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Seeing Words in a New Way
What's the best resource to use when looking up words? Use Visual Thesaurus to see a word's meaning. The class accesses the interactive website and then compares and contrasts the difference between using a traditional dictionary and the...
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Rooting One's Way to Meaning
Discover the Virtual Thesaurus with your class. They use the Virtual Thesaurus to assist them in an inquiry-based approach to discovering the meanings of some common Latin and Greek roots. Each child then teaches a particular root and...
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Salinger and the Vocabulary of the Vernacular
Writers explore vocabulary and expressions used in the English language. They use visual word maps to become aware of the different uses of words which will allow them to more readily interpret texts. Then they listen to/read excerpts...
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Word Association Poetry with Visual Thesaurus (or Not)
Young poets get inspiration and guidance for making word association poems with the Visual Thesaurus. Your class could complete this project with nothing more than a pencil and paper as well. A nice one-off for a substitute during your...
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A Victorian Vocabulary Challenge
Introduce your high schoolers to some tough vocabulary. No, I'm not talking about the SAT list! Revisit Victorian literature to find tricky words we still use today. Using the Visual Thesaurus, learners will preview vocabulary in a quote...
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Famous Public Properties
What can a middle schooler do in 90 minutes? He can practice using the commutative, associative and distributive properties of addition and multiplication. He can also simplify expressions using the commutative, associative and...
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Our Disastrous World
Students explore natural disasters around the world from the experiences of other students, friends and families. They collaborate with countries such as Japan, China, India, Australia, Russia, Great Britain as well as from the United...
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Understanding Symmetry Through Visual Art
Have your class explore symmetry, radial balance and fractional parts in natural and man-made objects in their environment. Learners list examples and identify symmetrical and asymmetrical designs. Pupils are given a box of crayons and...
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Spanish-English Cognates in the ELL Classroom: Friends or Foes?
Define the meaning of a cognate and use the concept to help Spanish-speaking ELLs connect their first language to English. Middle schoolers explore Latin roots to find cognates in both languages. They relate the Spanish and English word...
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A Visit to the Madrid Zoo
Students conduct research on animals by visiting the website for the Madrid Zoo. They locate various animals on the website and answer questions about animals and their habitats in Spanish, then create a poster, advertisement, or a press...
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The Iditarod Adventure
Young scholars use the internet to follow the Alaskan Iditarod race as well as perform research. This project-based activity will result in students creating many desktop publishing documents.
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Battery Power
Sixth graders examine how much energy they use in the form of battery power. They examine the cost of using regular vs. rechargeable batteries and examine the effect on the environment of the two types of batteries. They discover that...
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Entry-Level Job Interviewing
Learners are able to discover specific information to remember when preparing for an interview and identify the most important factors to keep in mind during an interview. They are able to critique a video of a person being interviewed...
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Solar Power
Fifth graders create their own solar panel. They use this experiment to see how the sun can be used as a form of energy.
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Use the New Internet Library for Adult Learners
Adult learners, examine the Internet to answer life skills, use an online dictionary, evaluate web sites and fill in online forms. They will also write about web sites in this series of activities.
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To Live or Die While Protecting the Ones You Love
Upper graders retrieve and verify information on life insurance policies through internet research. They discuss how life insurance policies work and make decisions as to what type of policy is best. They produce a timeline and define...
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Learning About the Kumeyaay Indians
Third graders research the Native American nation of Kumeyaay. Scholars use the internet to research past history. Through email, 3rd graders communicate with a Kumeyaay child to discover life on a present day reservation. They create a...
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Clicking Your Way to Poetry: Composing Word Association Poems with the Visual Thesaurus
Use a Visual Thesaurus to compose word association poems. Discuss poetry and word association, create word maps, then practice creating poems based on playful word associations. A perfect way to celebrate "Poem in Your Pocket Day" (April...
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Making Sense of Homographs
What is a homograph? Develop your learners' vocabulary with a word association tool. Language arts classes discover what a homograph is and how it can be used as a visual thesaurus. They discover the other uses for homographs...
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Transition Words and Phrases: Road Signs for the Reader
Therefore! However! Furthermore! Explore the power of transition words and phrases. Signal your readers by suggesting the relationship between different thoughts or points. Help them demonstrate an understanding of word relationships.
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Vectors: Follow That Arrow
Vectors and their connection to motion. A video will be presented to provide information for the class to use methods of solving vectors with and without grids. Real-world physical concepts will be explored in reference to vectors.
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Free Enterprise: A Context for Technology
Introduced your class to the topic of free enterprise and its relationship to personal freedom. As a class, they brainstorm the ways in which what they do affects the free enterprise system and how technology can make the transition...
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Using Timelines
Students explore how to create a simple timeline and make one of their life.
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Persuasion in Print
Advertisers target teenagers. Groups select three magazine advertisements for similar products, analyze the appeals used in each, create a poster that features the persuasive techniques used, and present their findings to the class. The...