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SHAKESPEARE IN TODAY'S WORLD
Students, after an introduction to Shakespeare's "Othello," compare/contrast the themes in the play to today's society. In addition, they write their own script for the play of "Othello" based on predictions of what they think will...
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Life in Letters
Students 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 create a...
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When Clay speaks
Students listen as the teacher reads "When Clay Sings," by Byrd Taylor. They discuss clay, and view a variety of clay items. Students watch a video clip "Interests in One of a Kind Pots." They watch a demonstration on working with clay....
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Alphabetical Order
In this alphabetical order worksheet, students working in pairs or small groups match up letters of the alphabet to their images. Students then match up letters of the alphabet to market items (a-apples).
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Producing a skit for the morning announcements
Young scholars produce a skit to appear on their morning announcement that is in lined with their franchise topic. In this producing lesson plan, students produce a 2 minute skit including originating, scripting, editing, directing, and...
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Conflict in"the Interlopers"
Students read "the Interlopers" and define the four conflicts in the story. In this conflict lesson plan, students write an original story about three of the four conflicts in the book.
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Aztec Myths 1
Students write a diary entry or a letter from the viewpoint of a character in a myth. For this Aztec myths lesson, students define myths and read "The Heart of Copil" and "The Eagle of Tenochtitlan" and find the land of the Aztecs on a...
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What's All the Fuss about Harry Potter?
Students complete a survey to explore the popularity of Harry Potter books. In this literature and controversy instructional activity, students examine why certain books are controversial or popular. Students write original plays about...
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Halloween
Discover the origins and traditions of Halloween with a crafty lesson plan! Second graders create bats, monsters, witches, and ghosts with masks and puppets. Next, they share their work with their classmates in a fun celebration.
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Seventeenth Century Pick-up Lines
Learners analyze passages from The Mysteries of Love and Eloquence, or the Arts of Wooing and Complementing, written in the seventeenth century. Students analyze the images, words and figures of speech the author used and compare the...
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Working Together to Improve Our Community
Students from the fourth grade research a solution to a community problem and converse with eighth graders via email. Eighth graders study the political process and work with the fourth graders to present information to the public to...
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Exchange Students
Students discuss as a class the items they value and why. They read an article about the popularity of cellphones in Iraq. In groups, they work together to create a guide to their culture to share with others visiting their classroom....
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Immigration Research Project
Students formulate guiding questions to use as an aid for research and then use the guiding questions worksheet to help gather information necessary for meeting all criteria for completing the project. They then work together to collect...
National First Ladies' Library
Writing (and Rewriting!) History
Middle schoolers differentiate between fiction and non-fiction, discuss historical fiction, which combines both genres, choose historical novel from list and read independently, and write original short stories that combine elements of...
National First Ladies' Library
Workers, Take a Holiday! the Beginning of Labor Day
When your upper elementary class returns in the fall, have them identify and define the beginnings of the labor movement and Labor Day in the United States. They thoughtfully reflect on changes that have occurred in the way we think...
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Meting Out Justice
Students investigate the murder case of Emmett Till and identify the missing pieces from the case. Through research, they then work to fill in the gaps to create a basis for examining how justice might be served anew in this...
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Sense-itive Issues
Students consider the difficulties of adapting to the loss of different senses. They work in small groups, each developing a fictional superhero who experiences a loss of one of sense and must compensate for it with his or her other senses.
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A Test Case for Individual Rights
Students examine the different points of view regarding testing students for drug use. They then work in pairs to create and perform dialogues that flesh out two sides of the argument around this controversial issue.
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From Zero to Superhero
Learners discuss superheroes, focusing first on the details of creating the character of Batman. They work in small groups to develop superheroes for the 1990s, and write stories or cartoons about their superhero's adventures on their own.
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Internet Filter Infiltration
Students explore the effects of Internet filters in schools. They work in small groups to survey different types of people in the school community about their views on school Internet filters and draft an Internet policy based on their...
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The Roots of American Culture
Students explore the notion of culture and the influence of Latino culture on the U.S. They work in small groups to identify ways that Latino and non-Latino U.S. cultures have engaged in cultural 'cross-fertilization.'
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A Nation in Mourning
Students reflect on what the deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Lauren Bessette mean to them. They then work to compose and read aloud found poems from The Times' coverage of the burial and memorial services.
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Back to the Classics
Students closely examine chamber music as it has changed from the Middle Ages to today. They work in small groups to research the composers, instruments and typical presentation in 5 time periods. They write biographies and share their...
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Oh, What a Tangled Web!
Learners research how different World Wide Web search engines work and navigate these engines to find information on a specific topic. They write a reflective journal entry about the in-class topic search on the World Wide Web.