National Endowment for the Humanities
Magna Carta: Cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution
High schoolers use the Internet to read a brief description of Magna Carta (link provided). They "walk through" the document with the teacher, identifying four major themes. Young scholars read and discuss "The Rhetoric of Rights:...
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Chrysanthemum
Students identify the main story elements in the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. In this literacy lesson plan, students listen to the book and use a guided reading ball check for comprehension. Students answer questions such as "Who...
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The Three Billy Goats Gruff
First graders read key sentences from the story on sentence strips. They read the story with a partner and act out the story, taking turns acting the parts of the various characters.
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The Holocaust: Concentration Camps
Tenth graders, after reading a variety of passages and watching a video on "Children Remember the Holocaust," explore the concept of brutality of deportation and analyze conditions in concentration and death camps. They review maps and...
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Can you think of pictures that will tell a story about rice?
First graders use pictures and letters to create a rebus. In this writing sentences lessons, 1st graders analyze sample rebuses as a class and read a rice rebus independently. Students make three rebus sentences. Students play a...
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Exploring the Mystery Genre
Students determine the story elements of typical mystery stories including characters and plot structure. They look at vocabulary that is common to mystery stories before reading and responding to mystery chapter books. Working in guided...
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Wolf Fact Cards
Students write a non-chronological report about wolves. They read and discuss wolf fact cards in small groups, complete a KWL chart, observe the teacher model the steps of writing a report, and conduct research and write an original...
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5 W Questions
Second graders practice asking the 5 W questions by reading a Boxcar Children book. In this journalism lesson plan, 2nd graders read a single story from the Boxcar Children series and answer the 5 W's about each specific...
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Write Me Two Ways
Fifth graders write numbers in standard and expanded form. In this writing numbers in standard and expanded form lesson, 5th graders write integers up to billions in word form and standard form. Students use number cards to...
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Myths, Folktales, & Fairy Tales
Srtudents explore the folktale and folklore genres as well as the world of myths. They read myths and folktales to increase knowledge of world cultures and traditions and follow the writing process to create writing in different genres.
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Marine Life, Oceans, Lakes and Rivers
Students examine the types of organisms found in oceans. In groups, they read articles about the research done at certain sites. They work together to research their own water ecosystems and report the findings to the class. To end...
National First Ladies' Library
Writing (and Rewriting!) History
Middle schoolers differentiate between fiction and non-fiction, discuss historical fiction, which combines both genres, choose historical novel from list and read independently, and write original short stories that combine elements of...
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Life in Korea During World War II: When My Name Was Keoko
Twelfth graders review facts about roles of Asia and Japan in World War II, read When My Name Was Keoko to familiarize themselves with daily life and historic events during World War II in Korea, and participate in student-led...
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My Name is America
Learners read My Name is America about the Donner Party journey and create a scrapbook of what they read. In this Donner Party lesson plan, students also map out the journal they read about.
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Bottle Top Sentences
Students practice language. In this vocabulary expansion lesson, students match words on a sentence strip. They work independently to recognize and correlate words in a sentence to individual words out of sequence. This lesson includes...
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Holocaust Theme
Students complete a unit of lessons on the events of the Holocaust during WWII. They write daily journal entries, create a collage, view and discuss videos, read and analyze novels and poetry, and complete a novel project.
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Robert Frost Learning Stations
Students, while utilizing learning stations, read and analyze Robert Frost's poems from his "Frostiana" collection. They are encouraged to experience and explore poetry through different means via small groups. Within each station they...
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Contributions - Grade 3
Third graders research and report on the contributions of the First Nations. In this First Nations contribution instructional activity, 3rd graders read and discuss books about the Metis, Inuit and other First Nations. They compare and...
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Story Pyramid
Students read tall tales to identify story elements. For this story elements lesson, students read about Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill and use graphic organizers to record information. Students read in small groups,...
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Role Models
Students consider what makes a role model. In this positive qualities lesson, students read and discuss several books that have characters describing themselves in a positive manner. Students illustrate a self portrait, remembering to...
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Contributions
Second graders examine the contributions of the First Nations. In this contributions lesson, 2nd graders discover the origin of popcorn. Students read about popcorn and how popcorn can be used in many ways. Students write a paragraph...
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Literature Analysis
Students examine the attributes of stories. In this literary elements lesson, students discuss the characters, plots, and settings of books they read in class.
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Estimation
Fourth graders view a variety of rice products and calculate their cost. In this rice math lesson, 4th graders estimate cost and multiply to find 8 of each item. Students estimate using different amounts of rice products. Students...
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Treaties- Grade 9
Learners discover historical and current issues regarding First Nations Treaties. In this Canadian history lesson, students read and analyze treaties made between the Canadian government and the native people of the land. Learners...