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Power and Authority
Fourth graders study authority and power as its used in government. In this government lesson, 4th graders define power and authority. Students then read different scenarios of authority and power examples in people as well as...
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Students use Maya Angelou's novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to identify themes about adversity in the text. For this adversity, students read chapter 36 of the novel and discuss the examples of adversity in the book. Students...
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Synonyms
Students examine the meaning of synonyms after reading the story "Meet Taz the tiny terrier!" Students discover the importance of synonyms in stories and how to use a thesaurus.
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Relationship Role Plays
High schoolers connect a scene from a play they are reading to events in their own lives. Working in male/female pairs, students act out a scene from "Hamlet." Pairs work to role play a scene as an extension of the one they have read,...
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Ruby Bridges & School Integration
Students explore school integration issues. In this Civil Rights Movement lesson, students read Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and school integration and then write reflections about difficult experiences.
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Native American Philanthropists
Students demonstrate how Native Americans were philanthropic. In this philanthropy lesson, students read Squanto's Journey and brainstorm ways that the Native Americans were helpful towards the Pilgrims. Students reflect on the long-term...
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Initial Blends with L as the Second Letter
Students listen to and read the poem "Cat's Eyes" and discuss the repetition of words and the blends in the poem.
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Revision Lesson
Students, through a series of 4 lessons, explore what it means to revise their written work. They revise a bland story together and then practice revising their own papers by identifying the main action and "exploding" that moment into...
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Building Fiction: Elements of a Short Story
Students define and interpret the elements found in a short story. Then they identify the elements of plot found in a short story. Students also apply knowledge of plot to an original work of fiction. Finally, they identify the...
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He Sees it in His Joy
Students research the importance of play. In this research lesson, students work in pairs and interview each other about their 'play history.' Students take data from the interview and shape it into a play history for the individual....
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Dia de Los Muertos
Students construct concept maps after reading an article. In this Dia de Los Muertos activity, students read about the celebration in Spanish and create concept maps explaining what they learned. Students share with their peers.
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Hispanic World - Spain
Take your class on an electronic field trip to Spain! Visit Cordoba or Barcelona, and run with the bulls (virtually) in Pamplona. Groups search the Internet to find sites that permit them to explore the original Spanish-speaking country....
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Foreshadowing and Making Predictions
"What happens next?" Using real-life scenarios, movies, images, and other prompts, pupils practice making predictions based on inferences from clues. A SMART board activity takes them from making predictions to writing a prediction...
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Credible Sources on the Internet: What to Trust, What to Dismiss and When to Cite a Source
Wait, you mean researchers don't all use Wikipedia? Teach your class about intelligent research with a instructional activity about evaluating digital sources. The instructional activity starts with a quickwrite and includes...
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Double Jeopardy-Homophones
Second graders identify homophones as words that sound alike but have different meanings. They, given a pair of homophones, are to explain the meanings of the words using gestures, role playing, or drawing a picture with their partner.
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KWHL Questioning Strategy for Briar Rose
Whether new to the KWHL strategy or not readers of Briar Rose will benefit from the detailed procedures and templates designed for Jane Yolen’s novel. Links are provided for research into the Holocaust and activities reveal the many...
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Who is the Expert? Exploring Credible Sources in Healthcare
How do you decide what sources are credible when researching online? Evaluate sources with a focus on researching health issues. After brainstorming common health concerns and how they would try to diagnose these problems, class members...
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Same Theme, Different Story Using Fox by Margaret Wild
Middle schoolers work with themes in this lesson, which is based on Fox by Margaret Wild. Because the book has multiple themes, it is a great way to transition into exploring literary analysis and writing stories. A Six Trait writing...
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Jacob Have I Loved
Learners examine visual images about the novel, Jacob Have I Loved. They compare pictures from "America from the Great Depression to World War II" that are described in the book and other studies of the Chesapeake Bay. They present their...
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Dramatic Outlines
Students write about main characters. In this dramatic writing instructional activity, students brainstorm character ideas. Students create actions and give the character a voice. Students act out the scene in groups and create a...
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Conventions - Punctuation Research
Study unusual punctuation marks in this punctuation activity. Young grammarians work in small groups to research one of the unusual punctuation marks (semi-colon, colon, dash, comma, ellipses, or quotation marks) and discuss how the mark...
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Peter and the Starcatchers: Multi-Genre Writing Assignment
Conclude your unit on Peter and the Starcatchers with an involved final writing project that requires learners to write persuasive pieces, compose short stories, create brochures about the setting of the novel, and choose from a...
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Is it a solid or liquid?
Learners review the vocabulary terms solid and liquid. They also review that adjectives tell what kind, which one, and how many. The teacher introduces a "Oobleck" after reading "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" by Dr. Seuss. The students...
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Review of Personification and Alliteration
Young scholars study personification and alliteration in various fiction texts. In this literary devices instructional activity, students use various texts to identify the literary devices of personification and alliteration. Young...