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Water: From Neglect to Respect
The goal of this collection of lessons is to make middle schoolers more aware of the ways in which they are dependent upon water to maintain their standard of living. Learners compare water use in Lesotho to water use in the United...
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The Responsibility of Preservation
Upper elementary and middle schoolers study the case of the ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird that was once-thought to be extinct. Learners explore the responsibility of people to preserve habitats, and take care of the animals who live in...
Incredible Art
Starry Night Interpretation
Young artists are encourage to develop greater imaginative freedom and post their impressions of Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night in a series of activities based around the famous painting. Class members watch a film biography of van...
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Interpreting the Evidence
Students find out about the social changes that caused the collapse of important ancient civilizations in Central America, Mesopotamia, the southwestern United States, and western Africa.
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Choose Your Path
Students identify the plot and theme of cartoons. In groups, they discuss and compare the written and movie versions of popular fairy tales. Individually, they write their own fairy tale and share them with the class. They write their...
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The Feudal System: Castles at War
Students study the feudal system of the Middle Ages. In this Middle Ages lesson, students watch "The Feudal System at War". Students listen to an instructor-delivered lecture regarding the roles of monarchs, nobles, knights, and...
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Newberry Award Reading Project
Fifth graders complete a project for a Newberry Award winning book. This ambitious lesson plan outlines the expectations for students regarding their project. Included is a list of possible books and a variety of writing, art, music and...
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Swimmy
Students explore the themes of the book Swimmy by Leo Lionni. In this literacy instructional activity, students dramatize a character from Swimmy and identify common themes such as cooperation and caring. Students create a new ending to...
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Sandra Day O'Connor
No unit on important women in history would be complete without a lesson on Sandra Day O'Connor. After reading background information about the first female Supreme Court justice, middle schoolers engage in several activities addressing...
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Smoky Night
Second graders compare the neighborhoods they know to those of a different place and time. In this historical perspectives activity, 2nd graders read Eve Bunting's Smoky Night and discuss the outcome of the story. Students also discuss...
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What Makes a Cat a Cat?
Students investigate the lives of pets by videotaping them. In this animal life lesson, students videotape a cat and other pets using school cameras in a computer lab. Students review the footage from the cat and other...
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Panther Exam: Writing a Play
Students demonstrate their knowledge of panthers by writing a play on the subject. In this animal life lesson, students view a slide-show on school computers of a veterinary exam of a panther. Students utilize this...
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Bring Your Character in a Bag - Animal Farm (Middle, Literature)
Ninth graders interpret a chosen character from the novel Animal Farm and represent that character in original symbolic form and present orally to the class.
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Looking at Illuminated Manuscripts: An Illuminated Day Planner
Students examine a book of hours to compare it with a modern day planner. In this illuminated manuscripts lesson, students analyze a book of hours example from the 16th century. Students create their own modern day illuminated calendar.
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You've Got Chocolate on my Peanut Butter
Students solve design problems. In this art and design lesson, students create a picture by analyzing two others, and make a prototype of a building. The small group activities call for creativity and ingenuity as well as the ability to...
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Art Styles - Portrait Triptych
Students select one photos and creates portraits of the photo in three different styles. After making the portraits, they describe the differences between them. They place their finished product on a triptych for viewing and practice...
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The Middle-East; Water and Life
Tenth graders examine the physical and cultural impressions made by water in the Middle East, as well as their own lives, through exercises in reading, writing, geography and art. They explore how water as an economic good drives...
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Exploring Photographs: Methods of Visual Analysis
Young scholars use the methods of description, reflection, and formal analysis for a study of images. In this image analysis lesson, students work in teams to interpret and analyze an assigned work of art. Young scholars write responses...
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Portraits That Capture Character
Learners analyze two of Dorothea Lange's portraits and create their own portraits of classmates. In this portrait analysis lesson, students define portrait and discuss two images of Lange's. Learners interview a classmate and use Lange's...
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Mexican Version of The Night Before Christmas (Middle, Language)
Students read a poem aloud called the "Mexican Version of the Night Before Christmas. They enact the scenes of the poem. They discuss variations of this poem both in English and Spanish.
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Writing to See
Learners write descriptively and creatively after looking carefully at a work of art.
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High School Drawing and Painting
Students combine multiple unrelated images into single composition with subtle message or theme They become familiar with pen and ink techniques inspired by illustrator, Edward Gorey. They create a visual language for texture and value.
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Contemporizing Myths
Learners examine ancient Greek myths and illustrate origin myths scenes in a contemporary setting. In this Greek myth instructional activity, students analyze Rembrandt’s painting The Abduction of Europa and discuss how the...