Education Grants Lesson Plans

Students research current legislative issues, make a case for or against them, and then present their views to an actual legislator during a class visit.

Learners simulate a legislative hearing in which some are witnesses, some are members of the legislative panel, and some are judges who must make a decision. Panel members prepare and present opening statements and decide questions they ask.

Fourth graders define the four types of bullying and define harassment. They complete a True/False survey, student notes, and question and answer.

First graders examine and discuss the skills needed to be an effective learner. They sing "The Learning Song" to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down, and complete a Learning Book activity sheet. Each student draws a picture of the different learning strategies and staple the pictures together to make a book.

Tenth graders acquire the knowledge, attitude, interpersonal skills to help them understand and respect self and others. They participate in "Origins" as either group participants or judges. For each round, they give the common usage and origins of the words or phrases.

Twelfth graders rate themselves Good, Average, or Poor for 27 different skills that they have learned throughout their educational experience. They describe their strongest and weakest skills and discuss the implications for their success. Students also give examples of times in which they used their strongest skills to be a successful learner as well as times they were not successful because their skills were not as strong or were not acquired.

First graders examine and discuss different emotions and feelings, and how people can react when they are in an unsafe situation. They discuss a feelings thermometer, and complete a worksheet involving identifying how they feel in different situations. Students also participate in role-playing different situations and identify the feelings involved in each scenario.

Seventh graders discover how to make the best decisions given the information at hand. In groups, they role-play different roles in scenerios to help them deal with peer pressure. To end the lesson plan, they discuss why it is so hard for people to say no.

Eighth graders engage in a lesson that is concerned with the acquiring of skills necessary to make informed career choices. They examine the type of language that should be acquired for communication in the workplace. They also have class discussion about written journal entries.

Fifth graders investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions. Then they break into groups to complete the training and education for two careers selected from a listing in the lesson. Students also report their findings to the class and write a letter to themselves highlighting what they learned about themselves as well as about finding and using information in the work world.