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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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Magazine Mania
Seventh graders examine the components and structure of magazines. In groups they develop a magazine based on the novel of their choice. Comic strips and promotional advertisements about the novels are included in the magazine. Students...
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California Artists
Fifth graders identify and compare works of art from various regions of the United States. Telecollaborative partners, from different states, work together to complete this assignment. Using the internet, 5th graders research a specific...
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World can't wait, students say
Students create a lesson to present to the rest of the class about current laws, including expressing killing the president as a joke. Students research past events and current laws. Students present to the class using mult-media, oral...
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Stop Signs, Musical Notes, Letters & Logos: Designing Symbols
Pupils develop an awareness of environmental print, such as signs, logos, brand names, and other print and non-print items that the children see and read in their neighborhood each day. They then engage in active problem solving as they...
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Creating a Memorial Day Poster Poem
Does your class know about the meaning of Memorial Day? Discuss the history of the holiday in this instructional activity, which prompts elementary and middle schoolers to create word webs of ideas about the holiday. Additionally, they...
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Slavery in Colonial America
Pupils examine the experience of the middle passage of slaves. They review slave songs and discuss their common themes. They develop a monologue in which they integrate a fragment of an actual slave song into a poem they have written.
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Poetry Cubes
Students develop an appreciation for different styles of poetry and learn different techniques for memorization.
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Memory & Song, Malagan Figures from New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
Students investigate the uses of images, shapes and colors in classic art sculptures. In this art analysis lesson, students observe Malagan Figures, a type of sculpture from New Guinea, and describe the different ideas and images...
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Story Structure Slide Show
Analyzing the sequence of actions in dramatic stories leads to deeper comprehension of story structure. The class identifies the main actions in each section of a story and develops frozen tableau's for the identified actions of the...
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Creating a Found Poem
Teach your English learners about theme through this found poem project. Class members read two versions of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi": the original version and a synopsis. After learning about themes and connecting theme to their...
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ELA High-Frequency Sight Words
Read high frequency words and rearrange scrambled sentences in order to make proper sentences with pupils. They will also practice oral fluency by reading a word assigned to them. These activities reinforce reading fluency and vocabulary...
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Writing and Presenting a Fable Using Research
Elementary and middle schoolers research animal facts and use them in a fable. First, they pair-share to find animal traits to use in writing a fable. They then complete a prewriting worksheet. After going through the writing process,...
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Cultural Comparisons Interview
Students interview a family member and give an oral report. In this oral history lesson, students create interview questions relevant to an American historical period. Students interview a family member and present an oral report to the...
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Personal Stories and Primary Sources: Conversations with Elders
Students learn from their elders. In this oral and social histories instructional activity, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of the America in which their grandparents grew up. Students conduct interviews...
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War Stories
Students watch the film "The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color". Using the film, they work together to develop proper interview questions to use while talking to World War II veterns. After the interview, they research...
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Learning Paragraph Structure Through Design
Students examine paragraph structure, the writing process, and then design a model for the process. For this writing skills lesson, students explore paragraphs using the SmartBoard. Students create a class T-chart about paragraph...
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Take a Second Look!
Students explore positive qualities in people. In this character development instructional activity, students work in groups to select an inanimate object from a bag, imagine the object was a person, and generate positive statements...
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If I Could Fly
Students listen to an oral reading of the book Tar Beach, start and exit the Kid Pix program, use the mouse and the keyboard as input devices, and use the software to create a painting to express their ideas generated by the reading of...
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Get Ready, Get Set, PLAN
Students complete the theme activities in the unit for the month of September. In this planning lesson, students complete various themed activities for the month of September. Students complete movement activities, autonomy and social...
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Reader's Theater
Conduct a Reader's Theater. Third, fourth, and fifth graders rewrite books with a baseball theme to a Reader's Theater format. They form groups of four or five, practice reading the script, and then perform it for an audience.
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Image as Metaphor
A Dorothea Lange photograph launches this study of metaphors. Using the questions provided, the class examines the image and the title to consider how Lange uses her photo as a metaphor. Class members then select an object they can use...
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Report/Presentation Ideas
Students use the ECO Exploration, the Fur Trade and Hudson's Bay Company, the ECO database, as well as other sources identified to develop a report or presentation on some aspect of Hudson's Bay Company and life in what would one day...
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Presentation Blogs
Pupils create an audio/video blog for units of study for language skills, vocabulary, grammar patterns, idioms and body language. In this presentation blogs activity, students select a topic from a unit of study and a message for ideas...