill of rights as it relates to founding documents and their significance today. In this bill of rights lesson plan, students use newspapers as sources to answer critical questions regarding democratic citizenship....
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Covering the News
Students compare the coverage of two crime stories Using local or national newspapers, news magazines and other reference materials, each group trace the "unfolding" of two crime stories: The Laci Peterson investigation plus one students
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Lesson 11: Printed Materials (Ads and Broadsides) 1780-1820
Young scholars use primary resources (gazettes, broadsides, advertisements) to consider life at the turn of the 18th century in Deerfield, Massachusetts. They infer observations about life in the nascent United States.
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Chinese Kite
Students create their own Chinese kite. In this multicultural art lesson plan, students use butcher paper, newspapers, string, pipe cleaners and paint to create a Chinese kite. Students follow the given steps and attempt to fly their kite.
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Bottle Dolls/Figurative Sculpture
Students use water bottles with sand in them (to give stability) They add heads made of crumpled newspaper with masking tape. They paper mache the entire figure and make them into people or animals. Students add paint and accessories...
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A Different World?
Students share their opinions in a brainstorming session on the factors that contribute to their quality of life. They read the article "Life Is Better; It Isn't Better. Which Is It?," from the NY Times and discuss the article as a...
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Right on Time?
Students share their reactions to hearing a false rumor. After reading an article, they discover how a variety of newspapers responded to printing incorrect information. They prepare their own questions and contact sources for their...
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Creating Circles
Students make a circle graph. In this graphing lesson, the teacher conducts a class survey, then demonstrates how to make a pie graph. When students are comfortable with the material, they use a worksheet to create their own graph.
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Ancient History Cyber-Journalists
Students explore the ancient past. In this ancient civilizations lesson, students research ancient events and write newspaper articles about the events. Students work in teams of 4 to produce group newspapers that feature their findings....
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Slanted Sentences
Learners examine biased words in news articles, suggest synonyms, then rewrite the sentences to demonstrate how word choice can alter meaning.
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Commemoration of the Gettysburg Battlefield
High schoolers use a multimedia project, The Valley of the Shadow: Two American Communities in the Civil War, to create a presentation about the significance of the Gettysburg Address. They work on expert teams to explore the interactive...
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The Ad Campaign
Students explore how political candidates use mass media to deliver their messages to voters. Focusing on specific issues in the upcoming election, students create television commercials representing different parties' views.
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Social Studies: Public Service to a Better Image
Students, in a program entitled "Strategies for Success," examine ways to change public perception of their school. In this project-based instructional activity, they explore local social and environmental issues, develop a conflict...
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Commas
Fifth graders discuss when a comma is necessary in a sentence. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders understand that commas are used as a pause and help the reader understand ideas better. Students find an example of each example...
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Brick Memorial Flyer
Students conduct research using the internet, school server and newspapers on the history of the brick memorial for veterans and its developmental process. They create and design a three column page layout for a brochure using Microsoft...
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That Was Then, This is Now
Learners read about the effect of strict fur trading laws on the lives of the Inuit people in Canada, then use print and digital resources to compare past and present-day ways of life of several indigenous peoples around the world.
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The Long and Short of It
Students take a look back at the week's news by exploring the news summaries article offered in The New York Times' Week in Review section each week. They look further into ongoing news stories of interest to them in order to create...
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Follow the Leaders
Learners research current world political leaders, as well as the opinions of their supporters and critics, in order to create a "Present Political Leaders Hall of Fame" display for the classroom.
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Jackie Steals Home
Students read articles relating to Jackie Robinson's breaking of the racial barrier in professional baseball. This leads to a deeper exploration of racism in the United States. They use a variety of worksheets imbedded in this plan to...
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The Final Solution
Students distinguish between concentration, labor and death camps, describe conditions in concentration camps, read and discuss Night, by Elie Wiesel, and describe methods Nazis used to disguise true purpose of death camps and...
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Judicial Void
Young scholars explore the impact of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. They research potential nominees to replace her, in light of her resignation, and write letters to President George W. Bush to share opinions of the...
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A Valid Conclusion? Testing and Reporting on Hypotheses Using the Scientific Method
Students explore importance of accuracy in reporting, focusing particularly on articles documenting scientific discoveries, and practice scientific method by conducting experiments to test and report on scientific hypotheses.
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A Maya Masterpiece
Students analyze the symbols presented in a Maya artifact. They create collages that depict a theme related to contemporary life in their community, and write brief analyses explaining the symbolism of the images they chose.
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Pollution Prevention
Young scholars examine pollution and what causes it. They discover ways to reduce pollution and how to prevent it in the future.