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October Writing Journal
Pupils work on Sustained Silent Writing which encourages them to develop their writing skills. Students are encouraged to share their writing with a partner, the class, a small group, or in a "donut". Lesson describes ways to journal...
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American Idols
Students design a biographical web for a famous American figure. They identify key research questions and organize information as a prewriting strategy. This can be done individually or as a class, depending on your needs and students.
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Free Speech Comes At a Price
Young scholars use communicative activity strategy, Go, Ask and Tell, or more traditional whole text comprehension activity to read, discuss and explore issues in article, Free Speech Comes at a Price, by Hugh Mackay.
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Jump Rope For Health and Literature
Fifth graders practice memorizing a whole poem or an excerpt of it. Individually, they recite the poem to the class and then perform the poem while completing a jump rope routine. To end the activity, they work with others to develop a...
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Video Poetry
Pupils analyze a poem of their choice to find the meaning. They break the poems into sections and add images and sounds to make it into a video. They show their video to the whole school if possible.
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Panther in the Basement
Middle schoolers produce an ongoing journal in which they relate their personal response to literature. They examine the theme of the rights of the individual versus the whole. They explore conflict in Panther in the Basement.
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Introduce Vocabulary: Chrysanthemum
Students explore language arts by reading a story with their class. For this beginner vocabulary lesson, students read the book Chrysanthemum and discuss the vocabulary used in the story. Students participate in a word play activity...
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Poem Movies
Pupils create iMovie presentations that represent favorite poems chosen by the students in this language arts lesson for the upper-elementary classroom. The lesson includes resource links to find poetry and requires computers and movie...
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We Hope This Helps
Young scholars create writings and drawings to share with a children's hospital. They reflect on the project and how they have changed as a person. They also discuss how the community benefited as a whole.
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Introduce "ur"
Students explore language arts by participating in a word sound activity. In this letter combination instructional activity, students discuss the sound "ur" makes and the types of words it appears in. Students identify the sound as the...
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Teaching Lewis and Clark: Challenge to Communicate
Students note instances in the journals of Lewis and Clark where they relied on non-verbal communication (sign language.) They discover some basic sign language and play a game in which they must use their new sign language skills to...
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Sonnet Project
Twelfth graders use the internet to examine how the Gutenberg press affected society as a whole. Using examples of illuminated type, they develop type in three different formats. They share their types with the class and answer...
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Be the Change You Wish to See
Students review the lessons from the whole unit before devising a plan of action for a volunteer effort. They work in teams using a worksheet to determine a social cause that they develop an effective idea to promote. They design an...
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Social Studies Newspaper
Twelfth graders decide on a topic and write a whole newspaper on that topic. The newpaper also needs to include illustrations and advertisements.
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Gatsby and the American Twenties Newspaper
Students research 1920's US History. In this historical literature instructional activity, students use the novel The Great Gatsby as a tool to examine the era. They work in individually to create newspaper articles based on...
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Self-esteem Activity
Students create lists of positive and negative feelings and have discussions on the power of positive thinking. In this feelings lesson plan, students dissect situations where others are being negative.
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Writing Similes
Fifth graders identify and write similes. They define simile and discuss different examples, and with the help of a thesaurus, write original similes that compare the colors of crayons to objects or feelings. Students copy their rough...
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Exploring Color Vocabulary
Students explore color terms and related meanings and metaphors in cultural and literary contexts. They use the main colors to explore synonymous color terms and related metaphorical meanings of color words. Students recognize the...
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Successful Reading Strategies for ELL Students
Learners improve their reading comprehension through predicting, connecting with text and summarizing. Students should have already read the book Seedfolks and made predictions based upon what they had seen from the cover and pictures...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Campaign
The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...
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eNews@Jefferson Elementry
Fifth graders write news reports from their school to publish on their website. They use graphic organizers to collect their data in an orderly fashion. The class works as a whole to produce the website.
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American Deaf Culture: Deaf Art
Students examine the culture and art of the Deaf Community. They discover the history of the Deaf Community using art and their values. They compare and contrast different pieces of art.
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Patterns In Poetry: Images (Part 3)
High schoolers explore imagery in poetry. In this poetry lesson, students examine how the use of metaphors and similes aid in reading comprehension. Multiple resources are provided.
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My Brother Sam is Dead: A study of the Revolutionary War
Fifth graders complete an analysis of the Revolutionary War through literature. After "My Brother Sam Is Dead," students create a time capsule containing items that would be relevant during the Revolutionary War. They identify key...