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New Year's Celebrations
Explore New Year's celebrations around the world. In this cultural diversity and history activity, students research various New Year's celebrations from different countries using the "Taking it Global" website. Students prepare a visual...
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Village Life in India
Learners use included links to research the lives of people living in a small village in India.
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No Taxing of the Tea for Thee
Research the history of the Boston Tea Party. Learners read the book The Boston Tea Party and write down important facts. They use the Internet to continue their research and construct an art project of a boat that contains a tea bag.
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Multiple Perspectives: Newspaper Stories and Editorials
Newspapers are the perfect medium through which to explore different perspectives in informational text. After researching the fur trade and resultant colonization, groups write a newspaper, including an editorial page, selecting one of...
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Nonviolence as a Way of Life
Students investigate the example Gandhi set for others to not engage in violence when being oppressed. In this rebellion lesson plan, students identify violence and discuss how it is used and often ineffective. Students create a visual...
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Integrating Japanese Folk Tales into the Classroom Using Japanese Kamishibai
Students study Japanese folk tales focusing on the traditional values and key elements. They compare the Japanese values with their own. They discuss Japanese art before designing a set of kamishibai on which they write a summary of a...
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Reliving History through Slave Narratives
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
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Where Am I, and How Do I Get Where I am Going?
Students describe geographical places through art, music, writing, and math. They compile information in booklets which may be published.
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Best Part of Me
Students determine a positive physical feature of themselves. They participate in an online writer's workshop and write descriptive poem about their favorite feature. They create a display of poetry and pictures.
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National Turkey Off to Disneyland
Students share their holiday traditions, then read about an American Thanksgiving custom. In this current events lesson, the teacher introduces the news article with a discussion and vocabulary activity, the students participate in a...
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Family Tree Community Project
Fifth graders answer questions such as: Where does my family come from? What was it like for my ancestors to grow up as America developed? What differences in society were present then? What was similar to today? students conduct...
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Identify Intended Media Messages
How does media convey different messages? Use this lesson to explore media by identifying and analyzing selected images. Middle schoolers analyze a poster and discuss the intended meaning of the imagery and how it makes them feel. They...
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Investigating the Countries of the World
Explore world geography by creating presentations for different countries around the world. Researchers identify many different countries on a globe and select one for which they will create a presentation. They share their research and...
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Sim's Cities
Students investigate city management and government by creating a fictional city in groups. In this civics instructional activity, students create rules and a mascot for their fictitious city which they create from poster board cubes....
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Proud to Live in New Jersey
Students explore New Jersey. For this New Jersey social studies lesson, students define vocabulary and participate in activities centered around the agriculture, geography, industry, history, and culture of New Jersey. Students construct...
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Learning About Maps
Learners take a "field trip" with the teacher through the school then draw a diagram of what they saw. They bring the maps to the computer lab where they create electronic maps using the software program Neighborhood Map Machine.
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Emancipation Proclamation
Students analyze key components of a portrait and relate the elements to the historical context. For this lesson students evaluate the "Emancipation Proclamation" and it's significance.
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Checkmate: The Play's The Thing
Students investigate the Middle Ages and it's relation to the theater. In this acting instructional activity, students read Arthurian stories form the Middle Ages and practice using vocabulary words from the Medieval Times. Students...
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What's Civil About War?
Students study about the Civil War through primary sources used in the PBS production of "Freedom: A History of US" based on Joy Hakim's books, "A History of US", and the companion PBS Web site.
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A Moment in Time
Fifth graders research a year in history. In this research lesson, 5th graders choose a year between 1801 and 1999 and write three research questions to answer about their year. Students must include three major events and investigate...
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Arriba Amigos!
Students explore how culture effects our world. In this culture instructional activity, students work in groups to do a web quest. Students gather and analyze information to decide if Mayan ruins should be destroyed to build a shopping...
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Checkmate
Students start identifying the cause and effect relationships in games of Chess. Using the internet, they research the history of the game and how the roles for each of the pieces. They develop a skit based on the roles and...
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Map Reading in the 21st Century
Students interact with MapPoint tools to view maps of the past and the present in multiple ways. They participate in mini-lessons aimed at locating certain points of interest or famous routes taken in history.
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Jewelry: Then and Now
Fifth graders identify specific works of art as belonging to particular cultures, times, & places, recognize & apply elements of art, learn techniques for working with each material, critique artwork, & discuss how artwork...