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The Element of Color
Eighth graders study and analyze the elements of color by creating an personalized color wheel. Emphasis is placed on constructive criticism of student work by others for assessment. Students create short poems for their color wheel...
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Poster Design For Peace
Students examine the elements and principles of design. They design and create posters to promote world peace.
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On the Cutting Edge
Introduce the background of design and designers and their role in communicating their thoughts to others. In groups, you can assign participation in a writing cluster on various designers and write paragraphs to submit to magazines. To...
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Journey through the Digestive System
Students work in cooperative groups to design a theme park called Gastro World, based on the anatomy and physiology of the digestive system. They prepare a portfolio of the park's attractions and construct a model of it.
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Be the Poet
Students work through a Haiku Organizer to determine the characteristics they use to write eight haiku poems on a theme that they choose. They design presentation folders of their completed work.
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Give It All You’ve Got Heroes and Visual Art
Sure, your young artists probably know Van Gogh and Picasso, but are they equally as familiar with Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol? Small groups examine the work of famous artists. Then, they create their own hero portraits in Cubist style...
Smith Family Home
Transportation
Here's an interesting lesson that combines elements of language arts, sociology, and a study of the many ways that people use transportation to get from one place to another. The eight-page plan includes worksheets and a word search that...
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Themes in Literature - Langston Hughes "Thank You Ma'm"
Eighth graders study Langston Hughes, "Thank You Ma'am" to discover the elements of plot, character motives and reactions. They express the effects of trust and kindness by writing a reflective personal narrative. They illustrate the...
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Tony Cragg-Evidence
Young scholars demonstrate an understanding of basic elements and principles of art making such as unity, variety, movement, and meaning found in daily experiences. They also describe the meaning of students¿ own artwork in a written...
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Sports Action Figure
Fourth graders identify art elements and design principles in art such as movement, unity, space and color planning.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
After listening to a story about Martin Luther King Jr., first graders answer questions about the text. They discuss the importance of the illustrations, identify the beginning, middle, and end of the story, and complete a writing...
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Grammarcise
Students conceptualized, planned story sequences, shot slides, and recorded narration for a slide/tape presentation on the eight parts of speech. They demonstrate the grammatical element and then include it in a sentence in each slide...
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Introduction to the Periodic Table
Eighth graders investigate the different elements of the Periodic Table. In this chemistry activity, 8th graders pick an element to research, then present to the class using a powerpoint presentation or a poster.
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Holding an In-class Post Presidential Debate
Students study debating procedures and elements of logic as they look at presidential and vice presidential debates. They
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Storytelling and Drawing
Students orally retell the Yosemite Miwok legends and design accompanying artistic depictions. They discover the various storytelling elements, such as plot and theme.
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Story Wheels
Learners use a Story Wheel to summarize a novel, practice sequencing skills, visualize story elements and recognize story structure. In groups, they each complete a piece of the story wheel and put it all together. They complete the...
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Help Wanted: A Lighting Engineer For Popular Rock Group
Young scholars are assigned to groups, and determine each member's role in the group. They will design an experiment to determine a way to produce the three primary and five secondary colors. Students discuss color and mood. They listen...
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Acting Like a Bunch of Animals: Fables and Human
The video "The Tales of Aesop" traces for viewers the history of fables and identifies their characteristics. The class then goes to the web site "The Fisherman and the Little Fish" where they examine the classic and a modern version of...
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Crystals: What Are They and What Holds Them Together
Students are introduced to the characteristics of crystals and what keeps them together. Using the Periodic Table, they examine the various elements and develop a model of an atom. In groups, they place sugar and salt in petri dishes...
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15 Two-Block Quilts
Young scholars create two block quilts after studying about continuity of lines, use of coloring, and highlighting adjacent pieces. Students complete the design into the border. Young scholars cut the required material pieces to create...
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Language Arts: A "Perfect" Lesson
Students read "Be A Perfect Person in Just three days," and participate in a host of activities. Connected to technology, they use online sources to create word searches and puzzles from vocabulary words. In addition, students create...
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Zany Wire Sculpture
Young artists create a freestanding 3-dimensional sculpture using wire and modeled "clay" pieces. This immensely creative and engaging lesson should get your kids excited, because the medium is unusual to work with. Everything you need...
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Nationalism and the Olympics
Middle schoolers discuss the topic of nationalism in the Olympics. After viewing video segments, they discuss how politics and nationalism have influenced the Olympic Games in various ways. They also examine the main reasons why a...
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Winter
Students explore the nature of water and water molecules. They examine the role of ice on organisms.