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Let the Campaign Begin
Students examine the many steps involved in the electoral process. They examine past president's campaigns and write an announcement speech for the candidate of their choice.
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Born on a Mountaintop? Davy Crockett, Tall Tales, and History
Learners compare and contrast the details from the life of the real David Crockett and the legendary folk hero he later became. They identify the characteristics of a tall tale and follow a rubric to create a tall tale of their own.
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Why Do We Remember Revere? Paul Revere's Ride in History and Literature
Middle schoolers examine primary documents regarding Paul Revere's ride and its role in the Revolutionary War. They consider how Revere's role has been written about by Longfellow and others and discuss the discrepancies between accounts.
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Helpful Animals and Compassionate Humans in Folklore
Students define elements of stories from around the world that include helpful animals. They explore animal character motivations and use graphic organizers to compare and contrast animal stories from different cultures.
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Anne Frank: One of Hundreds of Thousands
Students conduct research to put Anne Frank's diary into historical context. They use maps, timelines, essays and websites to examine the early victories of the German army, paying special attention to the Netherlands and experiences of...
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Unique Monique: Building a Community of Unique Individuals
Students recognize that each student is unique and has special talents. Students develop a puzzle piece that describes them and their particular talents. Students share their pieces and post on a bulletin board.
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May The Best Character Win
Students examine the financial committment to running a campaign. They discuss the difference between electroal and popular votes. They realize how involved a political campaign is!
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The Big 6
Before beginning the process of research, go through the steps necessary to procure information. "The Big 6" teaches students to find, use, apply, and evaluate information according to their needs. Help learners not be overwhelmed by...
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It's a Matter of Opinion
Dissect the parts of an advertisement with your class. Middle schoolers discuss advertisements and locate the hook in them. Then, they create an advertisement for a business, in which they include the name of the business, an...
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
Discuss the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt. This story, called "Franklin D. Roosevelt" by Laura Hamilton Waxman, is used to explore comprehension skills. Some of these skills include identifying prefixes and suffixes, making comparisons,...
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Grasshopper King- Choose An Adventure
Learners create a story using Power Point. In this writing and creativity lesson, students use Power Point to create a reading adventure. Learners use hyperlinks so the adventure can take various twists and turns depending on the reader....
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What Has Brown Done for You?
Learners review the facts of the court case Brown v. Board of Education. Next, they research recent court cases that uphold contrasting views on the landmark decision. They write opinions about these recent court cases from a 1954...
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Prepositions
After reviewing the different purposes of prepostions and many examples, the class can practice using them in sentences. While little direction is provided in the plan, this is a fantastic resource for teachers looking for a simple...
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Putting History in its Place
Examine ways in which historic places and landmarks represent significant themes and events in American history. Then create theme-based travel guides for related historic locations. This lesson plan requires informational reference...
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Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: Mixing Words and Pictures
Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy lesson focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then discusses how...
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Esperanza Rising - Anticipation Guide
Learn about Mexican culture while simultaneously strengthening reading, writing and computer skills. In order to get the most out of Esperanza Rising, pupils should have prior knowledge of Mexican culture. Therefore, there are links to a...
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A Boxful of Character
I can't wait to try this activity with my class. It's versatile and could be modified to fit any character analysis lesson. To analyze characters thoroughly, learners create life boxes. Each box will pertain to a character from any...
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Transportation
Engage in an 8-day study of different modes of transportation. Your students explore the concept of location and define the physical characteristics of places, such as, land forms, bodies of water, natural resources, and weather.
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Active Reading with American History
Explore connections within and between informational texts with this lesson about encyclopedia articles. Middle schoolers write encyclopedia articles focusing on topics in American history. They discuss how to determine credibility...
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Creating a Life Map
Students create their own life map in which they introduce themselves to each other by sharing what they are most proud of. They use a life map to expressive themselves creatively.
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NteQ Lesson Plan for S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders
Explore literature through the completion of reading comprehension worksheets in class. After reading the classic book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, middle schoolers review each chapter by completing study questions and story webs....
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Blogging to Create a Community of Writers: Lesson 2 of 6
Using this activity on blogs, you can lead your class through the process of setting up a blog, writing a blog entry, editing their work, and more. There is a link to the blog site used, and attachments of blog entries.
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Using Text Features
Investigate a "table of contents" with your students! They read the table of contents in Deserts by Darlene R. Stille and predict where the answers to specific questions might be found. Learners complete a worksheet in which they find...
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Telling Stories Through Dance
Examine the movement of characters in the story, Caps for Sale. Using the text, pupils invent gestures and movements for some of the actions and major events. They practice retelling a story by using the movements they developed. They...