Lesson Plan
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Coffee & Chocolate: Knowing Healthy Foods

For Teachers 9th - 12th
An article relaying vital information about health and nutrition are the backbone of this lesson on eating the right foods. A series of activities are used to help upper graders understand the science supporting our understanding of what...
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Cubist Self-Portrait

For Teachers 8th
Study Cubism and Cubist art by examining a number of images with your students. They look at the relationship of Cubism to society architecture, and literature. Finally, they design a Cubist self-portrait using a variety of mediums after...
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Native American Cultures

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students examine artifacts and pieces of art from various Native American cultures. Using the internet, they research the culture that the artifact came from in more detail noting their lifestyle and contributions to the culture itself....
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What Sharing Really Means

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
Students examine the meaning of generosity and how sharing can be a cultural trait. In this cultural trait lesson, students read a text about the culture of generosity in Africa. Students complete a discussion activity and journal activity.
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Using a Mentor Text to Develop a New Style of Writing

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine some of the author's writing traits and then make an effort to incorporate his style into their own writing. They show how richly written literature can be used as a mentor text, or model, for improving one's own writing.
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Whose Breakfast isn't for the Birds?

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students explore coffee production.  In this cross-curriculum rainforest ecology lesson, students research regions where coffee comes from and investigate how the native birds in the rainforest are effected by coffee...
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Connecting Poetry with Philanthropy

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Learners use their knowledge of philanthropy and poetic conventions to write original poetry about philanthropic giving. In this philanthropy lesson, students write poetry based on philanthropy using poetic conventions. Learners...
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Homer Price

For Teachers 4th - 6th
An engaging and unique lesson that combines literature and economics is here for you. In it, learners read the short story, "The Doghnuts" found in  the book Homer Price. Pupils define "capital resources," and utilize a worksheet...
Lesson Plan
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We've Gotcha Covered: The Iowa Insurance Story

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed
Analyze the relationship between financial risks and the growth of the insurance industry in Iowa. Learners work in groups to analyze the major catastrophic events that occurred in their community. Several worksheets are included.
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Appliances with Minds of Their Own

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine how everyday appliances might soon possess the capacity "to think" as a result of recent technological advances. A display of their knowledge of this new technology by creating a poster design of a "smart" machine.
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What Sharing Really Means

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students read the story "Sharing in Africa". As a class, they brainstorm a list of holidays and celebrations in various cultures and identify the Congo on a world map. To end the lesson, they focus on one paragraph of the story,...
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Supermarkets, Sustenance and Sustainability

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students investigate jungles and the people who depend upon them.  In this sustainability instructional activity, students research wild life conservation and discover the importance of a jungle to Amazonian people.  Students...
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Teaching Inference with Trash and Mystery Objects

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students practice solving mysteries and using inference skills by digging through trash.  In this problem solving lesson, students investigate groups of garbage to determine what type of person the garbage belonged to....
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Economics and Literature

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students discuss capital resources and the types of machines their families use at home. They discuss how these machines increase productivity, and how these concepts connect to the law of demand and capital invention.
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Greetings from Maya Angelou

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars investigate the life and works of Maya Angelou. They complete a Webquest, read poems, listen to a reading by Maya Angelou, answer discussion questions, and write a poem, short story, or essay based on a newspaper article.
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The Home Front

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Young scholars describe the effects of World War II on the Home Front, including rationing, female employment, and the end of the Great Depression. They interview someone who was at home during World War II and ask them how the war...
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Writing Japanese Stories (Grades 6-8)

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars listen to several Japanese stories and write their own Japanese-style stories, which they share with the class.
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Story Blender

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders write a story with many paragraphs that include a plot, setting, and ending. In this writing lesson plan, 5th graders create stories as a class.
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Praire Biome Models

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders, in groups, list the physical characteristics of a biome and think of ways in which animals might have to adapt to live there and make a biome mobile ball that show the different types of habitats that shape the praire biome.