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A Civil Action
Students explore the roles of law enforcement officials, the news media, and civilians in crime prevention and criminal apprehension. They envision ways to build and strengthen community partnerships to address concerns about crime.
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Hunger at Home
Students discuss the plight of the homeless in the U.S. and in their own community. They participate in a food drive for a local shelter. They role play being homeless and discover what it would be like to not have food or shelter.
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Stealing Home: Chavez Ravine
Students research the Chavez Ravine community of Los Angeles and the displacement of residents for the construction of Dodger Stadium. They discuss Chavez Ravine in terms of property rights versus eminent domain.
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Cuba-ism
Students examine the Cuban exile community's response to the ceding of power to Fidel Castro's brother. They read and discuss an article, conduct research on Cuba, and in small groups create a Powerpoint presentation.
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Exploring Lisbon from Berlin Philharmonic Europakonzert From Lisbon
Students research the city of Lisbon and state its importance in the European community. They choose their own examples to explain that connect music, visual arts and literature of the area. They create their own presentation that shows...
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One Person CAN Make a Difference
Middle schoolers illustrate how the actions of one person can make a difference. They identify school and community issues to address and complete group projects and action plans for making changes in the school or community.
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The Urban Explosion
Students investigate the uncontrolled development of the world's major cities. They define key vocabulary terms, view and discuss video excerpts, and complete a project that involves drawing a "perfect city," developing a plan to...
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In His Own Words: James Madison On the Problem of Faction
Students are introduced to the writings of James Madison and explain why he is often called "The Father of the Constitution". Using primary source documents, they examine his view of the Bill of Rights and what he meant by faction. In...
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The Significance of the Buffalo
Young scholars discuss the significance of the buffalo in their Native American community. They interview elders and take a field trip to a buffalo pasture. They conduct research in the library about how the buffalo was used in the...
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Beginning The New School Year
Third graders investigate the concept of living in a community of learners. They engage in a variety of activities with the highlight being a story about a meerkat and a lion. Students read a play related to the story and discuss the...
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Elizabeth Fry
Learners examine the life of Elizabeth Fry and her contributions to prison reform. They participate in a visualization exercise, listen to a guest speaker, create a quilt as a community service project, write journal entries, and...
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Maps and Globes
First graders complete a unit on map skills and the globe. They label maps, create a styrofoam ball globe, create a map of their community, sing a continent song, and complete a map and globe assessment worksheet.
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A Fundamental of Culture-Cultural Context
Students examine how the unwritten rules of culture depend upon the context in which an event or behavior takes place. They explain cultural context and develop a poster, multimedia presentation, or radio spot that illustrates how...
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Trash or Treasure?
Students explore the concept of philanthropy. In this service learning lesson, students pull together to clean up a community park and reflect on the experience through literature.
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Early America
Students identify men and women who are leaders in their community and in the world at large. In this character traits lesson, students examine leaders of the past (Washington, Jefferson, Revere) and determine how each of these men...
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Homelessness – A Bottom Line Issue
Students read a fact sheet about homelessness in the U.S. and Texas. In this homelessness awareness lesson, students design a budget based on minimum wage earnings and evaluate how basic needs can be met. Students discuss and write about...
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Government Spending - Earmarks
In this government spending - earmarks worksheet, students research this topic (there are many links listed), examine the issue, write a letter to their congressional representative or a local newspaper, make a video or analyze the...
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National Priorities for Hunger
In this national priorities for hunger worksheet, students assess the need in their community for food assistance, decide what needs to be done, rank the options, and determine a method for evaluating programs. This page has many...
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Living By Water
Students research a coastal community, locate it on a map and profile its physical, geography, climate, architecture and cultural characteristics. They envision this coastal community and make a detailed drawing of it by blending...
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What Is A Community?
Second graders write a collective definition of the term, "community". They create a poster illustrating their definition of community and how communities enable people to meet their basic needs and satisfy their wants. They discuss...
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Lesson 1-I Live in a Community
Second graders brainstorm the concept of a community and all the elements involved in the make up of one. They pull from the resources on the community that they already live in or have lived in. In addition, they share their reflections...
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Community Bus Tour
Second graders take a bus tour to discover different businesses, schools, and other buildings located in the community. They then learn about the different types of technology that is used in the community.
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Human Features of Our Community
Students investigate the human factors that create a community. They conduct research using a variety of sources. Students then create dioramas that depict a typical scene found in a community.
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Explore your Community with Maps
Second graders acquire an awareness of their community and a development of map skills. They develop the ability to interpret and display information in graphic form and relate the study of significant people to the elements of geography.