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The Odyssey: A Deeper Appreciation
Students read "The Odyssey" and identify the ways it relates to their own lives. As a class, they also examine the history of the story and identify the various Greek gods and goddesses. In groups, they focus on the geography of the...
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Senior Scrapbook Assignment
Twelfth graders write creatively and reflectively on 20 different events or memories that shaped their senior year. They organize memorabilia into a scrapbook with 20 entries and create a cover that represents their senior year. They...
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Persuasive Letters and The Tell Tale Heart
Students write persuasive letters based on "The Tell Tale Heart." They brainstorm topic sentences, main ideas, and details. They analyze the character and determine if he is innocent or guilty. They create a map listing their reasons to...
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Exploring Folk Traditions and Folk Beliefs
Ninth graders work together to brainstorm an idea to focus on the similiarties and differences between various cultures. Individually, they interview family members using questions they created based on their topic. They use their...
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Harriet The Spy
Fourth graders investigate the style of diary writing as its own genre of literature. They read Harriet The Spy in order to have a text for this literature study. Students use the skill of prediction to preview the story, and then...
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Acting Like a Bunch of Animals: Fables and Human
The video "The Tales of Aesop" traces for viewers the history of fables and identifies their characteristics. The class then goes to the web site "The Fisherman and the Little Fish" where they examine the classic and a modern version of...
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One Thing Leads to Another
Students analyze the storytelling methods in wordless books. In this visual storytelling lesson, students write a story that correspond to a specific wordless picture book. Students create their own wordless picture book after...
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Southern Puritanism and Tennessee Williams
Pupils write an essay comparing Arthur Mille's The Crucible and one of Tennessee Williams' plays. In this Tennessee Williams lesson, students discuss the influence of Puritanism on modern American drama. Lesson includes a vocabulary...
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The Odyssey Lesson 2
Ninth graders read and discuss part 1 of The Odyssey and create a mind map and visual images to represent vocabulary. In this reading lesson plan, 9th graders are introduced to poetry, and the Hero Cycle.
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Fifties/Sixties Musical Playwriting Workshop
Students write a coherent script based on characterization, theme, conflict and emotional tone as found in the songs' lyrics and develop an understanding of the enjoyment that comes through discipline and hard work leading toward a...
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Native American Folklore
Students create a paper that differentiates between written and oral history. They also create a visual narrative that is interpretative.
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Colors Crackle, Colors Roar
First graders engage in a reading of poems in colorful language. They become with the interrelation of using Spanish and English words interchangeably in a text. The instructional activity also builds multicultural appreciation for young...
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Transforming Negatives to Positives
Students create double-exposed photographs, poetry, and multimedia presentations to celebrate their Open Court "City Wildlife" unit.
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African Art and Personal Adornment: African Folktales
Pupils write a folktale based on an African adinkra symbol. They research its meaning and relate it as the theme.
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Writing Letters Using Appleworks
Students discover how to write letters using Appleworks. Following a demonstration by the teacher, they compose rough drafts of their letters. Working independently, students correct their drafts and type the final versions.
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Character Comparison: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Fourth graders compare and contrast Fudge and Peter, two main characters from "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing". They use a software template to analyze and compare the characters in a rough draft, edit their work and then produce a...
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Persuasion
High schoolers explore the characteristics of a persuasive letter. They label each characteristic and they create a persuasive letter using the correct business letter format. Students recommend a school rule or change of a rule and...
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The Time I Got Lost
Third graders go through the writing process but substitute paper and pencil with the computer to create a story about "The Time I Got Lost".
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People, Not Numbers: Bringing 12 Million into Personal Ter
Students forge a compassionate link to the large numbers of people who were the victims of slavery as opposed to thinking of them simply in terms of numbers. They perform a math exercise to put the number of people in slavery into...
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Making Instant Whip (Recipe)
In this language arts learning exercise, students practice sequencing, finding action words and following directions as they make Instant Whip ( a dessert). Students cut picture cards and sequence the steps, then read the recipe and make...
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Virtual Museum
Ninth graders explore various time-periods in American history. They select important events, people, places, and artifacts to explore. Students present their information to the class using PowerPoint.
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Creative Coin Stories
Students participate in a round-robin writing activity started from a single writing prompt. Different coins be worked into the story throughout the course of the activity.
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Dear Wife & Children Every One
Middle schoolers explore the struggle that Kansans had over the slavery issue. They read a letter from John Brown to his family, and write a newspaper article about the Battle of Osawatomie from John Brown's perspective.
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Which Car Will Mom Approve?
Eighth graders write a comparison/contrast essay to determine which of two cars should be purchased from the parents' perspective.