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Exaggerated Poetry
Learners use physical poses and vocal choices to create emphasis in communication. In this exaggerated Poetry lesson, students use physical movement and vocal choices to exaggerate an expression make a connection between literary content...
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Dancing Levels in Space
Students practice mirroring human moves by performing a dance in class. In this physical education lesson, students utilize different spaces around them to perform a dance expressing their full motion. Students cooperate in pairs or...
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Act it Out: Dramatizing Asian American Stories
Read and act out folktales, fairy tales, or myths from various Asian American cultures with your class. Each group reads a story aloud and then works together to create a short play or skit about the story. Suggestions for stories are...
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Weddings Around the World
Weddings are a big deal for children. Most kids are very intrigued by them, and many have already been to one. The teacher reads the book, Weddings by Ann Morris to the class. Then, a discussion takes place regarding the basic traditions...
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Reader's Theater: Presenting Asian Folktales
Learners, working in groups, rewrite Asian folktales as Reader's Theater scripts. Depending on grade level, they visit Websites and copy assigned stories. Students then perform their versions for classmates.
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Teach Me
Here is a lesson that expands on a classic teaching idea. Learners are encouraged to think of a skill they possess, or something cool they can do that can be taught to their classmates. Once the skills are identified, each student...
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Lesson: More than Brushing my Teeth
Humor can often be found in everyday life. Young analysts critically examine a sculpture and apply what they discuss to their own life experiences. They perform skits of daily activities, such as brushing their teeth. Next, they make a...
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Lesson: A Spider's Perspective
A fun way to grow a class of creative thinkers, is to add creative projects to your weekly line up. Kids pretend they are small insects or spiders crawling up the side of a huge building. They use vivid imagery, rich detail, and their...
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Dance: Water Dancing
Examine the way water moves, drips, and splashes with an expressive dance. Learners discuss the ways in which water moves, then create dance sequences that show or describe water. There are several suggestions to adapt this lesson to...
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Theater: Create a Script
Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and improvisation....
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Drama: Learn A Lesson from the Lion
Reading is reading, whether it's for drama or English class. Boost reading fluency, accuracy, intonation, and comprehension while fostering creative acting skills. Kids read the provided tale of "The Lion and the Mouse" several times in...
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Same and Different Through Music and Art
This lesson is intended for a music class but would be a great way to teach compare and contrast to any class. Kindergarteners dance the Hokey Pokey to four different styles of music and examine two paintings of Humpty Dumpty, then...
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Music: Caterpillars, How They Grow!
Put on some music and get moving as a way to represent the life cycle of a caterpillar. Kids listen to the story The Very Hungary Caterpillar, discuss the life cycle, then create vocal expression that represent each stage of the cycle....
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The Box
Learners of any age can participate in this imagination and improve development activity. With the use of a small box, they work through a series of questions or situations posed by the teacher. Each group uses the box to create short...
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Peter and the Wolf: A Russian Fairy Tale
A wonderful presentation explains a musical fairy tale. Perfect for an independent work station or as a link to send home for homework, this slideshow comes equipped with full audio. Each character, theme, and instrument from the piece...
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Mirror Exercise
Kids get up and act! To promote inventiveness, timing, and clowning, they pair up and act as though they are looking in a mirror. Child A does a move while child B attempts to mimic it as closely as possible. This is a fun activity that...
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Magic Wands and Wand Holders
If you were a fairy and had your very own magic wand, what would it look like? Little learners get to create a magic wand and holder of their very own, using paint, ribbon, and wood. Magic wands can be used when making story predictions,...
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Collective Poetry: Teaching Tolerance
Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...
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Street Cows
A light, and humorous lesson on "street cows" is here for you. Learners listen to the story, "Street Cows," which is embedded in the plan. On a map of the US and the World, they locate the cities where the "Cows on Parade" exhibit was...
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Narrative pantomime
Assign parts to read aloud Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag and have your young mimes act out their roles. This story focus on how beauty within is more important than outward appearance. Conclude by having your class provide an illustrated...
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We Tell Stories
Young readers bring characters to life by working in small groups to script and perform stories that contain a community concept. Detailed questions and activities are outlined for the class. Consider having your groups create...
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Sea-ing More Clearly
Explore works of art with your class by engaging them in a variety of artistic activities including papier-mache sculpture, poetry, performance, and more. After viewing and discussing four paintings of the sea by Robert Harris, learners...
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A Tree Grows-Narrative Pantomime
Discover pantomime! Young mimes assume the identity of the seed as they listen to a story about the growth of a seed throughout the seasons. After a discussion of the performance, the class writes about and illustrates their favorite...
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Opposites Rap
Here is a worksheet which invites young singers to learn a rap song. They participate in singing about antonyms. The first line is sung by the teacher; then they sing the next line. There is a clever rhyming pattern here as well.