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Discovering Peace
Students explore vocabulary related to peace. In this peace lesson, students define the word "peace" and create a poem about peace. Students create a "peace quilt" as a follow-up activity.
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Lewis and Clark: Prized Possession
Students create a Sacagawea-inspired wampum belt. In this Native-American lesson plan, students study Sacagawea and her influence on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Students learn about wampum and prized possessions and work in groups to...
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Dali & Desnos: Surrealism in Poetry and Art
High schoolers research the surrealism movement and its primary artists. Language is also analyzed, and students will create their own original poem utilizing surrealistic techniques.
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James Brown: Life and Times
High schoolers trace James Brown's rise from "Little Junior" in Depression-era Augusta, Georgia, to the "Minister of the New Super Heavy Funk" and create a collage that captures his impact on American music.
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Medieval African Kingdoms
Seventh graders examine the geography and political history of West Africa. They role-play as applicants to a company that transports customers to any historic time period. Working in teams, they create promotional products encouraging...
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Harriman and Plant Identification
Students observe and record botanical details from the plant specimens. They identify plants using sorting key and field guide and classify specimens for preservation and display purposes.
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Can We Be Both Conservationists and Consumers?
Students explore their role as consumers and conservationists and what roles they play in today's economic climate. They explore resource allocation issues. Students analyze data and draw comparisons between historical and present-day...
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Poetic Analysis
Young scholars write a poetic analysis on a poem by Carl Sandburg. They take their previous knowledge of poetic devices and apply them to a piece of writing that displays their knowledge on a specific poem. They explain what they know...
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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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Building a Better Argument
Students create good arguments by exploring the basic structure of an arguments. They determine premises and conclusions for analyzing the effectiveness of arguments. In addition, they explore the differences between arguments and...
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Unit Plan for Mark Twain and American Humor
Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. In this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...
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Oceans-A Fact Haiku
Students create haiku poems. In this poetry lesson, students listen to the sound of the ocean from an audio file and write a haiku poem about oceans.
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Making a Quilt
Students use vocabulary to describe the quilt making process. For this quilting lesson, students collect needed materials, sequence the steps for quilting and create an original peace quilt. Students write about their quilts.
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Sondheim: Secret Metaphors
Students explore the work of Stephen Sondheim. In this musical theater lesson plan, students examine the musicals Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George. Students identify and anaylze linear and nonlinear structural...
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Spinning Your Wheels
Students read various articles related to transportation and land use. They cite textual references as they engage in panel discussions, shared inquiry discussions and debates. They write a persuasive essay on the topic.
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Why Burn Books?
Students identify the role of free speech in the selection of library books. They choose one banned book to read and evaluate the reason for its censorship. They create an argument for or against the selection of the book.
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Follow the Campaign Trail
Students choose a candidate of interest to them to follow throughout a campaign. Using the Internet, they identify the strengths and weaknesses of their candidate and compare them to the others. They share their findings with the class.
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That was Then, This is Now-House and Home
Eleventh graders discover the appreciation of the importance of visuals in exploring different aspects of society past and present. They collaborate on comparing and contrasting information. Students look at what life was like during the...
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Rattling Review
Second graders watch a PowerPoint presentation, and distinguish between facts and myths about snakes. In this snakes lesson plan, 2nd graders discuss and review facts about snakes and summarize what they have inferred from the...
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Testing DNA and the Death Penalty
Students explore issues surrounding death penalty debate and participate in a values-clarification activity to help them form their opinions on this topic. They create a talk show to discuss issues involved with DNA testing and the death...
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Hank Williams: Still Singing After All These Years
Young scholars research the life and music of Hank Williams. They take a quiz on country music, watch a video about Hank Williams, research Williams' song lyrics, create a poster and write a bio poem about his life and work.
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Research PowerPoint Presentations
Second graders create a PowerPoint presentation about an animal they chose to research.
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My Favorite Things
Students identify "masterpieces" and mass-produced objects. They explain why they value a given object and determine what physical materials were used to create the objects. They create a class book featuring objects that they value.
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Searching For The American Dream
Ninth graders explore the meaning of the American dream and how it has been explained in various forms. After reading various immigrant accounts, 9th graders use poetry and writing to explain how different cultures view the American...