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Teaching Lewis and Clark: Challenge to Communicate
Young scholars note instances in the journals of Lewis and Clark where they relied on non-verbal communication (sign language.) They discover some basic sign language and play a game in which they must use their new sign language skills...
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Taking Them On Faith?
Learners explore, examine and study about the role of religion in presidential campaigns and elections by reading and discussing the article, "God" 08: Whose, and How Much, Will Voters Accept?" They research a variety of presidents...
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Take Me Out of the Ballgame
Students examine their own views on cheating. They explore the history of cheating in baseball by reading and discussing the article "Cheating Matters (Sometimes)." They create proposals for an exhibit that documents and explains the...
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Taking Care Of Our Own In A Global Community
Students engage in a study of the community and specifically look at the organization National Council For Jewish Women. They conduct research about the gathering of funds for worthy causes. Students define what a worthy cause is and...
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Family Life
What is family? Challenge your scholars to write an encompassing definition of what this word means to them. After reading "It May Be a Family Matter, But Just Try to Define Family," class members discuss the emotional issues surrounding...
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The Tell-Tale Hearts of Writers
Knock, knock, knock...Creep out your class with a critical thinking lesson focused on word relationships in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." They investigate the relationship between word choice, mood, and interpretation of a...
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Arti-Factual Evidence
Practice responding to controversial information with the New York Times lesson provided here. Middle schoolers watch a video interview with the director of The Lost Tomb of Jesus. After reading a companion article, they identify the...
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Digging Up Artifacts On Line
Why is it important to preserve historical documents and artifacts? Examine the role of primary source documents and the availability of these documents on the Internet. Middle and high schoolers write a journal about the nature of...
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Searching for Answers
How does a judge in the federal judicial court decide on a verdict? Give your middle and high schoolers a better idea of how final decisions are made in the judicial system. Then split your class into four groups, assigning each group a...
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Rave Reviews
A fun lesson plan that utilizes toys and persuasion! After reading the article, which was written in 2005, pull some advertisements for toys currently being sold. These will be more relevant to your middle and high schoolers. What toy is...
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Truth Be Told
Encourage your middle and high schoolers to share their memories of a recent event. After reading a New York Times article, they discuss Elie Wiesel's memoir, Night. They write their own memoir about a significant event that affected...
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What a Relief!
How are disasters addressed by the Federal Government? This New York Times lesson, based on the article "Disaster Aid: The Mix of Mercy and Politics," prompts middle schoolers to discuss the idea of using a disaster declaration as a...
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Playing With Science
Young scientists investigate the scientific concepts and principles that help make common toys such as hula hoops, yo-yos, slinkies, and silly putty work. As a class, they read "Backyard Rocket Science, Served Wet" to get a look behind...
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Can Scientists Discover a Limit to Discovery?
Is there anything left to discover? Evaluate opposing sides of the debate regarding whether or not there is a future for scientific discovery. Middle and high schoolers assess quotations from the articles included to evaluate claims and...
NASA
Exploration of a Problem: Making Sense of the Elements
When given too much data to simply memorize, it helps to sort it into manageable groups. The second activity in the six-part series of Cosmic Chemistry challenges groups of pupils to take a large amount of data and figure out how to best...
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National Thank You Month and Letter Writing
Improve writing skills while teaching students the importance of expressing gratitude.
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Deal Me In
Middle schoolers study the components of a deck of cards and conduct an initial experiment in the probability of drawing various types of cards from a deck. They play two rounds of poker to discover the probability of drawing several...
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The Gay '80s, '90s and '00s
After reading and discussing a news article from the New York Times regarding gay and lesbian issues of the last thirty years, young scholars engage in several activities to explore current events. They create a timeline, either...
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Children of War
Take a closer look at the impact of war in this language arts and social studies lesson. Middle schoolers use primary sources to conduct research as they relate to the effects of war on children. They compare and contrast the effects of...
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Credible Sources on the Internet: What to Trust, What to Dismiss and When to Cite a Source
Wait, you mean researchers don't all use Wikipedia? Teach your class about intelligent research with a lesson about evaluating digital sources. The lesson starts with a quickwrite and includes vocabulary exercises and several...
Hello-Hello
Portuguese – Learn Portuguese
Marcos and Paulo have just met Ana. Watch as they use Portuguese to introduce themselves and get to know each other. Language learners then complete a series of activities designed to help them master each brief conversation.
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Speaking Out About Kosovo
Invite your class to reflect on the responsibility of newspapers to act as vehicles for citizens to voice their opinions. Using an article to gain factual info. about gov't strategies in dealing with current events in Kosovo, students...
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Fanatically Grammatically Correct
Research guidelines for correct usage, then explore how creative writers employ punctuation as an essential tool in their craft. Secondary classes create board games to teach elementary school students how to properly punctuate. From the...
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Trade Secrets
Young analysists explore how global trade and free market policies might personally affect them. They read an article, view a series of documenteries, and engage in a class discussion. Great lesson!