Lesson OverviewThis lesson is designed to help students develop an understanding of determination.  Students will look at pictures and read text that shows determination. Students will identify determination.   They will write and reflect on determination as a real world application.Teacher Planning, Examples Response Methods and MaterialsSee Full Lesson Plan AttachedEssential Question and NCSC Essential UnderstandingWhat are the challenges and barriers faced when people show determination?Identify a character, setting, event or conflict.Identify the topic of a text or information presented in a diverse media.Given a specific purpose, produce a permanent product.

Lesson OverviewThis lesson introduces students to the theme, Earth-A Fine Balance, by exploring the multiple meanings of the word “balance” in an effort to develop an understanding of the unit title and the essential question.  Students will set up a Field Journal for their routine writing experiences, including but not limited to, learned information and reflections of how the readings relate to the unit theme.  Students will participate in learning centers once they have set up their field journals.  Students will participate in reading an adapted article from The National Geographic Almanac, 2013.  Students will participate in a vocabulary learning center as well as have an opportunity to explore the natural environment outside.Teacher Planning, Examples of Response Methods and MaterialsSee Full Lesson Plan AttachedEssential Question and NCSC Essential UnderstandingWhen nature interacts, what happens to the harmony, or balance, among animals, plants, and people? 

Phenomena: Flooded SchoolyardStorylineThis photograph was taken at an elementary school in Maryland after a severe Summer rainstorm.  The students are concerned about the impact of the increased rainfall in such a short period of time.PE Alignment:4-ESS2-1. Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind or vegetation.4-ESS3-2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans. Image source:  "Spring Runoff" by Walking With Scissors at https://www.flickr.com/photos/15582597@N06/5636129904/ CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)

Lesson OverviewFactors that affect plant growthInitial Level - Distinguish things that grow from things that don’t grow.Students will identify the factors that affect plant growth.Precursor Level - Provide evidence that plants grow.Students will create a graph given the data.Target Level - Connections to Mathematics Essential Elements EE.5.MD.1.b: Use standard units to measure weight and length of objects.  Students will collect data, create a graph, and analyze the data.Teacher Planning, Examples of Response Methods and MaterialsSee Full Lesson Plan Attached

This activity aligns to a unit about food and is designed for intermediate students. Students read an article, then answer comprehension and personal reflection questions.

This word document is intended to be used as an assessment for elementary students conducting biography research.  It is a document that mimics a Facebook page and the students use the information they have found while conducting research to populate the various fields.  They also have the opportunity to create conversations that this famous person would have had with his/her contemporaries that can demonstrate whether or not the student understands the actions and intentions of the character that have explored.

IntroductionThis lesson seed includes lesson plans and resources to assist Social Studies teachers in elementary classrooms.  These is a section dedicated to grades 1-3 that focuses on being a good citizen in the community, local governement leaders, and following and promoting safe rules.  There is also a section dedicated to grades 4-5 that focuses on the early foundations, functions, and purposes of the governement.  At the bottom of the resources is an academic vocabulary word list for key concepts to consider providing visual support to assist you in tailoring your lessons to ELL students within your classroom, along with link to WIDA CAN DO Descriptors.Lesson Seeds:Lesson seeds are ideas for the standards that can be used to build a lesson. Lesson seeds are not meant to be all-inclusive, nor are they substitutes for instruction. This lesson seed provides a compelling question and a bank of sources to use to drive an inquiry based lesson or a potential Evidence Based Argument Set (EBAS). When developing lessons from these seeds, teachers must consider the needs of all learners. Once you have built your lesson from the lesson seed, teachers are encouraged to post the lesson that has emerged from this lesson seed and share with others.

This annotated list is intended to provide teachers links to resources that can be used to teach digital citizenship and other technology related concepts and skills. The resources listed are considered free to use but are not necessarily openly licensed materials unless otherwise noted. Feel free to remix this document to delete any links that are not useful to you and add any resources you find worthwhile.

IntroductionThis lesson seed includes lesson plans and resources to assist Social Studies teachers in elementary classrooms.  These is a section dedicated to grades 1-3 that focuses on map skills, modes of transportation, how goods are transported and how people change the earth.  There is also a section dedicated to grades 4-5 that focuses on the physical features and grography of Maryland and the United States. At the bottom of the resources is an academic vocabulary word list for key concepts to consider providing visual support to assist you in tailoring your lessons to ELL students within your classroom, along with link to WIDA CAN DO Descriptors.Lesson Seeds:Lesson seeds are ideas for the standards that can be used to build a lesson. Lesson seeds are not meant to be all-inclusive, nor are they substitutes for instruction. This lesson seed provides a compelling question and a bank of sources to use to drive an inquiry based lesson or a potential Evidence Based Argument Set (EBAS). When developing lessons from these seeds, teachers must consider the needs of all learners. Once you have built your lesson from the lesson seed, teachers are encouraged to post the lesson that has emerged from this lesson seed and share with others. 

This unit is presented as a series of progressive task categories. Each category includes a variety of learning tasks suggested for meeting the applicable outcomes. Teachers are encouraged to select learning tasks that best fit their teaching style and students’ needs. Modifications, accommodations, and extensions specific to your learners are strongly recommended.  Attributions:SHAPE America Standards: https://www.shapeamerica.org/standards/pe/upload/Grade-Level-Outcomes-for-K-12-Physical-Education.pdfVolleying Clip Art:  https://pixabay.com/en/volleyball-player-silhouette-309628/Graham, G., Holt/Hale, S. A., & Parker, M. (2013). Children moving: A reflective approach to teaching physical education.9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Este esquema de diálogo está dirigido a los estudiantes inscritos en clases Pre-AP. Se trata de desarrollar la función comunicativa.

Link to Evaluating Reliable Sources lesson from Teaching Tolerance. Lesson focuses on locating and verifying online resources. Students learn to locate and evaluate sources and compare multiple resources about the same topic.

This session is meant to engage participants in discussions around the evaluation of open educational resources (OER) and the practice of using rubrics to access OER. The participants will compare resources by content using rubrics to evaluate their effectiveness. 

FOCUS QUESTIONIs compassion the basis for morality?STUDENT OUTCOMESStudents will:examine and interpret the definitions of morality and compassion as presented in a variety of textsread, analyze, and discuss quotations and/or multimedia sourceswrite an original definition of a moral person (This definition will be used later in an argument paper which cites Atticus Finch's acts of compassion as evidence of his morality.) Image source: "Mockingbird" by skeeze on Pixabay.com.

During days 3-6 of the unit, students will complete a short, focused research assignment to learn about the characteristics of Sourthern Gothic Literature and to begin to view To Kill a Mockingbird through that lens.  As is true with the rest of the unit, the three day time frame is a suggestion only and can be adjusted based on your schedule and the needs of the students.Image source: "Mockingbird" by skeeze on Pixabay.com.

Students will read and analyze a short story from the Southern Gothic genre entitled "The Life you Save May be Your Own" by Flannery O'Conner.  They will continue to explore the ideas of human compassion and morality by examining the apparent  lack of compassion in the characters of Mr. Shiftlet and the old woman, Lucynell Crater.  Students will use close reading strategies to identify examples of indirect characterization that contribute to their analysis of these two central characters in the text. Image source: "Mockingbird" by skeeze on Pixabay.com.

In 2016, Oxford Dictionaries chose "post-truth" as the word of the year. As literacy has shifted from published hardcopy to an online landscape, it is more important than ever to engage and empower students in navigating the complicated battleground of fake news verses responsible, fact-based news. In this multi-day lesson, students will 1) examine terms associated with “fake news” and evaluate sources for their reliability and authenticity, and 2) develop a set of norms for responsible use of online news sources that spans academic and personal interaction with media.Cover image: "Fake news" by pixel2013 from Pixabay.com