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Who Gets to Invent and How Do Inventors Change Our Lives?
Students examine the way various inventions have changed their lives. As a class, they create a timeline of the most important inventions during their lifetime and another timeline of how old they were when it was invented. ...
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Documents and Symbols and American Freedom
Students complete a unit of lessons on the documents, symbols, and famous people involved in the founding of the U.S. government. They create a personal bill of rights, write a found poem, design a flag, conduct research, and role-play...
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Martin Luther King, Jr.: Civil Rights Leader
Young scholars investigate and read about the life and contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr. They listen to a biography and take notes, complete a pictorial story, and complete a writing assignment in response to questions about civil...
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Postcards From Mars
Fifth graders research and explore what life would be like for human colonists on Mars. They explore various websites, read and discuss newspaper articles, develop a chart of the hardships and conditions that would be faced by colonists...
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Past School Practices
Students research the history of a school system. In this school system lesson, students list the grade levels and subjects taught in their school and interview their teachers and administrators. Students collect past photographs of...
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Fantasy Creature
Middle schoolers, in groups, create three-dimensional sculptures from found objects. They paint their sculptures and write essays that reflect on the collaborative creative project.
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Learning through The Duke
Students study Duke Ellington's contributions to the field of jazz. They write poetry using language that was popular in the 1920's. They listen to a piece of Duke Ellington jazz and respond with at painting.
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Making the Connection With Quilts
Fourth graders engage in a instructional activity which integrates the study of the Underground Railroad in Indiana with a Language Arts unit on quilts. They write a book report on one of the quilt books read in class and design a quilt...
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The French in Texas
Fourth graders use Internet to examine early French exploration and settlement in Texas, and write journal entries from point of view of 17th Century French settler, French or Spanish explorer, or Native American whose land was taken.
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Getting Inside The Outsiders Through Music
Young scholars listen to popular music of the 50's and 60's to make literature connections to The Outsiders. In this popular culture lesson, students evaluate and analyze various songs and connect them with the themes in the literature...
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Research Paper
An outline for a research paper assignment lists the expectations, grading rubric, and due dates for an extended research writing project.
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Fun Along the Way: Technology and the Teaching of World Languages
Students record themselves saying basic biographical facts about themselves: : what their names are, where they live, how old they are, what languages they speak, and what activities they like to do. They practice their presentational...
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Five Elements of a Story
Here’s a graphic organizer that permits learners to chart the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution of a story. The PDF file can be customized to work with any narrataive.
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Chuck Close Up Close
Students practice the art of storytelling using realistic art. They pick one illustration of a character in the book and create a story about the possible life he lived. The important details that are needed is the name, occupation,...
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Presidents of the United States
Students discuss American Presidents. They each complete research on one particular President and then, using a template, create a short biography (including a picture) about him. When all biographies are complete, they compile them into...
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Tradition through storytelling and music
Young scholars discover how storytelling can shape a person's tradition.Students examine different methods of storytelling such as music, biographies, and African folktales. They then demonstrate their knowledge of storytelling by...
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The Powhatan Indians' English Boy
Sixth graders write a historical fiction narrative. In this interdisciplinary lesson, 6th graders read the historical fiction Henry Spelman: The Powhatan Indians' English Boy. Students write a piece from the point of view of the main...
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Presenting Your Case
Students research a famous person of their choice in this lesson. They research the person's life, feelings, and character through a series of written activities. They compile their research into a creative project called a character's...
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Celebrating the Individuals in Our Community
Students research, write and publish a biography on a community member. They interview the community member, collect and scan photos, produce and edit text and use software to puslish an online book.
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Eleanor Roosevelt, A Leader Who Helps People
Students are introduced to Eleanor Roosevelt the person. They are introduced to how she cared about people. Students are introduced to the concept of leadership. They write a poem about Eleanor Roosevelt as a leader, or they write a...
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Immigrant Role-Playing
Students role-play as immigrants coming to America during the early 1900's. They conduct Internet research printing out pictures and reading biographies. Students use the information gathered to create scrapbooks in which the write...
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Free Reading Project
Students participate in a free reading project to improve their reading skills. In this reading project lesson, students spend 30 minutes reading each day and complete journal entries for the lesson. Students complete a short in-class...
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U.S. History: Immigrant Scrapbooks
Students role-play as immigrants coming to America around the turn of the 19th century. They conduct Internet research and print out pictures to use in an immigrant scrapbook. Students write captions for the pictures and narratives to...
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The Red Wheelbarrow
Learners explore an imagist poem. In this poetry instructional activity students write a poem in the imagist's style using "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams as an example. The poems are read aloud and discussed.