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Cross-Curricular Language Arts Lessons
Here are lesson ideas to begin integrating social studies content into the language arts classroom.
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The Deadly Picnic: A Lab on Deductive Reasoning
Whodunnit? Find out who killed Mr. Brooks through a logical examination of evidence. Class members fill out a couple of data tables to help them pin down the suspect. After they've figured out just who the culprit is, pupils compose...
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Eng 312: Midsemester Exam
Using the text Language Awareness by Eschholz, Rosa and Clark, as well as previous lectures from the class, this slideshow presents students with a midterm addressing key terms and concepts. While teachers might have a hard time...
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Thinking About Hate
This instructional activity starts out with a guided discussion about the statement "Birds fly in the sky; airplanes fly in the sky; therefore, airplanes are birds" and goes on to cover logical fallacies and reliable sources, relating...
Walters Art Museum
The Symbolism of Allegorical Art
Introduce learners to allegorical art with four bronze sculptures by Francesco Bertos. After modeling how to recognize bias and allegory in Bertos' Africa, class groups examine the other three sculptures in the series before creating...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Word Choice
Students explore language arts by participating in a vocabulary usage activity. In this word choice lesson, students read examples of great word usage in literature and discuss with the class why some words appear stronger than others....
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Summing Up the Disaster
Learners are introduced to news writing being a concise, factual, and informative type of writing. They assess that publishing an article in a newspaper style utilizes a word processing program. Each student researches the Titanic and...
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Discovering Japan Through Cooperative Research
Search a variety of sources to create a multimedia or book project about Japan. Learners use the independent investigation method to plan and conduct research about Japan. They use the information they discover to create a computer book...
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Developing Thinking and Reasoning Skills in Primary Learners Using Detective Fiction
Students are introduced to the genre of detective fiction. Based on their reading level, they are given a different series of books to read. For each story, they are to make predictions and practice decoding messages. To end the...
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Animal Rights Vs. Animal Welfare - Understanding the Issue
Students explore the difference between animal rights and animal welfare. They take a field trip to a farm to explore the producing animals for human use. After researching and collecting information from animal welfare/rights...
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Telemarketers Rights and Yours
Students research the controversy of whether or not the National Do Not Call Registry is constitutional, and then hold a class debate. Students research the National Do Not Call Registry, the FTC, the FCC, and the most current status of...
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Islamic Art
Pupils examine the various forms of Islamic Art. Using the art, they identify the basic elements and research its history and style of calligraphy. They create a piece of art based on information they collected and demonstrate...
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Gathering, Traditions, and Nutrition of Our Food
Students gain a better understanding of what it means to eat seasonally through learning about traditional hunting, gathering, and food preparation methods of Athabascan tribes. By interacting with Native American Elders and...
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Children of Clay
Fourth graders identify and interpret the Pueblo Native American culture and history and comprehend their folklore and songs. They also create their own piece of pottery with clay and write a myth about the piece of pottery they made....
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Multicultural Attire
Students research the native attire of a chosen culture, write an essay reflecting the role of the attire in the given culture, and create a significant piece of attire from that culture that be modeled in a fashion show.
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Checkmate
Students start identifying the cause and effect relationships in games of Chess. Using the internet, they research the history of the game and how the roles for each of the pieces. They develop a skit based on the roles and...
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Something From Nothing
Students listen to story Joseph Had A Little Overcoat to explore people from another culture and how one item can be used to make other items; students use scraps of fabric and other knickknacks to create pictures or toys.
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Analyzing the Lewis and Clark Journals
Students examine and interpret Corps of Discovery journal entries as primary documents/sources providing insight into the Lewis and Clark expedition's journey. They present information they have documented on included activity sheet in...
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Christopher Columbus, The Explorer
Students brainstorm important facts about Christopher Columbus, input information into Kidspiration or Inspiration, watch United Streaming Video on Christopher Columbus and New World to gather information, research online to find...
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Folk Groups
Students study the characteristics of a folk group, themselves and their folk groups, and write about a folk group that is meaningful to them. They identify various folk groups within the school community and discover that everyone,...
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Community Brochures
Second graders research facets of their community in order to create an informational brochure. After brainstorming ideas of what could be included in the brochure, student groups get information from the internet, the library or a...
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Map Reading
After examining a map from 1803 and 2003, they explore how to become map readers. They describe what they see on the map from 1803 and compare the information to the map from 2003. Students create their own map of the neighborhood that...
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Evacuating a Volcano: A Simulation
Students imagine themselves staying for the weekend in a summer cabin near Mount St. Helens (or other volcanic site,) and having to quickly evacuate the area.
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Changing the World: Social Entrepreneurs Part Two
High schoolers explore the work of social entrepreneurs. In this entrepreneurship lesson, students research a specific entrepreneur and create a presentation introducing him or her to the class. High schoolers design a seminar on social...