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Showdown on the Frontier
Especially critical following a series of shootings in schools, theaters, and religious buildings, it's safe to say that we need to evaluate the current laws on gun control. Eighth graders read a New York Times article in order to better...
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Creating Compassionate Communities
Have you ever lost someone? Middle and high school learners journal about a time they experienced the loss of someone through death, divorce, moving, or another type of change. They share their responses and discuss an article relating...
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American Flag History
Young historians explore US culture by investigating the US flag. They will use their textbooks, prior knowledge, and sources provided by the teacher to research the history of the American flag. They will design and create a trading...
University of Minnesota
Sheep Brain Dissection
Bored with frog and earthworm dissections? Had your fill of fetal pigs? Anatomy students will be intrigued by the sheep's brain, and you will be prepared with guiding questions, extension activities, and pictures as they dissect one —...
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Let There Be Peace: Nobel Prize Winners
What is the Nobel Peace Prize? After they establish criteria for great leadership, secondary learners read a New York Times article about President Jimmy Carter's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Individuals research the...
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Science Vocabulary game
Play a memory game with science vocabulary words to prepare for an upcoming test! Build both understanding and retention of new vocabulary words by setting up a matching game for your learners to play in small groups of three to...
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Food, Glorious Food?
How are the reactions between American and European consumers different when it comes to genetically modified foods? Use the New York Times article "Consumers in Europe Resist Gene-Altered Foods" to inform your middle schoolers...
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Technical Merits
What is technical knowledge? The class explores what technical knowledge might mean to an Olympic athlete. They catalog the different types of information that athletes would need to compete in various Winter Olympic sports and develop...
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An Introduction to Counting in Swahili
Create and illustrate individual books that aid young learners in learning to count 1-10 in Swahili. They discuss and appreciate a different culture, and find out about Africa through illustrating individual books.
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A Way with Words
How do facts and opinions impact the news? After reading "How to Cover a War" from the New York Times, middle schoolers evaluate the claims in the article. They also consider the media's responsibilities in reporting during wartime....
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Be That As It Maya
Creative projects are a great way to engage your class and can be a fun way to assess mastery! Learners create brochures and postcards that might have been created by and for travelers to ancient Mayan cities. They read and discuss the...
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For the Record
Young scholars read a New York Times article in order to examine the importance of cultural artifacts. They create essays from the point of view of one cultural artifact to demonstrate the knowledge they gained by doing research.
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What Can We Learn about India from a Ten Rupee Bank Note?
The class finds and cites evidence showing India's unity in diversity and work to recognize some of the complex interactions of a civilized community. They read to understand how geography, history, politics, economics,...
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Investigating the Swissair Flight 111 Tragedy
Middle schoolers read two articles about the same event: "Plane from J.F.K Crashes off Canada" from the New York Times and "No Survivors from Crash of Swissair Jetliner Off Nova Scotia" from the Associated Press. They then compare the...
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Just the Facts, Ma'am
Elementary learners identify the main elements of story structure and form questions to summarize their reading. They listen as the teacher reads a story and then write questions to determine (1) main characters, (2) setting, (3)...
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The True Story
What's your favorite fairy tale? Seventh graders rewrite their favorite fairy tale from another character's perspective rather than the one in which it is written. This lesson helps readers become familiar with the literary term point of...
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Math: Fractions
Participate in a class lesson plan on ratio, rate, and unit rate. Successful usage of this lesson plan requires the pupils and the teacher have access to the Scott Foresman/Addison Wesley Middle School math text. However, the unit rate...
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Literary Analysis - Young Goodman Brown
Why is literary analysis so important? Readers explore writing a literary analysis by reviewing literary elements such as character, metaphor, plot, setting, simile, personification, and style. They read "Young Goodman Brown" by...
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Foreshadowing and Situational Irony in Kate Chopin Short Stories
This resource contains summaries of the stories featured, but limited procedural detail. Readers compare Chopin's stories' use of situational irony and foreshadowing. High interest content (questionable paternity, missing persons) for...
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Ivan the Fool
Students read a classic folk tale, Ivan the Fool, and complete shared reading activities. In this reading activities lesson, students complete a shared reading of the folk tale and write a summary for the story.
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Web Designs: A Story Comes Alive
Students work cooperatively to choose a theme, write a story, and produce a web site to display this story in this middle-level lesson on the career of a web designer. This excellent lesson ends with an organized, web site launch party.
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Introducing Literacy Elements in Nonfiction
Explore nonfiction writing with your class. They will identify elements in nonfiction by reviewing elements of fiction. Then they use biographies, memoirs, menus, Time for Kids, and text books to identify elements of nonfiction. They...
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Research Skills: Information Retrieval and Evaluation
Focus on research skills, specifically identifying key words and concepts on a specific topic and evaluating information for relevance and authority. This is part of a multi-step instructional activity on Ancient Rome; however, it is...
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Fluency is the Key!
A field trip to the library begins this instructional activity 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...