Mr. Beem's Social Studies
Civil Rights Project: The Long Civil Rights Movement
Investigate milestones along the path that lead to the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. After researching key people, events, court cases, and legislative orders, teams present their findings as a magazine, newspaper, or...
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Habitat Hunt
Third graders read several nonfiction texts and practice finding the main idea for the text as well as learn about various habitats. In this main idea lesson, 3rd graders read several nonfiction texts and make habitat cards. Students...
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Greeting Card to A Character
Students create a greeting card from one character to another after finishing a novel. Individually, they use their imagination to write the paragraph using the text to support their ideas. They share their greeting card with the class...
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Research Project
Students learn the characteristics of arachnids by researching the arachnid of their choice and producing a 4 to 5 paragraph research paper.
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Happiness is A Warm Puppy
Students investigate dog breeds and write a short story from a dog's perspective. In this dog research and writing instructional activity, students watch the film, "Dog: The Early Years. They apply critical thinking skills to determine...
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The Raven: Creator of the Universe?
Students explore biology by researching birds in class. In this raven identification instructional activity, students utilize the Internet to identify the anatomy, habits and habitat of ravens. Students write descriptive paragraphs about...
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Shared Writing (Whole Group)
Students participate in a whole class shared writing activity. They create an original text while examining the thought process of writers.
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Writing Paragraphs
Twelfth graders examine the process of writing a paragraph that describes events in chronological order. They listen to a teacher-led discussion, construct a paragraph in pairs, and independently write a paragraph following the process...
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Organizing Ideas
Eighth graders investigate varous writing skills as part of larger course of study. The lesson is essentially a rough guide for conducting a class for writing. The main focus of the plan is organizing ideas using various strategies that...
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PICTURE READING - PARAGRAPH WRITING
Students investigate the elements found in a media image. The image is used to compose a descriptive paragraph. They exchange papers to discuss the writing and make changes using constructive criticism. Students also make connections...
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Writing Paragraphs: Paragraphs which describe events in chronological order
Students explain the structure of a paragraph which describes chronological events. They demonstrate this by construction in writing of a paragraph.
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Family Cookbook
Second graders, in groups, produce a Family Cookbook by bringing recipes from home.
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Creating a Digital Newspaper
Learners create a digital newspaper. In this digital newspaper instructional activity, students review the sections of a newspaper and brainstorm ideas for their paper. Learners complete a schools news report, student interview, opinion...
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Swimming with Crabs
Students explore Earth science by completing several graphic organizer activities in class. In this oceanography lesson, students research ocean inhabitants such as blue crab and oysters. Students complete graphic organizers about the...
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Comparison Contrast Essay
Students compare and contrast the experience of the migrant worker as depicted in The Grapes of Wrath with the experiences of migrant children as depicted in the narratives and poems provided.
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Creative Story Writing
Students recognize predictable patterns in literature. They use the selected pattern to create their own writing using the same type of literary pattern. The new writing is proofread by other students and the editing is done until the...
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Social Studies: Aztec Calendars and Culture
Sixth graders analyze the Aztec calendar and create their own examples of them. They determine the meaning of the symbols used in the calendars and record their ideas in journals. Students host a parent breakfast for them to observe...
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Creating a Title Page, Organizing, and Writing the Research Paper
Students create a title page, organize information, and write the introductory paragraph to a research paper. For this research writing lesson, students discuss the elements of the title page and outline, then write one of their...
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Fourth graders research and write an author report on Roald Dahl, including books written by him, birthplace, family life, and other information on his writing. Students read aloud chapters in the book. Students create a newspaper...
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Linking Civilizations and Personal Heritage Through Multimedia and Art
Learners explore images, symbols, and the relationship they establish with their own personal heritage. They discuss Aztec, Inca, and Maya civilizations. Students interview their family about their own personal heritage. Additional cross...
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The Bear Facts About Summarization
Students practice summarizing techniques in this lesson. They listen as the teacher reads from a non-fiction article, and the class creates a story map to highlight the most important facts from the article. They use the map to write a...
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Division Patterns
Fifth graders investigate and practice the foundational math skill of division. They make cognitive connections to how it is related to multiplication. Independent practice is done using the computer program provided by Houghton Mifflin
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The Verbal Sketch
Learners use perspective observation sketches to understand verbal description. In this subjective writing lesson, students practice writing subjective conversations using the cartoon worksheets.
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Vocabulary Building - Declaration of Independence
Young scholars read the first part of the Declaration of Independence and mark the words they don't know. First, they try to guess what the words mean by looking at the them in context, and then they look up the words in a dictionary.