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Variables and Controls in an Investigation
Seventh graders identify variables and controls in a paper airplane investigation. In this scientific method lesson, 7th graders conduct an experiment to determine the variables that affect the flight of paper airplanes. They design an...
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What is Drawing?
Students explore visual arts by participating in a drawing activity. In this artistic expression instructional activity, students discuss how our thoughts and emotions are conceptualized by illustrating or painting. Students utilize...
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Summer Preparations for a Grade Level Change
Changing grade levels can be a positive experience for new and veteran teachers alike.
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Working It Out
Students participate in a simulation in which they are arbitrarily assigned different work roles and compare their experiences to those discussed in a New York Times article about the racial divisions in a pork production plant.
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Zen and the Work of Frank Lloyd Wright
Students experience Zen philosophies reflected in artwork, poetry, and architecture. Students will explore these connections and expand the discussion to include a professional author of their choice.
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History, African Americans, The Blues
This lesson enables teachers to use blues music to explore the history of African Americans in the 20th century. By studying the content of blues songs, students can learn about the experiences and struggles of the working-class...
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Facing Reality
Students explore social issues that are meaningful to them and create documentaries in which they share their information, thoughts and impressions.
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90 Miles: Immigrant Journeys
Students view a film that chronicles the experiences of Juan Carlos Zaldivar, a Cuban American immigrant. They discuss and analyze this autobiographical film and conduct further research on historical relations between the United States...
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Environment: Rivers of Destiny
Students investigate the results of human intervention with the Mekong. Mississippi, and Amazon rivers. After watching a video about the status of the three rivers, they complete experiments demonstrating the effects of erosion and...
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The Short Story: A Slice of Life
Students are introduced to the characteristics of the short story. Individually, they use their own personal experiences to write a poem about their families to get them used to writing. Next, they practice reading various short...
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Practical Illustrations of Astronomical Concepts Relating to the Solar System
Eighth graders are introduced to concepts related to the Solar System. In groups, they participate in an experiment in which they must describe a ray of light and how it travels. They draw a diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum and...
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Sociobiology: Heredity Factors
Students examine DNA replication and how proteins are synthesized from DNA codes and continue to explore the effects of genetics in additional lessons. Among the topics covered are: protein synthesis, cell chemistry, environmental...
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Sensory Details
Students observe their environment and write detailed, sensory-specific sentences about that environment. This activity can be extended to include the creation of a personalized story or movie of the experience (student examples are...
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Tectonic Plates, Earthquakes, and Volcanoes
Challenge geography classes to locate the major volcanoes and earthquake faults on a world map. In groups, they identify the pattern made and examine the relationship between the locations of the faults and volcanoes and tectonic plates....
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Water: Our Most Important Beverage
Third graders complete a KWL chart on what they already know about water and what they want to know. As a class, they participate in an activity in which they discover the amount of drinkable water on Earth and are introduced to the...
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The Write Response
Students explore what impact the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 had on nine different American novelists. They write and share their own thoughts and feelings, then consider the role writing plays in their own lives,...
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"Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters"
Fifth graders read and analyze the books "Snow White in New York" and "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter." They analyze the characteristics of the characters in each story, write thoughts of characters in speech bubbles, and write a letter to...
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Energy Transformation
Students experiment with variety of materials to investigate, develop inferences, and differentiate between concepts of motion energy and heat energy, and the part played by friction in the transformation process.
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Poetry Writing
Students compose a piece of poetry modeled after the poetry of Carl Sandburg and share their poem(s) with their colleagues. They use a cluster diagram to organize their thoughts and brainstorm their ideas.
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Seeing the World in New Ways
Students probe their own histories to record how they have had to expand their world views. They determine "Everyone has a culture. It influences how we see the world, ourselves, and others." The explain the concept of cultural...
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The Battle of the Bulge
Students research the events and results of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. As a class, they discuss the role of the military in the entire European theater and write a paper describing the situations and conditions the...
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Sense of Place
Young scholars identify the major folk regions of Louisiana and the relationship between folklife, geography, and ecology. They give deeper thought to what makes their own community unique, what their sense of place actually is. ...
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Walking the Plank: Student Worksheet
In this math worksheet, students will work in a group to experiment with the weight of objects when placed at a distance from a scale (using a plank). Students will record and graph their results.
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Rotational Inertia
Students spin themselves to understand rotational inertia. In this Inertia lesson, students will also use ramps, balance beam and pendelum to conduct rotational inertia experiments. Students draw conclusions to explain rotational...