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Woodland Animals and Their Habitat
Students explore the natural environment through a video and nature sounds tape. They keep journal's of the unit's activities and vocabulary terms. They play a web of interdependence game and compose a list of forest animals and write...
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Publication Project
Ninth graders publish a magazine during a ten week marking period. They make individual contributions to the group project that is based on career choices. They write and publish articles, poems, entertainment pieces, and a play that...
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Media Literacy Final Project
Students meet as a class to discuss a variety of media literacy topics before breaking into groups to conduct research on one aspect of the topic. In order to gather information, they watch episodes of the Simpson's television show and...
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Cyrano de Bergerac Nose His Terms
Students use the play "Cyrano de Bergerac" to identify and analyze drama vocabulary, literary terms and elements of fiction. They write an original version of scenes from the play and develop a character analysis for the lead.
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The Conquest of the Aztec Civilization
Students use the classroom atlases, the Internet or textbooks to draw a freehand map. They work in groups using the maps in the book The Broken Spears (Portilla) and The Conquest of New Spain (Diaz) to draw a freehand map identifying...
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Composting Conundrum
Students research cafeteria composting. In this composting instructional activity, students design a vessel that would allow the cafeteria staff to collect food scraps for composting. Then students build a prototype and present it to the...
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Children's Book Creations
Students create a children's book version of the Japanese folk story "Momotaro Boy of the Peach" and present the story to elementary students. In this children's book lesson, students design their book to explain Japanese culture to...
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Design for Social Justice
Students create a solution to a social justice problem within their community. In this urban planning lesson, students read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines. Students then complete a research...
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Class Field Guide to the Sloughs
Students explore how to use field guides to identify wildlife. In this nature lesson students construct their own plant field guide.
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Give Me Liberty
Fourth graders investigate the lives and societal contributions of Patrick Henry and Sojourner Truth. They complete a series of lessons that compare and contrast the biographies, historical context and work of these two revolutionaries.
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Teams in the Field
Young scholars conduct team interviews outside the classroom, either within the school or beyond, as part of a fieldwork project. They use reasoning skills as they formulate questions, plan, predict, hypothesize, and speculate about the...
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Story Mapping A Favorite Book
First graders create a diagram of a story by using the computer program Kidspiration. In this diagramming lesson plan, 1st graders will pick a book to write about. They then will plug in story elements of the book into the computer...
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Learning About Maps
Learners take a "field trip" with the teacher through the school then draw a diagram of what they saw. They bring the maps to the computer lab where they create electronic maps using the software program Neighborhood Map Machine.
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Veteran's Day Activities
Fifth graders research websites to gather information about Veteran's Day to develop a quality school wide Veteran's Day Program and classroom group presentation.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Gulliver's Travels
Students read and analyze the book, Gulliver's Travels. They develop a reading folder, identify the main story elements, compare/contrast Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput and Brobdingnag, and write a paragraph about the main characters.
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Third Grade Ecuadorian Rainforest
Third graders explore the Ecuadorian Rainforest. In this writing and research lesson students utilize several information sources to learn about the Ecuadorian Rainforest. Students also summarize and paraphrase information learned...
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How can we keep our forests intact and have chocolate too?
Fourth graders recognize the need to sustain crops in the rainforest. In this rainforest lesson, 4th graders consider the use of products from the rainforest. Students discuss how people of different points of view decide what to do...
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Under Joni Mitchell's Influence
Students view the AMERICAN MASTERS entitled Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind, examine the concept of influence, and explore how Joni Mitchell and her work have influenced others. Students read, interpret, and analyze her lyrics by...
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Diversity
Students access prior knowledge of the five senses and relate to students with disabilities. In this people with disabilities lesson, students research and use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast famous people and their...
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You Are What You Eat: Lessons from Alice Waters
Students view the AMERICAN MASTERS episode titled ALICE WATERS AND HER DELICIOUS REVOLUTION. They examine their own eating habits and determine how they can eat food that is both healthier and tastier. Through Guided Reading strategies,...
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MONSTERS AND MYTHS: SCRIPTS /SCULPTS
Seventh graders are introduced to myths formed by many cultures as a unique genre of literature. They use critical thinking skills to compare and contrast mythic tales, compare versions of the same story, and respond to literature in...
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High School Bag Design
Learners design a bag that they would personally use to carry needed items to school. In this bag design lesson, students observe real bags and assess needs and wants for a new bag. Learners brainstorm design solutions and render their...
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Multiple Intelligences and The Illinois & Michigan Canal
Third graders engage in a wide variety of cross-curricular activities designed to give them a thorough understanding of the history of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. There are a very nice set of activities included in this plan!
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Taha Moana - The Sea
Learners discuss language, meanings and ideas in a range of texts related to the sea. They write instructions, explanations, arguments and factual accounts, express personal viewpoints on topics related to the sea.