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Study Guide
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PBS

To Kill a Mockingbird Teacher's Guide

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
If you're planning a unit on To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, don't pass this resource by! It includes thorough discussion questions and vocabulary from the novel, research opportunities, and writing prompts to extend learning...
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Unit Plan
Santa Ana Unified School District

The Giver

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Wouldn't it be great to live an a community without pain, without danger? Such a society is the goal of the community in The Giver. Using Lois Lowry's dystopian novel as the core text, class members read primary source materials about...
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Lesson Plan
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Dream of a Nation

Creating Awareness through Action Oriented Writing and Research

For Teachers 8th Standards
Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth graders...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Basil Heatter, "The Long Night of the Little Boats"

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
“It was a miracle.” Basil Heatter’s “The Long Night of the Little Boats,” which details the miraculous rescue of the British army from the shores of Dunkirk in 1940, is featured in a series of exercises that ask class members to read,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Expressing Your Views to the Letter

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Analyze the motivation, purpose, and value of letters to the editor by examining letters written in response to the violence at Columbine High School. For homework, middle and high schoolers write their own letters to the editor about an...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Putting it Together: Analyzing and Producing Persuasive Text

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
Young orators demonstrate what they have learned about persuasion and persuasive devices throughout the unit by analyzing a persuasive speech and then crafting their persuasive essays. Class members engage in a role-play exercise, use...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

"The Story of an Hour" Lesson 5: Teacher's Guide and Notes

For Teachers 8th Standards
Learning how to craft a compelling argument supported by evidence and logical reasoning is an essential skill. The fifth lesson in "The Story of An Hour" unit asks young scholars to formulate an argument in response to the question, 'Is...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Writing An Argumentative Paragraph: Argumentative Writing

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
Learning how to craft a cogent argument based on a solid claim, supported with evidence and solid reasoning, is an important life skill. Teach middle schoolers about argumentative writing with a lesson asking them to analyze the claims,...
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Lesson Plan
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Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

Culminating Writing Project - Reporting on Angel Island

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The unit study of Angel Island Immigration Station concludes with scholars using information from the previous lessons to craft a news story about the Angel Island program.
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Unit Plan
Crabtree Publishing

State Your Case Series

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Four lessons make up a unit focused on writing persuasive essays. Each unit builds on the last, ultimately taking pupils through the writing process. Scholars make a claim, create an argument, debate both sides, then state their opinion....
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit Assessment: Draft of Position Paper

For Teachers 8th Standards
What is the purpose of an introduction and conclusion? Using the resource, scholars review the model position paper from activity one and discuss the author's choices. Next, they draft their position papers' introductory and concluding...
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Lesson Plan
Penguin Books

One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt - Teacher's Guide

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Children in foster care face a lot of uncertainty in their lives. A guide for the novel One for the Murphys introduces a main character, Carley, who is thrust into the foster care system. Chapter-by-chapter questions cover key details in...
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Organizer
Mr. Nussbaum

THE Founding Father

For Students 4th - 8th Standards
Who is the founding father—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin? Scholars decide which of three early Americans, should be crowned the founding father of America based on research. Then, they compose a persuasive...
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Lesson Plan
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Scholastic

Women's Suffrage for Grades 6–8

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Learners study the decisions and solutions involved in winning the right to vote. After reading background information on the fight for women's suffrage, including one woman's story, and its eventual success in the United States and...
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Printables
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Curriculum Corner

8th Grade ELA "I Can" Statement Posters

For Teachers 8th Standards
Eighth grades can master the ELA Common Core standards! Show your learners the connection between classroom activities and assignments and the standards with this set of "I Can" statement posters. Each standard has been rewritten as an...
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Printables
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Curriculum Corner

8th Grade ELA Common Core Checklists

For Teachers 8th Standards
How close are your eighth graders to mastering the ELA Common Core standards? Keep an eye on progress with these charts, which include every eighth grade identifier and full standard text. As you move through the year and teach, reteach,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
It is entirely fitting and proper that Wilfred Owen’s powerful “Dulce et Decorum Est” is the poem used for an exercise in close reading, discussion, analysis, and argumentative writing. Class members discuss focus questions in pairs,...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Don't Let the Earth Down

For Teachers 5th - 9th Standards
Although recycling is definitely beneficial, reducing our waste and conserving our natural resources should really be the focus of environmentalists. Encourage the future generation to create a public service announcement about a...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Telling Our Stories of Giving - Writing to Persuade

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
After identifying the parts of a persuasive piece of writing, young writers explore different prewriting activities for the persuasive essay. They have the option to write a news article, personal narrative, or persuasive essay to...
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Writing
Curated OER

Making a Formal Argument $5 or a Lottery Ticket

For Students 6th - 9th Standards
What's better: having a lottery ticket or a $5 bill? This question is sure to engage your middle schoolers. There's an example answer provided and, unlike the other worksheets of its kind, there is a space to write both a rough and final...
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Writing
Curated OER

Advanced Making a Formal Argument An Apple a Day

For Students 6th - 9th Standards
Give your middle schoolers an opportunity to create an opinion and provide details to support it. They respond to the statement "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." There is an example answer provided, but consider removing it from...