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Details, Details, Details
Writing can become one-dimensional if authors don't involve all their senses. First, scholars observe a strange object which, ideally, they can touch and even smell. Without using certain words (you can create a list or have the class...
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Borrowing Narrative Skills from Mr. Fletcher: Using a "Prompts in Reverse" Technique to Inspire Your Writers
Help your class find their writing voices with this lesson which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher what they...
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Story Telling through Photography
Use this writing and photography lesson plan in your descriptive writing unit. Elementary and middle schoolers write and create a story line incorporating photos from Inspiration or their own personal photos. They experiment with...
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Lesson Plan 18: Art Project! Design Your Own Book Cover
Finished your novel? What’s next? Designing the book cover, of course. But how to begin? After examining the covers of published books and noting the common elements of these jackets, young novelists design a front and back cover for...
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Things Fall Apart: Research, Writing & Presentation Project
A great resource for your unit on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Small groups conduct research about related topics (list included), write papers, present PowerPoint slide shows, and take a student-created test. Fill in a few...
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Dear Diary
Students analyze a piece of writing by creating diary entries based on a character. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read an assigned book with their classmates and create a sketch of what they believe the main...
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The First Americans
Third graders explore American history by researching Native Americans. In this American settlers lesson plan, 3rd graders research the Native American Woodland Indians and define the actions they took when faced with the European...
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Mandela The Man
Ninth graders explore civil rights by reading several biographies. In this Nelson Mandela lesson, 9th graders discuss the trials and tribulations Nelson Mandela had to face in South Africa and how they were similar to the problems Martin...
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The Raven: Creator of the Universe?
Young scholars explore biology by researching birds in class. In this raven identification instructional activity, students utilize the Internet to identify the anatomy, habits and habitat of ravens. Young scholars write descriptive...
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Lost on a Deserted Island
Third graders practice brainstorming with their classmates as they discuss a role-play situation. In this group discussion instructional activity, 3rd graders must present ideas of ways to survive on a deserted island by discussing...
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Irish Eyes: Taking a Look at Local Landscape
Direct your class’s attention to the elements that make their community unique. After examining sample travel brochures, groups select something from their community to use as the subject, and then research, create, and publish a...
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A Garden of Verses: Poems About Class Gardens
Students explore botany by participating in a language arts activity. In this garden poetry lesson, students read the classic poem "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" and discuss the imagery and rhyming methods used. Students examine their own...
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Push or Pull
Learners examine a large box and determine how they may move the box to a specified point. After the class makes predictions, they test them and decide what worked and what didn't work. Through their tests, push and pull are introduced....
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The Toilet Paper Solar System
Young scholars classify the planets in the solar system, study planetary objects, and measure the relative distance between planets. In this solar system lesson, students use toilet paper to complete a scale model of the distance between...