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"If You Hopped Like a Frog" by David M. Schwartz
Middle schoolers brainstorm several animal/personal scenarios, select one, and write out an explanation of the comparison. They apply the measurements/characteristics to themselves and use algebraic equations to demonstrate the comparison.
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I Heard It on the Radio
Students develop a portfolio of information of contemporary musicians or individuals from the music industry.
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Eating for Two
Fourth graders keep a food diary and prepare a Healthy Meals Chart regarding foods they eat while pregnant.
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Poetry Book
Pupils study the following terms and concepts: word choice, dialect, invented words, concrete terms, abstract terms, figurative and sensory language. In cooperative groups, they select three of the terms, research them, and pick poems...
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Collaborative Book Club Groups
Students participate in book club forums where they write descriptive, evaluation, analysis, synthesis, or inference essays. They take on the role of a character in their bok and publish a web page.
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Binary Numbers
Students explore how a battery-powered light box demonstrates how to transmi timages.
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We Accuse Colored Peoples of California V. State of California
Students participate in a WebQuest to investigate discrimination of African Americans, Chinese and Californio/Latino during the Gold Rush era. They act as law clerks to write a letter to their clients about a potential trial.
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Getting to the Bottom of the Pyramids
Learners work together to develop logical arguments about pyramids and chain letters. They share their ideas with other groups and create a diagram showing the breakdown. They discuss the results.
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Tree-ring Dating
Learners complete activity sheets and participate in discussions while they study dendrochronology. They determine a tree's age and recognize how the climate varied over time.
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Detecting Magnetic Materials in "Martian" Soil
Young scholars simulate some of the Pathfinder experiments by devising methods of collecting and measuring magnetic substances in pseudo-Martian soil. The efficiency of each of the methods used to collect materials is evaluated in this...
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How Could You Visualize the Importance of Education
Middle schoolers view different pieces of art from artist Candida Alvarez. They discuss what the art means to them. They create their own mobiles showing what they would like out of their education.
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What Are the Ethical Considerations
Students investigate the socioeconomic and environmental issues associated with radon. They examine the laws that exist in New Jersey that pertain to real estate. They work in groups to design new legislation that addresses associated...
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Space Ship Pilot
Students visualize the relationship between acceleration and velocity as they maneuver a model spaceship in a 2-dimensional applet.
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Hopscotch Migration
Students examine the use of wetlands by migrating birds. They discuss reasons for the disappearance of wetlands. They discover how humans have affected wetlands as well.
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How Do Atmospheres Affet Planetary Temperatures?
Students perform a literature search and use reputable research resources in order to find the surface temperature of different planets in our solar system. They speculate about the observed and unobserved factors. Then brainstorming is...
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Graphing and Analysis of Water Quality Reports
Students practice making graphs and interpreting them. They compare and contrast different sets of data. They use Microsoft Excel to create different types of graphs.
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The Three Perfections
Middle schoolers discover the various styles, form, beauty, and grace of Chinese calligraphy by examining works of art from different eras in China's history. This lesson includes two possible enrichment activities.
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Mental Maps
Middle schoolers analyze and evaluate how they mentally organize information. They participate in a visualization exercise, create a sketch of a mental map of their neighborhood, state, country, and the world, and complete a Mental Map...
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Estimating Turtle Size and Age
Young scholars investigate how to estimate the age and size of turtles, and examine variability in scientific data. They read an informational handout, identify the parts of the shell, measure the shell and estimate the age, and record...
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The Gene Scene
Students investigate the concepts of micro and macro evolution. They also research the effects of mutations in the process of genetic adaptation to different environments. They develop a hypothesis of how the environment can influence...
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Finding and Creating Addition Patterns
Third graders listen as teacher snaps her fingers in a certain pattern and then join in as they become familiar with the pattern and then repeating it. They observe a patterns of shapes and repeat after the teacher has explained it....
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Prune Boom
Students explore the process of harvesting and canning prunes. They discover the benefits of prunes to the Santa Clara Valley. Students investigate prunes at designated websites.
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Asking For Help At Local Agencies
High schoolers identify and explore the ways in which businesses, government, and community organizations provided helpful information. A list of local agencies is comprised and students list questions which are appropriate to ask at...
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Houses
Third graders use a number of problem solving strategies in this unit of lessons. They determine how to draw and model three-dimensional objects, use co-ordinate systems, determine probability of events, and identify paths of simple...