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Caves
Explore caves with your class! Your scholars will participate in scientific observation, research, inference and deduction, reading, vocabulary, and writing activities about caves with this lesson plan. This resource contains five...
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Lewis and Clark
Students investigate Lewis and Clark. In this Lewis and Clark lesson plan, students search the Internet for information about Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery. Students use maps to understand the explorations and decide which...
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Community Helpers
The book, Doctor Ted is used to kick off this instructional activity on Community Helpers. Young learners make connections to their own life by dictating a story of their own, and inventing other jobs that Ted can do. Â
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Recreate the Race
Learners research and find the route of the Alaskan dog sled race.In this Iditarod race instructional activity students find the checkpoints for the Iditarod on a map. Learners research information in pairs about each one of the...
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Lesson Plan: A Bird's Tale
Who wouldn't love to get a letter from a blue bird? Elementary art enthusiasts analyze the social and historical context of Ason Yellowhair's Navajo piece, Bird and Cornstalk Rug. They examine the construction and images on the rug...
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Structure Practice: The Passive Voice
Use this online interactive worksheet in an ELD class or for younger native speakers. They practice using simple past tense verbs in the passive voice. Many of the constructions are not straightforward, nor often used by early speakers,...
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Sampling the Ocean Floor
Students sample goodies from an unseen ocean floor and try to accurately describe their composition. This simulation helps students explain the limitations of sampling and the problem of obtaining representative samples of sea floor...
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Fish Tank Territories
Students observe swimming and resting patterns of aquarium fish to determine how different parts of the habitat are used. Different pairs of students should compare their results after several days to look for daily patterns.
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Kids Can Make a Difference
What is a philanthropist? We can all be philanthropists! After assessing the needs of the school and listening to literature about how they can help others, primary learners develop a class project and maintain a journal of their...
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What A Pair! A Cross Grade Writing Activity
What a pair! Older pupils interview younger ones and use what they learn to write a short, illustrated storybook that features the youngster as the main character. The youngster responds with a thank-you note in which they identify their...
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Marking Time
Two narrative excerpts tell the same story from different points of view. In the first excerpt (first person), sequencing words and phrases are bolded and learners write down what the bold type does. The second excerpt is in third...
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Borrowing Narrative Skills from Mr. Fletcher: Using a "Prompts in Reverse" Technique to Inspire Your Writers
Help your class find their writing voices with this instructional activity which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher...
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Band of Brothers
What is a community? Explore the idea of community by investigating countries that have experienced severe damage. Learners discuss the horrible aftermath the 2011 earthquake had on Japan's infrastructure after the tsunami it caused....
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Writing Classroom Agreements using Inspiration & Word to Go
How can you foster a thoughtful learning community for your class? First, the class brainstorms a list of behaviors that will help make the classroom a great place to learn. Then learners group similar ideas together and come up with...
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A Rat's Life
Here is a two-page worksheet on rats and mice. Learners answer nine true/false questions about rats and mice, then compose answers to seven short-answer questions about these two rodents. Finally, they must compose a fictional story...
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A Hidden Beauty
Expose the beautiful mystery of bulbs as young botanists learn all about these fascinating plants. They glean information from a short text before observing actual bulbs (consider an onion), and comparing their findings with predictions....
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The Colosseum of Rome-- Cursive Practice
In this cursive worksheet, students practice advanced letter connections by copying a paragraph about the Colosseum of Rome. There is an actual photograph included on the page.
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Mapping Your Identity: A Back-To-School Ice Breaker
Identify the unique personal attributes of your class members. Begin by viewing the Visual Thesaurus and discussing displayed attributes associated with famous American leaders. Using these identity maps as models, pupils generate nouns...
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Pesticide Watch Card
Students examine human health by identifying dangerous pesticides. In this agriculture lesson, students research the food production system in the United States and discuss dangers such as pesticides, chemicals and insecticides which...
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Protest Letter
What a fantastic resource to guide youngsters in persuasive letter writing. They read a brief letter to the editor and answer question about the author's purpose, word choice, and structure. Next, scholars draft their own letter by...
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Working on the Slant
Compare and contrast a major news story from various newspapers. How does the perspective change? Are certain things included in some of the stories and left out of others? Have pupils complete a graphic organizer to compare how...
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Research for State Brochures
Ask your young researchers to create a state brochure by working together to research Alaska and then use facts they have learned from the novel Woodsong to create a travel brochure about Alaska. Pupils must include a bibliography and...
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The Workshop
Kids take a critical look at each other's work in order to understand the editing process while providing constructive suggestions. This handout really sets learners up to successfully offer constructive critique to their peers. Helpful...
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The Big Bad Wolf and the Friendly Letter
A terrific presentation on the teaching of friendly letter writing. Learners engage in a PowerPoint that is part story, part writing exercise. There are lots of great tips on how to construct a letter, and young writers are encouraged to...