Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools
Watercolor Project
Lead your class into watercolor with a well-sequenced plan. Pupils learn about famous watercolorists Winslow Homer and Georgia O'Keeffe and take notes on a presentation about these artists and watercolor techniques. After a teacher...
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Imaginary Wealth and a Magazine Article
Students explore economics by writing a fictitious news article. In this personal wealth instructional activity, students participate in a role-playing activity in which the year is 2025 and they must write an article about their...
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A Pill with a View
Learners brainstorm a list of potential uses for micro-video technologies. After reading an article, they analyze the development of a new pill-sized camera. In groups, they create a children's book that shows them the various systems of...
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Puttin' On the Hits
Students explore "summer songs." They compose a list of songs that they would put on a summer CD and write an essay that explains the images they would choose for the cover for this CD. They also create collages that represent their...
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The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Students reflect on the role of DNA in society since its discovery in 1953 by creating works of art and poetry that metaphorically illustrate the importance, influence and concerns of DNA research.
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Putting It on the Map
Learners consider the purpose of various types of maps and their different uses throughout history. They create their own maps and reflect on the map-making process.
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Recreate the Race
Learners research and find the route of the Alaskan dog sled race.In this Iditarod race lesson plan students find the checkpoints for the Iditarod on a map. Learners research information in pairs about each one of the checkpoints....
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The Learning Network: Re-envisioning Classic Stories
Readers reflect on enjoyable stories they know, brainstorm criteria that make a story "good," analyze a New York Times article about innovative children's performances, re-envision classics on their own, and peer edit drafts. Use this as...
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Whose Feat?
Play a vocabulary game with words from an article about Savion Glover's contribution to the film "Happy Feet." Then, small groups of students design and create original movie advertisements using vivid vocabulary to give Glover the...
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Pop Tops
Get your class primed for a comparative analysis lesson plan with this activity. They compare and contrast their music preferences to those of their classmates. After reading an article, they identify current trends in popular music,...
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Old Hobbits Are Hard to Break
Explore film adaptation of literature with this lesson, which focuses on the world of film advertisements. Middle schoolers discuss various films (including The Lord of the Rings) and create advertisements for a pretend film based on a...
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Country's Music
Jazz, Blue Grass, Hip Hop, Swing. Gospel, R&B, Ragtime, Disco. So many music genres born in the USA. After reading an article about the fate of New Orlean's Jazz after Hurricane Katrina, class members investigate the life cycles of...
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Covering the Issue
Examine how art and music can be powerful tools for conveying a political or social message. After considering the issues surrounding rapper Paris, young scholars design their own album covers that reflect their political and/or social...
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Music Theories
Explore the inception and evolution of hip-hop music as a springboard for writing music reviews and researching other genres of music. Learners will read and discuss the Times' article, From Underground Music to Fashion Statement to then...
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Red, White, and Blue Notes
Students explore the history of major American music genres. Then, through mock radio shows, students examine the distinguishing features of each genre and how each has changed throughout the years.
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Sewing Unit (Textiles)
Get out that sewing machine it's time for a textile project. The class learns how to use a sewing machine, read a pattern, and create a simple article of clothing. They identify the sewing machine parts, use an iron, and think about...
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Ambassadors of Art
Have your class create their own art exhibit. Learners study the exchange of artwork between the Louvre in Paris and two American art museums, and create an introductory exhibit featuring European and American art from the Renaissance...
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Rock On
Students analyze trends in the Grammy Award winners this year and create graphs displaying their findings.
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The Tell-Tale Hearts of Writers
Knock, knock, knock...Creep out your class with a critical thinking lesson focused on word relationships in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." They investigate the relationship between word choice, mood, and interpretation of...
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Twisted Tales
Experience how a story can drastically change when the point of view is altered. Young scholars first read a review of Disney's film Tarzan, focusing on how the point of view in the classic story is important. They then select...
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Pop on the Block
Students consider what makes a movie, television show, musical talent, or artist a cult classic and create descriptive lists of items from these phenomena that may be sold at auction.
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The Hatfield and McCoy Feud
Fourth graders investigate the Hatfield and McCoy feud. For this Hatfield and McCoy feud lesson, 4th graders examine factors that caused the feud. Students also locate on a map where the feud took place, make a timeline of the main...
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Compassion on Death Row?
Students analyze and debate, through writing and discussion, the politics and ethics behind the ability of governors to grant clemency to inmates sentenced to the death penalty.
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Tackling Hunger on "Souper Bowl" Sunday
Students envelop basic plans, in small groups, for fundraising projects that they could actually organize and execute.