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Learning the Rules with "Never Spit on Your Shoes"
Foster a sense of community by having youngsters work together to create a list of classroom rules. They draw pictures of their hopes for first grade after reading a children's book as a group. They also discuss why it is important to...
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Using Imagery To Introduce the Endocrine System
Young scholars listen with closed eyes to a story that starts in a relaxed tone and ends in a scream. They list the body reactions they experience: fast heart rate, shaking, etc. and hypothesize the reason for the reactions. They explore...
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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
The classic book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs lesson, is used to help readers compare and contrast the weather in Chewandswallow to their own town. Students write their own fantasy weather story. This lesson is intended to be an...
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Electricity
Twenty-one slides cover all aspects of electricity; from electric charge, to protons, lightning, currents, the calculations for wire resistance, circuits, household devices, and fluorescence. The amount of detail and the range of...
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Ozone Hole Expert Groups
Research topics associated with the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. Researchers write five facts about their topic and one question for each of those facts. They present what they learned to the rest of the class. Six topics are...
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Monochromatic Painting
Students experiment and create an original monochromatic painting. They define tint, monochromatic, and shade. They analyze their paintings objectively and determine the connection between color and emotion.
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What's That?
Meant to be a simulation of a deep-sea exploration, this requires that another lesson be completed first. In that lesson, titled "Animals of the Lost City," marine biology buffs construct murals of benthic communities. In this lesson,...
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Figurative Language: Simile and Metaphor
What is figurative language? Introduce your young learners to the most popular forms of figurative language: the simile and the metaphor. Start by reading "Willow and Ginkgo" by Eve Merriam, and identify where similes are used. Then look...
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LESSON #2 SAFETY UNIT: Real-life reading selection
When studying pollution and the environment, you can use this activity as an enrichment. Safety-conscious learners read a 2005 article about an ammonia leak from a Kentucky fast-food product plant. They work in small groups to discuss...
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Explore Point of View Through Aerial Photography
Read the story Amelia the Pigeon and discuss perspective. Since Amelia is a pigeon with a bird's eye view, use aerial photography to enhance your learners' understanding. Have fun connecting art and literature while talking about...
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Harvesting Water from Fog
Students analyze the water issues of Cape Verde in the Peace Corp lesson. In this water resources lesson, students analyze the concept of water being harvested from fog. Students explore the Peace Corps project site by watching...
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Imagine That! Analyzing Imagery
Poems by O. Henry, Marion Dane Bauer, Monty Roberts, and Langston Hughes provide the text for a study of symbolism, hyperbole, and imagery. Employing the “think-pair-share” strategy learners generate definitions of these terms and locate...
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Current Events Quiz #3
Useful as a blast from the past, this current events activity is outdated (Fall 2001). Many global events are part of these fifty questions, but quite a few of them are very specific to pop culture and sports. This could be helpful in a...
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Feelings Are Very Important
Here are some ways you can help your students understand and cope with their feelings. This presentation provides ways to deal with anger and sadness through calm times, self talk, daily affirmations, and replacement thoughts. Note: This...
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River Run Through It
With vocabulary lists, worksheets, and more, this lesson sets learners on an exploration of the Hudson River area. They read an essay about the area, analyze a relief map of New York State, and complete a worksheet.
Illustrative Mathematics
How is the Weather?
This activity asks learners to interpret data displayed on a graph within the context of the problem. Students are given three graphs that show solar radiation, or intensity of the sun, as a function of time. They are also given three...
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The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Bio Poem
Get to know your learners on a deeper level or invite them to step into someone else's shoes by introducing them to a bio poem. With this type of poetry, scholars will answer questions such as self-description, hopes for the future, and...
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Tornadoes
Middle schoolers examine the characteristics of a tornado. They practice using new vocabulary and participate in a question and answer session. They use the internet to gather more specific information.
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What's the Weather?
Learners explore different types of weather and examine the elements in the sky that create weather. They create a class lift of weather words and examine and discuss a weather poster. Students then complete the "What's the Weather?"...
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Pollute Locally, Spread It Globally
Students examine the rate of pollution throughout the world through an interactive program. They define air quality and the air quality index. They examine fuel economy and its impact on the Earth and renewable and nonrenewable resources.
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Rainfall Measurement
Pupils are introduced to rainfall measurement and develop a network of rain gauges. Students measure rainfall, plot rainfall maps and calculate total rainfall volumes during rainstorms.
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DEW POINT
Fourth graders investigate conditions causing saturation and measure the dew point of the atmosphere performing simple experiments.
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Hurricane Shapes: Spatial Patterns on Satellite Images
In this earth science activity, students match 21 hurricane satellite images to their appropriate shape. They also answer 4 short answer questions about hurricane shape classification.
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The Water Cycle
Fifth graders investigate evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. They observe a water cycle kit and record their observations, and examine how water condenses on the outside of a cup. Next, they observe an evaporation...