West Contra Costa Unified School District
Pythagorean Theorem and Its Converse
Challenge scholars to prove the Pythagorean Theorem geometrically by using a cut-and-paste activity. They then must solve for the missing sides of right triangles.
Cornell University
Resolution—Not Just for the New Year
Experiment with optical resolution using an inquiry-based lesson. Young researchers calculate fellow classmates' optical resolutions. They apply the information to understand the inner workings of optical instruments.
Reed Novel Studies
Ella Enchanted: Novel Study
Ella in Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted receives the gift of obedience and must do what others tell her, but her strong personality struggles with this gift. Scholars review how Ella handles her fate by completing...
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Use of the Simile
Fourth graders identify and write their own similes. In this literary devices lesson, 4th graders define and identify similes. The teacher scaffolds the lesson so that all students can write their own similes.
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A.M. and P.M.
In this ordering and time lesson, 1st graders review the meaning of A.M. and P.M. and discuss what they do during the day. Students chart their responses and then make a book of their daily activities.
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What Do Snails Eat?
Students conduct a food choice experiment with snails, recording the results on a chart to determine what snails eat. In this what do snails eat instructional activity, students color a picture of snail anatomy, perform the...
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Let the Games Begin!
Third graders use K-W-L charts to brainstorm a list of questions they would like to answer about sports. While visiting a Web site, 3rd graders research a chosen sport and complete their K-W-L chart.
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I Can Preserve My Planet
Students explore renewable and nonrenewable resources. In this ocean preservation lesson plan, students use KWL charts to understand ways the ocean is important to our daily lives. Students create a poster or wirte a letter to someone...
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Paint's Family Tree
Students sort and classify the genetic traits of horses. In this heredity and genetics lesson, students read dialogue in a skit in which specific physical traits of several horses are described and a horse family tree is created....
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Welcome to the First Day of School!
Classmates participate in a variety of getting-to-know-you activities for the first day of school. They make resolutions, become detectives about their fellow classmates, learn about each other by playing switch, and make...
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Garbage: Why Don't You Do Something With This Stuff? (Grades 7-8)
Students outline and discuss the steps necessary to tackle an environmental problem. They understand the process of recycling paper and discuss the importance of recycling efforts in fighting environmental problem.
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Art and Literacy, grades 3-6, Reading Comprehension Category: Critical Stance
Students compare two very different works of art and two poems, and verbally list similarities and differences they perceive in the works of art and the poems; students then select poem that best correlates with a work of art.
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Filling Out a Retrieval Chart
Fourth graders generate a spreadsheet that includes research about coastal plants, wetland plants and animals and Hawaiian stream animals.
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The Economic Differences Between the North and the South Prior to the Civil War
Seventh graders identify and explain the economic differences between the North and the South incorporating photographs and a Venn Diagram to interpret the two sides. They complete a KWL and T-chart to assist them with their task for the...
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Then and Now
First graders investigate the past and present by analyzing a group of images. In this community history lesson, 1st graders read the story Sarah Morton's Day by Kate Walters and discuss the time frame of the story. Students create a...
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Classification of Animals
Students explore animal characteristics by participating in a SMART board activity. In this animal classification instructional activity, students utilize a sorting chart to divide different animal names by their observable...
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Reading the Election Results
Students read a chart that shows results of the 1996 presidential election. They answer teacher created questions about the chart.
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Pre-reading Activity: Earnest Hemingway
Pupils explore the life of Ernest Hemingway. They complete a KWL chart about him and then complete a webquest about his life to find out about aspects of his life they wanted to learn. They follow by reading a novel Hemingway wrote.
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Magnets and Interactions
Second graders discover what magnets can do. In this magnet lesson students make predictions about magnets. They experiment with the magnets and record their data on a chart.
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How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
High schoolers complete a performance based assessment by writing and delivering their own "how to" speeches. They practice their speeches in pairs. They complete a flow chart demonstrating the steps for making a sandwich.
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Butterfly Life Cycle
Young scholars identify the stages in the butterfly life cycle. After completing a KWL chart, students participate in a brief lecture on the stages of the butterfly life cycle. Using reading books and Internet research, young scholars...
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Number Sense and Operation
First graders listen to a read aloud of Stephanie Calmenson's, Dinner a the Panda Palace identifying words related to math and writing them on a chart paper.
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Story Elements
Sixth graders use several pieces of literature to identify specific story elements. In this story elements lesson, 6th graders analyze the story element of character, character traits, and setting for the example stories. Students work...
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Language Arts: What Makes an Individual
Third graders listen to the teacher read "The Sneetches" prior to creating charts about their individual characteristics. After numerous examples of individuality, they compile them on chart paper. As an extension, 3rd graders write...