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Parts of a Friendly Letter
The art of writing a letter has not been lost to email and texting! Teach kids how to format a friendly letter with a presentation about the parts of a letter, as well as prompting them to write a letter about their favorite holiday.
Discovery Education
Election in the News
Young people are the future voices of the country. In order to be knowledgeable about local and federal elections, future voters must first become aware. Bring an informative lesson plan to your social studies class, in which middle...
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Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn Introductory Lessons
“What is the role or function of controversial art? And, should children, our children, be required—forced—to study certain works they may find painful or humiliating or offensive?” Robert Zalisk’s question, found in his article, “Uproar...
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Descriptive Prompt: Precise Language
Incorporate sensory details into a piece of descriptive writing. First, elementary and middle schoolers improve a piece of writing by using precise, vivid language, as well as appropriate word choice. They then listen to a variety of...
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Project WRITE: Class Interview Book
Get your language arts class moving, build community, and strengthen writing skills with this kinesthetic activity. The class brainstorms interview questions from which each chooses three. Individuals then collect information about six...
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Death by Particles
Emerging epidemiologists define relative risk and read an article about the effect of particulate pollution on the cardiovascular health of women. They record the relative risk values, graph them, and answer analysis questions. This is a...
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Getting the Lead Out
The article for this activity no longer accessible through the links in the lesson plan, but can be found in the National Center for Biotechnology Information website. After reading it, environmental science students answer questions and...
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Compare and Contrast: Literary Analysis
Great for a reading intervention or remedial Language Arts class, this instructional activity uses two stories from Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III ("Terri Jackson" and "Mary Lou" to reinforce note-taking skills, story elements,...
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Choose Your Own Adventure: School Nutritional Policy
Mature audiences are required for this lesson plan on implementing health-related policies. First, they openly explore the CDC obesity page while taking notes about what they discover. Then they view a PowerPoint about the success of...
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Connotation and Denotation:
Eighth graders investigate the effect that connotations can have on writing. They are shown examples to build background knowledge before attempting the exercise. They finish by writing a paragraph to practice what they have learned.
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The Wyeth Family of Artists
Students work in expert teams to research the life and work of N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and James Wyeth. N.C.'s daughters, Carolyn and Henriette, were also artists. Their visual images of work in print or on the Internet are...
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Writing Variable Expressions for Physical Models
Explore the concept of writing variable expressions by examining the similarities between expressions with numbers and expressions with variables. Emerging mathematicians determine rules for sequences and patterns before writing a rule...
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Shopping-Unit Pricing
Comparing unit prices of food products is a skill that learners will use for the rest of their lives. Here is a simple plan that provides practice calculating the unit price for various grocery store products. Use two jars with differing...
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Charlotte's Web
Fourth graders focus on fluency by reading the book Charlotte's Web. In this reading strategies lesson, 4th graders partner read, do guided reading, and independent reading to increase fluency. Students use Venn Diagrams, discuss...
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Literature Circle Role Descriptions
In this literature circle role descriptions worksheet, students identify the role they play in the literature circle. The different roles include: summarizer, vocabulary finder, questions writer, story mapper. Each role has three to...
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Diagramming Annabelle Lee
Eighth graders examine the parts of the Edgar Allan Poe poem, "Annabelle Lee." After listening to the poem, 8th graders utilize a study guide imbedded in this plan to help them diagram the poem. A great instructional activity on poetry!
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Extension Activities Mr. Popper's Penguins
Students read Mr. Popper's Penguins. In this Mr. Popper's Penguins lesson plan, students record descriptive clues from the book. Students research Adelie penguins and compare and contrast to their local community. Students...
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...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him
Students examine impressions of a community of migrant workers in Texas who go north to pick crops. The lesson highlights the poverty and discrimination that a family suffers in the 1970's.
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Protein Puzzles
High schoolers examine the concept of protein structure. They read an article, construct a three-dimensional model of an insulin protein, take a quiz, conduct Internet research, and answer discussion questions.
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Open & Operating: The Federal Reserve Responds to September 11
Students investigate the purpose of a central bank. In this economics/consumer mathematics lesson, students explore the actions of the Federal Reserve after the events of September 11, 2001. Students investigate the role of...
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Ancient Egypt Alphabet Book
Young scholars research Ancient Egypt using a specific letter of the alphabet as a guide. In this Ancient Egypt lesson, students independently research their assigned topic using ProQuest or other research software. Once young scholars...
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Getting Positioned for Fieldwork
Learners examine interviewing and fieldwork through a student essay and activities that help them understand the interviewer's task of examining his or her position in fieldwork through observation and questioning. They explore cultural...
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Technologies of the Civil War
Fifth graders discover new and interesting technologies of the Civil War. In this Civil War portfolio of lessons, 5th graders analyze primary resources, develop new vocabulary, investigate websites, and create a time line of new...
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The Dance of the Butterfly
Young scholars explore butterfly life cycles and movement. In this integrated fine arts and biology life cycle lesson, students listen to the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and identify the related life cycle...