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Graphic Timeline
Students complete a written timeline organizer utilizing information from the "Who Am I?" reflection/response handout. They create a graphic time line illustrating important event in their lives in sequential order with the help of...
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Reflecting/Writing after a field trip or other experience
Learners reflect on field trips in writing. In this journal writing instructional activity, students write about a recent experience by using 4 of their senses to tell what they remember. They turn these into poetry.
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September 12 Journal Writing
Students write journal entries reflecting on their feelings about the attacks of September 11, 2001.
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Using Dialogue Journals in Support of Science Instruction
Students build a dialog journal within their science class. They develop written responses to questions asked by the teacher in a journal notebook. Teachers have the responsibility to read and respond to student responses.
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Math Journal: Functions and Coordinate Geometry
Fifth graders examine the many uses of coordinate grids. In this graphing lesson plan, 5th graders write data driven equations, discuss the x and y-axis, and determine if using 2 or 3 ordered pairs is better. Students complete several...
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Journal of a Virtual Expedition
Learners journey with Lewis and Clark. In this literature lesson, students read The Journal of Augustus Pellitier-The Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804. Learners keep a journal in the persona of a member of the expedition crew.
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Back to School Writing
Students compile a daily journal to improve their writing skills. In this writing skills lesson, students use a picture to help them write on a daily basis. Students write reflectively each day to improve their writing skills.
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Following the Leaders
Examine the historic election of Pope Benedict XVI and reflect on the challenges he faces as the new leader of the Catholic Church. This New York Times lesson investigates how other world leaders are chosen in different forms of...
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Covering the Issue
Examine how art and music can be powerful tools for conveying a political or social message. After considering the issues surrounding rapper Paris, students design their own album covers that reflect their political and/or social...
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The Learning Network: Re-envisioning Classic Stories
Readers reflect on enjoyable stories they know, brainstorm criteria that make a story "good," analyze a New York Times article about innovative children's performances, re-envision classics on their own, and peer edit drafts. Use this as...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Causes and Effects of Climate Change
It's time for your class to literally show what they know! Pupils illustrate what they learned about the causes and effects of climate change by filling out a graphic organizer to complete the 5-part series of lessons. They discuss them...
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Reflect & Celebrate
Learners complete activities to learn about service learning. In this community service lesson, students answer reflection questions about community service. Learners create thank you cards and letters to sponsors, government officials,...
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To Whom It May Concern! Writing for a Variety of Audiences
Elementary learners write friendly letters with the same subject to two contrasting readers or audiences. They choose words and phrases that will be the most effective for the audience they are trying to reach. They read both letters and...
What So Proudly We Hail
The Meaning of America: Self-Command
Even for one of the most accomplished men in American history, there was room for improvement. Challenge high schoolers to use Benjamin Franklin's Project for Moral Perfection to analyze text, make inferences, connect to historical...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Put Yourself in Check
The final lesson in a four-part unit on conflict resolution offers middle schoolers strategies for how to keep themselves in check when involved in conflicts. A role-play activity and a reflective journal stress the importance of...
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A Pill with a View
Students brainstorm a list of potential uses for micro-video technologies. After reading an article, they analyze the development of a new pill-sized camera. In groups, they create a children's book that shows them the various systems of...
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Oh, What a Tangled Web!
Students research how different World Wide Web search engines work and navigate these engines to find information on a specific topic. They write a reflective journal entry about the in-class topic search on the World Wide Web.
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Journaling
Students explore journal writing. In this writing lesson, students are given writing prompts such as "how the choices I make affect our water quality?" and use critical writing skills to express their feelings in a journal. There are...
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Critically Surfing the Web
The New York Times article “Online Diary,” launches this study of websites and how to assess them. Richly detailed, the lesson includes warm-up activities, procedures, journal prompts, discussion questions, and links to valuable...
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The Lightning Thief: During Reading Strategy
After reading up to page 371 of Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, get insight into how Percy felt making a major decision through active discussion strategies that enable both academic and thoughtful...
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Illinois Biodiversity
Students examine the amount of biodiversity in the state of Illinois. They practice using new vocabulary and listening to stories about animals. After given time to reflect, they write their own haiku. They work together to create a...
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Peace Journals
Students create peace journals. For this character education lesson, students record their thoughts about peace and their innermost thoughts and feelings. Students use various journal starters, including describing someone who is a...
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Cloudy With a Chance of...
Second graders will write a story. In this writing and meteorology instructional activity, 2nd graders read the story Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, then use KidPix to create a weather picture. The picture is imported into a word...
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Journals
Like the characters in Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, class members write frequently with a series of journal topics that form the basis of the final writing assignment about their personal “heavy boots.” Alas, no list of topics is...