University of North Carolina
Art History
Art analysis might help uncover some of life's most puzzling questions, such as the mystery behind Mona Lisa's smile. The handout, from the Writing for Specific Fields series, is particularly useful for those interested in pursuing art...
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Briefly Noted: Practicing Useful Annotation Strategies
Post-It notes, highlighting, underlining. Sam Anderson’s New York Times Magazine article, “What I Really Want Is Someone Rolling Around in the Text,” launches a study of “marginalia,” or writing thoughts in the margins of a text. After...
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World Literature: “The Wounded” By Lu Xinhua
“The Wounded,” the title story from a collection of stories about the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1977-78), is the central text in a World Literature unit examining choices. An anticipation guide, discussion topics, vocabulary list,...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: The Brain on Autopilot
For some people, the force of addiction can be as biologically compelling as the drive for food or water. High schoolers watch a video segment about Ryan, a recovering addict, and learn more about how opioids and other drugs can affect...
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The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Realism
Is it possible to tell a true war story? Tim O’Brien says that fiction is for “getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth.” To get at the truth about war, class members examine primary source materials from the...
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Jellybeans Up Your Nose
Jellybeans Up Your Nose, by Jeff Moss, prompts a discussion of responsible and irresponsible behaviors. After reading and discussing the poem, groups of fifth graders examine a Dr. Seuss-ism, from Geisel’s Seuss-isms, and report back to...
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Ancient Egypt
Pupils complete a series of activities to discover life in ancient Egypt. They create want ads for pyramid workers, design vocabulary flash cards and dictionaries, and research famous Egyptians. They also research the "Curse of the...
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How Advertisers Persuade
This plan centers around the article "How Advertisers Persuade," although it is not included in the instructional activity itself. Get your class thinking about advertising, appeals, and techniques that companies use to get their...
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"The Clever Monkey"
Second graders complete a variety of activities related to the book "The Clever Monkey" by Rob Cleveland. They answer story comprehension questions, and rewrite the story. Students also complete a comprehension and fact or opinion...
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Christmas Candy
Here is a tasty topic for a lesson: Christmas candy! Third and fourth graders research classic Christmas candies, then create their very own! They write a descriptive paragraph about their candy, then use KidPix to create an illustration...
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Animals and Humans
Young scholars identify the functions of various body parts. They participate in the "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" song, draw a picture of themselves and other mammals, and create a traced outline of their body that they add...
US Holocaust Museum
Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story
Imagine being a child forced from your home and into a concentration camp during World War II. Scholars prepare for a visit to the United States Holocaust Museum by researching the children of the horrible event. They analyze...
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Water Quality
For this unit of lessons, students examine the quality of water. They create poems and make observations about the quality of water. They also examine hot spots and the quality of water in the Great Lakes.
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Geo Jammin' - Day 5, Lesson 16: Capturing "Lions" of Poetry
Second graders participate in the Author's Chair, which is placed in the front of the room. The puppet, Geo George, asks students to take out their poems, then brings them to the Author's Chair individually to share their poems with the...
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Parents and Teen Hardships
Students analyze the cause and effects of fading traditions and explore the parent teen relationships through poetry. In this past analysis lesson, students complete a cause and effect worksheet about a related movie. Students free write...
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Focus Story: The Mitten
Students explore language arts by analyzing a story with their classmates. In this poetry identification lesson, students read the book The Mittens and identify the characters, plot and settings in the story. Students recite poems about...
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The Changing Union
Fourth graders analyze a document and make assessment and historical prediction based on the text. In this establishment of American government lesson, 4th graders analyze a poem and discuss the climate of the Union in the early 1800's....
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Korean Sijo
Middle schoolers investigate the concept of Sijo as a form of poetry. They compare it to other forms of poetry in the interest of pointing out unique characteristics of Sijo. They use the research information in order to compose their...
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Japanese Tanka
Students compare and contrast the two forms of poetry. They are concerned with practicing the styles of both in order to reproduce their own creative work. Research is done to look for the backgrounds of both styles and how they emerged.
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The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
Middle schoolers read chapter 2 of "White Tigers." They discuss the text in class, and a copy of the translation of the Chinese poem about Mu-Ian. Students read it in class and discuss what goes on in the poem. They complete the...
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How Animals Bond
In this animals lesson plan, students students write a description about a pet or animal that they know. They include details that would help someone who has never met their animal feel like they know it already. Artwork about their...
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Reading Comprehension: "Thankful to Know"
In this poetry comprehension worksheet, students read a poem about love called "Thankful to Know." Students discuss or write about 3 interpretation questions.
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Getting To Know You: Lesson 5
Fifth graders share statements about themselves, seeing who else in their groups could write that statement, and then coming up with a true statement about the entire group. For this true and false lesson plan, 5th graders discuss the...