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Debate Topics and Ideas
Students examine both sides of arguments surrounding given debates. They use the internet and other research to collect information to support their stand on the controversial issue. Students debate their chosen topic. This lesson plans...
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Sleuthing A Writer's Skills
Students read The Train Ride Home by Robin Solomon. For this literature response lesson, students will inspect the writing of Solomon to determine how she established a certain tone through her word choice and...
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Lesson Plan - The Barbara Frietchie Story – Fact or Fiction?
Students differentiate between fact and legend. In this Barbara Freitchie lesson, students read poetry and non-fiction accounts regarding the story of Freitchie. Students analyze the story of the American patriot to determine how much of...
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Experience This!
What would you do if you had to go to school all day every day? Tillie tackles this problem in Sharon Creech’s A Fine, Fine School. After a discussion of how Tillie got the principal to change his ways, brainstorm with your class...
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Uh Oh!
Help your elementary learners distinguish between short and long vowel /o/ sounds. They are introduced to the vowel-consonant-e pattern that changes short vowel sounds into long vowel sounds. Then they practice reading and spelling words...
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Say it with FEELING!
Why should we read with expression when we read? Engage your learners in this discussion and teach them the easiest way to gauge expression: the end mark! Is it a question mark? An exclamation point? This helps you determine how to...
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Encore! Reading with Expression
When you read aloud from Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, class members respond with "Encore!" or "No!" depending on your use, or misuse, of volume and speed as you demonstrate reading with expression. Readers then practice in...
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I Am Special and You Are Special Too #6
We are All Alike…We Are All Different is the springboard for the creation of an illustrated book in which young writers record their impression of themselves, their families, and their interests. Sharing the completed books in circle...
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Media Literacy Skills
You're on camera! Third graders find a news story and research it to get more information. Everyone uses their found information to write a script and create their own news broadcast!
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Planning A Vacation Online
If you could travel anywhere in the United States, where would you go? Use this question to interest your fourth, fifth, and sixth graders as they experiment with Mapquest or other direction-based resources. They choose where they'd like...
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How to Write A+ Essays!
This instructional activity, which promises to improve the essays of your middle schoolers, contains a list of characteristics an essay should include. It breaks it down into the introduction, thesis statement, body, etc. There's also a...
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Feelings From A to Z
Third graders create a class A to Z Feelings book to explore emotions, discover new words, pose for a "feeling" icture, and write about the feeling.
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Miwok Legend Storytelling Movie
Students read Native American legends and practice storytelling skills. They complete a worksheet about the elements of storytelling and create an iMovie.
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What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Students use the internet to research the location of their summer vacation trip. Given the demographics, they plot the location on a world map. They create a brochure using the information they collected. Using PowerPoint, they develop...
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I am Special and You are Special Too - Project Children L.E.A.D.
Eighth graders recognize what makes them special through class participation and discussion of rap music, writing a poem about themselves, and designing their own special hat while working in groups.
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Shake With A
Use letter boxes and letter tiles (d,a,y,l,p,w,k,f,r,i,t,s,b,c,I) to help your class distinguish between the sounds for short vowel a and long vowel a. They are introduced to the vowel patterns that comprise long vowel sounds, with a...
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The Everyday Red
Pair a hand motion with the /e/ sound so young learners remember it better! This plan has the class open their "creaky door" whenever they hear the /e/ sound. They'll learn a tongue twister and read the short story Red Gets Fed,...
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Beginning to Read
Students explore various books read by their classmates outside of school. After reading books of their choice, the class creates a bulletin board summarizing their main ideas of the book and their opinion of the book using Flat Stanley.
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Fluency is the Key!
A field trip to the library begins this lesson plan where children select their own books to practice fluent silent reading. They then practice their writing by creating a new ending to the story they chose before receiving a mini-lesson...
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Money, Money, Money!
Letter boxes and a reading activity introduce the /sh/ sound to young learners. First they hear the target sound, then they identify words that contain it, and then they manipulate letters in their letter boxes. After these activities,...
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/sh/ Sound Work
What letters create the /sh/ sound? Have your elementary learners study the sound, write different words that use the sound in their letter boxes, and read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish! After this mini-lesson, can your...
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Eggs
Help your young scholars practice reading an article to improve their literary skills with new terms and summarizing information. They read silently and then play a game by asking each other questions and finding out answers...
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The Creaky Door Says "ehhhh"
Study the long vowel sound /e/, as in a creaky door noise. Children repeat the sound and learn a chant. They use letters in letterboxes to make words with the /e/ sound before reading a book and writing a message about their favorite...
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Tuesdays with Morrie pages 62-78
In this Tuesdays with Morrie comprehension and opinion worksheet, students respond to 8 short answer questions covering pages 62-78 of Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom in order to help them better understand the novel and themselves.