Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Word Choice
Students explore language arts by participating in a vocabulary usage activity. In this word choice lesson, students read examples of great word usage in literature and discuss with the class why some words appear stronger than others....
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Environmental Quality in Our Own Backyard
Students research an environmental issue and decide on a course of action. They write a reseach paper and present an oral presentation based on the research.
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Who am I?
Students develop their writing skills by creating a character sketch about themselves. Students read character sketches, view portraits by famous artists, select one personality traits, and affix a mug shot of themselves into a famous...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Organization
Students make logical patterns in their writing to demonstrate the trait of organization. In this organization lesson plan, students focus on events proceeding logically.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Sentence Fluency
Students practice writing with sentence fluency in order to make the story more enjoyable for the reader. In this sentence fluency lesson plan, students focus on rhythm and flow.
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Reporting in Letters
Students investigate the cultures and politics of different countries and write radio letters to listeners in those countries modeled after Alistair Cooke's "Letter from America."
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Macbeth Madness
Students participate in various social studies activities in correlation to William Shakespeare's Macbeth. In this Macbeth lesson, students study maps of Scotland, England, and Norway to identify locations mentioned in Macbeth. Students...
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Global Warming
Students explore global warming. In this science lesson, students research global warming. Students work in small groups to create a presentation about global warming.
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An Immigrant's Journey
Pupils use books, resource CDs, and the Internet to research and collect images of the experiences of immigrants in 1907. They are divided into groups of four to write journal entries for a fictional, yet historically accurate, immigrant.
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Teaching a Short Story
Students work in small groups and prepare an analysis of a short story to be presented to their peers. They research the story and create a handout or a visual aid that cites sources of information and summarizes the main points of the...
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Acrostic Poems: What's In a Name?
Students find words that begin with the letters in their own names, using a variety of sources including word banks and online dictionaries. They create an acrostic poem. Pupils revise poems as needed, for meaning and conventions. ...
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Is It The Flu? What Do I Do?
Students use the internet to research the flu. Using various websites, they identify who should get flu shots, how to protect themselves and guidelines for getting over the flu. They write a one page report on their findings to end the...
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The Titanic
Middle schoolers use various sources to compare and contrast information about the Titanic. In groups, they create a list of questions and use the internet to find the answers. They write a report with the new information and use their...
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Designing Scavengers
Students write a headline that captures the most important aspects of the People's Design Award. In this design lesson, students are introduced to The People's Design Award and collaborate to create a headline for a newspaper article....
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Famous Peacemakers - Creating a Declaration of Peace
Students create written reports about a famous peacemaker. In this peacemaker lesson plan, students use books and the internet to research someone who is famous for creating peace in the world and write a report on it.
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Service Learning Project-American Civil War
Tenth graders study the American Civil War. As part of a service learning project, they volunteer to help preserve or promote a local Civil War site. They conduct research and write letters or lobby legislatures on behalf of historic...
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Thematic Poetry Videos
Students pen poetry regarding global issues. In this information literacy lesson, students research global issues and use their findings to compose poems regarding the topics. Students create videos that include images and the the text...
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Wilderness Lesson Plan
Young scholars investigate the wilderness by reading magazine articles and discussing with their peers. In this wild life lesson, students read a page from the Natural Inquirer magazine and examine photographs online of wilderness...
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County Chronicles
Students review and use the information from previous lessons about their county. In groups, they write articles for various sections of a class newspaper. They review and edit each others work and publish their newspaper using a desktop...
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Who's for Dinner?
Fifth graders examine life systems within different biomes. They choose paper plates with the names of animals on them. They research the animals, write reports and draw pictures of them. They create a food chain model by arranging the...
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Remember When?
Students work in cooperative groups to research life in a decade of the 20th century. Each group member writes a 7-10 page paper highlighting the social, political and cultural events and the group presents a Powerpoint presentation to...
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Studies of the Eastern Worlds: Historical Summaries
Seventh graders interpret their own meaning of the painting, "Christ's Descent into Hell" by Hieronymus Bosch and the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. They focus on the chaos created in both the art and music and discuss...
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Christmas Truce
Students research the Christmas truce during World War I. In this social studies lesson, students discuss World War I and the Christmas Truce. Students write a response about the truce.
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Haiku For You
Students discuss prior knowledge of Haiku. They use computers with internet connection to find information about haiku. Students work in small groups to summarize their research and discuss Japanese culture. Students write and illustrate...