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Candy Heart Stories
Learners will write stories using the words that are found on candy conversation hearts. They show the proper use of quotation marks while writing the stories with modifications. Randomly, hearts will be selected to start a conversation...
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Lily's Crossing
Students listen to a story, "Lily's Crossing," about life during a World War. After completing worksheets, they compare and contrast characters in the story. Using math skills, students develop a time line of the war, calculate the...
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Word of the Day
Students use Internet to research definition of an assigned vocabulary word, and brainstorm ideas for how to teach the new word to classmates in an innovative way using a digital format.
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Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers
Students compose a letter to a family member. In this writing lesson, students listen to the book, Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers and identify the parts of a letter.
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Poetry Cubes
Reading aloud can be scary, but it's an important way to build oral fluency. Break the class into groups of four or five learners. Each learner will roll a cube to determine which poem they read aloud to their small group. Feel free to...
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Animation Pre-Production
Does your class love reading cartoons? Use their talents and interests to examine the process of writing a story they wish to tell through a cartoon. They develop the beginning, middle, and end of a story based on their original...
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My Mind is Blank
Investigate prewriting activities in this brainstorming lesson plan. Middle schoolers are divided into groups and are assigned a topic. They decide which prewriting technique to choose from, including free write, looping, brainstorming,...
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The Sounds of Daydream
Based on the poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by Irish poet William Butler Yeats, this resource is well constructed and guides learners through examining the Yeats poem (rhyme, meter, content) to composing a poem of their own about a...
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MyVocabulary.com: Word Roots SPECT, STA, and VERT Beginner Definition Match
Learners are provided with 12 vocabulary words, all of which contain the word roots SPECT, STA or VERT, and their corresponding definitions. They must then match the appropriate definition to each word. This is a beginner level...
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Cyber Bullying
Cyber bullying is an important topic to address with middleschoolers. Here, learners take an active role in identifying and discussing this issue. Reviewing this resource with your class will help to equip them to be a part of the...
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The Raven
After a close reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" individuals copy the rhythm and rhyme scheme and rewrite the final stanzas of the poem.
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Dreams, Stars, and Beaches
Compare and contrast ideas, hopes and dreams with those of Cassie in Faith Ringgold's, Tar Beach. your young scholars can entries in their journals expressing their ideas.
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Trivia Pursuit" To Review Material
Students play "Trivia Pursuit" in order to review material in any subject area. Groups are chosen to answer a given question, they discuss the answer and orally give it together.
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Getting the Story
Learners examine and discuss the basic elements of a newspaper article. They listen to articles, discuss the 'inverted pyramid' style of a breaking news article, and list imaginary current events based on mythological characters.
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Outlining Main Ideas and Details
Begin at the end. Present your class with an expository essay and ask them to create an outline of the article, paying particular attention to the main ideas and the details supporting these ideas. After a discussion of what they have...
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Who Am I?
Middle schoolers use a graphic organizer to brainstorm information about their lives. They utilize brainstorming techniques in a writing exercise, and create a graphic organizer describing their lives. They set personal goals for the...
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How Does Who I Am Relate to Employability?
Sixth graders participate in question and answer sessions and develop a skill-based resume. They identify and explain resume-writing situations in which an ethical dilemma may present itself. Finally, 6th graders identify and project the...
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A Simple Task Made Complex: Types of Sentences
Looking for a lesson about differing sentence types? Use this lesson on compound and complex sentences in your grammar unit. After composing simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences individually and as part of a group,...
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The Purpose and Power of Persuasion
Examine the power of persuasion and have learners consider how it influences events in their own lives. After reading and analyzing informational texts to understand the author's purpose, class members take a written test and craft a...
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Researching and Word Processing Unit: Wagons West
Help create confident and competent Internet users for research purposes. Middle schoolers conduct Internet research and compose a paper on the computer. They learn how to properly cite Internet references and explore net etiquette.
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Latin Roots Dict, Vent, Duct: Beginning Quiz
Learners fill in the blanks for 12 sentences with words derived from the Latin roots dict, vent, and duct in an interactive online quiz. A word bank provides choices from the beginning level at MyVocabulary.com. Alert quiz takers that...
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Latin Roots grad, mot, cad: Fill in the Blanks Quiz
A word bank of intermediate-level words with the Latin roots grad/gress, mot, and cad/cas/cid helps learners fill in the blanks on this interactive online quiz. I'd assign it for review to maximize instructional minutes between whole...
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Story Map for Bud, Not Buddy
Why should your class complete a story map? After reading Bud, Not Buddy, divide your class into pairs or small groups to complete the included worksheet. They list the main characters, the conflict, main plot events, the resolution, and...
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Ending a Famous Fairy Tale
Altering the ending of a famous fairy tale is a really fun way for kids to experience creative writing. The instructional activity here has them do just that! Learners listen to the famous fairy tale, "The Twelve Brothers," and change...