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Poetry--Homeless People
Eighth graders create a poem about homeless people using images they saw on websites. After reading the book "The Outsiders", 8th graders make connections of real life homeless people with characters in the book. Students search the web...
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From Formal To Slang
Tenth graders define the term slang, explaining its various social, historical, and racial contexts, so as to articulate when it can be appropriately used as a means of effective communication. They use their own personal slang lexicon,...
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"Some Excellent Dumb Discourse:" Caliban as native American
Explore The Tempest and how language and power are intertwined in the play. Through a series of questions (provided) and an intense activity that has groups translate Caliban's speech into American Sign Language, learners recognize...
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You've Got Email!
Students email students their own age in another country to share information about their cultures and countries.
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Research, Writing, and the 'Isms'
Students research an art style. They create an original short story, poem, or personal essay and illustrate the written work with the style of art they researched.
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Comprehending Through Questioning
Elementary schoolers observe and apply a variety of reading comprehension strategies. They silently read a passage out of their science textbook, and discuss answering the who, what, where, when, and how of the text. In small groups they...
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Biographical Activity
Young scholars particpate in discussion about biographies in order to become familiar with the term. They type their "Biography" using a word processing program and learn the cut/paste functions to transfer information from their...
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Citing Sources
Students explore the purpose and requirements for a bibliography. They examine where to find bibliographic information in a variety of print and non-print sources on an assigned topic. Students prepare a bibliography online using a...
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I Am Special and You Are Special Too #6
We are All Alike…We Are All Different is the springboard for the creation of an illustrated book in which young writers record their impression of themselves, their families, and their interests. Sharing the completed books in circle...
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Conversations about childhood
Encourage your class to discuss their childhood with other classmates using the six questions listed here. After sharing their answers, learners write a paragraph detailing general information about their childhood. This plan is designed...
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Classified Advertisements: Target Language Practice
Foreign language learners decipher the meanings of classified ads in the target language. They investigate a large collage created by the teacher of foreign language advertisements and discuss the content with classmates. Then...
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Friendly Letter Writing and Sentence Structure
Explore communication through writing by analyzing individual sentences with young writers. They practice writing compound sentences and identifying sentence fragments. The next step has them learn the five parts of a friendly letter....
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Reading Made Easy with Mindwing Concepts
While this resource is actually attempting to sell a product, the foundational ideas may be worth looking into. Using Braidy the StoryBraid doll, learners will gain a better understanding of beginning, middle, and end, as well as story...
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The Raven
After a close reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" individuals copy the rhythm and rhyme scheme and rewrite the final stanzas of the poem.
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Packing Nouns
Play a noun game with your class. Put a suitcase in the middle of the room and have each class member, in turn, name a noun that begins with a specified letter of the alphabet. To ramp up the challenge, assign concrete, abstract, proper,...
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Writing Process
Introduce primary graders to the writing process. After reviewing the steps, they practice using the process by writing a book report. Before writing the draft, they complete a graphic organizer. The completed draft is reviewed by peers....
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Compounding the Problem
Pupils sharpen their dictionary skills and their understanding of compound words in this plan. Tailor it to the grade level you teach by honing in on specific skills. For older learners, the plan suggests providing a word and having them...
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"Jabberwocky" Jive
Pupils review the fantasy of Alice in Wonderland and discuss the author. After reading the poem, "Jabberwocky," they look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary. Working as partners, they create a list of "protmanteau" or invented words...
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Background for The Outsiders: the 1960s
As background for a reading of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, groups rotate through four stations (video, music, website, information) to gather information on the 1960s. In addition, they interview family members about the 1960s and...
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Animal Farm: Symbolism and Theme
If you want some help with teaching themes and symbols in Animal Farm, this may be beneficial. After a class discussion about possible themes, class members write a paragraph explaining which they believe is the most important. Next,...
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School News
Compile a school newsletter with your budding journalists! Use the school calendar to assign each learner a specific even to cover! Possible events include the science fair, sports games, concerts, talent shows, etc. This is a project...
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Writing Process-- Revision and Editing
As guided practice, class members work together to revise a model persuasive paragraph. Then they practice independently with their own writing. The included rubric looks at prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, nonfiction text...
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Prepositions Used as Adverbs
Sixth graders discuss with the teacher what a prepositional phrase when used as an adverb describes. They then understand that adverb phrases will answer the questions: where, when, in what way, or to what extent. They then do student...
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Calculating Postage
Learners explore the services available to them at their local post office. As a class, students discuss the function of each method of delivery. Learners choose a postal option appropriate to a scenario the instructor provides. This...