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Creating Supporting Characters
Supporting characters need detail and characteristics just like a main character. Keep your budding authors entrenched in detail as they write their novels. This lesson focuses on developing supporting characters using personal...
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Weaving a Story of Cooperation: The Goat in the Rug
Weaving is an important part of Navajo culture. Read The Goat in the Rug to your fourth and fifth graders, and give them a glimpse into the process of rug making from the point of view of a goat! They will learn new vocabulary words and...
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The Imagine Poetry & Mural Lesson
Readers of all ages can work together in groups to create original poetry on the theme of "Imagine," inspired by John Lennon's classic song. They also create a mural to illustrate their poetry. A beautiful activity, inspired by a...
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It's Your Opinion
Everyone has a different opinion about the characters they read about in books. Have your class explore forming an opinion and finding evidence to support it as they read and discuss what they think about a particular character. They...
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Role Play Debate
Suggested topics for a role play debate include school uniforms and culpability for drunk driving, but any issue of interest to your class will work. What are the hot issues in your community or on the news right now? Class members...
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Determining Author's Point of View: The Sneeches
Determine the author's point of view in a text. Young readers read Dr. Seuss' The Sneeches and identify the author's purpose in the story. They identify persuasive techniques in writing, asking and answering questions to better...
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Little House in the Big Woods
Strengthen your learners' relationship with Laura Ingalls Wilder's classic novel of a pioneer family with these materials. Multiple choice comprehension questions and a set of reflection prompts are provided for each pair of chapters in...
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Reasons for Settling the New World
After studying the reasons settlers entered the New World, primary learners try to persuade others to enter this new land. Class members present their arguments in a variety of ways including posters, writings, and charts. Richly...
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Who Am I?
Your budding journalists need to understand the five W's for writing a news story. They read a story, complete several graphic organizers to help them organize and write their article, and then use a self-assessment worksheet to edit and...
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Art as Social Commentary
High schoolers engage in this thought-provoking instructional activity which has them view images from the past that depict the social condition. During the series of four lessons, pupils design a PowerPoint and a photo montage of images...
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Under Construction
Young readers examine the elements of story structure that are included in all stories. They include these elements in their own written pieces. This phenomenally-designed plan has everything you need to easily implement it in your...
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Saturday Market by Patricia Grossman
Readers make personal connections to Saturday Market by Patricia Grossman and answer comprehension questions while reading the book. Comparing and contrasting the different characters in a Venn diagram leads to a kinesthetic activity...
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In God We Trust; All Others Pay Cash
Learners review their knowledge on the First Amendment. After reading an article, they identify specific church and state issues. Using the Internet, they research President Bush's proposal from a specific point of view. They summarize...
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Justice Is Blind, Colorblind That Is
It's so interesting to see kids respond to articles about education. To start the day, prompt learners to discuss the words colorblindness and diversity. Then, split your class in two and have one side read an article from 2007 and the...
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Lights! Cameras! Action!: Creating a Drama About the Lyme Art Colony
Discuss the lives of artists in the Lyme Art Colony in the 1900s with this resource. Young historians write and perform a short scene depicting individuals who lived in the Griswold boardinghouse, used by the colony artists. They use the...
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Northwest Coast Indians: Winter Celebrations Potlatch
Upper elementary learners engage in a study about the Potlatch as a Northwest Coast Indians social custom. Groups of pupils plan their own Potlatch ceremony; incorporating activities and creating gifts much like the ones that the Indians...
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Summing Up
The first verse of A.A. Milne’s poem, Beetle, is the basis for a model of how to summarize a text. The two-page worksheet also includes a short story for guided practice, as well as summarizing questions, a story sharing activity, and an...
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There's Omegas in Those Hemp Seeds
A very well-designed lesson plan focuses on the many benefits of Omega Fatty Acids. Learners read some articles on omega fatty acids, then access a glossary that is included in the plan. They fill in terms along with their definitions....
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Basic Vitamins: Water-Soluble and Fat-Soluble
An incredibly thorough lesson on vitamins, and how to keep one's body at peak health. Learners access a variety of excellent worksheets embedded in the plan that have them consider raw vs. cooked foods, a vegetable nutrition summary,...
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The Hare and the Water: A Tanzanian Folk Tale
"The Hare and the Water," a Tanzanian folk tale, lends a global perspective to literary analysis. Learners spend the first two days reading and storyboarding. On day three, they examine folk tale elements (worksheet included), and design...
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Pennies of My Life Part II
Youngsters write and construct their own autobiographies based on The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis. They engage in pre-writing steps, narrative writing, and peer editing. This is the second part of a two-part project lesson.
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Language Arts: Writing Through Reading
Improve writing skills using methods from Robert Gay's Writing Through Reading; Gay espouses reproducing the work of successful writers to build the ability to convey original ideas effectively. Young writers transcribe, paraphrase, and...
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Read All About It! California History of the 30s and 40s
Explore the Great Depression! Discover the challenges people experienced during the time period. Learners investigate photographs from the Dust Bowl and WWII era and create a story line about the photographs, writing a newspaper article...
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Television CensorChip
Explore the current television rating system, its content descriptors, and the new V-chip technology that more readily allow parents to control their child's television viewing. Help learners develop a survey that will determine the pros...