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Folktale Unit: Johnny Appleseed
Students participate in a shared reading of Steven Kellogg's, Johnny Appleseed and discuss the meaning of folktales and legends. They watch a video of the same story for comparison purposes. They journal about their favorite folktale and...
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Newspapers: A Connection to Our Past
Students discuss current events and importance of understanding historical context for events today. They research current event and its historical context, and plan, shoot, and edit iMovie video essay using AppleWorks storyboard.
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Creative Writing/Historical Journals
Students research primary and secondary sources to find information about their ancestors. They write a series of journal entries, from the perspective of one of their ancestors, on what life was like in that given time period.
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War Story Documentary
Middle schoolers review research skills and determine an aspect of war to research. They research an aspect of a war experience and bring history to life through iMovie.
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Middle Ages Diary
Students research life in the Middle Ages. They write a historical fiction diary based on a character they create. Students use the six steps to process writing to complete their diary. They orally present their diaries to the class.
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Using Word Processing to Create Graphic Organizers
Middle schoolers create a graphic organizer and instructional rubric using word processing software. They conduct Internet research at the History Alive website, and publish an essay.
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Agriculture Counts
Students discuss ways in which agriculture impacts their lives on a daily basis. In groups, they brainstorm ideas that they could possibly write about. They write a rough draft, participate in peer editing and write a final draft of a...
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Now and Then
Students record transformations and their effects within and across cultures. Students study the life of specific people in a former time period and then in the present time period. This teacher focused on the Winnebago tribe, using her...
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Civil War Letter
Students develop a question they are interested in researching about the Civil War. After completing a webquest on the war, they write a letter to their partner using the information they gathered. They use peer editing to check for...
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Composting Conundrum
Learners research cafeteria composting. In this composting lesson, students design a vessel that would allow the cafeteria staff to collect food scraps for composting. Then learners build a prototype and present it to the class. Lastly...
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Classification of Cerealites
Learners create a dichotomous key. In this categorizing lesson, students create a dichotomous key for different types of cereal. Learners classify the cereal into groups such as flakes and cereal with holes. Students discuss their...
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Heading West
Students study the concept of the westward expansion. In this exploration of the western U.S. instructional activity, students participate in different activities that explain economic hardships, jobs, and land opportunities. Students...
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I've Never Tried That - Present Perfect Tense
Students choose three items from a list and discuss the cultural importance of each one. They complete a chart, research information, create a presentation and share it with their peers. Students choose activities to in which to...
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Coral Reefs
Students examine the animals that live in a coral reef and how they adapt to their environment. In this coral activity students write a short book on how animals inhabit the coral reefs.
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European Explorer's Photo Journal
Young scholars study early European explorers. They choose one to research and complete a photo journal of his explorations, which includes maps, articles, etc.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Word Choice
Students explore language arts by participating in a vocabulary usage activity. In this word choice lesson, students read examples of great word usage in literature and discuss with the class why some words appear stronger than others....
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Who am I?
Young scholars develop their writing skills by creating a character sketch about themselves. Students read character sketches, view portraits by famous artists, select one personality traits, and affix a mug shot of themselves into a...
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Reporting in Letters
Young scholars investigate the cultures and politics of different countries and write radio letters to listeners in those countries modeled after Alistair Cooke's "Letter from America."
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Acrostic Poems: What's In a Name?
Students find words that begin with the letters in their own names, using a variety of sources including word banks and online dictionaries. They create an acrostic poem. Pupils revise poems as needed, for meaning and conventions. ...
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Is It The Flu? What Do I Do?
Students use the internet to research the flu. Using various websites, they identify who should get flu shots, how to protect themselves and guidelines for getting over the flu. They write a one page report on their findings to end the...
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The Titanic
Students use various sources to compare and contrast information about the Titanic. In groups, they create a list of questions and use the internet to find the answers. They write a report with the new information and use their peers to...
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Famous Peacemakers - Creating a Declaration of Peace
Students create written reports about a famous peacemaker. In this peacemaker lesson plan, students use books and the internet to research someone who is famous for creating peace in the world and write a report on it.
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Thematic Poetry Videos
Young scholars pen poetry regarding global issues. For this information literacy lesson, students research global issues and use their findings to compose poems regarding the topics. Young scholars create videos that include images and...
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Wilderness Lesson Plan
Students investigate the wilderness by reading magazine articles and discussing with their peers. In this wild life instructional activity, students read a page from the Natural Inquirer magazine and examine photographs online of...