Missouri Department of Elementary
Express Yourself!
Encourage scholars to express themselves with help from an engaging song. Sung to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down," participants sing phrases that offer tips for dealing with emotions—sad, happy, worried, proud, mad, and...
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Africa: Small Sounds From a Big Country
Students explore the music from Burundi, Zimbabwe, and Pygmy cultures. They listen to and discuss music from the African cultures, analyze the musical elements, write a song, and perform music.
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Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. meets the Philosophy of Gandhi's Ahimsa
Students study Gandhi's and Dr. King's philosophies. In this world history instructional activity, students compare and contrast the methods by Gandi and Dr. King writing an essay on nonviolence.
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Creating Nonviolence: A Theatre of the Oppressed Approach to Things Fall Apart
Eleventh graders analyze Ahimsa and complete activities for nonviolence. In this nonviolence lesson, 11th graders define violence and relate it to their lives. Students adapt prose into a dialogue to act out and analyze the violence in...
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Poetic Analysis
Students write a poetic analysis on a poem by Carl Sandburg. They take their previous knowledge of poetic devices and apply them to a piece of writing that displays their knowledge on a specific poem. They explain what they know about a...
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Poetry Writing
Students compose a piece of poetry modeled after the poetry of Carl Sandburg and share their poem(s) with their colleagues. They use a cluster diagram to organize their thoughts and brainstorm their ideas.
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Heroes, Legends and Folktales
Fourth graders read classic stories including "The Magic Brocade" and "St. George and the Dragon". They complete a series of lessons in which they compare stories and produce original narrative legends.
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A History of Journal Writing
Students articulate their prior knowledge concerning the purposes of journal writing. They explore what function journal writing has fulfilled for various cultures and peoples. Students read and analyze various journal entries by famous...
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Language Arts: Investigating Issues That Matter
Students are able to become more informed about the dangers of water contamination by sharing their prior knowledge with each other. They discover the importance of communicating these dangers to the public.
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Classical Greek Sculpture
Students create a sculpture of one of their classmates heads in the manner of the Greek sculptures. They apply the correct terminology into making their sculpture. They evaluate their own project and focus on areas to improve on.
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The Polymer Schoolhouse
Students study various objects and determine plastic and non-plastic. In this creative lesson students get into groups and create a diorama to show the different properties they discovered.
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Painting - Architecture Study
Learners study architectural elements, then develop a strong composition from an interior photographs. They explore color planning by developing a painting with a variety of values.
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Family Portraits
Learners view and discuss realistic family portraits and respond to them by creating abstract art work, form and draw imaginative still life, prepare story about their family history or history of family in community, and write...
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Second Graders Create Their Own Social Studies Book (Part I, The 5Ws of the Constitution)
Students develop their own social studies textbook using a blank theme book as they complete activities and learning experiences throughout the year. The activities are in art, music, simulations, read alouds, shared writing and a class...
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Taking Things Personally
Students create a work of art calling attention to significant societal problems or social issues.
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Europe: Indigenous Musical Genius
Students are introduced to several forms of indigenous European music. Students become familiar with instruments, musical and forms and styles from Spain, Sardinia, Austria and Switzerland. Students recreate selected rhythms and styles.
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Actively Organizing Passive Resistance
Young scholars explore organizing to resist oppressive authority without the use of violence. In this philosophy lesson, students research Gandhi's approach to organizing people around a positive cause without the need to be...
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Culture Creation vs. Culture Consumption - Finding Voice Through Digital Storytelling
Ninth graders explore the power of media in culture and Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence. In this nonviolence and media lesson, 9th graders analyze Gandhi's nonviolent methods for social change and discuss the media's power to create...
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The Conditions of Today
Students demonstrate their ability to use the library to research into current working conditions for the American worker. They identify connections and compare findings about contemporary conditions and the in-class readings of The...
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Tall Tales: Read, Write, Draw and Sing
Students get to know the characters and events that shaped American folktales through writing, drawing and singing activities. Handouts and worksheets are included.
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Comprehension Skills: Picture, Question and Summarize Using Fiction Stories
Students build a variety of comprehension skills through the nine lessons of this unit. Picturing events, monitoring understanding during reading, forming questions, and summarizing stories form the core of the lessons being taught...
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Kinder Poems & Songs
Students complete a year-long unit for poetry and songs. In this poetry and songs lesson, students complete nine lessons for animal songs and animal poetry to improve their understanding of rhyme, rhythm, and poetry.
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Conventions and Proofreading
Students explore and apply their proofreading skills in order to prepare their project essays for peer editing and final drafting. They refine their final project essays by identifying and correcting spelling and grammatical errors.
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Create a Commercial
Students apply their knowledge of the persuasive appeals by creating a commercial which uses one or more of the three appeals (logos, pathos, and ethos) in order to persuade. They also differentiate among the three appeals as used in...