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Parts of Speech: Active Verbs
Young scholars use White Fang to help them study active verbs. In this grammar instructional activity, students define active verbs and find examples in the the novel White Fang. Young scholars then use ProQuest to research a place...
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A Day in the Life: Studying Ancient Rome
Class members use their knowledge of Ancient Rome to write articles for an online newspaper. Using WebBlender, learners craft articles that feature Roman politics, culture, and leisure activities.
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A Pixie Biography Report
Students practice biographical writing after completing research on the subject. In this journalism lesson plan, students read a story of an important person's life and discuss the important moments along the way. Students...
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Acrostic Poems: What's In a Name?
Students find words that begin with the letters in their own names, using a variety of sources including word banks and online dictionaries. They create an acrostic poem. Pupils revise poems as needed, for meaning and conventions. ...
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Evaluating the Strength of Scientific Evidence: The Rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
A happy discovery occurred in Arkansas in 2004: a woodpecker, believed to be extinct since the 1940s, reappeared! Or did it? Middle to high school ecologists examine scientific evidence and use critical-thinking skills to determine...
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Story Writing
Second graders review the basic elements of a story. Individually, they write their own original story as they use a software program to help them map out their ideas. With a partner, they exchange papers and read them for grammatical...
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Contemporary Fairy Tales
Eighth graders listen Steven Kellog's, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Raymond Briggs, Jim and the Beanstalk. They use a Venn diagram to compare the two elements of the two stories. They write and publish an original contemporary fairy tale...
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Myths and Folk Tales
Seventh graders perform research in order to appreciate stories taken from the genre of myths and fables. The examples of the stories create a context for students to create their own myths.
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A Soldier's Valentine
Students create Valentine's for soldiers in Iraq. They review how to write a friendly paragraph and discuss the military and duties of soldiers in Iraq. They create postcards and write reasons why they are rpoud of the military and how...
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"All About Me" Webpage
Students conduct interviews and write about the interview. The information from these interviews is used to create a webpage on Netscape Composer. Students cite Internet sources for any images downloaded from the web. Students also use...
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The Creative Process
Students demonstrate the steps of the creative writing process. In this creative writing lesson, students brainstorm ways to come up with an initial idea and ways to express their ideas. Students write a description of their idea and a...
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Tell Me a Whopper!
Sixth graders investigate tall tales as a literary genre. They listen to a number of tall tales to discover how exaggeration is used as a story element. They write and publish a tall tale using word processing software. They illustrate...
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What's Bugging You?
Students examine the effects of pests on other organisms, crops, and the environment. they construct an insect observation chamber and discover how some insects can be pests in some situations and beneficial in others. They write "pest...
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Canadian Conoe Trip
Sixth graders research Canadian geography - the land and the bodies of water. They then plan an imaginary canoe trip through six major water bodies in Canada. They conclude the unit of study with a creative story.
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Word Wake
Put your common writing errors to rest with this resource, which prompts high schoolers to create eulogies and tombstones for overused and incorrect words. They work on correcting common errors in spelling and usage mistakes in their own...
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Measuring Objects in the Classroom
Third graders use ruler and tapes to measure classroom objects. After discussing measurement tools, have students complete sentences stating what they would use to measure various objects. Later in the computer lab, they type their...
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The Mark Twain Project at the Principia School
Students read and write an analysis of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn and write a paper on another Twain literary piece. In this Mark Twain lesson plan, students select a Mark Twain literary piece to write an analysis paper for the...
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The People's Design Award
Students analyze, critique, and evaluate information from various sources and learn about the design process. In this design lesson, students critique work submitted to People's Design Award and create a design of their own to present to...
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Raising the Titanic
Ninth graders research the history of a person who was aboard the Titanic and write about the part he/she played in the world's greatest maritime disaster.
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The Poetics of Hip Hop
Students consider the role of rhythm, form, diction, and sound in poetry. In this integrated arts lesson, students discuss the attributes of poetry as they analyze Shakespearean sonnets, hip hop music lyrics, and poems by Nikki...
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It's A Mystery To Me
Students become both mystery readers and writers. They utilize the Internet to understand the elements of this classic genre; employ critical thinking skills when reading various stories in both print and electronic formats; form groups...
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Mildred Taylor: Understanding the Author of "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry"
Students complete various activities related to the analysis of the novel "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry." They create a collage of words and images of what it was like to live in the South in the 1930's, conduct Internet research, and...
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The Research Paper - Searching for a Subject
Young scholars research a website to look for potential topics for a research paper. They develop a narrowed prioritized subject list on an index card (3X5) using word processing program.
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Exploring the Sonnet
Students research English/Shakespearean and Italian/Petrarchan sonnet forms. They write an original sonnet on their preferred form (English or Italian), write the poem on the wordprocessor and publish and post it on the net at the Sonnet...