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Magnetic Levitation
A thorough investigation of magnetic levitation; this activity has four parts. First, physical scientists play with a wooden dowel and three disc magnets to review polarity and repelling action. Then they experiment with the strength of...
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Growing Penguins
A collection of photos and accompanying descriptions describing the life cycle of an Adelie penguin is the highlight of this resource. Working in groups, polar explorers match the descriptions to the pictures and create a timeline. An...
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Adaptation Investigation - Extreme Beaks
Find photos of bird beaks or show a prepared four slide PowerPoint, "Extreme Beaks" to introduce your class to this special animal adaptation. Provide them with a data table and supplies to try gathering food with tools that each...
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Build a Model Watershed
Collaborative earth science groups create a working model of a watershed. Once it has been developed, you come along and introduce a change in land use, impacting the quality of water throughout their watershed. Model making is an...
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Fault Features
Students discuss the different kinds of faults in the earth's crust and examine photos of the San Adreas Fault. Working in groups, they experiment with fault making by placing fabric in a pan and filling the inside with wet dirt. When...
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Soneka's Village
Students examine the culture of the Maasai pastoralist. They identify traditional aspects of their culture and describe how the roles of men and women vary in their society.
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One Step At a Time
Students examine cultures in Africa. They discover culture includes behaviors, customs and actions. They examine how different people interpret things differently and practice seeing a situation from two points of view.
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Enough To Make Your Head Spin
Students examine body language in the United States and Bulgaria. They also discover other forms of communication. They also examine a map of Bulgaria.
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You Be the Conservator: Looking at Objects Inside and Out
Young scholars examine the Hispanic American tradition of making santos, painted woodcarvings of saints in the Catholic Church. In this lesson, student have the opportunity to create their own santos, make an 'x-ray' and create a story...
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Signs of Change: Tree Rings
Students identify and experiment with dendrochronology (the study of tree rings to answer ecological questions about the recent past) and come up with conclusions as to what possible climatic conditions might affect tree growth in their...
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Exploring Height with Abe Lincoln
Students examine a life-size count out of Abraham Lincoln to get a visual comparison of their height and Lincoln's. They work in pairs and trace each other's body and measure from head to toe in inches using a ruler. They then subtract...
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Mapping Your State's Role in the Vietnam War
Students recognize reasons to celebrate Memorial Day. Students create a map of victims of the VIetnam War. Using the internet, students research information about soldiers from their state who were killd in action in Vietnam. Students...
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Fall Similes
Fall is like a beautiful painting come to life—or is it more like an overflowing cornucopia? Practice writing similes with a lesson on figurative language. As learners review simile structure, they come up with their favorite similes for...
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The Candy Color Caper
Students explore the concept of probability. They calculate the probability of an event happening and graph their results. Students determine the probability of winning a sweepstakes. They construct a bar graph to represent all the...
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Call it "Macaroni"
Who knew there were so many fun educational opportunities featuring pasta? Scholars read a brief informational text about the history of pasta (note that "macaroni" is spelled two different ways, so address this if kids are reading...
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Crowley's Ridge: An Upland in the Lowlands
This clever lesson combines elements of geography, art, literature, and storytelling. Pupils take a close look at the six geographical regions of Arkansas, and pay close attention to Crowley's Ridge - which is one of the six. In groups,...
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We Are All Authors: Create a Book
Every child is an author with this engaging reading activity. First the class reviews the various parts of a book such as the title, author, dedication, and author-biography. Then each individual will choose a story of their own to...
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Picture This
A unique writing lesson, this plan begins with learners talking about multiculturalism in small groups. Each learner will choose a picture from a newspaper, describe it to their small group, and think about how it relates to...
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Map It Out
Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...
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The Best Main Idea
What is the main idea? Interest your young readers with this fun introductory lesson! After selecting several items from a paper bag, the teacher leads learners to determine the big idea for those items. This concept is then applied to...
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Lesson 3: Labeled Diagrams
Examine the book Stargazers by Gail Gibbons. Young readers will practice reading and interpreting information from diagrams in this informational text. They work together as a class on this skill and then move into independent practice....
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Newcomers
Explore emotions associated with moving to a new home with young learners. First they listen to the books Painted Words/Spoken Memories by Aliki and Going Home by Eve Bunting. Then they are invited to share their experiences as well as...
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Zoom Out - Terry Winter's "Rhyme"
Students predict and draw what a picture would look like if a camera zoomed out on it. For this visual arts lesson, students listen to a reading of Istavan Banyai's, Zoom before looking at an image of "Rhyme" by Terry Winters. They...
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Fit for a Queen or King
Students identify and critique a classic sculpture from Mexico. In this art analysis lesson, students observe the St. Ferdinand statue from Mexico while identifying artistic features that might represent royalty. Students investigate a...