National Endowment for the Humanities
Understanding the Context of Modernist Poetry
Students examine the historical, social, and cultural context of modernist poetry. They explore websites, complete a chart, compare/contrast rural and urban life, watch a video of early New York, and complete a writing assessment...
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Mayoral Responsibility
Students profile New York City Mayors Rudolph W. Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg and research the actions they took before and after terrorist incidents since 1993. They then write essays about the contribution made by their own mayors.
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Plasma 101
Students examine the definitions and characteristics of plasma. After reading an article, they analyze new technologies to study plasma. In groups, they create a poster on how the different types of plasma work and write letters to their...
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International Holidays
Second graders explore the holidays of different cultures. In this culture lesson, 2nd graders knowledge about various holidays. Students play a matching game with the name of the holiday and the description. Students research one of the...
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Treasures of the Silk Roads
Students examine and discuss art objects from the Silk Roads. They analyze images of artifacts, create a word map, and develop and write a short story or poem based on the slides viewed.
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Let's Roll Robots!
Students write a story about robots. In this creative writing lesson, students read a story about robots, make their own robot, and write a story about their robot. In addition, the lesson plan suggests taking photos of the robots to add...
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My Pyramid - Preparing for a Journey
Learners create a three paragraph paper. In this Ancient Egypt lesson, students write a paper about what treasures they would put in their pyramid for their Ka to take on its journey. They also do a hieroglyph or their name, a sketch of...
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Picture This
Students create a descriptive paragraph about their past or their heritage and provide a picture to go along with it. In this past and heritage lesson plan, students share their paragraph with the class.
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The Forest-Life in the Wild!
Students write a description of each animal using their completed outline and include a graphic of the animal for the program, or a hand drawing. Each student chooses and writes about 2 Rain Forest Animals.
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Japan and The Ring of Fire
Middle schoolers engage in a study of the volcanic forces and earthquakes associated with The Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean. The people of Japan are researched in how they have dealt with living in the area. Also students write in...
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There's a Monster in My Closet!
Students create their own monsters that exist in their imaginary closets and decorate their environment. They then write a short story to describe their illustration using a prompt.
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Shaken Up
Students discuss the type of information that they expect to read in news coverage of earthquakes. They explore the devastating aftermath of an earthquake in South and Southeast Asia and research and write their own articles describing...
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Mesoamerica: The History of Central America
Young scholars examine the role of women in Mesoamerica. They watch segments of the Discovery video "Mesoamerica: The History of Central America". After conducting further research pertaining to specific Mayan women, they write essays...
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Looking and Learning in the Art Museum
Students practice looking skills as they reflect upon the differences between viewing original works of art and reproductions. In this art viewing lesson, students interpret a work of art using formal analysis and research done for...
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Esperanza Rising- Metacognition
Sixth graders develop metacognitive skills while reading Esperanza Rising. In this comprehension strategies lesson, 6th graders read a chapter from the book and discuss questions with a small group. Students share with their peers.
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Things Are Looking Up
Students write a description of a person in their community. They brainstorm a list of role models and what qualities make a role model. They interview a panel of role models.
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Help! I Need Some Editing
Students write their own story using as much descriptive language as they can. They peer edit each other's stories and create illustrations to accompany their writings. They place their story in a booklet and give it to a needy recepient.
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5 Broken Cameras: How Storytellers Shape the Story
5 Broken Cameras, the award-winning documentary nominated for a 2013 Academy Award and winner of the Sundance 2012 Directors Award is the focus of a resource packet that includes a lesson plan, discussion guide, reading lists, background...
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Getting Down to Business
Three lesson plans are shown on this site, two of which pertain to Read 180. Start the year with the first lesson by having your learners create a brochure about themselves. In the computer lab, they find clip art and photos to make a...
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To Kill a Mockingbird - Introductory Role Play and Historical Background
High schoolers participate in role-play activities to explain that emotional and social effects of prejudice discussed in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
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The Princess's Point of View
Everyone wants to be part of a royal family. Let your pupils experience the privilege of royalty by rewriting the story The Frog Prince from the point of view of the princess. While the story line remains the same, perspective is bound...
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The Stock Market and the Great Depression
How does the Stock Market work, what was Black Tuesday, and how did the Market crass of 1929 lead to the Great Depression? Have your class play this stock market game for two weeks to better explain how the stock market works.
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Civil Rights Video Essay
Students research an event or a person from a decade in American history when the civil rights movement was an important focus. They create a multimedia project based on the research.
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Can We Live Without Government?
Third graders explore the role that the government plays in the lives of its citizens.