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For Your Dining Pleasure
Students share opinions about their favorite ethnic dishes. They research the cuisine of another culture and write a review of a local restaurant that features that cuisine.
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Polar Adventure: Read All About It!
Students investigate reports of an adventure to the North Pole or the South Pole and then chronicle it by writing a newspaper article or making a timeline. The focus is placed on a recent or historic expedition to the region selected.
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Telling Stories in Art: Witness to a Brawl
Learners examine how a piece of art tells a story. In this visual art lesson, students interpret a piece of art work by writing a newspaper article that tells the story of the moment in time that is depicted in a picture. They work with...
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Hero Research
Students examine and research the idea of heroism. They watch and discuss a Powerpoint presentation, conduct research, and write a research paper about the qualities and characteristics of a hero.
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Introducing Nonfiction
Students are introduced to nonfiction text. In this five esson unti, students explore nonfiction as a genre. They identify the components and text structure of text structure of nonfiction text. Students read a nonfiction passage and...
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Red, White, and Blue Notes
Students explore the history of major American music genres. Then, through mock radio shows, students examine the distinguishing features of each genre and how each has changed throughout the years.
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Mad About Madagascar
Students read/discuss "On Madagascar, A Treasury of Fauna and Flora," examining the issues affecting the biodiversity of Madagascar. They present information on issues affecting Madagascar's ecology, and write policy statements on...
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2002: The Year In Review
Students research and create a book highlighting significant events and trends throughout the world in the year 2002. Then, through creative writing, they respond to the events or trends themselves and how they affected our world.
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No Bones About It
Students act as paleontologists, examining pictures of dinosaur skeletons and applying their knowledge of the relationship between skeletal features and survival, to create 'Paleontology Reports' about their perceptions of the lives of...
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Legally Wed
Students explore the controversial topic of same-sex marriages in a fishbowl discussion. They write balanced news articles based on interviews exploring people's opinions on laws that define marriage.
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Critical Pedagogy
Students read Ruthanne Lum McCunn's Thousand Pieces of Gold and as a class, discuss the Chinese practice of foot binding. They work in groups to read further about how women of different cultures attempt to conform. They write about...
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Current Contexts
Students examine how they are affected by world affairs. After reading an article, they examine Otto Frank's attempts to immigrate to America. Using the New York Times, they identify examples of news, advertisements and photographs...
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Listening for Leschi: Voices from the Past
Students explore the written and oral histories of mid 19th centruy western Washington. They imagine that they are a reporter who can travel back in time and interview Leschi to create a newspaper article that features him.
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Flights of Fancy?
Students reflect on the dynamics of human flight and how objects fall through the air and how science principles are used in flight.
They create a How-It-Works poster diagramming the science behind one method of flying. In addition,...
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Getting Fired Up
Students explore first-person accounts of volcanic eruptions throughout time and use second-hand information about volcanoes. They use both types of accounts to write news articles covering the events of a historic volcanic eruption as...
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Spy vs. Spy?
Young scholars consider their beliefs about proper and improper surveillance and then create imaginary neighborhoods featuring surveillance technology in various public and private sites.
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The Ancient Maya
Students explore the culture of the Mayans through a variety of activities. In this lesson about Maya, students analyze pictures in books and on websites, produce scale models of Maya architecture, and create Maya mosaics. Students study...
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U.S. Set to Celebrate Lincoln Bicentennial
Young scholars use a news article about the celebration of the Lincoln Bicentennial to answer questions about Abraham Lincoln and the celebration. In this current events and US history lesson based on a news article, students participate...
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Islamic Scientific Contributions to Civilization
Seventh graders explore several well documented artistic and scientific accomplishments that were discovered or perfected during The Golden Age of Islam. They are staff writers of a magazine who create a feature article about a topic...
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Compassion on Death Row?
Students analyze and debate, through writing and discussion, the politics and ethics behind the ability of governors to grant clemency to inmates sentenced to the death penalty.
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What's in a Name?
Learners explore how one uses examples from history to inform themselves of past and present events. After reading an article, they examine the significance of renaming a base in Germany after a soldier who survived the Holocaust. They...
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A Historical Career Search
Students analyze the use of language, including non-standard written and oral English. They write persuasive, descriptive, narrative and/or evaluative pieces in response to the story read and keep reflection journals. Finally, students...
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The Cuban Missile Crisis
Students explore facets of the Cold War. In this Cold War history lesson, students research a Cold War event in order to write a news story about the events that features direct quotations and images.
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Evidence of Climate Change
Sixth graders examine climate change in the state of Colorado. In this climate lesson, 6th graders watch 2 video clips regarding the topic and research the subtopics- snow pack, precipitation, temperature, forest fires, river flow,...