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Genealogy Research
Students explore history is not as a listing of dates, wars, and leaders but as the story of real people whose lives were impacted by the events of their time. They complete a pedigree chart and tape record a family member.
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Reading Literacy- Books on CD
Students explore the importance of learning to read. They work with other students to create audiobooks to share with younger students, or classes.
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Chain Together A Book Report
Individuals examine a book's components, including key events, characters, and vocabulary and develop "chain book reports" with their peers. Strips of paper containing the book's important events are staples together and hung.
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Posting Personal Testimonies on the Web
Students read literature based on family heroes. They discuss the concepts of friendship, loyalty and death. They write their own stories of courage and post them to a webpage.
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Book Week
Students discuss favorite books. They listen to the teacher tell how Book Week started. Students participate in a variety of activities designed to help them focus on books and reading. Some may create covers for the older books,...
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Unwrapping Reading
Guest readers rip off the holiday wrapping paper and read aloud the book inside! The teacher prepares for the activity by wrapping a variety of books in wrapping paper. Guest readers are invited to unwrap a book and read aloud to the class.
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Read On
Students consider the question "Why do we read?" through creating and sharing individual timelines of their own histories as readers. They then choose a book on which to write a personal essay.
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Life in Letters
Young scholars explore the relationship between an author's life and their work. Students research the historical and personal events surrounding a Nobel Prize winning author and how they are reflected in the author's writing. They...
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Lousia May Alcott
Young scholars examine the life of Louisa May Alcott. Using the Internet, they examine the types of books and plays she wrote. In groups, they compare and contrast the types of covers used on the various publishing's. They design and...
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Sun and Moon Folktale
Students become familiar with characteristics of folktales by reading or listening to African folktale that explains why sun and moon live in the sky. Students then create their own folktales about the sun and moon or another aspect of...
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Prize-Winning Prose
Learners develop criteria for 'Kids' Pulitzers,' awards in categories of writing determined by Students. Each student then bestow a 'Kids' Pulitzer' upon a piece of writing which they deem to be distinguished based on the established...
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State of the Art
Young scholars watch and discuss a scene from 'Cool Hand Luke,' then read the actor Kevin Costner's commentary on it. Then, each identifies one work of art that he or she loves and prepares a similar commentary on the details of that...
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Where the Sidewalk Transcends
Students use titles of Shel Silverstein poems to generate their own poetry for Students. Each student then compares his or her poem to the Shel Silverstein poem of the same title.
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Legends in Their Own Times
Young scholars learn folk tales from many different cultures and retell them using the medium of their choice. They write about the cultural indications found in these tales.
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Classes For The Masses
Learners explore how class is represented in the media by developing ideas for television pilots that deal with class issues. They compile short lists of television characters from working, middle and upper classes.
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Show Me the Story
Students examine the elements of a story, read a review of Chris Rock's new sitcom, "Everybody Hates Chris" and create original sitcom episodes based on their own lives.
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Fourth graders read and take quizzes over the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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A Critical Role
Students read a New York Times review of the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. They discuss the roles and responsibilities of a cultural critic, and prepare for a visit to a local museum in order to write their own reviews.
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Behind the Cover
Students develop questions they would have liked to ask an author about their written works. They read an article about their forefathers and research a back story to a written work of their choice. They create posters to illustrate the...
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Baseball Memories
Students act as historians by, first, reading and analyzing oral histories of professional baseball players to become familiar with baseball figures. Then, they proceed to interview family members, relatives, or neighbors who have...
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Radical Reads
Learners recreate an "American Idol" contest in which they present their favorite books to their classmates using arguments for and excerpts from the books. Following the presentation, students will be polled and the least popular books...
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Continuing Gandhi's Legacy of Cross-Cultural Understanding: Central Asia and the Middle East
Students investigate the lifestyle of Gandhi by creating a Venn Diagram. In this biographical lesson, students compare the philosophies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi while discussing their teaching methods. Students...
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Chinese Calligraphy
Students explore Chinese calligraphy. In this art and social science lesson, students copy the Chinese character ideograms in order to create words or phrases.
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The "Nobel"est People
Young scholars study the history of the Nobel Prize, research Nobel laureates in all six categories of the award, and recognize the connecting thread of those who win the Nobel Prize--the contribution of outstanding work and the work's...