Virginia Department of Education
Creating Thesis Sentences
Growing writers explore what it takes to develop and support a thesis statement with pre-fabricated ideas provided by the Virginia Department of Education. Learners take notes on what makes a thesis statement and a topic sentence, and...
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ELA Unit Planning Template Style One
Work with your department or on your own to create organized unit plans that connect to all parts of the Common Core standards. The three-page template includes space to summarize the unit, list standards for each category of the ELA...
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Writing with Writers
Students participate in Writing with Writer's, a step-by-step set of directions aimed at improving different genres of student writing. They identify the characteristics of different genres and follow a specified writing process to...
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Dead Word Wall Lesson
Help your writers eliminate "dead words" (words that are overused) from their writing. This lesson includes a SMART board presentation that will guide them through identifying, eliminating, and substituting "dead words" from sample...
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World Trade Center Design Proposals
Young scholars explore architectural design. In this critical thinking and architecture lesson, students view a number of websites providing proposals for design plans of a new World Trade Center. Young scholars choose and evaluate...
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The Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire
Ninth graders investigate the growth of Christianity in Rome. In this Roman Empire instructional activity, 9th graders listen to a SMART Board lecture about the Jesus, Christianity, and the empire prior to composing thematic essays about...
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Word Pairs
Students compare similar words that are often confused. In this Language arts lesson, students review meanings of words that are often confused. Students complete a worksheet and sentences to practice correct usage of these words.
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News in Spanish
Students write stories, take photographs, and put together two newspapers-?Que Tal? in Spanish for Spanish I and II students and ?Para Ninos? in English for first through fourth graders.
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Creating Family Trees
Students make presentations about families. They make family trees and present orally to the class.
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Crafting Poetry: A Sensory Journey
Tenth graders experiment with poetry devices to write poems. In this poetry lesson, 10th graders participate in learning stations. Students create a word pool and select a word from the list to create a line of poetry. Students complete...
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"The Science Times"
Students create their own newspaper after gathering information at the Museum of Natural History's Hall of Biodiversity.
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Minnesota-China Connections: Writing Prompts
Students write a short essay in response to a writing prompt related to a theme or issue raised within the Minnesota-China Connection Web site.
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The Mark Twain Project at the Principia School
Students read and write an analysis of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn and write a paper on another Twain literary piece. In this Mark Twain instructional activity, students select a Mark Twain literary piece to write an analysis paper...
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Multiple Intelligences
Students investigate Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. In this research based instructional activity, students compare theories of intelligences and examine the implications of using these theories in schools and society.
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Rollin’ on the River: Identifying Jargon
Pupils identify jargon in poetry, prose and fiction. In this literature lesson, students will read selections from Mark Twain and identify figurative langauge, focusing on jargon.
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Using Pictures to Promote Conversation
Students initiate and sustain a conversation of three or more exchanges on a topic while exploring a collection of large photographs pertaining to that topic. The teacher creates a comfortable setting and provide a variety of books...
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Teaching Imagery
Learners review the terms idyll and imagery. They read "A Winter Idyll" from "Snowbound" as a class. They break into groups of 5 and respond/react to their lines to make connections to the text.