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Reader Response
Fifth graders reflect upon different concepts of Language Arts while reading literature. In the novel Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, the characters discover a spring of eternal youth. After reading the first several chapters of...
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What's Shaking? Three-Lesson Unit
Your young architects use the Internet to research tall structures or sky scrapers to help in the design of their scale drawings. This is lesson one of three in which learners design, build, and test model skyscrapers for seismic safety....
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Animal Research Pamphlet
Fourth graders perform research on an animal of choice. The reading of a novel is done prior to the research in order to establish context for the lesson. The use of the library for research is a key skill for this lesson.
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Writing Fables
Young scholars develop a working skill of using graphic organizers for writing. The lesson notes that the best kind of organizer is one that is engaging to the appropriate audience. The assessment follows the rubric given in the lesson.
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Chocolate Fever
Students study plants in the rainforest. They complete a variety of activities surrounding the subject of chocolate. They create new candy bars, invent learning games and write poetry--all focusing on chocolate.
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The assassination of the Archduke: Exploring Perspectives
Use political cartoons for a multiple-perspectives strategy, as pupils learn about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. After an anticipatory discussion, they are split into 2 groups. The class reads a primary source account...
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Caribbean Adventures: Research and Desktop Publishing
If you want an interesting way to teach about the Caribbean that incorporates technology, this might be your answer. Class members conduct a WebQuest to gather information about Caribbean islands and create a travel brochure using...
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Consumer Scams
Letter writing may be outdated but it's a great way to practice English conventions, grammar, and spelling. The class researches consumer scams, then writes a letter about them. They each choose a scam to write about paying close...
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Elements of a Story - Plot, Characters, and Setting
Use this SMART board activity with any short story in your unit plan. The SMART board file contains a step-by-step guide to plot diagrams, including an interactive practice page and an assignment. This resource is beneficial for language...
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Story Retelling Using Creative Dramatics
Doing things in the proper sequence is the focus of a solid language arts lesson. In it, pupils discuss the importance of doing things in the right order. Then, they pair off and read a short story together. They must retell the story to...
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Gathering, Evaluating,and Organizing Information for a Research Report
It's never too early to build research skills! Students locate information relevant to a subject they are doing a research project on. They take notes and sort the information under main topic headings. Through research, they gain an...
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Lots of Lessons from Aesop
Aesop’s Fables offer young learners an opportunity to study figurative language. After reviewing theme, simile, alliteration, and metaphor, model for your pupils how to identify examples of these devices in the fable. Class members then...
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Die Physiker: German Plays
Learners research the life of Friedrich Durrenmatt, a German playwright. They listen to a reading of his play "Die Physiker", define key vocabulary from the play and participate in a class discussion about important sections of the play.
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Web It!
Looking for a way to bring prewriting into your informative writing unit? Use this lesson to reinforce writing skills in your eighth grade language arts class. Young writers use a web graphic organizer as a prewriting tool for expository...
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Teaching Summarization
Examine the process of summarizing a piece of text using the book So You Want to Be a President? Kids review the definitions for main idea, topic sentences, superordinate terms, and supporting details. Next, they work in small...
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Analyzing Persuasion
A reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech launches a study of rhetorical devices such as hyperbole, allusion, metaphor, simile, personification, connotative language and parallel structure. Class members then...
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Journal Writing
Students creatively utilize a word processor in order to do daily journal writing. They explore with using simple, compound, and complex sentences in order to present ideas with clarity and precision. They gain computer skills while...
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Story Retelling
Students explore storytelling by participating in an image analysis activity. In this story structure lesson, students read the book Cookie's Week by Tomie dePaola and retell the story to their teacher in sequential order. Students...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Understanding Theme
The ninth in a fourteen-instructional activity series, this plan marks a sort of midpoint in a unit devoted to the study of short stories. Pupils learn about theme and work on their short story projects by adding to their blogs, checking...
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Unanswered Questions in Number the Stars
Pupils read a book, "Number by the Stars." Students explore the internet and search engines. Through guided internet research, pupils find answers to questions posed in the book. Students share their internet experiences and discuss...
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Increasing Multicultural Understanding Through Folk Literature
Students read folktales from around the world comparing two of them using a computer generated Venn diagram. They create a game based on a folktale and use software to create a listening library of folktales.
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Bearstone: A Novel Analysis
Seventh graders need to be able to distinguish between major and minor characters and need to have read the novel Bearstone and be familiar with the sequence of events as well as the qualities displayed by each character over the course...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Islam: A Bottom-Up Approach
Islam is often discussed socio-politically rather than spiritually. Here, students read about this religion from primary and secondary sources including the Quran and a world religions book. They learn key terms in the context of the...
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Breaking Down Books
Learners practice their reading comprehension by analyzing and discussing books with their classmates. They record their responses to comprehension, evaluation, and interpretation questions provided on a worksheet that is referenced but...