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Hero Traits
Eighth graders explore the concept of serving the common good. In this service learning instructional activity, 8th graders brainstorm a list of real-life heroes and create charts displaying how the actions of the heroes affected others.
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Social Studies: Heroes in American Culture
Students examine heroes and discuss their characteristics, values, and actions. They produce Powerpoint presentations on real-life and fictional heroes. Students interview veterans for an oral history project.
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Region Reality
Eighth graders compare and contrast world regions and explore the theme of world regions. In this world geography lesson, 8th graders name regions in the U.S. and mark them on a map. Students discuss the cultural and physical...
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Men of Steel
Learners explore early 20th century steel making. In this U.S. history steel making lesson, students view and describe a postcard and a picture depicting exaggerated aspects of the steel industry. Learners listen to a poem about Joe...
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AIH-8: American Indian Lifestyles
Fifth graders explain how the history of the American Indian is affecting them today.
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Robin Hood: England's Man of Mystery
Students study the tale of Robin Hood to further their knowledge of character traits, improve their vocabularies, and increase their knowledge of the Medieval Ages. In this Robin Hood lesson, students complete 14 lessons that help them...
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All About Me
Students identify personal traits. In this autobiographical art lesson, students read the book Whoever You Are and use art supplies to create a body cut-out of themselves. Students include physical characteristics on their cut out.
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Alas, All Human
Students define a scientist. In this ethics and science lesson, students read Asimov's Alas, All Human and write responses and discuss the possibilities of imperfection within science by scientists. Students discuss what steps should be...
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Mexican "Tona" Animal Masks
Students study the Mexican legend related to masks. They select an animal with traits they can identify with and recognize in themselves. Afterward, they create a mask that will retain some human features, but take on the life of the...
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Using a Mentor Text to Develop a New Style of Writing
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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Sex Education
Seventh graders take a survey to determine their attitudes toward sexuality. In groups, they identify female and male reproductive organs and develop a list of secondary sex traits during puberty. They also discuss the stages of the...
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Ship of Gold
Students explore American values. In this American history lesson, students read passages from Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea. Students collaborate to conduct research in order to build a timeline of the events surrounding the sinking...
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It's Written in the Stars!
Children create narrative accounts about their character traits, illustrate the constellation of each sign of the Zodiac, and write and illustrate their own creative myths about an original "Zodiac Sign". They use the computer as a...
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Local and Global Sustainability Unit
Students examine the characteristics that define a sustainable community at the local and global level. They create and prioritize a list of traits, read and discuss a magazine article, and create a poster.
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Writing Japanese Stories (Grades 6-8)
Students listen to several Japanese stories and write their own Japanese-style stories, which they share with the class.
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Character in a Box
Partners choose, research, and analyze fictional or historical characters and design character life boxes to represent them. They also compose a rhyme royal, which they understand inductively by deconstructing examples. Based largely on...
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Mapping the Mediasphere
Learners compare/contrast the media messages they see in two different communities in their city. They list the elements of art and the principles of design in the photographs they have taken in those two different communities. They...
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Inspired by Muses, Graces and Fates
Young scholars examine how artists express the Muses through the arts. In this art and history lesson, students work cooperatively to identify the Greek Muses, Graces and the Fates. Young scholars will identify the attributes of each,...
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"O Captain! My Captain!"
Who was Walt Whitman, and what link does he have to president Abraham Lincoln? After Lincoln's assassination, Whitman wrote "O Captain! My Captain!" This poem and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" are the focus of exercises...
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Break the Code: Anthropology Terms
Spice up your study of basic anthropology terms using this decoding worksheet. Using a provided code, learners answer 10 fill-in-the-blank questions. Because the code is very simple, more advanced pupils may enjoy the challenge of...
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Identity of Women in Portraiture
Students look at portraits to learn history. Making connections is done with the identification of details found in the portraits. The gallery depicts the historical times of the Revolutionary War in Colonial America.
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For the Fun of It
Learners view pictures of Amelia Earhart and discuss the social and historical context of her life. They read excerpts of Earhart's autobiography "The Fun of It" and analyze her purpose in writing it.
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Performance Evaluation
Students evaluate in class performance of music previously prepared by the ensemble. The rubric and assessment criteria are adaptable to any orchestra setting which allows the teacher to choose music to be assessed. Critical thinking...
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Mythology Study Guide
In this literature activity, high schoolers respond to 20 short answer and essay questions about noteworthy myths. Students may also link to an online interactive quiz on the novel at the bottom of the page.