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Sharing African Culture
Students investigate African American culture by reading aloud an African folk tale and illustrating the tale. They use their illustrations to create a book or a bulletin board that retells the folk tale.
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Teaching About Tolerance Through Music
Explore the importance of tolerance with a music-themed lesson plan. Learners listen to the music of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and discern the underlying messages before discussing the painful effects of ridicule, disrespect, and bullying.
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Verb Tenses
Why is it so important to have consistent verb tense when writing? Discuss some of the implications with your middle and high school classes. Examples are provided, and both incorrect and corrected sentences are shown. There's a lot of...
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Using To, Two, and Too
Introduce your youngsters to some of the most easily confused words: to, two, and too! After each word is defined and examples are provided, a short practice opportunity allows you to assess your class's understanding of the words. A...
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My Favorite Thing To Do
In this writing activity, students think about their favorite things to do after school, choosing ideas from the idea bank or coming up with their own. Students fill out 10 answers to questions, then write paragraphs about this topic.
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Spelling Relay
Looking for a way to review and practice spelling words that's fun and creative? Use this spelling relay activity for any grade level. Using three spelling lists, ranging in difficulty, teams of young spellers choose words from the lists...
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This Is America! Flag Collage
In a visual essay of their thoughts about "What America Means to Me," kids of any age can create a collage about their country. Originally intended to be created physically, learners could share their projects online by using an...
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Poetry of War and Peace
Students read and discuss the poem "In Flanders Fields," then write poems evoking images of peacetime. They practice the techniques of writing poetry while using textual imagery to create visual images.
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Water Fun
Learners examine uses for water. In this water lesson, students discuss how they use water. As a class learners make a PowerPoint by naming one swimming safety rule. Students compare and contrast fishing for fun and fishing for survival.
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Word Roots Lesson #6 - Focus: hydr
Use hydr as a base to form new words. The chart provided includes different prefixes and suffixes one could add to the base to create new words like hydrant or hydropathy. Two exercises follow the information provided to give your class...
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In Text Citations
What is citation? Why cite? Researchers are introduced to the Modern Language Association (MLA) style guide for research writing. Examples are plentiful and color-coded to highlight specific aspects of the conventions.
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To Kill A Mockingbird: Study Guide Part I
Readers of To Kill a Mockingbird summarize events, identify characters, and analyze actions in the first 11 chapters of Harper Lee’s novel. The carefully crafted questions could be used to guide reading or as the basis of group or...
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Writing Captions
Where can one find a caption, and why are they so important? The first several slides of this presentation explain captions and their importance. Then, with the last 20 or so slides, viewers will attempt to create captivating captions...
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Briar Rose: Anticipation Guide
Prepare your readers for Briar Rose with an Anticipation Guide that asks them to agree or disagree with a series of statements that reflect issues raised by Jane Yolen’s narrative about a young girl’s research into her grandmother’s...
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Adapting "List/Group/Label" to Literature
Need a prereading activity in line with the Common Core Standards for Language? Although designed for grades 11 and 12, the procedure detailed in this resource could be used with most grade levels. Prior to reading, select 20 – 25 words...
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KWHL Questioning Strategy for Briar Rose
Whether new to the KWHL strategy or not readers of Briar Rose will benefit from the detailed procedures and templates designed for Jane Yolen’s novel. Links are provided for research into the Holocaust and activities reveal the many...
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Map Coordinates: Monkey Map
Here's an engaging, meaningful, and clever lesson on map skills for elementary schoolers. Pupils combine story writing with mapping skills to create an original piece of work. They utilize a worksheet embedded in the plan to guide them...
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Addressing Letters
Are you working on a letter writing unit? Use this worksheet on addressing letters to help your second graders' letters get to the right place! Each section helps students write out the address, return address, and message of a postcard....
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Identifying Irony
What are the three types of irony? After reviewing dramatic, situational, and verbal irony with your readers, present them with this two-page document. They read six excerpts to determine which type of irony is used in each. After...
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Chapter Tableaux: Visualizing The Call of the Wild
Do your young readers have difficulty visualizing what they read? Although the activity described here is for The Call of the Wild, the strategy could be used with any narrative. At the conclusion of each chapter of Jack London’s novel,...
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Unsent Letter: Characterization in Briar Rose
After completing Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose, class members assume the voice of Gemma and craft a personal letter to her granddaughter telling Becca how she feels about Becca’s actions and the discoveries at Chelmno. Complete directions for...
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Our Town: Using Song Lyrics in the Classroom
Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” and Billy Joel’s “Allentown” motivate young lyricists to craft poems about their own home town. Groups compare the two songs, identifying details, symbols, and conflicts. Individuals then picture a place...
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Mondrian - Primary/Secondary Color Study
Utilizing computer software, learners demonstrate the color spectrum. They investigate the life of the artist Piet Mondrian and define his style of artwork. Then they use Photoshop to recreate some of his designs while discovering the...
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Blue Ribbon Readers: Making Connections
Model for young readers how to make the shift from passive to active reading by making text-to-self and text-to-text connections. After a series of activities that provide guided practice, the focus shifts to making text-to-words...