Chicago Botanic Garden
Preparing for Project BudBurst
Plants take cues from the environment—change in daylight hours and temperature—to complete their seasonal life cycles. Lesson four in the series of six has classes collect phenology data on plants. After taking initial observations,...
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Angles All Around Us
Explore with your class the characteristics of acute, obtuse, right, complementary, and supplementary angles. They take digital photographs around the school and identify the angles in the images. Uisng software, they label and print the...
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Recycling and Composting
Students set up composting sites that allow food scraps and paper to be recycled by nature. They are introduced to one aspect of recycling; composting. Students see how God recycles as the worms change garbage into something that brings...
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Presidential Places Quilt
Young scholars design historical quilts. In this presidential history lesson, students research past presidents and landmarks named for them. Young scholars create quilt squares to represent the landmarks and piece all of them together...
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The Envelope Please
Students research an animal of the rainforest. They create a computerized claymation to present their research.
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Biographical Poems
Students write a biographical poem about themselves. They observe a teacher-led demonstration, write an autobiographical poem and a biographical poem about a famous person using a template form, and display the poems side-by-side.
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Personification Poem
Middle schoolers write a personification poem and identify its use. They make a pattern worksheet and then use Photoshop Elements skills to illustrate their poem. Students use layer styles with the text to highlight the poetry.
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Lesson: Looking Closer: The Artwork of Martha Rosler
Have a class discussion to better understand the art of Martha Rosler. Young art critics consider Martha's art as it is used to express issues of political unrest and social awareness. They look at each of the five images and use the...
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School Forest
Sixth graders explore the concept of biodiversity. In this biodiversity lesson, 6th graders discover a variety of planets and animals that live in forests, and how a rotting log benefits that environment. Students also locate seven...
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All About Me - A Spanish Collaboration
Sixth grade students mentor third graders to create an "All About Me" presentation in Spanish. They design three slides in PowerPoint and compare their information to their classmates. At the end of the project, each pair presents their...
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Why Vote? A Public Awareness Campaign
Students examine the structure of local government and determine why citizens vote. In this civics instructional activity, students listen to a lecture about the structure of local government and then encourage others to exercise their...
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Lesson 4 Activity 1: Mapping the Third Dimension
Young scholars work in pairs to construct a simple stereoscope.
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My Community: Then and Now
Middle schoolers compare and contrast their community to what it was like 50 years ago. They research various aspects of their community and compare and contrast with what it is like now. Students present and discuss their findings.
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Passport to the Eastern Hemisphere
Seventh graders explore the Eastern Hemisphere. They investigate the customs, currency, climate, location and other facts needed in order to travel to a specific country. Students receive a stamp on their "passport" when their research...
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Sharing in the Classroom
Students explore the concept of sharing. In this character education lesson, students role play methods of sharing in the classroom and create a guidebook for sharing in the classroom.
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Plagiarism in the Real World
How would you feel if someone plagiarized your work? After class members turn in an assigned newspaper article, you rewrite the piece using elements of their writing. Then you claim you will be selling the story and that you will profit...
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Quiet On The Set... Take 1...Action!!
Students complete an activity with the book Step by Step by Bruce McMillan. In this verb lesson, students create a list of action verbs from this book and more to use in their own writings. They will create stick puppets to act out the...
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Photo Safari
Students take photographs of people and things that impact their lives. In this photojournalism lesson plan, students learn how to use a photo to tell a story and present their project.
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What Tree is That?
Students examine leaves and the trees in their neighborhood that they came from. In this ecology lesson, students read the book, I Can Name 50 Trees Today, and discuss how a tree goes from a forest to a wood shop. Students find a tree...
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Patterns & Balance
Students compare and contrast the difference in the two sets of images and discuss the visual interest in the first set and the different visual interest created in the second set of prints.
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Water, Water Everywhere
Students monitor a local creek. In this environmental water lesson, students conduct an environmental study of a local creek by monitoring the temperature and water quality over a period of time, then submit data to the Global Water...
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The Geometry of Circles
Students review the parts of a circle, calculate the circumference and area of a circle, and create student-made tests on the geometry of circles using educational software.
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Water Cycle Voice Thread
Students understand the water cycle through a role playing activity. For this water cycle lesson, students become familiar with the water cycle through a play about the water cycle. Students illustrate their parts and create a...
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Solving Story Problems
Eighth graders use a model to write and solve a story problem. They design a PowerPoint presentation outlining the steps to solve the problem. Students construct a diorama of a scene in the story problem.