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Jason and the Golden Fleece
Young scholars read and analyze the classic Greek tale of "Jason and the Golden Fleece." They compare/contrast the story with modern works of literature and films, answer discussion questions, and retell the story in a modern-day setting.
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Checkmate: The Play's The Thing
Students investigate the Middle Ages and it's relation to the theater. In this acting lesson, students read Arthurian stories form the Middle Ages and practice using vocabulary words from the Medieval Times. Students write a...
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fantastic Characters
Students study stories. In this writing lesson, students discuss the three aspects of a story, read stories focusing on the characters, write a story as a class about a character made up by the class, and write a story with an exciting...
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Writing Myths
Students read and write myths. In this world mythology lesson, students read and analyze myths from various cultures and then recognize their attributes as they write their own myths that explain natural phenomena.
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The Nature of the Antagonist
Students explain the differences between protagonists and antagonists and recognize the fundamental purpose of an antagonist or villain in storytelling. They also explain conflict as used in literature.
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Erie Canal: Journey Back in Time
Fourth graders read the novel, The Eric Canal, identifying the characters and setting. They respond to daily reading by writing in journals and complete a short answer test upon completion of the novel.
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Panther in the Basement
Middle schoolers produce an ongoing journal in which they relate their personal response to literature. They examine the theme of the rights of the individual versus the whole. They explore conflict in Panther in the Basement.
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Book Illustration
Students view a video and discuss what illustrations in a book show and don't show. For this observation lesson, students look at the details on a page in Alice in Wonderland and create an illustration.
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Storytellers: Pearl Jam, Lesson 1
Students examine the meaning of genre, and specifically investigate the musical genre of grunge. They view and discuss photos, watch the video, "VH1 Storytellers: Pearl Jam," answer discussion questions, and paraphrase the lyrics to a...
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Children's Book Creations
Students create a children's book version of the Japanese folk story "Momotaro Boy of the Peach" and present the story to elementary students. In this children's book lesson, students design their book to explain Japanese culture to...
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Ice -T's Rap School
Students research the history of rap and gain an understanding of the components of rap music. They experience the correlation between Shakespeare's poetry and rap music of today.
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Characteristics of Imaginative Stories
Third graders explore genre characteristics. In this genre literacy lesson, 3rd graders listen to a variety of fiction stories and classify them according to genre. Students identify common features in each genre and complete a chart by...
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Hunters and Gatherers
Sixth graders participate in mapping and other activities to understand why ancient civilizations developed as they did. In this ancient civilization instructional activity, 6th graders recognize that there were three important climate...
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The Heart of Human Experience: Cultura Azteca
First graders explore Aztec culture to gain understanding of relationship between music, recreation, and culture. Seven lessons on one page.
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Writing a Letter to a Friend
First graders practice their letter writing skills by writing to a fictional character. In this formal writing instructional activity, 1st graders read the books The Jolly Postman and Frog and Toad are Friends to examine the...
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Unit Plan for Mark Twain and American Humor
Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. For this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...
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A Rose Is a Rose
Flowering learners explore the concept of figurative language as it relates to poems, songs, or creative written expression. In this creative writing lesson plan, they complete several phrases using similes, metaphors, and...
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Haring Inspired CD Covers
Students create CD covers from their music-inspired drawing sessions. They compare what they drew while listening to classical, punk and rap music. They scan their drawings into Adobe Photoshop and design their cover.
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Portrait of the Artist - Georgia O'Keeffe
Students study the work of Georgia O'Keefe. They use a digital camera or scanned images from a regular camera and the PhotoShop application to create a landscape of their own which reflects the important shapes or objects in their...
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Photography: Beyond the Snapshot
Students explore news photography skills. In this photojournalism lesson, students examine photographs from newspapers and magazines and discuss the attributes of quality photographs. Students complete a webquest at the Kodak website and...
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Poetic Analysis
Students write a poetic analysis on a poem by Carl Sandburg. They take their previous knowledge of poetic devices and apply them to a piece of writing that displays their knowledge on a specific poem. They explain what they know about a...
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Compositional Techniques: Are There Similarities Between
Learners recognize how chromatic scales create tension and pentatonic scales create relaxation as compositional techniques used to create tonality. Also, students aurally recognize the use of mixed or alternating meter as a means of...
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Sam Cooke - Lesson 1
Students identify the impact of the social injustices and Civil Rights movement on Cooke's life and career. They create lyrics to a familiar song that express a personal struggle or concern.
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Storytellers: Pearl Jam (Lesson 2)
Students analyze the meaning of songs, how its music complements the lyrics, and how the meaning can evolve over time. They make a compelling presentation of a favorite song lyric and find inspiring sources for new songs in the...