Lessons & Ideas

Cell Comparisons

lemoineer — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:13:25 -0700

Two templates that are great for comparing animal and plant cells.

Semantic Word Maps

lemoineer — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:05:52 -0700

These are great templates for students to use for sorting words into like groups around specific science themes. Great for ESL students.

Map of human knowledge

AlphaCentauri — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:56:04 -0700

Revolution War Notable People

ClayCounty — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:05:27 -0700

Significant Historical People during the Revolutionary War

Industrial Revolution Social Contrast

ClayCounty — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:54:16 -0700

Inspiration comparing Social Classes during the Industrial Revoultion

Comparing School Performance

Rick Reynolds — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:21:24 -0700

This database compares testing data from two schools in Texas and includes sample plots. The data has been modified for confidentiality.

Click here to download a free 30-day trial of InspireData.

Quest for the White House 2008: McCain and Obama

Rick Reynolds — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:55:35 -0700

How much do you and your students know about these two men, one of whom will likely be the next president of the United States? In this activity students sort a list of important events in the lives of John McCain and Barack Obama to create two chronologies along the same timeline. Students then add symbols, color coding, and Notes to explain how the events affected the candidates' political careers and their chances of winning in November. An exemplar of a completed project is also provided.

Learning Mandarin: Chinese Restaurant Conversations

marg4books — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:21:28 -0700

This Inspiration document is used with English speakers who are learning basic Mandarin (Chinese) language skills. Students imagine themselves to be in a Chinese Restaurant where they must speak and read Mandarin. It requires the student to translate a set of Mandarin characters (words they would likely see on a menu.) Students then record dialogue where they employ vocabulary to show that they know how to order food in a Chinese restaurant.

Character Map: Philip Malloy from Nothing but the Truth

cbartemes — Wed, 21 May 2008 11:10:21 -0700

After reading Avi's novel, Nothing but the Truth, my students used this character map to identify the main character's relationships, actions and interests. I used this with my interactive board, allowing students to fill in the answers.

Reading Process: Concept Map

cbartemes — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:26:40 -0700

My 8th grade Reading classes created this concept map to use in conjunction with our Reader's Handbook. The part that seemed to really help and enhance their abilities was the Active Reading. I seperated the class into small groups and had them act out a visual representation of each step. They also drew comic strips that showed how they choose to read actively in another content class. Our focus at the time was on reading a textbook.

U.S. Presidents

Rick Reynolds — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:29:39 -0700

This database lists all the U.S. presidents and contains lots of data about them for students to explore.

Research Paper Organizer

Rick Reynolds — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:28:54 -0700

The ability to organize and use information from multiple sources and write research papers are challenging but important tasks for students. The Research Paper Organizer student template is a powerful tool to make the process much easier, and it should also help students develop planning and organizing skills that will help them succeed in any academic setting. This posting also includes a lesson plan and an example of a partially-completed organizer.