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Cooperative Group Spelling Game
Partners or groups work together to practice the correct spelling of words. They speed-cut letters from print sources and arrange them into correctly spelled words from their lists. Newspapers are suggested, but magazines might result in...
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Understanding Dialect as Used by Mark Twain
A reading of Mark Twain’s The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County not only offers pupils an opportunity to practice their listening skills but also provides them with examples of dialectic speech. This is the gol’derndest lesson...
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Writing Expository Paragraphs
Students read Arthur's Pet Business and complete a pre-writing worksheet for expository writing. In this paragraph writing lesson, students gather and organize material for a paragraph about pets.
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Where are the Mittens?
Help early readers identify rhyming words in nursery rhymes. They will read the nursery rhyme Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens in order to identify rhyming words. Then they chart the rhyming words they heard in the...
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Advocates for Disabilities
Students research people who have contributed to making life better for the disabled. In this advocacy lesson students enter the names of advocates on cards and divide into groups. Students complete a worksheet...
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Disability in the Media Lesson Plan: Braille
Students determine the workings of the Braille alphabet and how people with visual impairments learn how to use it. In this Braille lesson, students study the associated vocabulary, read about Helen Keller, and complete associated...
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The Time Machine
Challenge your class with this lesson! Learners read The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, discuss context clues, identify main ideas and details, and analyze story elements. Discussion questions and activities are broken down for each chapter...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Days 8 and 9
How does an author's choice of artistic medium influence an audience? What about how an author chooses to transform original source material? These are the questions class members grapple with as they compare scenes from episode IV...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 12
Class members compare the final 30 minutes of Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope with Act V of Doescher's play, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope and consider how the choice of media influences viewers' impression...
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Figuring Somepin 'Bout the Great Depression
Students conduct research from primary and secondary resources in order to help with comprehension of the time period of The Great Depression in American History. The examination of literature is also used in this lesson plan.
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Introducing Tolkien and His Words
Students identify and describe the types of narratives that made Tolkien the writer he was. In groups, they examine different myths and folktale motifs. They discuss what Tolkien meant by "faerie" and "eucatastrophe." As a class, they...
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Longfellow Amongst His Contemporaries: the Ship of State Dbq
Students evaluate the ship of state metaphor in relation to the historical events in America from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War. They synthesize ideas presented in ten different primary source documents and compose an essay...
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The Great Gatsby
Students read "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In groups, they research the events and spirit of the 1920s and relate events in the novel to actual historical events. They compare the characteristics of various genres and...
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Tolkien's Moral Universe
Students analyze the landscape used in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings". In groups, they discuss how Tolkien developed Elrond's promise and develop a case assuming Tolkien rejected "Manichaean dualism". They also compare and contrast the...
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Lord of the Flies - Sentence Starters and Vocabulary
High schoolers prepare for the reading of iam Golding's novel, The Lord of the Flies, by exploring the theme through a discussion and sentence starter activity.
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The Search for Identity: "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
Students read the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God". While reading the novel, they identify and discuss the figurative language used and use a passage of interest to them and analyze it in a written paper. They also discuss events...
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The Civil War in Historical Fiction and Historical Accounts
Eighth graders examine life during the Civil War through various readings. They compare and contrast a novel they read in class to one they chose on the subject. They work together as a class to produce a newspaper displaying the...
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Gettysburg: The Civil War's Costliest Battle
Learners research the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg. In this Gettysburg instructional activity, students analyze journals and letters written by the Gettysburg soldiers. Learners define Civil War soldier vocabulary words....
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Shadows
First graders measure how a shadow changes over the course of a day. They write about what they would do if they lost their shadow, and make silhouettes of themselves. Students make up a shadow dance and read stories about shadows.
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Greetings from Maya Angelou
Learners investigate the life and works of Maya Angelou. They complete a Webquest, read poems, listen to a reading by Maya Angelou, answer discussion questions, and write a poem, short story, or essay based on a newspaper article.
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???The Hell of Mirrors??? by Edogawa Rampo
Students read and analyze the story "The Hell of Mirrors," by Edogawa Rampo. They watch a video excerpt, answer discussion questions, construct a periscope, complete handouts, define key vocabulary terms, take a quiz, and write a book...
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Story Parts
Third graders identify the three major parts of a story. After reading the book "Stellaluna," students discuss the beginning, middle and end of the story. They write a short story depicting the events that would happen if the story...
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Introduction to "Julius Caesar"
Students discuss American form of government. They read the play Julius Caesar.
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Seussville Meets the 4 Blocks
First graders read and examine Dr. Seuss books, and create and write their own stories.