Macmillan Education
The Tell-Tale Heart
Rather than who done it, the mystery literary detectives have to solve as they examine the evidence found in Edgar Allan Poe's famous "The Tell-Tale Heart" is why did he do it?
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Introducing Synonyms to Early Writers
Upper elementary schoolers examine the concept of synonyms and how using a variety of vocabulary through synonyms can expand their writing skills. They revise a paragraph using synonyms located on the Visual Thesaurus and participate in...
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Random Acts of Kindness For Kids
Develop a world-wide, email chain on which class members can showcase their acts of kindness. After defining the meaning of random acts of kindness through discussion and through a reading of Random Acts of Kindness,...
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Reading And Responding: Lesson 4 Nonfiction/test-taking Strategies
Eighth graders participate in a teacher led lesson that focuses on reading nonfiction and test taking strategies. They examine the use of context clues to improve their vocabulary and summarization skills. Also, they complete the...
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Reading And Responding: Lesson 15 Nonfiction
Eighth graders examine a nonfiction selection in a teacher led lesson. They examine the author's purpose for writing the selection and identify the difference between fact and opinion. The compare and contrast expository and narrative...
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Esperanza Rising: Lesson 3
Sixth graders read parts of the book Esperanza Rising and define vocabulary words connected to it. In this Esperanza Rising lesson plan, 6th graders illustrate words and discuss the sections of the books they read.
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Reading and Responding: Lesson 9
Eighth graders listen to a read aloud of Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken." They examine the attributes of poetry focusing on stanzas, imagery, and punctuation. They participate in choral readings before completing the associated...
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Life's Lessons: Survival of the Fittest
Students analyze Jack London's use of anthropomorphism to identify the importance of adaptability in life. In this literature lesson, students use the novel The Call of the Wild to identify key elements in survival. Students...
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Rollin’ on the River: Identifying Jargon
Students identify jargon in poetry, prose and fiction. In this literature lesson, students will read selections from Mark Twain and identify figurative langauge, focusing on jargon.
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Teaching and Learning Through Objects
Students identify and interpret the function, usefulness or utitlity, form, beauty or aesthetics, and meaning, context or story, of objects and how they learn new skills and make things that they learn traditionally, by observation and...
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Native American Culture
Students read a variety of Native American Literature and discuss the main idea by answering critical thinking questions about the poem. Students use context clues to understand the feeling of the Native American culture about the Earth....
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Using the News in Class
Students listen to international news stories. Students use context clues to determine the meaning of vocabulary words from context, then complete a matching exercise to see if their vocabulary definitions were correct. Students...
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“I Can” Common Core! 6th Grade Language
Help your sixth graders know exactly what is expected of them when it comes to Common Core language standards. Distribute the checklist, which is written in kid-friendly "I can" language, to each child. While most of these standards are...
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There's Omegas in Those Hemp Seeds
A very well-designed lesson plan focuses on the many benefits of Omega Fatty Acids. Learners read some articles on omega fatty acids, then access a glossary that is included in the plan. They fill in terms along with their definitions....
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Letters From Rifka
Small groups read assigned chapters from the book, Letters to Rifka, then work together to fill out comprehension worksheets associated with their chapters. This fine, 13-page lesson culminates with each group getting together to meet...
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Location, Location, Location: Using a Grid to Determine Context
Seventh graders are introduced to making inferences about artifacts. Using a grid system, they locate the artifacts and determine where they originated from. They use this information to make conclusions about the way people lived...
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Inquiry Lesson
Students explore the poetry of William Blake and the historical context that he presents. A story is analyzed and evaluated in order to solve a puzzle. The political commentary of the poetic piece is examined in this lesson.
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Character in a Box
Partners choose, research, and analyze fictional or historical characters and design character life boxes to represent them. They also compose a rhyme royal, which they understand inductively by deconstructing examples. Based largely on...
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Latin Roots Spect, Sta, Vert: Beginner Quiz
Words derived from the Latin roots spect, sta, and vert comprise this interactive online quiz. Choose the right word from the beginning-level list on MyVocabulary.com to complete each of 12 sentences. Spelling inaccuracies count as wrong...
Teaching Tolerance
Consuming and Creating Political Art
A picture is worth a thousand words, but political art may be worth even more! After examining examples of political cartoons, murals, and other forms of public art, class members create their own pieces to reflect their ideals and...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Jigsaw to Build and Share Expertise about the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, Part 1
Using the Jigsaw protocol, scholars study chunks of text from a speech given by former US presidents following a devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. As they read the speech in small groups, they build background knowledge and share...
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Pendemonium: The Italian Job
Discover how to use prefixes and suffixes to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. The group views a jovial video on the topic, and then they create a chart of prefix and suffix meanings to identify the meanings of words in a social...
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A Victorian Vocabulary Challenge
Introduce your high schoolers to some tough vocabulary. No, I'm not talking about the SAT list! Revisit Victorian literature to find tricky words we still use today. Using the Visual Thesaurus, learners will preview vocabulary in a quote...