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Battering Through the Seasons
Students define bartering and barter to investigate supply and demand. In this bartering lesson, students read A New Coat for Anna and recall how they exchanged merchandise in the story. Students complete a sequential graphic organizer....
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AFRICAN-AMERICAN POETRY BEFORE EMANCIPATION
Explore poetry written by African-Americans before emancipation. 8th graders create collages, and explain why they chose specific stanzas. They display the collages on the class bulletin board that demonstrate an understanding of the...
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Sunken Treasure
Go on a treasure hunt with your language arts class! They read "Treasure Hunt" and "Exploring the Titanic," then create a final product by taking part in an unusual art activity.
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The Roman Empire
Fourth graders identify the reasons behind the fall of the Roman Empire and describe the changes that occurred after the fall of the Roman Empire.
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Columbian Contexts
Students explore geo-political and economic contexts for the European Renaissance journeys of exploration, including those of Columbus, create cartographic symbols, and add those symbols to a print-out of Ptolemy's map.
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Lewis and Clark: The Language of Discovery
Young scholars replicate some of the trailblazing methods of Lewis and Clark on a fifteen-minute "writing journey" through the school or neighborhood.
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Animal Encounters
Students use their visualizing and interpreting skills to produce original writings and artwork.
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How Things Fly
Students observe photographs of selected twentieth-century aircraft at the National Air and Space Museum and note differences in the design of aircraft wings, fuselages, and engines.
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How Things Fly
Students, by drawing on their own experiences, discuss and examine the basic physics of flight. They participate in a variety of activities regarding flight.
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Stories of the Wrights' Flight
Students examine and compare primary and secondary source accounts of the Wright brothers' first flights on December 17, 1903.
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Money Talks
Students move from fact finding to interpretation as they examine paper money from the time of the American Revolution. In the final exercise, they use the issue dates of the bills to construct a chronology of political changes during...
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The Rocky Shore
Students compare a realistic landscape painting with a photograph of the same place.
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Spy on a Spider
Students view slides or live specimens to name and describe the distinguishing features of groups of arthropods, especially spiders and insects. They complete worksheets, observe webs and then search for and record where spiders can be...
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Creatures from Planet X: Spiders
Students are given a description of some fascinating animals from "Planet X". They follow the descriptions given to illustrate one of these animals paying careful attention to introduced vocabulary such as 'appendages', 'receptors', and...
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Facts, Feats and Folklore: Spiders
Students review and discuss a variety of sayings, folklore and superstitions about spiders. They discuss this information and choose either an interesting fact or appealing foklore tradition to illustrate.
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Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students make deductions about life in an internment camp by reading and comparing letters written to Clara Breed. Along the way, they consider the advantages of looking at a historical event from the multiple points of view of...
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Great Britain's Greatest Queen
Fourth graders explore the reign of Queen Victoria and the significant political developments in the 19th century.
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The U.S. Recognition of the State of Israel
Students research the political aspects of the U.S. position in the Middle East, considering, for example, Truman's position in view of the 1948 presidential election. They examine a telegram sent by the Secretary of State, George C....
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Guidelines for Governing: Utopia and The Prince
Students explore the power of the Church in government. In this literature lesson, students read Sir Thomas More's Utopia and Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. Students respond to questions regarding the works and discuss them.
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Working Watermelon
You're going to wish you had a watermelon for this lesson! Class members read about watermelons and make a salad in class to sample. They also perform estimates, measurements and calculations on a watermelon. They predict what percentage...
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Developing Civilizations and the Role of Rice
Student investigate how civilizations developed. In this rice farming lesson, 5th graders explore how rice cultivation changed through different civilizations. Students gain knowledge about different types of rice, where it's grown and...
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The Art of El Anasui: Creating a Mural with Discarded/Recycled Objects
Students create murals that feature recycled objects. In this West African art lesson, students examine artwork by El Anatsui and his commentary on social issues. Students then create murals in the style of El Anatsui using discarded...
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Contemporary Immigration
Eleventh graders analyze the patterns and waves of immigrants that have come to the United States from 1850 to 2000. They participate in a class discussion about immigration, and in small groups conduct research analyzing and evaluating...
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Mali
Seventh graders begin the lesson plan by reading primary sources about the country of Mali. Using maps drawn in the past, they discuss what they can gather about the country from the map and how it has changed over time. They use a...