Shodor Education Foundation
Sets and the Venn Diagram (Beginner)
Venn diagrams are helpful in understanding the idea of a set and using attributes to sort items. This basic plan is an introduction with an added bonus of an applet that can be used to demonstrate the activity. If a classroom of...
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Reinvigorate Your Vocabulary
Eighth graders participate in a variety of activities to examine the meanings and roots of word derivatives and the meanings of words. Using context clues, they determine the meanings of words omitted from a passage and complete a prefix...
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The World of Work
Learners identify between appropriate and inappropriate behaviors at work. In this work behaviors lesson, students use a dictionary to define the related terms and visit various links to complete activities that define work place...
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O Captain! My Captain - Part 3
Heroic Trading Cards? Using a suggested list, class members use the Internet to find information about a memorable leader, select and transfer images, and craft a trading card celebrating their leader’s qualities and accomplishments. A...
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One Grain of Rice
Upper graders read the story One Grain of Rice, and use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast topics found in the story to current event topics today. Groups of three learners work together to create their diagram. The topics they must...
Shodor Education Foundation
Algorithm Discovery with Venn Diagrams
Here is a lesson that takes an interesting approach to analyzing data using box and whisker plots. By using an applet that dynamically generates Venn diagrams, the class forms a strategy/algorithm for guessing the rule that fits...
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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs-Part I
Here is a lesson plan that gives learners a chance to practice using context clues. They read the story, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Students use different word strategies (base words, synonyms, antonyms) to decode and understand...
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Christmas Candy
Here is a tasty topic for a instructional activity: Christmas candy! Third and fourth graders research classic Christmas candies, then create their very own! They write a descriptive paragraph about their candy, then use KidPix to create...
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Getting to Know You
After going over the five steps of the writing process, pupils fill out "Getting to Know You" worksheets. They trade papers with each other, and have the task of writing a descriptive paragraph about the person whose worksheet they...
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What's In Your Bag?
Guess what is in the bag! Use this lesson at the beginning of the year to discuss appropriate items for 4th grade students to have in school. Each group develops a list of appropriate items as well as inappropriate items, and discusses...
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Thesaurus Power
Give your class the advantage of Thesaurus Power! They will use a thesaurus to understand word meanings and relationships. They focus on how a thesaurus functions and how it gives the entry word, definition, synonyms, antonyms, and part...
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Writing Myths I
Explain a natural phenomenon in an original myth. After researching the phenomenon they have chosen, young readers use factual information to include in their myth. They find synonyms and new phrases to create vivid images as they...
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Comparing Languages: News Clips
Students analyze newspaper articles. They review their assessment task and rubric and read newspaper articles to compare languages. They answer questions related to their articles using dictionaries as needed. They compare word usage...
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Reference Materials
Young scholars discuss reasons to use reference materials, identify correct reference material to use for specific information, find answers to specific questions by locating information in encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, almanac,...
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Kinder-Pictionary
Students create their own dictionary. In this spelling lesson, students make a dictionary with just words and pictures. They use these dictionaries when they are writing to remember how to spell words.
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Musher Madness
Students discover facts about Iditarod racing. In this language arts instructional activity, students create a class musher picture dictionary selecting terms from the Musher Term list. Additionally, students create a class picture...
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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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Happy Birthday or Boring Birthday?
Students observe and demonstrate a variety of strategies for reading with more expression. They observe a demonstration of wishing happy birthday with and without expression, and in pairs demonstrate reading with expression using the...
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A Heritage Study: Using Information Resources to Research Family History and Traditions
Students research their family history through ethnographical study. They locate information through a variety of sources, interview people, write a report and present an oral presentation to the class.
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How To Use the Internet To Make Student Glossaries
Middle schoolers use an internet dictionary to produce a glossary of words related to a particular subject area being studied. They choose the correct meaning of the word for their glossary, based on it's relationship to the subject...
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Math Prefixes
Young scholars use a dictionary to gather appropriate information for writing simple definitions. They recognize prefixes that relate to numbers, such as mono-, bi-, and tri-. Pupils use their creative abilities to extrapolate new words...
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State Parks: A Spanish Vocabulary Lesson
Ninth graders create a PowerPoint about state parks using Spanish vocabulary. In this Spanish instructional activity, 9th graders work in groups to research about area recreational facilities. Students use information collected on-line...
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Vocabulary Development
What is a root word? What is a prefix? Suffix? Use these questions to spark a discussion amongst your language art learners. Then, start by writing the word irresistible on the board and have teams of learners attempt to create new words...
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Making Words
Young writers identify and generate words using the strategies of phonics on the Making Words computer program. Words are typed instead of having to use tiles or paper. Extension activities such as playing the memory game, drawing...