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NteQ Lesson Plan for S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders
Explore literature through the completion of reading comprehension worksheets in class. After reading the classic book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, middle schoolers review each chapter by completing study questions and story webs....
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Understanding and Using Root Words to Expand Vocabulary
Middle schoolers engage in a lesson which reminds them that root words indicate the base meaning of a word, and that those roots are found in many different words that have similar meanings. Pairs of pupils use construction paper and...
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Water Cycle - A SiteMaker Presentation
Have your young scientists explore a single element of the water cycle and write a report to explain findings. Your class can take their writing through all the steps of the writing process and publish it using a Web-based multimedia...
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Tell Us All: Tools for Integrating Math and Engineering
What a scam! Middle and high schoolers pose as journalists exposing consumer fraud. In this lesson, they write an article for a magazine using data collected during previous investigations (prior lessons) to defend their findings that a...
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Animated Alphabet
Students explore English by completing an interactive language history activity. In this word recognition lesson plan, students discuss word formations and the phonetic relationship between letters. Students identify the origin of...
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The Final Word
Although this instructional activity is based on “Final Word,” Craig Wilson’s USA Today column, the strategies could be adapted to any local columnist. After reading three articles independently, groups share observations about content...
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The Power of Words in "Charlotte's Web"
Students analyze the text in Charlotte's Web. In this language arts lesson, students dissect the passages from Charlotte's Web, specifically the adjectives Charlotte used to describe Wilbur. Finally, students play a game using "word...
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Creating Hate: The Power of Words
Students explore why authors choose to use hate words in literature. In this power of words lesson, students complete group participation, journal entries, and written assignments to investigate the use of inflammatory...
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Using Context
Teams practice decoding and using context strategies to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words. After verifying the meanings of words through the use of dictionaries, the Internet, thesauruses, and other sources, learners write the...
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Acids, Bases and Salts
Students explore acids, bases and salts. They define acid and base. Students describe the characteristics and properties of acids and bases. They relate the processes of ionization and dissociation to the formation of acids and bases.
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Acronyms Used in E-mails
Students examine some common acronyms used in e-mail and at how to write e-mail.
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Charlotte's Web
Students complete a variety of activities related to the book "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White. They create a comic strip based on the characters, setting, and plot of the story, and examine the author's writing process. In small groups...
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ABC Bookmaking Builds Vocabulary In the Content Areas
Students create an ABC book using vocabulary words from content areas. They use each word in context and create an illustration for each word to further demonstrate their knowledge of its meaning.
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Words Have Meaning
Students interpret and analyze art for meaning and a Maya Angelou poem for meaning. In this art and literature analysis lesson, students analyze Alison Saar's "Lost and Found" and Maya Angelou's poem "Alone." Students write creative...
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Current Event Project
One of the best ways to make history relevant and engaging is to analyze current events before they become history! Check out these project guidelines for a current event research paper, outlining the major required sections of...
Reed Novel Studies
Little House On The Prairie: Novel Study
Laura Ingalls Wilder memorialized life in the American West with her Little House on the Prairie series. Readers explore the first book in the series using a novel study guide. Along with standard text-based questions, scholars...
Student Handouts
The Five W's and How
Here is a great graphic organizer for ensuring that young researchers and writers cover all their bases when brainstorming a topic by considering the five W's (who, what, where, when, and why) and how.
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A PLAY ON WORDS
After making predictions about Janell Cannon's story Verdi, middle schoolers read through the book and make a new list of descriptions, personality traits, etc. They select an animal and write a narrative story about the animal, paying...
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Hold on Tight!
Students explore the relationship between plant roots and the soil in which they grow. They examine photos of uprooted trees and desert areas and
conduct experiments designed to highlight this mutual relationship between roots and soil....
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Poetry Beyond Words: Creating Poetry with Linguistically Diverse Students
Models of and directions for how to write 20 different types of poems are featured in an NCTE resource. The introduction to each form highlights the embedded concepts. For example, tongue twisters encourage poets to use alliteration and...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 1: Contemporary Fiction - They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems by David Bowles
They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid's Poems by David Bowles is the focus of a five-week language arts unit unit. Fifth graders listen to various poems and participate in thoughtful discussions, examining vocabulary and learning new words in...
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Won't You Be My (E-)Neighbor?
Young scholars explore the concepts of community, belonging and human relationships through an Internet application designed to foster neighborly relations and write a persuasive statement to recruit others to join their community.
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Arkansas' Top Ten Events of the Century....Says Who? Why? Deciding What is Important in History
Middle and high schoolers work in small groups to compare four different lists published in the Arkansas Times newspaper which chose the "top ten" Arkansas news events of the 20th century. Learners look for similarities and differences...
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Using A Dictionary
Young scholars explore English by completing a word definitions worksheet. For this dictionary lesson, students practice locating a list of vocabulary terms in a "Dictionary Race." Young scholars complete a worksheet based upon word...