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Larger Than Life Figures
Students prepare for and respond to literature selections. This package includes six lessons about larger than life figures from the American Literature series, each covering a different reading selection. Pre-reading and response...
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The Nile
Students recognize the Nile River played an important role in the lives of ancient Egyptians and still does today. They prepare a newspaper written in English and produced with advanced technology centered around researched information.
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Reporting on a Battle
Students report on battles of the Civil War. In this American Civil War lesson, students conduct research that allows them to report on selected battles of the war. Student's newspapers should include eyewitness statements, photographs,...
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Enhancing Poetry with American Memories
Pupils explore poetry using American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project. They compose their own unque "found poetry" based on the stories found in the collection.
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Newspaper Unit: Reading Lesson Plan
Work on identifying the different parts of a newspaper with your English learners. After reviewing newspaper terminology, pupils pair up and complete a scavenger hunt, looking for specific things in the newspaper and recording their...
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Finding Main Ideas
What is the main idea? Previewing a text is a great way to identify the main idea without even reading, but what areas of a text do you preview? Teach your third, fourth, and fifth graders the most important areas to preview before...
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Finding Main Ideas
Elementary schoolers read paragraphs one at a time in order to pick out the main ideas. They choose which sentences are most important in a paragraph. This type of exercise prepares learners to identify the main idea in longer narratives.
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Language Arts: Cocaine in a Can
Pupils examine the case of "Cocaine," a new soft drink targeted at teens. They explore the decision by some stores not to sell it. Students compose essays expressing their views about the drink and the ensuing decisions.
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Famous Britons
Students read three short texts which give clues to the identities of three famous Britons. The texts explore the fame of the three personalities and the growing interest in celebrities in modern British life. Students participate in a...
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Spanish Punctuation & Capitalization
Grammar rules in all languages, but that doesn't mean it's the same from English to Spanish. This informational webpage describes the similarities and differences between English and Spanish for the following: periods, commas, question...
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The Whole Story
Students collect and convey information about a current event. By focusing on who, what, when, where, why, and how questions, students study to thoroughly analyze and report on important world events.
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Scientists Breed See-Through Frogs
Students participate in a pre-reading activity, then read a news article about the breeding of transparent frogs. In this biology and current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a question and a vocabulary activity,...
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Slanted Sentences
Students examine biased words in news articles, suggest synonyms, then rewrite the sentences to demonstrate how word choice can alter meaning.
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Walking on Thin Ice
Students examine scientific evidence of changes in the Arctic ice cover. They participate in a simulation of an international conference and debate the relationship between global warming and changes in the arctic ice cover.
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The Newspaper
In this journalism learning exercise, students use a copy of their local newspaper to complete this page. Students answer questions about the publisher and staff of the paper, the weather, TV programming, comics and classified sections....
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Encapsulating Moments in Time
Students look back at this year in history and evaluate important events, discoveries and people from 1998. They, in groups, create 1998: Year in Review. While 1998 has come and gone, the idea and intent for this lesson can be used now.
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The Long and Short of It
Young scholars take a look back at the week's news by exploring the news summaries article offered in The New York Times' Week in Review section each week. They look further into ongoing news stories of interest to them in order to...
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Stem Cell Research Policy Lesson Plan: Create an Advocacy Brochure
Students after researching the science and the controversy around stem cell research, students create brochures to display their knowledge and a point of view.
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A Closer Look: Unemployment
Young scholars view a video clip about unemployment. They research data and create a scatter plot graph. They discover the importance of graphs and what they can tell us. They create their own publication on unemployment.
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Spin and Bias in the Media
Learners compare different types of media. In this media comparison lesson, students will assess the where all types of media gets its information by viewing a video of a news story and critiquing it.
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Pendemonium Unnatural Selection: Quotation Marks
Students practice the correct use of quotation marks. In this grammar lesson, students watch and then discuss a video on the use of quotation marks. Students find examples of quotation marks in books and periodicals and then convert...
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Germ Warfare
Students research superbugs. In this personal health lesson, students visit selected websites to investigate the use of antibiotics and the prevalence of staphylococci.
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Bee Story
Students consider the implications of the disappearing bee population. In this bee instructional activity, students read several new stories regarding the bee population and respond to the provided discussion questions.
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Cold and Flu
Students read about colds and influenza while practicing reading techniques.