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Space and Science Fiction
Use the Franklin Institute's exhibition "An Inquirer's Guide to the Universe" to have students research ideas for a science fiction story. After completing their research, writers will compose science fiction stories that incorporate...
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Writing a How-To Paper
Students discover that when writing a how-to paper, they are telling readers how to do something such as cook a particular recipe. They then choose one of the provided topics and write their own how-to paper.
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Writing - Story Ideas
Middle schoolers write their story in first person as a non-fiction story, or they can write the story in third person as a fictional story and use different characters. They can choose an idea from one of the story starters provided.
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Practice Makes It Better
Use the Internet to expand the audience for portfolio writings and motivate young writers to edit their work. Have your class members select a piece of writing from their portfolios to be polished and published on the World Wide Web....
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I Have a Dream Podcasts
Students write dream speeches and record them as Mp3's. For this speech lesson, students watch Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, "I Have Dream Speech." They use the writing process to develop a dream speech which they rehearse. They record...
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The People's Design Award
Young scholars analyze, critique, and evaluate information from various sources and learn about the design process. In this design lesson, students critique work submitted to People's Design Award and create a design of their own to...
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Generating Power
Students construct a working model of a turbine and explain how water generates power. By the end of the lesson, they list the effects of Kingsley Dam on people, plans, and animals -- both positive and negative.
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Sidewalks to Success in Middle School
Students write a brochure that educates incoming middle school students on how to succeed.
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Interview! Magazine
Young scholars interview a subject and write a biographical sketch for a fictional magazine. In this interview lesson plan, students choose a person to interview and create two sets of questions. Young scholars conduct the interview....
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Setting Goals for Success
Students construct SMART goals. In this goal-setting lesson, students discover how to write a SMART goal for their student portfolios. Working in pairs students write short-term goals that will build towards a long-term goal.
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Coast-to-Coast Book Design-Part 4: Let's Create the Pages!
Pupils work in groups to share their lists of A-B-C ideas they came up with from the previous activity. They review page layouts taught during lesson two. Students complete a rough draft of their page. They create a colored illustration...
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Theatre: Meaningful Monologues
Students perform dramatic monologues. In this drama instructional activity, students write their own monologue and perform it in front of their peers.
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Guess the Author-Using Pseudonyms
Students study about descriptive writing. They write a descriptive paragraph about themselves without revealing their physical description and sign their writing with a pseudonym.
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Change of Perspective
After reading an example of a Cultural Connection about a particular person, class members are asked to think about what this person might experience on a daily basis. They then craft a narrative from the subject’s point of view.
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Student Autobiography
Students complete an organizer listing five important events in their lives, use the dates to create a timeline of their life using Timeliner program, print and save their timeline and write a paragraph based on the timeline too.
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Fragments Wanted (Not)
Students rewrite newspaper employment ads using complete sentences.
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Rockin' Picture Books
Learners demonstrate their knowledge of the rock cycle by creating picture books.
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Keeping Yourself Organized During Writer's Workshop
Writer's Workshop can be a wonderful way to develop a classroom of authors.
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"A MLA Style of Life"
Learners effectively research using the internet, encylopedias, magazines and newspapers. They desegregate into needed and un-needed information based on their research findings. Pupils recognize and appropriately site sources using a...
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Greenewables
Young scholars form expert engineering teams working for the (fictional) alternative energy consulting firm, Greenewables, Inc. Each team specializes in a form of renewable energy used to generate electrical power: passive solar, solar...
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Everyone's an Author
Learners examine variety of written pieces of quality fiction, discuss what different story elements are present and how those elements make stories as effective as they are, and create a class story.
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Scavenger Hunt
Students summarize the "Tri-County Project" section of the nebraskastudies.org web site using a scavenger hunt.
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My Wilderness Adventure
Learners use a story starter and given questions to continue their adventure. They use the Internet and books to research about winter survival skills, how to find food, water and shelter in the snowy mountains and discover information...