Facing History and Ourselves
Social Media and Ferguson
How can social media help or hinder civil dialogue? How can information shared on social media be verified? As the investigation of media reports of the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown continues, class members read news...
Facing History and Ourselves
Verifying Breaking News
The attempts of journalists to verify the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown take center stage as individuals analyze three of the initial newspaper accounts of the story. The whole class discussion then focuses on the...
Curated OER
Library Skills Review
Middle schoolers review library skills by rotating through teacher-created learning stations covering various topics. They discuss plagiarism, work on Almanac practice as a team, complete practice using indexes, and an abstracts handout...
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The News Behind the Story
What a fun way to analyze plot, setting, and character. Learners review story elements, read a short fictional story, then turn the events of that story into a headlining news paper article. Not only does this lesson plan engage critical...
Facing History and Ourselves
How Journalists Minimize Bias
Class members are challenged to write a neutral news story about the events they observe in a short video. After sharing their stories in groups and discussing the different perceptions, the class concludes with a video of journalists...
Facing History and Ourselves
Hands Up, Don't Shoot!
Why is it so difficult to develop a clear understanding of the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer? To answer this question class members listen to a NPR discussion of the findings of...
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Orientation to the Library
High schoolers participate in an orientation to the high school library and locate various resources. In this orientation to the library instructional activity, students are introduced to the library by the media specialist. They learn...
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Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: Mixing Words and Pictures
Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy lesson plan focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then discusses how...
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Sorting
Students examine the concept of organization. In this library skills lesson plan, students practice ordering and sorting skills by playing the Flood Game.
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Ban That Book!
Take advantage of Banned Book Week to pique students' interest and get them reading! Create a classroom display of previously banned books and allow each member of your class to choose one to read. After they have read their book, get...
Facing History and Ourselves
The Nazi Party Platform
Not all party platforms stay democratic. A resource covers many political issues in Germany during the time of World War II, and teaches pupils about the Nazi party platform and what went wrong. Individuals participate in a warm-up...
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Citing Sources
Practice citation skills with this activity, which takes learners to the Library/Media center. There, they will view a Powerpoint presentation and practice collecting data in both print and non-print sources. All necessary materials are...
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Budget Busters
Use this economic activity to focus on writing summaries of informational text. First, middle schoolers define common economic terms used to describe news about the economy. They closely read news about the federal budget deficit and...
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Navigating Nonfiction
Third graders explore the arrangement of nonfiction. In this library skills lesson, 3rd graders examine Dewey Decimal classification as they collaborate to locate nonfiction materials in the library/media center.
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What is a Dictionary?
Second graders explore the purpose of a dictionary. In this library media activity, 2nd graders explore My First Dictionary and identify guidewords, entry words, and captions. Students list ways they can use the dictionary.
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Revolutionary News Network
Seventh graders study events leading to, during and resulting from the American Revolution. They review elements of a political cartoon. They create and dramatize a scene from a Revolutionary War novel.
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Library Lesson Plan: Table of Contents
Third graders create a table of contents. In this library skills lesson, 3rd graders read Welcome to the White House and use the provided worksheet to create a table of contents for the book.
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Literature in the Library
Students get familiar with their school library. In this library orientation lesson, students explore the layout of the library and challenge students to locate literature materials in a scavenger hunt activity.
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Sorting
Students examine the concepts of organization and classification. In this library skills lesson, students practice ordering and sorting skills by playing an interactive Internet game. Students then practice their classification skills in...
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Propaganda
Ninth graders examine local examples of propaganda, such as election or political ads in order to identify types of propaganda and find examples of these in various media.
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Use the New Internet Library for Adult Learners
Adult learners, examine the Internet to answer life skills, use an online dictionary, evaluate web sites and fill in online forms. They will also write about web sites in this series of activities.
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Research a Poet and Explicate a Poem by that Poet
Using your school's media center, internet research, and a SMART board, 7th graders research a chosen poet and write a research report. Additionally, 7th graders explicate one poem by the poet within their report. Several resource links...
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Sorting: Library Books
Learners discover organization by participating in a class game. In this information sorting instructional activity, students utilize the Internet to play a library role-playing game with their classmates. Learners answer study questions...
C-SPAN
Political Polarization
Dive into the political breach with pupils and explore the reasons for political polarization. Using clips from C-SPAN that include discussions from reporters and scholars, class members consider what is causing the political fault lines...