Students learn about the life and music of John Lennon, write a short story from their lives integrating lyrics from some of their favorite songs, and create a class book of stories.
Songs of Our Lives: Using Lyrics to Write Stories
Grades
|
"America the Beautiful": Using Music and Art to Develop Vocabulary
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students engage in a rich study of vocabulary words from the song "America the Beautiful," using music and art.
Grades
|
Searching for Gold: A Collaborative Inquiry Project
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Each small group of students researches one aspect of the same big topic, such as the Gold Rush, and teaches what they have learned to the rest of the class.
Grades
|
Engaging Students in a Collaborative Exploration of the Gettysburg Address
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
In small groups, students closely examine one sentence from the Gettysburg Address and create a multigenre project communicating what they have discovered about the meaning and significance of the text.
Grades
|
Creating Family Timelines: Graphing Family Memories and Significant Events
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students interview family members, and then create graphic family timelines based on important and memorable family events.
Grades
|
Graphing Plot and Character in a Novel
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
In this graphical mapping project, students assign a value to the events, characters, and themes in a novel and think about how the elements of the story are all interconnected.
Grades
|
Looking at Landmarks: Using a Picture Book to Guide Research
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson uses Ben's Dream by Chris Van Allsburg to highlight ten major landmarks of the world. Students research the landmarks and present their findings to the class.
Grades
|
Looking for the History in Historical Fiction: An Epidemic for Reading
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson pairs the reading of historical fiction with nonfiction to introduce students to the large themes of history.
Grades
|
Voting! What's It All About?
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students explore a variety of sources for information about voting. They evaluate the information to determine if it is fact or opinion, and then create a graffiti wall about voting.
Grades
|
Mail Time! An Integrated Postcard and Geography Study
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Children write and receive postcards from friends and family, and then chart where all those postcards come from on a classroom map.
Grades
|
Book Report Alternative: Writing Resumes for Characters in Historical Fiction
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students write resumes for historical fiction characters. They first explore help wanted ads to see what employers want, and then draft resumes for the characters they've chosen.
Grades
|
Living the Dream: 100 Acts of Kindness
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
This lesson provides the "action piece" for any study of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In this project, students participate in Dr. King's dream by doing 100 acts of kindness.
Grades
|
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me: Identifying with a Hero
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson provides ideas for celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by encouraging students to explore the connections between Dr. King and themselves through journaling and inquiry-based research.
Grades
|
Glogging About Natural Disasters
5 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
After researching various natural disasters, students share their findings with each other using glogs, or through poster presentations.
Grades
|
Audience & Purpose: Evaluating Disney's Changes to the Hercules Myth
5 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
What drives changes to classic myths and fables? In this lesson students evaluate the changes Disney made to the myth of "Hercules" in order to achieve their audience and purpose.
Grades
|
Boars and Baseball: Making Connections
4 - 7
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
In this lesson, students will make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections after reading In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. After sharing and discussing connections, students choose and plan a project that makes a personal connection to the text.
Grades
|
Writing Acrostic Poems with Thematically Related Texts in the Content Areas
2 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students read thematically related texts, scaffolded from simple to complex, to help them gather necessary concept vocabulary and background knowledge in a content area. They then write acrostic poems to organize and present their learning in a creative way.
Grades
|
Captioning the Civil Rights Movement: Reading the Images, Writing the Words
2 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Teachers guide students to carefully view images from the Civil Rights Movement and write captions that accurately describe the images and/or their probable purposes.
Grades
|
Huge Mistakes that Led to Catastrophe: Learning about Human-made Disasters throughout History
5 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
After researching various human-made disasters such as the BP oil spill, the sinking of the Titanic, and the Great Chicago Fire, students share their research in oral presentations. Then students pair up to compare and contrast their disasters using the Venn Diagram Student Interactive or the Venn diagram Mobile App.
Grades
|
Myth and Truth: Independence Day
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
By exploring myths and truths surrounding Independence Day, students think critically about commonly believed stories regarding the beginning of the Revolutionary War and the Independence Day holiday.