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King Arthur: Man or Legend
Learners research the Legend of King Arthur. In this King Arthur lesson, students explore him as he is presented in stories, poems, and art. Learners compare and contrast the real life of King Arthur versus the man in...
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American Born Chinese
Students make thematic connections and organize their ideas using a Venn Diagram. In this Venn Diagram instructional activity, students compare 3 different stories from a novel and fill in a Venn Diagram. Students then discuss their...
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Lesson Plans on the Intersection of History and Literature
Finding out about "the story behind the story" can provide a greater understanding of literature and its historical and social context.
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For Richer or for Poorer
Students read about one cross-class marriage and create scenes to dramatize interactions among the family members and consider how class shapes relationships. They imagine the issues faced by cross-class couples by writing a short story.
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Language Arts, Social Studies, African Americans, The Blues, To Kill A Mockingbird
African American history during the Jim Crow era includes encounters with poverty, racism, disrespect, and protest. Harper Lee develops all four of these themes in her famous 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. To help students understand...
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Young Learner's Writing Workshop 2
Learners choose a short story and role play one of the characters in the story. They interview each other about the character they are playing to research them.
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Cheiftainship / Leadership
Students examine Bill Reid's sculpture "The Black Canoe".They decide which character in the canoe they are most like. Students analyze how their personalities work towards contributing to the group. They explore the moral theme of...
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Tales from Arabia
Third graders explore and develop interest in reading of foreign lands through the reading of The Arabian Nights and a variety of Cinderella stories. Students participate in a variety of folk literature activities. Students recognize the...
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Checkmate: The Play's The Thing
Students investigate the Middle Ages and it's relation to the theater. For this acting lesson, students read Arthurian stories form the Middle Ages and practice using vocabulary words from the Medieval Times. Students write a...
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Turtle Lesson
Learners identify ways that they can help protect turtles. In this wildlife awareness lesson, students read the story Turtle World and construct a T-chart on the board. Learners create a list of problems facing turtles and possible...
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Rewrite, Revise, Recycle
Students examine different pieces of literature that have a similiar theme. They read an article about reusing ideas for television shows. They work together to create their own program proposals. They also create backstories for one of...
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Self Acceptance
Students explore their own self concept. They draw a picture of themselves, read a story, and write a story that has a character like themselves. Afterward, they write and illustrate their stories in PowerPoint.
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Out of the Dust: Visions of Dust Bowl History Lesson Overview
Young scholars complete activities with the book Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. In this literature lesson, students read this story and view the Dust Bowl history from the eyes of a child. They discover the Great Depression and...
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Sense-itive Issues
Learners consider the difficulties of adapting to the loss of different senses. They work in small groups, each developing a fictional superhero who experiences a loss of one of sense and must compensate for it with his or her other senses.
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Generations: An Exploration of our Families Through Literature
Learners complete a unit of lessons on families. They read and analyze various stories, label a map, assemble sentences, write letters to grandparents, analyze character traits, and write and illustrate a sheet for a class book.
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The Chocolate War
Learners scrutinize the story, "The chocolate War" by Robert Cormier for examples of nonconformity in the face of power. The nature of the relationship between students in the story is compared to the associations of the reader.
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Change the Face of History
Students create and write a "Choose Your Own Adventure" story as they investigate the Revolutionary War. They choose a historical figure who played a key role in the war who meets other influential figures and has the opportunity to...
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Tales from Arabia
Students read about Scheherazade and Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp. In this literature/writing lesson, students understand the excitement of foreign places as the setting for a story. Students rewrite their own version of Scheherazade.
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Origin of the Purple Heart
Students research the origin of the Purple Heart. In this writing lesson students research personal stories of friends or family who have received the Purple Heart. Students then design their own armed forces award complete with an...
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Colonial Writing Project
Fourth graders write from the perspective of a child in the colonial period. For this writing lesson, 4th graders create a fictional character living in the colonial period and write about daily life from their perspective.
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Women in History: Research for Expository Writing
After reading an excerpt from Amelia Earhart's autobiography, The Fun of It, learners explore various nonfiction resources about her life and write a short newspaper article on a specific event. They then develop a longer piece of...
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Poems Put to Use
Students listen to sample poetry recitations. They discuss times when poetry might be used in real-life situations to move/motivate other people or audiences. They identify particularly moving passages and then quote them effectively to...
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Kindness Graffiti Wall
Students discuss acts of kindness. For this character education lesson, students use a large sheet of poster paper, tempera paint, and markers to create a graffiti wall. Students write down their ideas of kindness and share their wall...
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Heaven or Ground Hog Day?
Students discover the ideas of enlightenment by reading historical poetry. In this philosophical lesson, students read poems by Sir Walter Scott and Sergeant Joyce Kilmer while discussing the themes of the writing with classmates....