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Comparing Themes Across Texts
Read various texts to compare the themes across each text. Learners write a journal entry describing the most beautiful scenery they've seen and use a map of the United States to locate the Sequoia National Park and Muir Woods. They then...
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Summarizing Story Events
Here is a way to build your pupils' public speaking abilities. The lesson plan describes a reader's report chair, which is used each week by a student who has just finished reading a book. The featured reader sits in the chair and talks...
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Summarizing Story Events
After reading a book on their own, pupils prepare an oral report on the book, and sit in the "Readers Report Chair" when giving the report to the class. They are taught to briefly summarize the book by talking about one of two...
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A Good Man is Hard to Find
Students, in groups, read and analyze the short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor. They present their findings tot he rest of the class and then connect the various themes discussed to outside material, events...
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Main Idea with SENTEO Component
Students explore "main idea." In this main idea and details reading comprehension instructional activity, students view a Brain POP video about main idea and then identify sentences displayed on the SMART Board that would be included in...
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A Garden of Verses: Poems About Class Gardens
Students explore botany by participating in a language arts activity. In this garden poetry lesson, students read the classic poem "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" and discuss the imagery and rhyming methods used. Students examine their own...
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Discussion Web
Get your class talking, even debating, about Gary Paulsen's popular novel Canyons. As they finish chapters 10-12, they complete the following discussion web concerning Brennan and the skull. They fill out the graphic organizer provided...
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Some see art, some see vandalism
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. Students conduct research on issues and interests by...
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Jay Gatsby's Souvenir Scrapbook
Pupils create a Power Point scrapbook that compiles memorabilia representing the life of Jay Gatsby. They read the novel, "The Great Gatsby" and conduct internet research using the "American Twenties" website. In small groups, they...
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Do We Still Need the Electoral College?
One of the most confusing aspects of any presidential election year is the role of the Electoral College. Learners read a bit about how the Electoral College works and then they hold a mock election in their classroom. They'll redraw a...
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Dancing through Poetry
Get your class up and moving as they explore how to express movement and dance through words. Designed around two poems by Lillian Morrison about break dancing, the activity truly captures the creative and multi-sensory aspects of...
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Zero Tolerance and Toy Guns
Seventh graders write a short reaction to the "Zero Tolerance" policy in regards to students and play guns. They read several news articles about the problems associated with the zero tolerance and students with play guns. They write a...
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Multimedia Book Report
Learners take a book they've read previously and create a multimedia book report. They use the book report graphic organizer (attached) to plan their PowerPoint presentation. A thorough rubric is provided for you to ease grading. There's...
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Understanding the Compass
Young geographers view an excellent description of how compasses work, then work in partners to make a compass of their own. There is a heavy religious component in this activity; for example, as closure, the teacher reads a verse from...
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Order of Operations with Variable Expressions
Middle schoolers explore grouping symbols to mathematical equations to discover the importance of the "order of operations." Learners compare the absence of commas in connected text to the absence of grouping symbols in mathematical...
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Introduce /r/
Use these inventive strategies to focus on the letter r, forming sound associations along with letter recognition. Explain the tongue movement in making the /r/ sound, asking learners to try it. Draw the r on the board and give...
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"NSN, Fractions, Percents, Ratios, Rates" Investigations
Sixth graders engage in an investigation about the concepts related to fractions. They read, represent, compare, and order proper and improper fractions, and mixed numbers. They demonstrate an understanding of relationships involving...
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Dead Word Wall Lesson
Help your writers eliminate "dead words" (words that are overused) from their writing. This lesson includes a SMART board presentation that will guide them through identifying, eliminating, and substituting "dead words" from sample...
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"Night": A Study in Compassion and Courage
Students read the novel, "Night" by Elie Wiesel. Using excerpts from the novel, they complete a performance and literary technique objective. In groups, they finish handouts to give them more information on the Holocaust. They compare...
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Using The Complete Maus to Enhance the Student's Understanding of Maus
Students read The Complete Maus to explore how Maus is actually three books in one. In groups, they evaluate the book as a tale of surviving the Holocaust and a tale of impacting future generations. They examine the conditions at...
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Problem-Solving Strategy: Act It Out
In this mathematics worksheet, 1st graders identify what time the concert starts and ends. Then they use a clock to act out the time and draw the hands on the clock to show when the concert will be over.
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Literature Circles
Students respond aesthetically to a piece of text. They give book talks about a picture book their small group read and rate it. Each student has a different job in the literature cirlce during the discussions. Finally, the students...
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Reading the Movies: Another Approach To Teaching Critical Thinking Skills And Writing
Young scholars explore the elements of film to analyze character, action, and the themes in the movie, "Quiz Show." The lesson encourages students to make personal connections and real life applications as they view the movie, critically.
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Foreign Language Initial Reading
Students match sentences and phrases to pictures in a target language. They identify the proper written form of familiar spoken phrases. Students practice labeling objects and pictures with the proper greeting, color, number or object...