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Voice Lessons
Students visualize examples of sentence structure by creating patterns with Lego blocks. They apply terms of voice and syntax by critiquing others' writings as well as revising their own writing pieces. Revision is the key within this...
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Keep Spreading the News
Students examine the significance of communication in an engineer's life. They develop a list of ways engineers communicate with others, and write a book, newspaper, or story about engineers' role in the environment.
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Mystery Eggs
Students investigate the properties of plastic eggs filled with solids, liquids, and gases and use these observations to hypothesize whether a chicken egg is hard-boiled or raw.
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Community Helpers
The book, Doctor Ted is used to kick off this lesson on Community Helpers. Young learners make connections to their own life by dictating a story of their own, and inventing other jobs that Ted can do.
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Eggs'ceptional Experiments
Students see evidence of chemical reaction and follow the scientific method to hypothesize, observe, and reach conclusions. They conduct a series of egg based experiments such as forming crystals and complete journal activities as a...
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Esperanza Rising - Anticipation Guide
Learn about Mexican culture while simultaneously strengthening reading, writing and computer skills. In order to get the most out of Esperanza Rising, pupils should have prior knowledge of Mexican culture. Therefore, there are links to a...
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Ecuadorian Rainforest
Have your class talk about the importance of the rainforest and the products that come from it. Learners watch a video showing the path of chocolate from the rainforest to the supermarket. They discuss how the rainforest and...
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Free Reading Chart
Students read library books daily for ten to fifteen minutes, log information on Free Reading Chart, giving a brief summary of what they just read, and write brief reactionary response to the reading.
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Summer of My German Soldier
Pupils participate in a layered curriculum unit for a novel study. The teaching method allows for a student centered classroom that includes different methods of instruction and assessment.
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Chinese Zodiac
Fifth graders identify the basic elements of a narrative story, such as the beginning, middle, and the end; to analyze the character traits in the story to write a summary using the 5 Ws and How chart included; through sample stories...
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Whittle, Whittle it Down: Summarizing
Sixth graders are introduced to the jigsaw method of summarizing text. In groups, they create their own summary and work together as a class to create just one class summary. To end the instructional activity, they read the class...
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Summarizing Puts the Pieces Together
Students summarize a piece of fiction. After reviewing the correct way to read and summarize, students work in groups to summarize a piece of text assigned by the instructor. They write a summary paragraph by creating a story map and...
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Successful Summarizers
Students review the concept of silent reading. Through modeling and guided practice, they explore six steps/rules of summarizing. In groups, they read a short book and then, using the summarization rules and skills, write an effective...
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The Master Puppeteer
Students write a diary from Jiro's point of view that includes dates and locations. Jiro is the main character of the book The Master Puppeteer. They role-play their favorite scenes from the book using dress-up, and correct accents....
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Warriors Don't Cry
Students write a journal depicting a day in the life of a character and a newspaper article. In this Warriors Don't Cry activity, students summarize the main events of integration and find out about the life of Melba...
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Reading to Learn: How Do We Sum That Up?
Students explore the topic of summarizing. They read the book, Dolphins at Daybreak, to practice summarizing. They determine what information is important and choose sentences to summarize the passages they read. They write a summary...
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The Secret School-Chapter 4
Fourth graders read The Secret School. For this language arts lesson, 4th graders discuss the characters in the story and read aloud using fluency while reading. Students write a summary of the chapter.
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Rain Forest
Students discover three aspects of the rain forest. They describe the people, animals, and vegetation in the rain forest. They identify the changes the rain forest has gone through and the reasons behind the changes. They choose one...
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The Chicago River's Journey through Time
Students create a book, which shows the changes in the Chicago River throughout time. They demonstrate their comprehension of the major historical changes in the Chicago River. Students create their own book titled: The Chicago River's...
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Decision Making and Assertiveness
Fourth graders identify a problem and write a persuasive essay to the appropriate audience, to correct the problem. They demonstrate effective decision making based on positive self-worth. Students need to write a paragraph about their...
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Know It All: Seals! Teaching Plan
Learners discover information about seals, including behavior and habitat. In this early childhood lesson plan, students identify various aspects about seals. Learners create an illustration or painting of their favorite seal, and...
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Shh! It's Reading Time!
Students observe and demonstrate how to read silently. They discuss the "Cross-Checking" strategy, select a book for independent reading, and demonstrate silent reading. Students write a summary of what they have read in their reading...
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The Giving Tree
Students investigate the virtue of kindness and giving by conducting a children's literature study of "The Giving Tree". They make a list of words to describe emotions in the story and write a journal daily while looking at the virtues...
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Samuel's Choice - Social Studies Using Children's Literature
Fifth graders read a book about independence, freedom, and slavery. Students create a story map of the book. They research the causes of the Civil War. Students write a newspaper article from the point of view of an American colonist.