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Art & Drama for Middle Grades
Students define humor and consider how people have different senses of humor and therefore different ideas of what is funny. They explore improvisation, cartooning, comics, body language and storytelling as the means to express humor.
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Asking Questions
Students examine a painting that depicts a scene from the Underground Railroad. They discuss the painting and write journal entries and poems in response to the painting's themes and their impressions.
Santillana USA
Celebra Kwanzaa
¡Celebramos Kwanzaa! Celebrate Kwanzaa through the fictional story Celebra Kwanzaa con Botitas y sus gatitos to delightfully explain the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Dual language learners participate in reading and vocabulary...
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And Then What Happened?
Students analyze paintings by using verbs, adjectives, and nouns. In this visual arts instructional activity, students view a painting of a storm and a calm sky. Students use various verbs and adjectives to discuss the characteristics of...
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Stories Behind Pacific Northwest First Nations' Images
Students investigate Canadian culture by examining mascots of the 2010 Olympics. In this Canadian history lesson, students read a Vancouver Olympics guide to identify three Canadian mascots and their importance to the First Nations...
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Thirty-Second Look
Students articulate why more than 30 seconds is required to examine a work of art, in order to gain an understanding of it. They give reasons why discussing a work of art increases their understanding of it.
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The History of Furniture
Students investigate historic furniture. In this art history instructional activity, students compare and contrast two chairs from different periods. Students create a collage from images of the past.
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Modern Culture and Society
Sixth graders investigate different cultures by comparing the United States to Europe. In this social structure lesson, 6th graders discuss the economies, religions, languages and cultures in the Americas and Europe and define their...
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Personal Responsibility
Students write in their journals. In this writing and responsibility lesson, students write about personal responsibility. They have three writing choices to choose from that all deal with this central theme.
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Shadow Puppets
Students examine the role of shadow puppets. They create their own puppet and put on a play.
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Analyzing documents
Students sort information pieces by structure and purpose. In this resource analysis lesson, students view several types of informational materials and work in teams to look for the way that piece is organized.
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Egyptian Burial
Students research burial tombs of ancient Egypt. Acting as pharaohs of Egypt, students create burial plans to decide what items they would include in their own tombs and why. They find another student to analyze their plan.
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Sketchy Business
Learners identify and describe characteristics of contemporary artwork. Then, they create gesture drawings, a drawing technique used to express the action of a subject in a short period of time.
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Character Education: Integrity
Young scholars understand the definition of integrity and explain quotes about it. In this integrity lesson, students apply quotes about integrity to a personal experience and write about it.
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Visual Thinking Strategies
Students explore Visual Thinking Strategy as a way to examine art and photography. They discuss the strategies, and analyze and discuss photographs using the Visual Thinking Strategies techniques.
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Understanding and Appreciating Poetry: Afro-Americans and Their Poetry
Sixth graders are introduced to poems written by African-American authors. As a class, they read excerpts of poems from different time periods and discuss how and if anything has changed over time with discrimination and equal rights...
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Hollywood
Pupils listen to a play, or perhaps, take turns reading portions of it aloud. Afterward, they thoughtfully analyze and discuss the components of a well-written play. Next, a theme is assigned, and each person writes a play in conjunction...
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Ben Franklin's Game
A reading of What's The Big Idea, Ben Franklin? provides an opportunity for class members to practice paraphrasing, quoting, and citing sources. An exercise on how to avoid plagiarizing is also included.
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Let Us Do Your Selling
Sixth graders analyze several types of propaganda techniques and create a book cover using the techniques. In this propaganda techniques lesson, 6th graders analyze the propaganda techniques used in various ads. Students analyze the...
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Speech Therapy Students Interact Between Schools
Students use technology to improve their communication skills and have the ability to interact with other speech students attending other elementary schools. Through riddles, games, and other activities, students attain their speech...
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Hopi Culture: Parts of the Corn
Students identify the parts of the corn stalk in English and Hopi. They discuss the significance of corn to the Hopi culture, and examine a diagram of the corn stalk. They discuss the purposes of the parts of the corn stalk, then label...
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Acting Out
Sixth graders investigate peer pressure, gangs, drinking, and using drugs. In small groups, they conduct research, develop, edit, and write a three-minute script, and perform the script for the class.
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Creating a Persuasive Travel Brochure
Middle schoolers create a county and develop an illustrated travel brochure to persuade elementary students to visit their county. In this persuasive writing lesson, middle schoolers use descriptive language effectively in a travel...
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What Does a Philanthropic Organization Do?
Young scholars explore the work of a local nonprofit organization and define "nonprofit" and "profit" organizations. They identify examples of three local philanthropic organizations and work together to draw conclusions about a...