The Book Thief RAFT Writing Project contains a Common Core-ready writing project for the English/Language Arts classroom.This is a culminating project to end a unit of study on Markus Zusak's powerful novel. What is a RAFT, you might ask? RAFT is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that provides rigor, flexibility, and variety. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. A RAFT can be implemented in all content areas, thus making it an excellent Writing Across the Curriculum resource. Young writers might pursue one of several genres of writing (expository, narrative, descriptive, argumentative or persuasive) to create one of several products (letter, television commercial, diary entry, etc.). I define this further in the packet.

The Flowers for Algernon RAFT Writing Project contains a Common Core-ready writing project for the English/Language Arts classroom.This is a culminating project to end a unit of study on Daniel Keyes's famous novel. What is a RAFT, you might ask? RAFT is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that provides rigor, flexibility, and variety. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. A RAFT can be implemented in all content areas, thus making it an excellent Writing Across the Curriculum resource. Young writers might pursue one of several genres of writing (expository, narrative, descriptive, argumentative or persuasive) to create one of several products (letter, television commercial, diary entry, etc.).

This assignment is titled “Twitter Tales: Writing Haiku, Micropoems, & Short Fiction in 280 Characters or Less.” We hear a lot these days about how our students enjoy communicating with one another using social networking services like Facebook and Twitter. This assignment allows students to write micropoems and short fiction within Twitter’s 280-character limit. This assignment requires critical thinking skills and 21st century technology skills. Students must closely scrutinize appropriate language choices and work within Twitter’s character limit to publish their work. Combining short, creative bursts of writing with this technology has popularized a new trend called Twitterature. Demand has even prompted a magazine called 7x20 where writers can publish their Twitter micropoems. The goal here is to create powerful works of literature in only a few words. What would William Carlos Williams – and other Imagists – think of “Twitterature,” a quirky, new form of micropoetry and flash fiction told in 280 characters or less? This is one of several questions I want students to consider as they strive to create powerful images, emotional pieces, and more works of short literature in this project. Is Twitter blocked at your school? Fear not. I have included some printable worksheets that can be used in the classroom as a “work-around.” The template will not look exactly like Twitter for legal reasons, but it should suffice for this project. Remind students that they still must write within the 280-character limit as one requirement for success on the project.

Absolute and relative location are two basic, important geography tools that all students must master. Why not teach students these vital skills in a fun, active way? This assignment will do just that! Absolute location, of course, requires students to use latitude and longitude to give their answers. Relative location requires cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) and intermediate directions (northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest). While there are many available assignments to teach these concepts to elementary school and middle school/junior high school students, here’s one with a twist! Students will locate all 32 NFL football teams using absolute and relative location. January 2023 update: Team names and locations have been updated. Also, it’s easier than ever to take the Google Earth tour of NFL Stadiums. This document describes 5 quick, easy steps to get started. Also, all stadiums and respective cities have been updated since last season. This would be an effective assignment near the beginning of the school year, when students are transitioning into autumn and the NFL season opens its newest season. However, its strength will help reinforce skills later in the school year as well. Included, please find the assignment with a chart for record-keeping, an answer key, a blank USA map, a political USA map, and an idea for an extension assignment. Plus, how about this idea for an educational technology twist? You can visit each and every NFL football stadium using Google Tour Builder! There is nothing to install. Simply, follow the link included in this packet and take your students on a virtual tour today.

This is an extensive 12-page lesson plan packet using Star Wars to teach biomes. I have used seven Star Wars films to teach students about biomes with great success. The lesson plan includes a twelve-question assessment that (1) asks students watch scenes from the Star Wars films to identify real-world biomes including temperate deciduous forest, desert, Mediterranean chaparral, tropical rain forest, alpine, tundra, and temperate coniferous forest; and (2) then conduct research on these real backdrops to gain a deeper understanding of the delicacy of our world’s biomes. George Lucas’ Star Wars movies are a delightful mix of heroic stories, wonderful characters and monsters, and dramatic action sequences. Millions of people – including many young adults – love these films. Look closely and you will see vibrant, natural worlds lying beneath the special effects. After all, Lucas chose many real backdrops for the Star Wars sagas – Whippendell Woods, United Kingdom, and Tozeur, Tunisia, for examples. Now, you can use them to teach biomes to your science or geography students. I would suggest your students have at least a basic understanding of the biomes presented in this assignment beforehand. This assignment might work best after you have introduced biomes in your classroom and asked students to identify specific features of each. Included please find the lesson plan, teacher’s scene guide, student identification assignment and answer key, guidelines for the research paper, and a rubric to evaluate the research paper.

The following 25 prompts worked wonderfully in my language arts classes. These prompts will provide narrative and descriptive writing opportunities. For instance, there is a prompt in this packet that requires students to think about a typical Saturday and recount sequential events descriptively. Another prompt will require students to describe a perfect lunch, which will require them to think critically and logically in a creative passage. There are several possibilities here, but the real bonus is the full-color image that accompanies each question to inspire deeper thinking and colourful language choices. I have alternated prompts in this packet to allow for daily or weekly instruction possibilities. Thus, each narrative prompt is followed by a descriptive writing prompt. Why? In my classroom, I passed this assignment out as a classroom packet and one that we would use throughout the school year so students could track progress and see how they had developed as writers from the first day to the last. Please let me know how you use these prompts in your classroom.

This is a collaborative research project about United States geography that requires students to role-play as product designers for a fictitious travel association, Discover the USA. An excellent example of differentiated instruction, students may research any of the 50 U.S. states to find information that makes the state unique: major landmarks, landforms, major and minor cities, symbols, fun facts, etc. Working with partners, the team members will then choose one of five products in this assignment to show what they have learned: a PowerPoint presentation, a three-fold travel brochure, a mobile, a game or game board, or a map on poster board. To meet Writing Across the Curriculum goals, a two-page report on what they learned in the project is also required.

The "To Kill a Mockingbird RAFT Writing Project" contains a Common Core-ready writing project for the English/Language Arts or Social Studies classroom.This is a culminating project to end a unit of study on Harper Lee's famous novel. What is a RAFT, you might ask? RAFT is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that provides rigor, flexibility, and variety. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. A RAFT can be implemented in all content areas, thus making it an excellent Writing Across the Curriculum resource. Young writers might pursue one of several genres of writing (expository, narrative, descriptive, argumentative or persuasive) to create one of several products (letter, television commercial, diary entry, etc.).

The Maze Runner RAFT Writing Project contains a Common Core-ready writing project for the English/Language Arts classroom.This is a culminating project to end a unit of study on James Dashner's novel. What is a RAFT, you might ask? RAFT is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that provides rigor, flexibility, and variety. A RAFT can be implemented in all content areas, thus making it an excellent Writing Across the Curriculum resource. Young writers might pursue one of several genres of writing (expository, narrative, descriptive, argumentative or persuasive) to create one of several products (letter, television commercial, diary entry, etc.). I define this further in the packet.

The Women Who Shaped America Research Project allows upper elementary and middle grade students (grades 5-8 with some modifications) an opportunity to research one of 40 important, ground-breaking, and/or pioneering women and present their findings in a biographical essay. These individuals include activists, scientists, athletes, trailblazers, politicians, authors, suffragists, and many more! That's right: there are 40 individuals to choose from! This research project is ideal for Women's History Month -- or any time of the year. There is also an optional digital storytelling component utilizing the free iPad app, Shadow Puppet EDU. This part of the project again is optional. Students can still complete the biographical essay.

The Outsiders RAFT Writing Project contains a Common Core-ready writing project for the English/Language Arts classroom.This is a culminating project to end a unit of study on S.E. Hinton’s famous novel. What is a RAFT, you might ask? RAFT is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that provides rigor, flexibility, and variety. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. A RAFT can be implemented in all content areas, thus making it an excellent Writing Across the Curriculum resource. Young writers might pursue one of several genres of writing (expository, narrative, descriptive, argumentative or persuasive) to create one of several products (letter, television commercial, diary entry, etc.).

The Honoring Important African-Americans Research Project allows upper elementary and middle grade students (grades 5-8 with some modifications) an opportunity to research one of 40 major African-Americans from many different walks of life and present their findings in a biographical essay. These individuals include activists, scientists, musicians, trailblazers, politicians, inventors, athletes, and many more! That's right: there are 40 individuals to choose from! This research project is ideal for Black History Month -- or any time of the year. There is also an optional digital storytelling component utilizing the free iPad app, Shadow Puppet EDU. This part of the project again is optional. Students can still complete the biographical essay. All handouts are included. I have also included Common Core Anchor Standards I have met with this project.

Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are disastrous weather events. What is the difference between them? Where do they strike? This geography-based assignment contains a short reading to answer these questions. Students then find absolute and relative location (geographic coordinates and cardinal/intermediate directions respectively) of tropical storm-prone nations. In the final part of the project, students research three in-depth prompts specific to hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons and how they affect people living in different regions of the world. They will then present their research findings in an essay. Research logs, blank maps, answer keys, and a rubric for student essays are included.

The Great Gatsby RAFT Writing Project contains a Common Core-ready writing project for the English/Language Arts or Social Studies classroom.This is a culminating project to end a unit of study on F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel. What is a RAFT, you might ask? RAFT is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that provides rigor, flexibility, and variety. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. A RAFT can be implemented in all content areas, thus making it an excellent Writing Across the Curriculum resource. Young writers might pursue one of several genres of writing (expository, narrative, descriptive, argumentative or persuasive) to create one of several products (letter, television commercial, diary entry, etc.).

Students research the origins of the names of five American sports teams -- the Los Angeles Dodgers, the St. Louis Blues, the Seattle Sounders, the Boston Celtics, and the San Francisco 49ers. What is the city's relationship to the American sports team's name? Is it a historical, cultural, or geographical connection? Or a combination of two or three? Students also create their own team for their communities. They must base their team nicknames on a local historical, cultural, or geographical connection.

This assignment introduces students to the six American standard time zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska, and Hawaii-Aleutian. Students read a short, original non-fiction story about time zones. Next, they answer 15 questions (including two critical thinking questions) about American time zones.

Pirate Pete is back, me hearties! The loveable goofball pirate is rip-roarin' and ready to teach your kiddies about Christmas traditions in different parts of the world. Join the funny pirate in a discussion about Christmas traditions in Finland, Australia, the Bahamas, Germany, and Japan. Plus, ol' Pete introduces students to a wild and wonderful place called Christmas Island, which is located in the Pacific Ocean. This six-page reading assignment also features a guided reading handout and four assignments to keep your students engaged around the holidays! No small feat, right? Preview before you buy!

The Famous Mathematicians Research Project allows students in grades 6-9 an opportunity to research one of 30 famous mathematicians and present their findings in a biographical essay. It is an excellent project to allow students to research the many different aspects of the history of math. There is also an optional digital storytelling component utilizing the free iPad app, Shadow Puppet EDU. This part of the project again is optional. Students can still complete the biographical essay. All handouts are included. Please check the preview before buying. I have also included a brief pacing guide/set of instructions, a rubric, and handouts to allow students to better understand the writing process.

Students will be able to define and identify different types of intentional and unintentional plagiarism. They will also brainstorm reasons why people plagiarize works and the consequences that can apply if caught. They will also be able to determine why plagiarism is damaging to their academic careers (beyond failing grades). The first few minutes (2-3 minutes approximately) of class will allow students to think about the topics of discussion. Next, introduce concepts related to plagiarism as outlined in the PowerPoint presentation. These activities include (1) students identifying examples of patchwriting, (2) a practice assignment asking them to use proper paraphrasing techniques, and (3) a 3-2-1 activity asking them to recap important themes in the lesson. This resource is not what I would call "comprehensive." I use it with 12th grade students who have a basic understanding of plagiarism.

This is a bundle of six map skills assignments for Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands, North America, and South America. Each is titled respectively "Let's Explore! Use a Map to Find Countries, Capital Cities, Landforms, and Bodies of Water." These assignments include 20 questions each that require students to analyze a map of each continent for boundaries and borders, major cities, landforms, and bodies of water.