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Short and Sweet
Students summarize nonfiction text. After reviewing the process for reading in order to summarize, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the checklist outlined by the instructor during...
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Summarize Successfully
Students summarize nonfiction text. After reviewing the process for reading in order to summarize, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the graphic organizer outlined by the instructor...
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Main Idea and Supporting Details
Eighth graders identify the main idea and supporting details in paragraphs. In this language arts lesson, 8th graders review organizational patterns in paragraphs and determine which pattern is best for a given situation. Individually,...
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Ghana's Tropical Rainforests: What Does Their Future Have To Do With Us?
Students examine the human impact on the tropical rainforests of Ghana, and the connection to people in other countries. They research the threats to rainforests by writing a campaigning leaflet and newspaper article.
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Canada
Students examine a variety of issues that affect the geography of Canada. In small groups they read a magazine article about a specific issue related to Canadian geography, answer discussion questions, and present a summary of their...
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Shortened Shakespeare
Young scholars discover the two main ingredients of a play: speech and actions. They then listen to a shortened version of "Macbeth" and write down one sentence to describe what is happening in each of the comic-strip cells.
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Impact of the Progressive Era
Eighth graders examine the impact of the Progressive Era on the state of North Carolina. Using primary source documents, they discover the reason for the creation of schools during this time period. After reading news articles, they...
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Summing it all Up...In Your Own Words
Learners observe and demonstrate the steps to identifying the main ideas of a text. They listen to the teacher read a paragraph and model the steps of summarizing the main idea. Students then independently read a different paragraph...
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You've Got to be Taught to Hate and Fear
Students explore themes of prejudice and acceptance. In this character education lesson, students listen and respond to several fiction books, poems, and lyrics with a similar theme. Students locate articles with the main idea of...
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Pandemics
Students examine the potential threat of a Bird Flu outbreak. They write letters to representatives advocating policy in case of a bird flu outbreak.
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Packaging Your Product!
Fifth graders discuss the functions, benefits and drawbacks of packaging. In this product package lesson students design alternative packaging and write an essay to deal with the issues of packaging.
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Coral Reef Ecology
Students explore coral life cycles. In this coral ecosystems lesson, students view videos explaining the life cycle of coral, including examples of sexual and asexual reproduction. Students read a related article cooperatively in groups,...
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The First Humans: Prehistory-3500 B.C. "Lucy"
Students explore prehistoric times by completing web activities in class. In this human ancestry lesson, students identify the archaeological discovery of the "Lucy" skeleton and what it meant for science. Students investigate the Leakey...
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The Land and the Water
Third graders read "The Land and the Water," a fictional short story and an article about John F. Kennedy, Jr. and compare and contrast fictional tragedy to a non-fiction tragedy. They fill out a Venn diagram and write an essay using...
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Parable of the Sower
Pupils read passages from the Parable of the Sower. They discuss the topic of religion in the story. They write key points and discuss any concerns they have.
National First Ladies' Library
Building a Federal Town: Washington, DC
Young scholars create a timeline of the history of Washington, D.C. from 1787 to 1879. Using the internet, they read specified articles about the design of the capital and city of Washington DC. Young scholars write a newspaper article...
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Ecology
Students personify ecology vocabulary and write a one-act play using their knowledge of ecology as the basis for characters, conflict, setting and plot.
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Social Activism In The United States
Middle schoolers explore justice issues. In this social activism lesson, students watch "Social Activism in the United States," and then locate newspaper articles from the 1960's and 1970's about events during the era.
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Civil War Newspaper
Students investigate the concept of the Civil War while conducting research using a variety of resources. The information is used to create a source for a class project. They create a class newspaper that becomes a summary of some...
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Get to the Point!
Students summarize a selected piece of text nonfiction text. After reviewing the correct way to highlight important information, students read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the five step process outlined by...
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Persuasive and Emotive Language Lesson Plan
Students explore persuasive language. In this emotive language lesson, students consider the use of language that incites readers as they participate in reading and writing activities that require them to describe a tourist attraction,...
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The Social Sciences
Students search for examples of social science in and around their school. They create a Social Science scrapbook of the eight social sciences, that includes news articles and summaries that focus on each social science area.
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Publishing History
Students create an issue of a magazine. They work collaboratively to write articles for the magazine, design a cover and develop advertisements. Students complete their page layout, and create the magazine using information form each...
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Summarizing Summer
Fourth graders summarize a piece of text. After reviewing the correct way to read in order to summarize, 4th graders independently read a selection of their choice. They write a summary paragraph using the graphic organizer outlined by...