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The Desert is Theirs: Adapting to Our Environment
Students determine how animals and people adapt to the desert environment. In this desert lesson, students review vocabulary about the desert and how humans have to make changes to accommodate their environments. They listen to and...
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Summary Scramble
Students write summaries that contain the main ideas
and the most significant details of a reading selection. In this language arts lesson plan, students first play a game in which groups compete against each other to put the summary of...
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Historical Success Stories: Banneker, Blackwell, Drew, and Faraday
Fourth graders investigate how all races and religions have contributed to US history by looking at the scientists Elizabeth Blackwell, Benjamin Banneker, Charles Drew, and Michael Faraday. They research these scientists individually and...
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Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie -The Story
Pupils explore lighthouses in literature. In this reading instructional activity, students read Keep the Lights Burning, Annie as well as Birdie's Lighthouse. Pupils participate in pair/share activities regarding plot and literary...
Museum of Tolerance
Where Do Our Families Come From?
After a grand conversation about immigration to the United States, scholars interview a family member to learn about their journey to America. They then take their new-found knowledge and apply their findings to tracking their family...
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Freedom Train North
Fourth graders conduct a novel study of the book Freedom Train North. They identify the parts of a story that include beginning, middle, and end. Students also recognize the setting, plot, and theme after reading a part of the book daily.
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Plot Mobiles
Students read folktales and identify the plot of the story by making a mobile. In this inventive and colorful instructional activity, students listen to a variety of famous folktales, and practice identifying the plot. Then, they work...
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Heroes, Legends and Folktales
Fourth graders read classic stories including "The Magic Brocade" and "St. George and the Dragon". They complete a series of lessons in which they compare stories and produce original narrative legends.
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Charlotte's Web Trading Card
Students read Charlotte's Web, view variety of trading cards, discuss what they know about trading cards and their purpose, choose character from story, complete bubble map about character, and create character trading card using...
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Making a Quilt
Students use vocabulary to describe the quilt making process. For this quilting lesson, students collect needed materials, sequence the steps for quilting and create an original peace quilt. Students write about their quilts.
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fantastic Characters
Learners study stories. In this writing lesson, students discuss the three aspects of a story, read stories focusing on the characters, write a story as a class about a character made up by the class, and write a story with an exciting...
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If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Students identify the cause and effect in the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. In this cause and effect lesson, students listen to the story If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and discuss what the cause and effect is. As a follow-up,...
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Making Magical Creatures Talk
Invite your young writers to take the reins with writing dialogue. Using two characters of their own creation, kids work with partners and then individually to write short conversations.
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Harriet The Spy
Fourth graders investigate the style of diary writing as its own genre of literature. They read Harriet The Spy in order to have a text for this literature study. Students use the skill of prediction to preview the story, and then...
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An Earful of Sound Lesson
Fourth graders examine how the human ear receives and transmits sound from the environment. Through a book, they hear and discuss the importance of hearing. Students view an Internet site of the function of the ear and record the...
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Technology-commected Folklife Lesson Plan: Fables
Students discuss ways the stories were alike and different. The teacher demonstrate how to draw a Venn diagram using Microsoft Word. They label the two circles and enter the likenesses and differences on the diagram.
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Renewable/Nonrenewable Resources
Fourth graders classify resources as renewable or nonrenewable while playing a board game. They read King John story and discuss the story. Students explore renewable and nonrenewable resources. They play the resources game that show...
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Paragraph
Fourth graders work through detailed steps to complete a paragraph on the story "The Great Kapok Tree." They gather details from the story, and choose a standpoint for the paper using the details as a defense. The students write their...
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Johnny Appleseed, An American Folk Hero
Students explore American folktales. They review the elements of folktales. Students read the folktale of Johnny Appleseed together. They discuss the vocabulary words from the story. Students discuss the differences between the real...
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Probability
Students investigate probability. In this fourth through sixth grade mathematics lesson, students collect, organize and display data in an appropriate chart or graph as they calculate and apply basic probability.
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The Great Kapok Tree Debate
Young scholars participate in a read aloud of the story, "The Great Kapok Tree" in which a logger decides not to cut down a tree. In small groups, they discuss and write about their opinion on the logger's decision. Each group then...
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Music
Third graders learn the song "Blow the Man Down" and know that it is a work song. They differentiate between loud and soft singing. They use body movements to reinforce the recognition of music in 3/4 time.
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Cause and Effect
Students identify cause and effect relationships in a short story. After reading a short story, they participate in a discussion of how one event in a story can lead to several others. Students are then paired for a matching task that...
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Nina Bonita: Culture and Beauty
Students read Nina Bonita by Ana Maria Machado. In this reading comprehension/ geography lesson, students recall various parts of the story and create a map of where the rabbit traveled throughout the story. They participate in group...