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Writing Up a Spanish Storm: Using Creative Thinking for Creative Writing
Learners in a Spanish class are introduced to the techniques of creative writing. In groups, they focus on the pre-writing section of creative writing and keep a folder of their works throughout the lesson plan. They end the lessons by...
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ESL Network: Tezen, A Haitian Folktale
Sixth graders brainstorm various types of friendships prior to reading "Tezen," a tale about a young girl's friendship with a fish. After writing story reviews, they work in small groups to create dramatic skits based on the text and...
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Plot Development
Students identify the elements of plot and write a script with a strong plot. In this plot lesson, students identify elements of plot in examples by completing a chart and a graphic organizer. Students then create plots from...
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Translation Lesson to help Students Improve Vocabulary and Writing Style
Students translate an entire Internet page from English into a target language. In small groups, they create a short story or document in their native tongue or find an Internet page in their own tongue that they translate into English.
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Simile Stories
Fourth graders view song lyrics and identify similes in the song text. In this similes lesson, 4th graders define and identify similes on a worksheet. Students write their own similes using various adjectives.
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Cloudy Days are for Reading and Writing
Students research weather proverbs and determine the scientific validity of 3 weather proverbs. They write an essay presenting their reasoning. They interview elderly people to graph the most frequently heard proverbs and theorize...
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A Siouan Village
Fourth graders examine the artifacts obtained from an excavated Siouan village site. They make inferences about the people who once lived there based on the artifacts and complete a Research Team Report.
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The Tell-Tale Heart
Bring Edgar Allan Poe's spooky story to life! After reading the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart," middle and high schoolers identify the theme, character traits, irony, and other story concepts. During pre-reading, they take notes,...
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The Extra Place
Students read and discuss the story of a Peace Corps volunteer's experiences in Poland. They read and write a response to the story, and participate in a class analysis about their own personal decision regarding the story.
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Journey Into Self
Eleventh graders examine the concept of the journey into self through a variety of literary genres. They express the personal notion of self by creating a picture poem and writing a personal reflection esssay.
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Benedict Arnold Lesson Plan
Fourth graders read about and write a biography on Benedict Arnold.
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Animal Farm: Symbolism and Theme
If you want some help with teaching themes and symbols in Animal Farm, this may be beneficial. After a class discussion about possible themes, class members write a paragraph explaining which they believe is the most important. Next,...
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The Ozone
Students engage in lesson concerned with the concept of the ozone layer. They write a reflective journal using prior knowledge. Students read sources of information about the existence of a hole in the ozone layer. Finally they create...
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Quilting Geometry
Study geometry through the concept of quilt design. High schoolers examine the geometric shapes in various quilts and then create their own quilts using geometric shapes that fit together. In the end, they write a paragraph to...
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Leaks and Gossip: Examining WikiLeaks Through Political Cartoons
Use political cartoons to spice up a discussion on national security! Two cartoons, one by Normal Rockwell in 1948, the other a parody of Rockwell's by Chuck Asay in 2010, depict the dangers of leaking information. Background information...
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Apples Personified
Students write a creative writing piece by personifying apples. For this creative writing lesson, students view a PowerPoint about the writing process and brainstorm about apples. Students write a rough draft about their apple and peer...
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Prediction Using On-Line Stories!
Fifth graders analyze the elements of an online story. In this online story lesson, 5th graders analyze the title, pictures, and other information for an online story. Students predict what the text is about and complete a prediction chart.
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Using Inspiration Software to Explore Characters In Stories
Pupils identify characters, their qualities, and examples of their qualities and use Inspiration to organize them in a clear and understandable format. After a lecture/demo, students use the program on the next story by themselves.
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A Sip of Aesop From the Web
Third graders answer specific questions by conducting an Internet scavenger hunt. They write their own fable after reading many different fables on the Internet. They questions that they answer are included in this lesson.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Fairy Tales and Tall Tales Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
Enrich a unit on fairy tales and tall tales with a set of read-aloud lessons. Second graders hone writing, vocabulary, comprehension, and literary analysis skills as they read classic stories. Complete with extension projects, discussion...
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Watershed Documentary
Students research and produce an iMovie documentary about the human and natural history of a stream basin (watershed).
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Phonics lesson for "sh"
First graders identify words with the "sh" pattern. They participate in phonemic awareness, decoding, blending, spelling patterns, and dictation exercises. As the assessment portion of the instructional activity, they may write a story...
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Tenths
In this fractions and decimals worksheet, students analyze a data table about painting playground fence posts. Students solve 6 story problems in which a fraction and a decimal are converted.
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Body Language
First graders investigate the three main parts of a plant. In this plant parts lesson, 1st graders explore vocabulary for the topic and read a story about plant parts. Students view a PowerPoint and take a quiz for the topic....