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Creating Storyboards for Younger Students
Students create electronic storyboards for younger children about a nearby refuge and lake. After interviewing the younger students about their impressions of the lake, they use Powerpoint to make the storyboard, including the interview,...
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Good E-mail Manners
Students discuss online e-mail safety and etiquette rules and how they should apply the same rules in cyberspace as they use when encountering strangers in the face-to-face world. They participate in mock situations and tell what the...
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Jazz-Age Intrigue
Eleventh graders read The Great Gatsby and explain the jazz age. They use jazz age terms to create their own short story, scene, or letter.
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Islam or Christianity?
Students design a mosaic depicting the city of Constantinople during determined periods of history. They include historical evidence that shows whether the city was under Muslim or Christian rule.
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The South Wins Gettysburg!
Learners explore American Civil War, hypothesize that the Union Army was defeated at Gettysburg by Lee's army, and write an essay describing how different North America would be today if the South had won the Civil War.
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Analyzing a Science Fiction Movie
Fourth graders watch the movie "Contact" and write a review. They discuss in their review how scientists deal with technological problems, the movie's connections to the nature of science and how technology affects science. They share...
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There's a World of Science to Read Today!
Students read a current science article. They write a summary of the article, take notes, write and edit a summary, and print their work.
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Where No Student Has Gone Before
Young scholars create a story about an unknown planet invaded by humans as a pre-reading activity for the novel, A Wrinkle In Time. They discuss good versus evil, and identify examples of the theme good vs. evil in books, film, and their...
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What's the Scoop on Casey
Third graders read "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest L. Thayer and create a newspaper article about Casey's infamous at-bat.
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The Land and the Water
Third graders read "The Land and the Water," a fictional short story and an article about John F. Kennedy, Jr. and compare and contrast fictional tragedy to a non-fiction tragedy. They fill out a Venn diagram and write an essay using...
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Sidewalks to Success in Middle School
Students write a brochure that educates incoming middle school students on how to succeed.
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Preposition Pizazz
Young scholars examine examples of poems and identify the prepositions in them. They write original poems using prepositional phrases and create illustrations to go with them.
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Persuasion and Use of Language
Students discuss connotative language, hyperbole, allusion, and rhetorical question. In small groups, they read one section of the "Speech to the Virginia Convention" and analyze these devices. Groups present their results to the class.
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Persuasion and Figurative Language
Learners study and discuss definitions of metaphor, simile, and personification. In small groups, they read a section of "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and identify those devices. The group presents their examples with the class.
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Novel Analysis
Students read the novel, Lord of the Flies, then write an essay analyzing the novel. They analyze, in small groups, characters, plot, setting, style, symbolism, theme, critical responses, and historical influences
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Multicultural Canterbury Pilgrimage
Students create travel brochures that detail various people and places that are encountered on the way to Chaucer's Canterbury.
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Memory of a Kiss
Third graders read, discuss, and memorize the poem "Jenny Kissed Me." as an example of lyrical poetry. They write a letter to Jenny reliving the memory of her kiss from an elderly person's point of view. They illustrate their poems.
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Making a Child's Play of "Antigone"
Fourth graders make studenT books to share with elementary students that teach a universal rule that obeys both conscience and authority.
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Living Biographies
Third graders create a multimedia slide presentation containing facts, graphics, and sounds relating to a biographical figure based on their reading of a biography or an autobiography. They present their slide presentations before the...
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How Logical is Garfield?
Third graders analyze comics found in the newspaper for samples of logical, emotional, and ethical appeal. They write a paragraph for each selected comic strip explaining how the comic strip represents the use of logic, emotions, or ethics.
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Fragments Wanted (Not)
Learners rewrite newspaper employment ads using complete sentences.
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Connecting Characters and Themes in Julius Caesar
Fourth graders prepare for the literary analysis. They locate, interpret, evaluate and analyze the relationship between a character and the theme. After a lecture/demo, 4th graders write topic and detail sentences, then correctly put...
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War In Iraq Comparison
Fifth graders use the internet to research the Silver Star given to those who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Using the information, they write a short report on one of the recipients of the Silver Star. In groups, they visit a...
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Escape to Freedom
Learners read 'They Called Her Moses," create a wanted poster for Tub man, compose a journal entry imagining they are William Still, and in groups, create a newspaper depicting the incident of the runaway slaves and events from the time...