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Advertising and Healthy Decisions
Students analyze alcohol and tobacco ads and create parodies of them. The eight lessons in this unit include discussions about why teens smoke or drink, the psychology behind the advertising, and writing persuasive letters to agencies,...
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A Creative Presentation
Bring writing to life with this instructional activity in which elementary and middle schoolers create a display of the imagery they identify in a series of Gary Paulsen books. They read the suggested materials, identify imagery and...
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Narratives
Add to the narrative writing experience. Elementary or middle school writers listen to the teacher read a descriptive passage, then reread the same passage silently. They highlight sensory details and figurative language, then orally...
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The Research Paper - Searching for a Subject
Students research a website to look for potential topics for a research paper. They develop a narrowed prioritized subject list on an index card (3X5) using word processing program.
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Reflexive Pronoun Sentence Search
In this reflexive pronoun worksheet, students connect words with horizontal and vertical lines to form sentences; words are in a graphic organizer.
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Adverb Sentence Search
In this adverb worksheet, students connect words in a graphic organizer with horizontal and vertical lines in order to form sentences, focus in on adverbs.
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The Great Kapok Tree- Teaching About Conflict in Literature
Learners identify the plot of a text. For this literature lesson, students listen to the book The Great Kapok Tree and identify the problem and solution. A graphic organizer is used to help reinforce the concept.
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Monster and Myths: Scripts
Students explore characteristics of the myth genre. In this myth lesson, students become familiar with various myths and the cultures they were derived from. Students compare in a graphic organizer. Students write original myths and...
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Drawing a "Life Map"
Students create an autobiography. In this writing lesson, students use a life map as a graphic organizer to develop their autobiography.
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Communication Comparisons
Students investigate various methods of communication. In small groups, they conduct Internet research, compare/contrast three methods of communication, and complete a graphic organizer.
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It's A Mystery To Me
Students become both mystery readers and writers. They utilize the Internet to understand the elements of this classic genre; employ critical thinking skills when reading various stories in both print and electronic formats; form groups...
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Rhyme Time!
Students practice working with rhymes in groups to create wanted posters for rhyming words utilizing Publisher to assist them. They recognize words that rhyme and identify words that rhyme and show examples of rhyming words from the...
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Hard Times, Soft Sell
Students analyze art to determine themes for the Great Depression Era. In this Great Depression lesson, students identify themes for the era and research evidence for the themes to present to the class. Students interview family members...
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Comprehension-Characters/characterization
Fifth graders discuss characterization as well as to define antagonist and protagonist. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders write questions for an interview of a character in the book "The Three Little Pigs" and then answer them....
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Cultural Logo Design
High schoolers create a logo design to express their own identity. In this logo design lesson, students list ten words to describe who they are and choose two of them to use in a logo. High schoolers draw images and choose various forms...
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Checkmate: The Play's The Thing
Students investigate the Middle Ages and it's relation to the theater. For this acting lesson, students read Arthurian stories form the Middle Ages and practice using vocabulary words from the Medieval Times. Students write a play set...
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High Crimes and Misdemeanors
Students analyze the Constitution's wording regarding impeachment and discuss the impeachment process. They then design a survey based on student-generated questions about the charges against President Clinton and write a letter to the...
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Writing Original Adventures About Imaginary Sidekicks
Students explore storytelling by conceptualizing a story with classmates. In this publishing lesson, students identify the idea development process and discuss word choice when writing a story. Students utilize a graphic organizer to...
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Tigers and Twilight
In this tiger shaped word search worksheet, learners find 12 words and mark them in the puzzle. All pertain to the book Tigers at Twilight.
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Literature Circles
Have you always wanted to try Literature Circles in your ELD class, but couldn't find a good way to start? This instructional activity is made for you, your middle-school readers and ideally, your SMARTboard (though the instructional...
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Tattercoats
Students read the English folktale, "Tattercoats," identify basic literary terms, and respond to writing prompts. They compare and contrast with another Cinderella story version and create a graphic response to the story.
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Create a Video Poem
Collaborate to create a visual version of a poem using video. Before class, choose a poem to pick apart. Read it aloud and then analyze it in detail as a class. Assign a line or short section to each student to expand upon using a...
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"All About Me" Paragraph
Fifth graders write a paragraph titled "All About Me" in the computer lab after they have drawn graphic organizers to fill in background information about themselves and used a "10-Point Writing Checklist" to do peer editing.
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Convergence with The Cay: Exploring Geographic Concepts Wrapped in a Story
Here's an awesome unit that uses The Cay as the anchor text. The 16-page packet is loaded with teaching ideas, activities, and suggested adjustments.