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Dear Abby- Colonial Style
Students review the Colonial period in American history and read literature from this era. They assume the roles of a colonial young person and an adult to compose letters from each and communicate their ideas through the letter writing...
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Ex Parte Milligan
Students reserach the case of Ex Parte Milligan. They explore the influence of the Supreme Court and the court decisions on the rights and responsibilities of citizens. They read Milligan's letter to Stanton and generate questions...
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Is It A Crime To Be Gay?
Students stage a parliamentary committee hearing in the newly independent Eastern European country of Boldovistan. Role playing characters with differing attitudes towards homosexuality, students testify on legislation to abolish laws...
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Words in the News
Students brainstorm ideas about the life of Buddihist monks through the internet or temples. The teacher identifies key terms and has the students look them up for meaning and put them in their notebook. The students then have a...
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Luck of the Draw
Students explore the Spanish language. They review their assessment task and rubric and play a card game. They draw cards containing instructions and phrases in Spanish and perform the instructions on the card in Spanish. They continue...
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Alan Johnston Freed
Students are asked to imagine what they would miss most if they were ever in prison or kidnapped. They work in small groups and match the vocabulary with the definitions. Students are told that they are going to read about a kidnapping...
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Words In The News: Beverly Hills Smoking Ban
Young scholars read news articles about the proposed smoking ban in California restaurants. After discussing the news report, they role-play scenarios about nonsmoking situations. In groups, they brainstorm the pros and cons of smoking...
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Bigger Than Life
Eighth graders explore the life of Jackie Robinson. In this American History lesson, students examine different examples of courage. Students read an article about Jackie Robinson.
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Stories That Grow on Trees
Students write their own choose-a-plot book. They develop skills in creating plot structure and think through a logical line of story action. They invent characters with striking physical and psychological attributes.
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Electronic Media
Students compare forms of electronic media. They watch a news broadcast and take notes on the content being conveyed. After viewing the broadcast, they read newspaper articles or news magazines to locate articles with similar content to...
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Comparing and Analyzing Literary Works
Students read two short stories by the same author. For each story, they identify the main structures and style of the author. They use the text to write a summary about each story and how the author used literary techniques.
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A Day for Choosing Revolution
Students read contemporary news articles about public protest. They describe a form of protest that took place in 18th-century Virginia. Students compare events or ideas that people protest about today to events or ideas protested about...
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Stories That Grow on Trees
Students create their own plot-choice story after reading and discussing a commercially published plot-choice book.
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Enhancing Writing Through Technology
Students participate in a class survey of their favorite activity to do in the snow and organize the results in a graph. They write a paragraph about the graph using language from a class-developed word web and include both an opening...
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Defending Political Positions
Young scholars read an article on a major issue and identify the position of the author. Individually, they use the article to support the author's position and critique it. They develop their own argument in support or against the...
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Comparing Languages: News Clips
Students analyze newspaper articles. They review their assessment task and rubric and read newspaper articles to compare languages. They answer questions related to their articles using dictionaries as needed. They compare word usage...
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Making Predictions
Third graders develop predictions in preparation for a "Bucket Buddies" pond water project. They listen to the book "The Pond" and discuss the different life forms in the pond from the book. Students then read online poems, and draw a...
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Mathematical Proofs
Students explore the nature of mathematical proofs and mathematical inquiry. They complete the activity "Using the Pythagorean Theorem". They read selected articles and participate in class discussions.
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From Caterpillar to Butterfly
Young scholars read and discuss the book about the butterfly and create their own butterflies using liquid watercolors and pipe cleaners. They then create a butterfly development book, included in the lesson, and color the pictures...
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Character Education: Responsibility
Students study Manuel de Zavala and his role in the history of Texas. In this character education lesson, students read about Manuel Lorenzo and underline the responsibilities he took on in his life. Students then answer questions about...
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Public Policy Analysis
Students read an article about a pressing public policy issue. Using the text, they identify the themes, facts and ideas presented and develop an argument supporting or disagreeing with the position of the author. In groups, they...
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Knights and Castles and Kings Galore
Fifth graders create a fairy tale story with emphasis on castles. After reading various texts featuring castles and their residents, 5th graders complete a book report project. The book report serves as a springboard to the writing...
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Report Writing in Primary Grades
Students learn how to read a short section and parepare a sentence to share with the group. Students listen to the reading of expository text, restate, in sentence format, one fact learned from that text, and produce a report.