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Fables and Trickster Tales Around the World
Students analyze fables and trickster tales from various cultural traditions. In this fable analysis lesson, students identify the elements of fables and trickster stories. Students read Aesop's fables and Ananse spider stories....
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"What is an American?"
Eleventh graders ponder about what it means to be an "American." They discuss the impact of an author's word choice and sentence structure on text. They identify some major themes and development of the Letters... Compose paragraphs and...
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Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills
Learners explore a content area by reading both fiction and nonfiction texts on the topic. They do more research online about the topic. After comparing the texts, they create their own written original work, using both narrative and...
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Rehearsal and Sightreading Techniques
Eighth graders prepare the two pieces "American Celebration" and "Patriotic Bits and Pieces" for an upcoming performance. This lesson plan is a forty-five minute lesson plan geared towards a middle school advanced band (8th Grade). ...
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Edgar Allan Poe and Anna Katherine Green
Students analyze the genre of detective fiction through stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Anna Katherine Green. For this detective fiction lesson, students read "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Second Bullet." Students read the summaries and...
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Writing a Film Review
In this writing worksheet, students read about features of a film review: film info, introduction, theme, genre, plot, characters, director, soundtrack, rating and general review. Worksheet is informational only.
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Predicting a Mystery's Solution
Sixth graders explore the genre of mystery. In this language arts instructional activity, 6th graders predict the solution to a mystery based on the text. Students read a text and predict the solution.
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Character's Motive
Why do people commit crimes? Middle schoolers investigate characters' motives for committing a crime in a character analysis instructional activity. First, they read the book Chasing Vermeer and identify the suspects. They then record...
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Creating Found Poetry From Picture Books
Young scholars use picture books to identify poetic elements and word choice. They create a "found poem".
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Getting to Know You
Third graders explore different types of poetry and illustrate their own experiences through creating their own poem. In this getting to know you instructional activity, 3rd graders create and recite their poems with a self-portrait.
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Visual Arts: Portraits
Second graders examine a portrait of George Washington, and analyze the historical record and likeness in portraits of the period. They create their own portraits from snapshots brought to school.
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Lamarck Is Dead!
Students read Lamarck's obituary and respond to questions. They discuss the four laws from Lamarack's studies. Students apply this information to scientific theories in general.
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Name That Phrase
Students identify the American language, how it has changed and effected culture, and become familiar with idioms. In this American language lesson, students study the eight parts of speech, identify literal and figurative speech, study...
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Biotechnology
Young scholars introduced to the genre of science fiction and the theme of biotechnology within that genre.
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Seven Chinese Brothers
Fourth graders identify the characteristics of a tall tale. They read "The Seven Chinese Brothers" and analyze it for these characteristics. Students complete a comprehension worksheet and discuss why "The Seven Chinese Brothers" can be...
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Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People
Fifth graders explore poems of African Americans. They research a famous African American, write a report, create a timeline of events in African American history, create a map of the New World, and research Molly Walsh. After...
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Story Scrapbook
Students develop a comparison worksheet using one non fiction book and one fiction book they have read to be put into a class scrapbook. In their comparison students must have title, author, point of view, setting, characters, and other...
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Tell Me a Whopper!
Sixth graders investigate tall tales as a literary genre. They listen to a number of tall tales to discover how exaggeration is used as a story element. They write and publish a tall tale using word processing software. They illustrate...
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Multiple Intelligences and Holistic Models
Tenth graders identify different genres of literature and the characteristics which identify each genre. They identify which genres best suit their interests, read a novel and perform a skit from the novel or present original artwork...
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Journeys
Pupils write a story using their journey to school as the setting. In groups, they discuss their experiences and browse through books to get ideas for their story. They practice using a thesaurus to find new verbs or adjectives they...
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Sing What You Mean, Mean What You Sing
Students discuss the vocal styles characteristic of different genres and composers. The explore the use of lyrics, their relation to the music, and the use of the voice to convey emotions and character.
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Fairy Tales
Middle schoolers read and analyze fairy tales. They discuss the story elements of a fairy tale, compare/contrast various fairy tales, complete an Anticipation Guide, and write an essay comparing the structure of a fairy tale to the...
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Character Comparison: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Fourth graders compare and contrast Fudge and Peter, two main characters from "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing". They use a software template to analyze and compare the characters in a rough draft, edit their work and then produce a...
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Guess What It Is?
Third graders write and present a descriptive 'powergraph' that describes a secret object using prior knowledge of adjectives, clustering graphic organizers, and presentation skills. Authors read powergraphs and classmates 'Guess What It...