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What Do Writers Do?
Pupils learn about honing their writing through editing. They write the beginning of a story, paying attention to vocabulary and detail. Then they split into groups of two to peer edit. After discussing ways they can improve their...
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Improving Editing and Proofreading Skills
Students explore interactive web sites to improve their editing and proofreading skills. Using the SMART Board, students identify capitalization and punctuation errors in a given sentence. Students discuss proofreading strategies.
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Sounding Out the Symbols
Using the states as a hook, kindergartners identify beginning sounds. They identify the initial sound in words like Mississippi and Indiana and complete a set of worksheets related to this skill.
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Introducing Communication Talent with "Casey at the Bat"
Analyze the poem "Casey at the Bat." Your team of analysts will read the poem and complete a variety of activities, including describing how Casey looks and acts, describing how he feels before and after he strikes out, and sharing...
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The Pearl: Problematic Situation
Is money the root of all evil, or the answer to everyone's dreams? Analyze the role of money in John Steinbeck's The Pearl with a writing prompt where kids imagine that they have won the lottery, and must think about the ways it will...
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Poetry Cubes
Young scholars develop an appreciation for different styles of poetry and learn different techniques for memorization.
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Poetry Pals
Students create the components for a slideshow featuring their own poetry, illustrations, and music. This lesson uses auditory, visual and kinesthetic (signing and clapping) learning styles.
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Portrait of a Friend
Students complete a graphic organizer about themselves and write a short auto-biography. They share their work with a classmate and draw a portrait of a classmate be displayed in the classroom.
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Brown Paper Bag Family Memories
Students collect a variety of objects that represent a family memories. The objects are and the variety of family experiences that they represent are shared with their classmates. Speaking, drawing, and writing activities ar4 developed...
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Definition Expedition
Learners study about three ways to define a term in technical writing, search the Web for scientific text, then copy and paste sections into a Word document. Finally, they use the highlighter feature of Word to highlight examples of...
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Shizuko’s Daughter: Discussion Web
Is Yuki a selfish character? Analyze her motivation and behavior during a unit on Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori. Readers fill out two sides of a graphic organizer with reasons why or why not she is selfish, and then come up with...
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For the Fun of It
Students view pictures of Amelia Earhart and discuss the social and historical context of her life. They read excerpts of Earhart's autobiography "The Fun of It" and analyze her purpose in writing it.
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Literary Elements in Of Mice and Men
Ninth graders review an exercise, after reading most of the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. They demonstrate a range of literary elements such as conflict, symbolism, setting, and foreshadowing. Students also are able to provide...
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Reading With Expression
Reading with fluency and expression is an important skill for beginning readers to develop. They discuss what it means to read with expression and observe the teacher reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears without any interest...
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Writing An Article Lesson Plan
Review active and passive voice with young writers. They will use the passive voice to write persuasive articles encouraging healthy diets. The activity includes brainstorming activities for the writing, as well as a homework extension...
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This Was the Noblest Roman of Them All
High schoolers analyze the problems with staging and character using the play Julius Caesar. They summarize the final scene of the play and view film versions of the scene. Additionally, they prepare a promptbook for the final scene and...
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Circling Ethiopia: A Novel Approach to Introducing a Region
Learners read a novel to gain insight into a different region of the world. Using a graphic organizer, they share the information they have already gathered about Ethiopia. They draw an outline map of Africa and read the opening pages of...
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Hispanic World - South America Field Trip
Students research a South American Spanish speaking country, analyze and organize the information that they collect and present their findings to the class.
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Nothing To It!
First graders explore the zero property of addition and subtraction through the creation of a class book. Includes an assessment sheet.
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Whittle, Whittle it Down: Summarizing
Sixth graders are introduced to the jigsaw method of summarizing text. In groups, they create their own summary and work together as a class to create just one class summary. To end the lesson plan, they read the class summary and...
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Story Retellings
Second graders complete story maps in order to retell stories to the class.
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Every Picture Tells a Story
Students examine the ways in which a work of art represents the culture or lifestyle of people living in a state. They analyze the back of the Iowa quarter and discuss how art reflects the time period in which it was created.
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Trading Traditions: Based on the American Samoa Quarter Reverse
Students investigate U.S. Currency by researching American Samoa. In this monetary unit lesson, students define the reverse and obverse of a coin while completing a currency related worksheet. Students identify American Samoa...
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Call It Courage
Sixth graders complete many activities and lessons based on a reading of "Call It Courage." They watch the video, complete computer based writing assignments, and prepare writing folders in the art center. They practice their word...