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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Lesson 3: Essay Organizer

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
A three-minute exercise warms-up scholars' writing abilities in order to follow a writing process that ends in an essay. The essay's topic is a barrier and the values used to break it. Four steps include choosing a topic, jotting-down a...
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Lesson 2: Values and Barriers

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Scholars investigate and discuss the importance of values and how they can be used to break barriers. Small groups work collaboratively to examine the text and draw inferences to answer questions. A writing assignment challenges pupils...
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Lesson 1: What Are Barriers?

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Scholars discuss the concept of a barrier with a short passage on Jackie Robinson. The writing process begins with a paragraph and several other sentences about Robinson's unique traits that made breaking a barrier possible.  
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Jackie Robinson

For Teachers K - 3rd
Learners complete a six-page coloring book featuring Major League Baseball's first African American player, Jackie Robinson. To bring the pages to life, scholars follow directions adding color and pictures where directed. 
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Interactive
NOAA

Investigating Sea Level Using Real Data

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
The news reports on rising sea level, but how do scientists measure this rise? Scholars use NOAA data including maps, apps, and images to work through five levels of activities related to sea level. Each level in the series adds a new...
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Interactive
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Soft Schools

Civil Rights

For Students 4th - 8th Standards
Informational text about the Civil Rights Movement challenges young historians to prove their reading comprehension skills with six multiple choice questions. After answers are submitted a new screen displays a score, answers—correct and...
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Handout
Education World

Remembering Jackie Robinson

For Students 2nd - 6th Standards
A four-paragraph informational text details the life of the famous baseball player, Jackie Robinson. A prompt challenges scholars to write or discuss a time in their life when they were not included and how that made them feel. 
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Activity
National Park Service

The Young Naturalist

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Beginning with a brief history of our 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, then followed by a discussion of his interest in nature, young scientists take to the outdoors to locate and observe local plants and insects. Scholars return to...
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Unit Plan
Digital Commons

Convince Me! A Persuasive Writing Unit for 2nd Grade

For Teachers 2nd - 4th Standards
Elementary learners are not often shy about expressing what they want, but they could use a little help organizing their arguments. Help young writers work through a series of persuasive writing exercises that emphasize the importance of...
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Worksheet
Look! We're Learning!

Ella Fitzgerald Biography Mini-Unit

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
Before there was Beyonce, before there was Madonna, before there was Cher, there was Ella. Introduce Ella Fitzgerald, The First Lady of Jazz, with a reading comprehension exercise that presents a brief biography of her life and then asks...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Word Recognition Strategies Using Nursery Rhymes

For Teachers K - 2nd Standards
As a class, scholars read the poems, Humpty Dumpty, Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater, and Jack and Jill, in order to identify words with the same ending sound. Using their rhyming skills, learners brainstorm additional words from word...
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Activity
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Council for Economic Education

What's the Big Deal about Spices?

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
Today's gourmands don't consider spices to be the equivalent of silver and gold. During the middle ages, however, these commodities were precious. People back then used spices in religious ceremonies, to cure rotten food, and as a show...
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Activity
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Council for Economic Education

Fall of Rome

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
What led to the fall of Rome? Scholars have debated the question since the end of the great empire. Young historians consider the same question through an economic lens using an engaging lesson that involves a hands-on evaluation of the...
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Activity
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Council for Economic Education

The Silk Road

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
The Silk Road connected the European, Middle Eastern, and Asian worlds. It also helped create the modern trade world. An analysis activity makes the importance of this Chinese innovation clear by asking participants to evaluate trades...
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Assessment
1
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CCSS Math Activities

Smarter Balanced Sample Items: 8th Grade Math – Claim 4

For Teachers 8th Standards
A math model is a good model. A slide show presents 10 sample items on modeling and data analysis. Items from Smarter Balanced illustrate different ways that Claim 4 may be assessed on the 8th grade math assessment. The presentation is...
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Assessment
1
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CCSS Math Activities

Smarter Balanced Sample Items: 8th Grade Math – Claim 3

For Teachers 8th Standards
Communication is the key. A dozen sample items require scholars to communicate their reasoning involved in arriving at a solution. The PowerPoint from the Gr. 8 Claim 2 - 4 Item Slide Shows series uses a variety of content to illicit...