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Retelling
Explore language arts by completing a story worksheet in class. Readers will identify the importance of plot, setting, and character while they write their own short story. They also retell their story to a classmate and participate in a...
University of Arizona
Found News Poems
Combine informational text and creative writing with one fun activity! Middle and high schoolers write found poems based on newspaper headlines that they find. The resource includes a thorough lesson plan and many links to articles that...
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Juggling Fact and Opinion in Today's Information Overload
Teaching children to evaluate information is critical to differentiate between fact and opinion.
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Memoir
After reading and analyzing two narrative memoirs, middle schoolers engage in a variety of activities, including writing an essay, developing a story map, and creating character charts. They then compare and contrast story maps, and...
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Thesis Structure
Use this lesson to reinforce the importance of a strong thesis statement. After viewing samples, middle schoolers identify the three parts to a thesis. Additionally, they create their own thesis including and labeling the three parts and...
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How Current Events Affect Us
Elementary and middle schoolers research a current event using various resources. They participate in a class discussion to evaluate the information they gathered on a particular event. Additionally, they discuss the concepts of common...
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Language Acquisition
Detailing the stages of language, sound, word, and grammar acquisition for babies, this presentation is a great addition to a lecture that focuses on how the English language is developed in small children. Additionally, the slideshow...
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Kindergarten Kids- Exploring Illustrations
In this interactive illustration analysis worksheet, students view illustrations of Winnie the Pooh and friends and complete a 16 questions true or false exercise.
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Gothic Period
Students write down information on their outline from the Gothic PPT presentation. Then, they sketch a chair from the Gothic time period by looking through in magazines to find a pictures of a piece of furniture or architectural detail...
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Identifying Bullies
Young scholars investigate human behavior by defining bullies. In this psychology lesson, students read the book Just One Flick of a Finger, and discuss why bullies act out in front of other children. Young scholars...
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How Owly And Wormy Became Friends: Using a Silent Comic To Inspire Creative Writing
Students view a wordless comic before using it as a story starter. They access a story that uses the same characters at a website in order to better understand the nature of the characters. They write a story inspired by the comic and...
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Mandala Art Lessons
Mandala art lessons provide easy and fun ways to learn about art, math, and other cultures.
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Plaster of Paris Puppets: Construction of the Head
Students create a model puppet head. In this model making instructional activity, students follow step-by-step directions to create a head for their puppet made out of plaster of Paris.
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Medieval Ethiopia, Mali and Nigeria: The Influence of Culture in Africa
Learners are introduced to the concept of cultural diffusion. In groups, they identify the culture of Mali, Nigeria and Ethiopia and work together to research how cultural diffusion has changed the country. To end the lesson, they...
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The Extra Place Lesson
Students take up the challenge of deciding what to do when confronted by a difficult and awkward situation. They read the story and highlight sentences or phrases that have particular meaning to them and think about and discuss a...
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Methods of Mystery
Students utilize the scientific method to discover the age of an item. In this historical dating instructional activity, students compare and contrast a 400 year old cabinet to one made within a few years by using carbon dating....
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Revising Ordinary Sentences into Strong Leads Using "Crispin: The Cross of Lead"
Students create stories using powerful introductory sentences by creating something other than "Once upon a time...". In this sentences lesson plan, students read The Cross of Lead to base their introductory sentences on.
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The Black Plague
Students participate in a simulation game to experience the societal effects of the Black Plague during the Medieval Period. Information garnered during the game is used to discuss the current state of communicable diseases in our
world...
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Clay Gargoyles and Grotesques
Grotesques or gargoyles are wonderful subjects for stories or art projects. Here is a simple "how to" for creating a lesson plan about sculpting clay gargoyles. Tip: Have learners research gargoyles throughout history.
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Relief Foil Sculpture
A little tin foil can go a long way. Middle schoolers create relief sculptures out of card board and foil. The step-by-step procedure and materials list are included. Note: This project can be done with children as young as seven.
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Seashell Painting
Let nature inspire your budding artists. They paint seascapes on actual seashells. First, they observe the seaside, then they paint what they see (image or in person) on the inside of a white shell.
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October:Holy Gargoyles!
Students experience and participate in making mythic creatures during a study in architecture history and spooky sculpture for Halloween. They interact with the subject of gargoyles and the creation of their own gargoyles, ghosts and...
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Connotation: Three Lessons for Effective Word Choice
Over the course of three days, middle schoolers explore the concept of connotation. They differentiate between the connotative and denotative meanings of sports team names, develop their own team names, logos, and text, and revise a news...
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The Respiratory System
Students explore the parts of the respiratory system in this six lessons unit. The lessons presnt the concepts of the breathing, the function of oxygen in the system, how sounds are made, and the effects of pollution, smoking and disease...