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Folktale Unit: The Princess and the Golden Shoes
Students study variations of classic folktales while deciding why the tales were so popular many years ago. They write a letter to an author.
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Where We Buy Food
Second graders investigate how to buy food by going to the store. They use pictures of farming and different types of food to engage in the lesson. It includes key vocabulary that puppets use while telling a story to the students. They...
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Let's Get Cooking
First graders create food from their cultures and present food and its history with the rest of class. They read "Everybody Cooks Rice" and everyone tastes the meals brought into class. They write a paragraph describing the reason for...
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Where Did My Lunch Come From? A U.S. Regional Tour
Students explore the five regions of the United States. In this social studies lesson, students discuss the regions and the states located in that region. Students discuss the types of food produced in each region and analyze a school...
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Culture Creation vs. Culture Consumption - Finding Voice Through Digital Storytelling
Ninth graders explore the power of media in culture and Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence. In this nonviolence and media instructional activity, 9th graders analyze Gandhi's nonviolent methods for social change and discuss the media's...
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The Numbers Tell the Story
Young scholars demonstrate how to gather and interpret statistical data. In this data analysis lesson, students search for statistics on the health effects of smoking and place the information into charts. Young scholars create these...
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A Day in the life of...
Students read about and study insects--their distinguishing characteristics, habitats, camouflage methods, defense mechanisms, etc. They draw pictures and write a story from the viewpoint of an insect and share their pictures and stories...
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Symbiosis: Help, Hinder or Destroy
Use background information and vocabulary to familiarize your students with the concept of symbiosis and the role agriculture plays in the shared relationship. They then write the vocabulary in their lab books or journals, and read the...
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The Story that Tracks Tell
Eighth graders observe and investigate animal tracks. They draw prints for local animals and switch with another student to guess the animal, identify animal tracks in a nearby wood lot, create plaster casts of the tracks, and write a...
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The Fastest Pig in the West in the Classroom: Zodiac Signs
Students explore Chinese culture by reading a story with their class. For this astrology lesson, students read a chapter from the book The Fastest Pig in the West and discuss the relevance of the Chinese zodiac in modern society....
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What's On Your Plate?
Students keep running record of the activities they engage in and the food they eat. In this lesson on healthy living, students discuss the dangers of anorexia and bulimia, record their activity level and food consumption over the course...
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- Making Metaphors with Munchies
Students brainstorm independently first, then ask their best friend on the team, or seat partners, depending on the year & student mix, to add to their list of personal characteristics and/or to name three words they think of...
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Whales
First graders investigate two different types of whales; toothed and baleen. They describe what the different types of whale eat. They listen to a cassette of Dyan Sheldon's, The Whale Song before making stick puppets to dramatize the...
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The Great Kapok Tree..
Young scholars predict what each animal in the story read says and then compare them. They pretend that a tree was cut down and write a new ending for the story. Students explain why the story is not true and create a Venn Diagram...
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Animal Tracks Program
Entice your learners with this lesson on animal footprints. After reading the story Footprints in the Snow by Cynthia Benjamin, they use photos to identify animals and their footprints. Then they participate in an activity to classify...
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Dinosaurs
Students are introduced to the various types of dinosaurs and write in their journals about their favorite one. After listening to a story and watching a filmstrip, they color a few pages in their Dinosaur Friends Book. They also examine...
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The Tropical Supermarket
Third graders explore the sources of the various foods they eat. They examine how everyone is intricately connected to the ecosystems in which natural resources are produced. Students observe how the lives of people living in those...
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Gullah Activities
Students study the Gullah culture by watching a video about Gullah, Gullah Island. They discuss the customs and crafts of the people such as basket weaving, food preparation, pottery, and quilt making. While working in centers, they make...
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The Extra Place
Students read and discuss the story of a Peace Corps volunteer's experiences in Poland. They read and write a response to the story, and participate in a class analysis about their own personal decision regarding the story.
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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
The classic book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs lesson, is used to help readers compare and contrast the weather in Chewandswallow to their own town. Students write their own fantasy weather story. This lesson is intended to be an...
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Johnny Appleseed
Young scholars engage in a study of apples using children's literature. They conduct research using a variety of resources. Student list facts about apples and compare them while answering some guided questions. They plant some apple...
Teacher Vision
The Wampanoag Indians: A Thanksgiving Lesson
Spark some lively conversation about American holiday traditions and debunk accepted notions about the first Thanksgiving at the same time. After reviewing the mainstream version of the Thanksgiving story with your class, offer some...
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WET Science Lesson #11: How Light Affects Water
Scientists listen to the story of Wadja Egnankou who works to save African mangrove forests. They experiment with refraction and the introduction of particulate matter to water. They conclude with creative writing about the need for a...
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Bird Interdisciplinary Possibilities
Students explore birds, their territory, breeding, and seasonal movement. They research and collect information on birds through writing letters to ornithologists, reading in books, comparing web sites, and observing pictures. Students...