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Characters' Coming of Age
Students develop older versions of child or adolescent characters from favorite works of literature, adapting them for teenage or adult sequels. They each outline a sequel and write its first chapter.
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Translation Into Reality
Students read a variety of short stories that focus on teenage protagonists. In groups, they answer comprehension questions and discuss the characters and setting for each story. Individually, they choose one writing assignment to...
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Heroes
Tenth graders participate in research and class discussion before attempting to write a traditional five paragraph essay. They use the examples of 16 other hero stories to consider. Students use examples and descriptive details to...
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"Wright-ing" Biographies for Young Readers
Students research the life of the Wright brothers or another famous person, write a draft biography, peer edit, make edits, and share the final biography with a younger reader. Lesson can be adapted for younger and older learners.
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Science: Identifying Properties of Matter
Young scholars observe a demonstration of the the three forms of matter - air, water, and solids - in plastic bags. After discussing the properties, they transfer them to a Venn diagram. Finally, students identify five items in the...
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Mystery and Mayhem
Young scholars use literature to examine the violence and loss of innocence during the 1960s. In this U.S. history lesson, students read Robert McCammon's Boy's Life to investigate the social unrest, violence and loss of innocence in the...
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Dear Mrs. Parks Teacher's Guide
Students read and respond to the book, Dear Mrs. Parks. In this African-American literature lesson, students read the text and examine several vocabulary words from the text. Students answer 11 discussion questions and participate in...
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If These Walls Could Talk: Seeing a Culture Through Human Features
Students read Talking Walls and discuss the walls presented and their importance to the culture. For this geography lesson, students locate and label each country/continent discussed in the book on a world map. Students take a walk and...
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My Family Tradition
Students examine different family traditions to further explain social patterns. They complete a graphic organizer using educational software.
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Character Education-Perseverance
Students learn what it means to stick to a task through the re-telling of the story, "The Little Engine That Could." Personal application is made to their own experiences with the completion of, "I think I can..." endings.
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Native American Culture: The Light in the Forest
Seventh graders read the novel, The Light in the Forest. They work in groups to research and create artifacts for a Native American Living Museum. They complete a Powerpoint presentation of their virtual museum to classmates.
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Human Sexuality Unit
Eighth graders determine how mass media influences human sexuality by looking at advertisements for their sexual content and how the ads affect their decision making. After evaluating the advertisements in a PowerPoint presentation they...
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Learning About the Great Inventor: Thomas Edison Lesson Plans
Thomas Edison facts can inspire students to create their own inventions, and persevere despite adversity.
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Poetry on the Web
Eighth graders search a website and locate a poem written by a specific poet whose work appears in the grade 8 anthology. After listening to poetry, 8th graders present oral or written examples of imagery and an analysis of the imagery.
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Tracking Down Meaning in Great Expectations
Fourth graders are assigned an unique theme, symbol, or character in Great Expectations. They becomes the class expert on that facet of the novel while learning the basic skills needed to write a research paper.
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Cinderella Around the World
Students listen to two versions of the Cinderella story, and compare and contrast them. They demonstrate the similarities and differences in the two stories on a Venn diagram.
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Peer pressure
Students identify ways to cope with peer pressure to use tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. They use selection from Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain.
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Combining and Breaking Apart Numbers
First graders read Imogene's Antlers by David Small the create pipe cleaner antlers. Using these as a tool students combine and create number sentences. They continue to work through the framework of a software program.
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Story Pyramid And Comparison
Students investigate the details of a chosen story of literature. They use a pyramid graphic organizer to record information. The information is used to write a summary of the story. Students use a rubric while writing the summary to...
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Measuring Me
Fifth graders examine the importance of accurate measurement both in customary and metric units. Through hands on measurement activities, they compare and contrast the accuracy of their measurements with the measurements of other...
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Dreaming of Gardens
Students demonstrate ways to be an environmental philanthropist. In this philanthropy lesson, students read The Gardener and Just a Dream and compare the two books. Students discuss ways the characters demonstrated environmental...
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We Have a Dream
Students work as partners to study Dr. Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech. In this African American history lesson, students work with their cross-grade partner to study, understand, and memorize the speech. Students meet with...
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Women in the Civil War
Students study the Civil War era in the US with a concentration on women during this time through literature and biographies. They create a timeline or multimedia presentation as one product of this series of lessons.
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Comparing News Sources: Where Would You Turn?
Young scholars follow the study of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and attempts to connect the thematic underpinnings of the novel to Students' own lives.