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Author Study
Students focus their attention on the study of one author's works - not just one book, but a variety of works written by the same author - to discover what themes and/or other commonalities might run throughout the body of one person's...
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Funky Illuminated Fairy Tales
Students create a nameplate and an original fairy tale book using an illuminated manuscript format. They create a personal nameplate using a decorated or historiated initial, a border, and illuminations.
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Diaries and Memoirs
Students analyze how personal diaries and memoirs record actual events, compare and contrast diaries and memoirs from the Holocaust, and engage in journal or diary writing as a way to explore one's own feelings and self.
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Latin American Colonial Diary
Students examine the class systems of New Spain. In small groups, they create a five-day diary about the family life, food, occupation, and government involvement of an assigned personality from the time of Colonial Latin America.
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Black American Musicans: Precursors of Jazz
Young scholars trace the course of Black music from the 1900's to the beginning of the jazz age. They realize that when education is defined as enlightened training for a place in society and for individual personal development, it was...
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Writing for Different Purposes and Audiences
Third graders explore how to write for different purposes and for a specific audience or person. They read, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Students create a class book after reading the story. They each create their own...
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A Worthy Knight- A Code of Conduct Lesson
Young scholars analyze and define the qualities of chivalry by comparing and contrasting the character of knights presented in the selected resources. They define and defend their own personal code of conduct. Students also create a...
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Posters -- What's the Main Idea?
Students discuss the basics of poster productions. In groups, they follow written directions to make a poster about asthma, allergies, AIDS, or personal safety. They present their poster to the class and reflect on the process in a journal.
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Snow Day
Third graders examine the effects of a snow day on various people in the community. They listen to the book "Snow Day" by Betsy Maestro, complete a graphic organizer of people affected by the snow day, and write a story from the point of...
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Commemorations Across Cultures
Students explore how different cultures commemorate people and events. They research how commemorations are created through music, painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, and poetry. In collaborative, students create a...
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A Special Day
Students participate in a lesson that focuses on the guided reading of, A Special Day while performing correct fluency with the help of picture/ text matching. They read using the patterned sentence repetition, and this helps students to...
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Guided Reading with Twister's Tricks
Students participate in pre-reading activities before reading the book, Twister's Tricks. They read the book independently, but are guided by directive questions from their teacher. A discussion follows, as well as repeated readings for...
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Famous People of the Gold Rush
Fourth graders research a famous person from the Gold Rush era. Using the Internet, they take notes from creditable websites and write their rough drafts of their paper. They use peer editing to check for spelling and grammar errors. ...
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Narrative Prompt
Second graders are introduced to the style of a narrative writing. After being read a story, they use a graphic organizer to plan their writing. With a partner, they share their ideas and decide on one topic to write about. To end the...
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Shoes: Practical vs. Fashionable
Learners compare and contrast the difference between practical applications of apparel and the use of fashion as a status symbol, with a focus on shoes. Working in groups, they complete a Venn diagram comparing practical fashion to...
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Diaries and Memoirs
Seventh graders analyze how personal diaries and memoirs record actual events. In this World History lesson, 7th graders compare and contrast diaries and memoirs from the Holocaust. Students write as a way to explore one's own feelings...
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What’s in a Name? Understanding Malcolm X
Students study the life of Malcolm X. In this autobiography lesson, students read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, investigate and evaluate the time period of his life, and write an essay based on their reflections pertaining to his...
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Lesson Plan for Waiting to Waltz: A Childhood by Cynthia Rylant
Sixth graders examine the elements of writing poetry. In this creative writing activity, 6th graders discuss a book of poetry in the setting of Appalachia. Students incorporate childhood experiences into the development of visual and...
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Introducing the Essay: Twain, Douglass, and American Non-Fiction
Students analyze American essayists Mark Twain and Frederick Douglass in an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing. In this essay history lesson, students identify methods for writing essays. Students read and analyze...
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Mr. and Mrs. Cress Head
Students explore Earth science by completing a plant art project. In this botany lesson, students utilize tights and soil to create a furry, grassy puppet style animal from cress seeds. Students cut off the excess cress after several...
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Critic's Choice
Third graders read three to five genres and choose one as a favorite. They write an essay persuading the class to read the genre. This lesson serves as a nice introduction to different styles of literature.
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Hop To It!
Students explore the aspects of a frog's anatomy that allow it to be such a good jumper and jump and record the length of each jump to determine which style of jumping allows them to jump the farthest.
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Declaration of Independence
Learners analyze a copy of the Declaration of Independence to discover how it was adopted, approved, and signed. The tone and style of the document are analyzed for intention through an exploration its the language and vocabulary.
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Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story
Sixth graders engage in the reading of a non-fiction text in order to acquire character traits as displayed in the text.The story builds reading fluency through the teacher modeling correct style and speed.