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The Village and the Stars
Eighth graders discuss early school memories. They assess hopes and aspirations in greater detail and discover the importance of education as one of the shapes of our 'selves'. They observe parents' reactions to children growing up...
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Social and Cultural Issues in the Civil Rights Movement
Learners watch videos, listen to speeches and analyze the information that is presented about the civil rights movement. They examine visual art of the period.
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Encounter with an Interviewer
Students read the Mark Twain short story, Encounter with an Interviewer. They study "the interview" and discuss the role of the interviewer and the person being interviewed. They conduct mock interviews, constructing questions and...
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Literature: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi Character Analysis
Seventh graders read the story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and analyze one of its characters. After completing a story element worksheet, they identify their favorite character. In several sentences students give reasons for their choices with...
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The Genre of Captivity Literature
Learners make reference to previously presented material,
National Endowment for the Humanities
Folklore in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God
Learners define folklore, folk groups, tradition, and oral narrative. They identify traditional elements in Their Eyes Were Watching God Analyze and understand the role of traditional folkways and folk speech in the overall literary...
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Fitting Trash into Yesterday: A Fifth Grade Activity
Fifth graders explore the concept of waste management. In this recycling lesson, 5th graders discover the history of waste management and discuss how the U.S. should respond to the issue of ever-increasing waste.
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Folktale Unit Outline
Seventh graders analyze grammatical structures and identify literary elements in a variety of texts. Through the genre of folktales, ancient or indigenous cultures are studied.
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How Does Ancestry Affect Folklore?
Students break into groups of 4 or 5 and choose an option to demonstrate a different cultural perspective in a fairy tale or other folklore that they are familiar. Possible choices are: PowerPoint presentation, video, digital...
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The "Producing Edgar Allen Poe" Challenge
Students create and perform excerpts from their specific "productions" of Poe's classic Tell Tale Heart.
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A Fish Skit
Students work together to create and perform a skit with a fish theme. After viewing a performance of another children's play, they discuss the basic elements to be found within a play. They perform their play in front of the class and...
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Movement Adventure
Students discover movement and pantomime techniques in this adventurous story telling experience for kindergarten. Assessment is done through a short question and answer session and students drawing the "adventure".
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Being in the Noh: An Introduction to Japanese Noh Plays
Students analyze the conventions used in Noh plays and write an introduction to a Noh play of their own. In this Noh play lesson, students identify the conventions of the Noh form and analyze the realizations the main character achieves....
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The Tell Tale Heart
Eighth graders explore storytelling by listening to a reading of a classic poem. In this language arts instructional activity, 8th graders listen to an audio recording of Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. Students...
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The Five W's!
Students explore reading comprehension strategies. They discuss the story-grammar strategy. Students discuss the importance of comprehension. They discuss questions they should ask while reading a text. Students read a story and stop to...
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Catch Me If You Can: Over and Under
Students read a story. In this vocabulary skills lesson, students read The Gingerbread Man, use flannel cut outs to re-enact the gingerbread man running over and under.
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Most Wanted Villians
Students review the characteristics of various characters in fairytales. As a class, they review the story details and create a concept map using a software program. They create their own wanted poster of the villians in the fairytale to...
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Haunted House
Learners are read the story "That Terrible Halloween Night". Using their senses, they describe what it is like going into a haunted house for the first time. They write their own ending to the story and share it with the class to end the...
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"Thank You Ma'am" by Langston Hughes
Students use Langston Hughes' "Thank You Ma'am" as a reading and vocabulary improvement activity. In this reading and vocabulary activity, students review the related vocabulary and read the poem. Students discuss the story elements in...
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"The Fog Horn" by Ray Bradbury
Young scholars read Ray Bradbury's "The Fog Horn" and complete reading and vocabulary activities. For this reading and vocabulary lesson, students review the vocabulary for the story and take turns reading the story. Young scholars...
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Greek Origins and Character Development
Seventh graders examine words of Greek origin and discuss character development in fiction. They read a list of Greek word parts and create words on a worksheet. Students then read and discuss an informational handout about character...
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Pigging Out on Reading Comprehension
Students summarize a piece of fiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read in order to summarize, students independently read the story "Pig in a Bag." They write a summary paragraph using the process outlined by the instructor...
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The Little Prince (Chapters 1-4) by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Students read Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince and complete reading and vocabulary activities. In this reading and vocabulary lesson, students review vocabulary for the story and identify story elements for the text.
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Snakes
Students follow directions to make a snake out of patterns. They research a specific snake and present it to the class in a group. They listen to a presentation about the King Cobra snake prepared by the teacher.