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Thankful List
Students practice using free association as a pre-writing technique as they list things that they are thankful for. They share the lists of words and apply them when they write a descriptive essay or poem after identifying commonalities...
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"Aerogrammes"
Learners examine Asian American culture through the analysis of the poem, 'Aerogrammes.' They watch a video, read and discuss the poem, take a field trip to Chinatown, and write a poem about their Chinatown experience.
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Lawson Fusao Inada
Students read and analyze poetry written by Lawson Fusao Inada. They read and discuss the executive order issued to Japanese Americans during WWII, take a field trip to the Nikkei Legacy Center, and read and discuss poems.
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Flying High With Hot Air Balloons!
Sixth graders demonstrate an understanding of a narrative story by listening, speaking, reading and writing activities. They create two visual products that reflect the understanding of events, vocabulary, and characters.
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Dialect Awareness in Literature and Life
Eighth graders realize the impact of dialect in literature as well as their own speaking and writing by reading selections from Frances O'Roark Dowell's novel, Dovey Cove.
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Fifth Grade Literature: January
Fifth graders examine and analyze various poems by Edward Hersey Richards, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson. They explore similes, and write journal entry responses.
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Do a Ditty
Fourth graders work in cooperative groups to create a ditty to teach the characteristics that distinguish literary forms to younger students. The ditty is performed before the class.
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The Big Lie
Fifth graders create poems and other forms of writing.Then working in groups they share writing with each other. The opinions would be gathered and students would revise writing according to the comments.
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Learning Festival
Fifth graders at this age are very interested in the adventures of knighthood and life in the past, so the unit will serve as a basis for teaching skills while maintaining high interest.
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Haiku
Students study various forms of poetry and the culture of Japan. They are introduced to a haiku- a traditional form of poetry and an art form in the Japanese culture. They write a haiku and create a student haiku booklet with the classes...
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The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
Learners read and analyze a poem about a speaker's posthumous view of war, assess the purpose of an author's note and evaluate the effect of the point of view on the reader's response. They work in groups to discuss and analyze the poem.
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Language Arts: Take Me to the Hall of Fame
Learners write persuasive letters supporting a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Once they have written the letter, they respond to it from the coach's point of view. In addition, students compose various conclusions to their letters.
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If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...
Fourth graders take three different photographs representing the beginning, middle and end of their story. They use the Tool Factor program Fresco to add elements to enhance their creativity and make their writing come alive. They then...
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Lincoln, Douglass, and Black Emergence (Literature and Politics, 1840-1865)
Students examine the ideas of Lincoln and Douglass. In groups, they compare and contrast writings from each man and how they formed the nation with their ideas. After watching "Glory", they discuss how people like Lincoln and Douglass...
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Getting to Know You
Learners complete an getting to know each other activity. In this personal names lesson, students play a name game, read a book about names, and then discuss why names are important. Learners design a name card on oak tag rectangles and...
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Animal Riddles
Students write animal riddles. They write three or more sentences describing a selected animal, and draw a picture to go with their descriptive sentences. Students then create a three slide slideshow using Kid Pix 3 computer software.
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Sea Turtle
Students listen to a story about a sea turtle sanctuary. They participate in a discussion about the sea turtles. They analyze some of the hazards that can hurt sea turtles and brainstorm ways to help the problem. They write and...
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Social Studies and Children's Literature
Students write a journal in response to literature. The story that is read is about prairies. The subject of prairies becomes an object for research. The culminating activity is the making of a map where prairies exist in the United States.
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Proverbs
Pupils examine the origins of proverbs and examine several examples. Then they create their own collection of existing proverbs. Later they write their own original ones and share with the class.
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Math Grids
Fourth graders read an article, then search for verbs, adverbs, nouns, pronouns, etc. In groups, they exchange papers and try to guess what the other poem was about.
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Portfolio Reviews
Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the steps needed to put together a teaching portfolio. They collect artifacts to accompany the portfolio and then present them as a part of a cumulative project grade. Some students may...
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Bouncing Bubbles
Students complete a variety of activities exploring the joys and science of bubbles. They listen to the book "Bubbles Bubbles" by Mercer Mayer, create a bubble picture using Kid Pix, and explore blowing bubbles. Students experiment...
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Forming Open-Ended Questions
Help readers learn to create their own open-ended questions for any text you are working with. Using Bloom's Taxonomy, learners begin on the lower levels and work their way up to form questions that focus on synthesis instead of simple...
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Genres, Genres Everywhere
Young readers assume the role of Genre Sleuths to investigate the characteristics of folktales, fantasies, and mysteries. For this session you will need to collect a variety of books on a topic you have been studying. Groups then examine...