Curated OER
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Students construct and maintain a school garden. In this gardening instructional activity, students plan the construction of the garden by writing letters to local businesses asking for supplies and materials; students build the garden...
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Familia Romana
Students compare and contrast ancient family life to present day family life. In this Roman family life lesson, students discuss the roles present in their families and then learn about family life in ancient Rome. Students...
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Break the Code!
Seventh graders crack a code using binary numbers. In this technology lesson, 7th graders explain how binary codes can represent letters and numbers. They create their own code and exchange them with their classmates.
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Digital Poetry Books
Learners, after reviewing the writing process and assessing how to use a digital camera to take creative photos, create a Digital Poetry Book. They incorporate the use of Microsoft Photo Draw and Publisher for the creation of their...
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Teaching Ethical Situations
Learners use journalism ethics standards to learn how to write ethically correct news stories. In this journalism and ethics lesson, students review journalism standards for ethics. Learners use the standards as they analyze example...
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Vivid Adjectives
Students review adjectives and play a game where students compete to see who can write the most adjectives for a given noun. They write a story about one topic and try to use a variety of adjectives in sequence tto describe a noun.
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Johnny Tremain for the 21st Century
Seventh graders complete a unit of lessons on the American Revolution based on the novel, 'Johnny Tremain.' They define key vocabulary terms, develop a timeline, write a report on a colonial craft, make a colonial flag, and create a...
National First Ladies' Library
Finding Treasure Island; An Exciting Escape
Students read Treasure Island. They have a choice of a number of activities associated with the novel, including writing a review of the book. Students also participate in a National Geographic High Seas Adventure, going on an Internet...
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The Musher's Trail
Second graders follow the Iditarod race that begins in March. They research data and select a musher to trail in the race. Then they write daily in a journal about events that happen on the trail, including pictures from the Website.
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Geometry Library
Fifth graders write and illustrate books to make a class library of math term books. They utilize vocabulary associated with geometry to make their books. For example, one character may be, Mr. A Cute.
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Collage Technique
First graders listen to the story The Hungry Caterpillar, then sequentially organize their own re-writing and re-creating of the story. They construct illustrations for their book using the collage technique Eric Carle used in his...
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Our Savage Planet in the News
Young scholars research volcanoes, storms, atmospheric conditions and extreme environments. They collect information and create a simulation of a science newscast. They watch a video and write a letter as an eyewitness to an avalanche.
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Working Together to Improve Our Community
Learners from the fourth grade research a solution to a community problem and converse with eighth graders via email. Eighth graders study the political process and work with the fourth graders to present information to the public to...
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Poetry Pop-Up
Third graders, after exploring the process of writing poetry through imagery words that go beyond pen and paper, create a Poetry Pop-Up Book. They incorporate the use of the Thesaurus and clip-art/digital photography to assist them in...
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Fountain Pen Makes a Comeback in Scotland
Young scholars read and discuss a news article about a school in Scotland that is using fountain pens to write with. They answer article comprehension questions, participate in a discussion about the importance of handwriting, write...
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The Stroop Effect
Students explore the specific areas of the brain that process different types of information. They examine processing conflicts. Students participate in a hands-on minds-on activity using the Stroop Effect. They design psychological...
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Fossils: Endangered Species
Students create posters to raise awareness about endangered species. In this endangered and extinct species lesson, students use the Internet to research endangered and extinct animals, record their findings on a chart and share...
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Tobacco and Organisms
Students work in teams to design and carry out experiments which show the effects of tobacco / nicotine on organisms. They write reports which are submitted to "The Company" and prepare oral reports which are presented to the class.
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Route 66
Students research the Internet to locate information about the Route 66 Festival. They focus on the history of the route in Illinois and create a web page of information.
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The Sonnet Challenge
Students are given information about two popular sonnet forms-English and Italian. They are given the rules for writing a sonnet. Students are asked what type of sonnet they would use. They are each given a sheet of paper and asked...
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Surviving Extremes
Students examine the potential health dangers of mountain climbing in high altitudes and deep-sea diving. They write a health and safety column for a fictional magazine about extreme outdoor sports that explains the risks involved in...
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Story Mapping A Favorite Book
First graders create a diagram of a story by using the computer program Kidspiration. In this diagramming lesson plan, 1st graders will pick a book to write about. They then will plug in story elements of the book into the computer...
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Digging for Dirt
Middle schoolers examine how trash is removed and evaluate statistics related to trash removal. In this trash removal lesson, students explore the different methods of trash removal and make an original diagram graphing statistical...
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What Was South Carolina's Role in the Spanish American War?
Seventh graders investigate the role of South Carolina in the Spanish American War. In this imperialism lesson, 7th graders analyze primary documents and photographs, in collaborative groups, to determine how the state was involved in...