Curated OER
Developing Questioning Skills by Investigating Political Cartoons
Students analyze a collection of political cartoons based on one theme to determine what information is present and what information seems to be missing to tell the story of the event.
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Techno-correspondent
Students play the role of a correspondent and write a news article about a famous landmark. In this correspondence instructional activity, students use a computer template to build word processing skills. Students edit a story...
Facing History and Ourselves
Emmett Till: Confronting the Murder
The 1955 murder of Emmett Till is often regarded as the catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. Learn more about the brutal crime—and, as many believe, the miscarriage of justice—that began a national conversation...
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Reading on the Farm
Second graders study farm life. In this writing instructional activity, 2nd graders listen to "Pigaroo" and write their own story about farm life.
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Tell Us All: Tools for Integrating Math and Engineering
What a scam! Middle and high schoolers pose as journalists exposing consumer fraud. In this lesson, they write an article for a magazine using data collected during previous investigations (prior lessons) to defend their findings that a...
Education World
Use Boolean Search Terms to Shorten Web Searches
Have you ever conducted a Web search and received too many hits? Teach your class about Boolean search terms and provide them time to practice conducting efficient online searches. This lesson plan contains several fun activities which...
Curated OER
Is Everyone Protected by the Bill of Rights?
Who is protected by the Bill of Rights? Learners examine the Bill of Rights and conduct research regarding gay people in the military. They use their research findings to prepare for and participate in a debate regarding the military ban...
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Writing with Writers for Grades 9-12
Have your class examine the characteristics of various writing genres using the Writing with Writers online project. Detailed instructions for how to introduce, discuss, and develop a piece of writing for each genre are included. Class...
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Girls Around the World: Communicating Through First-Person Narratives
Teams select a society to investigate and create a chart comparing and contrasting the status of girls in that society with their own. They then craft and illustrate a personal narrative written from the point of view of a girl living in...
Curated OER
Get Charged!
Learners explore the concept of electricity in this activity based unit. In this physical science lesson, students focus on electricity and electrical engineering. The teaching unit includes 5 activities to develop learners...
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E-mailing the Chamber of Commerce
Encourage effective internet research and e-mail correspondence as scholars investigate a US capital city they've never visited to find pertinent and relevant information. They begin by picking a city, then visit that city's chamber of...
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Create a Word
Brainstorm new words for a class dictionary. In small groups, young learners read and discuss an article about how words get into dictionaries. They then develop a new word, use it in a sentence, and share their creations with their...
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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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Showdown on the Frontier
Especially critical following a series of shootings in schools, theaters, and religious buildings, it's safe to say that we need to evaluate the current laws on gun control. Eighth graders read a New York Times article in order to better...
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Create Your Own Business!
Create a business and assess the costs of acquiring a business licenses and advertising. The class determines the name, location, business product to be sold and the best method to sell that product. A great way to understand the US...
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Novel Character Study
Students complete a character study using a database to compile information from a novel. They design a five slide presentation highlighting the character's reaction to different situations in the book. They write an acrostic poem using...
Curated OER
USING MICROSOFT, POWERPOINT, WORD, EXCEL AND THE INTERNET TO CREATE A PRESENTATION
Explore the basic PowerPoint commands and options. They research information (including the WWW) related to an approved topic for presentation development. They create a presentation defined by specific criteria. They document research...
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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...
Curated OER
Budget Busters
Use this economic activity to focus on writing summaries of informational text. First, middle schoolers define common economic terms used to describe news about the economy. They closely read news about the federal budget deficit and...
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Let There Be Peace: Nobel Prize Winners
What is the Nobel Peace Prize? After they establish criteria for great leadership, secondary learners read a New York Times article about President Jimmy Carter's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Individuals research the...
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Prisoner in One's Own Home
Examine the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. After reading an article from the New York Times and exploring the author's word choice, young readers find the central idea in the text and work on researching...
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Be That As It Maya
Creative projects are a great way to engage your class and can be a fun way to assess mastery! Learners create brochures and postcards that might have been created by and for travelers to ancient Mayan cities. They read and discuss the...
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Knowing Write from Wrong
Explore how the informality of electronic correspondence has affected communications in the workplace. Writers develop pages for a basic writing guide that contains rules and examples to help correct common writing errors. A great way to...