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Physical Education Unit Plan: Soccer - Lesson 2
Here is the 2nd of 10 lessons on soccer. These lessons not only focus on skills but also on some of the social issues regarding the sport. The skills lessons seem to be created around the premise that the youngsters already have some...
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Physical Education Unit Plan: Soccer - Lesson 1
Physical Education Unit Plan: Soccer has nine lessons to follow this one. These lessons focus on skills and social issues related to the sport of soccer. The skills lessons seem to be assume that the learners already have some basic...
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Michael Jackson's "Beat It" Dance
Learn this 32-count line dance. There are four eight-counts that repeat throughout the song. The steps include walking forward, walking backward, pivots, grapevine, and some jumps. All in all this is a simple and quick dance to learn....
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The Care and Feeding of Kids: Finding Information on Nutrition and Fitness
The Learning Network is featuring an article about First Lady Michelle Obama and her quest to help reduce childhood obesity in America. The article talks about how she has talked with the top three suppliers of school lunches and has...
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Preparing a 1040EZ Income Tax Form
What do you do at the end of the year when your W2 arrives? File a tax form! Show learners how they to can fill out a basic 1040EZ tax form and play their part as tax paying citizens. Monetary denominations are provided for filling out...
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Using HyperStudio
Second through eighth graders use the software "HyperStudio" to create a presentation of their choice on Native American lifestyles. One thing I like a lot about this lesson, is that the students are the ones who get to choose and...
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The Inca: A Lost Society
Middle and high schoolers read and discuss an informative piece of writing on the Inca Nation and perform tasks in order to begin to form a deeper understanding of this fascinating culture from our past. This six-page plan has everything...
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Arkansas State Rock
Here is a activity which shows the value of a mineral called bauxite to Arkansas during the early 1900's. Learners relate the five themes of geography to the history of bauxite and aluminum production in Arkansas. For teachers of...
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Ready-Set-Go-Whoa!
The Apaches: People of the Southwest offers readers a chance to employ the “Ready-Set-Go-Whoa!” strategy (an adaptation of the KWL) to test what they know and summarize what they learn as they read Jennifer Fleischner’s nonfiction...
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"Rikki-tikki-tavi"
“Rikki-tikki-tavi” provides an opportunity to model for readers how to use background information to enrich understanding of a story. Class members observe animal behavior, listen to biographical background on Rudyard Kipling, study...
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Bud, Not Buddy: Guided Imagery Exercise
Develop readers’ awareness of the visual power of language with a guided imagery exercise. Set the stage and create the mood with dim lights, soft music and potpourri. Then read the provided section of Bud, Not Buddy. Next, invite...
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DR-TA Reading Strategy
Foster critical thinking skills by using the DR-TA Strategy with Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” Class members read portions of the essay, stop and discuss what is happening, make predictions based on evidence from the text, and...
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"The Gambler" and "The Journey": A Comparison of Worlds in Two Short Stories
“The Gambler” and “The Journey” offer readers an opportunity to experience two very different views of Jewish life in Poland between WWI and WWII. Whether used as a part of a study of the Holocaust, or as a compare/contrast exercise, the...
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Briefly Noted: Practicing Useful Annotation Strategies
Post-It notes, highlighting, underlining. Sam Anderson’s New York Times Magazine article, “What I Really Want Is Someone Rolling Around in the Text,” launches a study of “marginalia,” or writing thoughts in the margins of a text. After...
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Argument of Policy
After investigating different policies within the school district, young reformers select a policy they would like to change. They then investigate the policy, and craft a letter in which they advocate a change to the policy. For guided...
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Newspapers in the Digital Age
Is journalism more or less reliable with the influx of Internet sources? Learners investigate the issues of freedom of speech, journalistic ethics, and social responsibility in the age of Twitter and Facebook. After examining the...
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Fractured Fairy Tales
Through reading and writing, learners explore common elements found in fairy tales. After discussing traditional fairy tales, class members listen to The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by John Scieszka, a hilarious retelling of the...
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Bleacher Dance - Adding to School Spirit
Looking for some moves to do in the bleachers while at a school sports event? This instructional activity teaches two sets of 32-counts. The moves can basically be done while standing up in the bleachers!. The amount of movement will be...
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Stuck Like Glue 4 - Wall Line Dance
Heel, toe, heel, toe, grapevine, stomp. Put some basic dance steps together and get moving. Teach this 32-count series to your class and when they've got the steps down add some music. "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland has a great beat and...
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Celebrate Oktoberfest with the Polka
Here's a pretty comprehensive lesson on the polka. There is information on the origins of the polka and the history of Oktoberfest. There is even a list of how to count to ten in Polish, Czech, and German. Include or skip whatever you...
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Firework Dance
Teach some dance moves to "Firework" by Katy Perry. It's such an upbeat song, you will have those dancers moving and wanting to move more! There are four 16-count parts to learn. It's not too complicated. Teach them the steps, then put...
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Occupy the Gym Floor
There are eight different steps in this line dance lesson: angle step, jump step, punch step, marching step, grapevine step, turn step, stop step, and down step. Each step has it's own eight-count. Teach these steps to youngsters and...
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Yoga Ball Bash
This line dance instructional activity involves the use of PE equipment. If you have yoga balls and rhythm sticks then take a look at this instructional activity. Of course there are other things that could be used instead of yoga balls....
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Triple Step Stomp
Here's a 32-count line dance to the song "Disturbia" by Rihanna. This dance introduces the triple-step. It's a quick right-left-right or a quick left-right-left step. It's not complicated. The really nice thing about this lesson is that...