Education Commons^™

Who's Got The Steady Beat? (6th-8th Grade), Valerie Jeannin

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is intended to be the first unit of a year-long curriculum for a music class for students in an ALE (Alternative Learning Environment) or SE class. These students have a diverse set of abilities and are diverse learners. Accommodations and modifications will need to be made for these students and the time frame of the class may differ depending on the class. Steady beat is the most important thing that young musicians need to be able to successfully understand and demonstrate so they can continue in their studies to successfully learn to read music and play in an …

Varied Approaches To Shape, Marie-Claire A. Valdez

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The context of Art 1 is an introductory course covering the elements of art and principles of design, for students of all backgrounds and ages in high school. This unit is one of seven that will educate students about the elements of art in a hands on and collaborative way.

The goal of this unit is to give students a multi-faceted and enduring understanding of the element of art shape. The unit uses an interdisciplinary approach to teach shape. The lessons include tactile and kinesthetic learning activities such as using string to draw, and trying to create games like Human …

¿Quieres Ir Conmigo? (6th-7th Grade - Spanish), Jaclyn K. Metcalf

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit focuses on how students spend free time and comparing and contrasting free time in different cultures. It is intended to be taught in the middle of a Spanish I course. Students will understand that 1) Free time activities enjoyed by young people are often similar despite differences in culture, and that 2) Experiences can change for an individual when shared with someone else and a shared experience can affect relationships between people. By the end of the unit, students will be able to 1. talk about what I/others do and where I/others go in free time, 2.extend an …

Prokaryotic And Eukaryotic Cells (6th Grade), Samantha Bos

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This unit is meant to provide a concrete and hands-on approach to introducing cells and differences between prokaryotic cells (cells without a nucleus), and eukaryotic cells (cells with a nucleus). Certain organelles and their functions are introduced, although this is covered much more in depth in 7^th grade; the unit is based on the TEKS (Texas Standards).

The conclusion of the unit is a fun lab in which students practice using the scientific method as well microscopes to collect data. Students will be expected to apply their knowledge to identify the eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells provided on the slides. …

Maps And Distance In Geometry (9th-10th Grade), Catherine A. Davison

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The purpose of this unit is to make mathematical concepts more concrete and real for students using maps. Students will be asked to think about mathematical objects through cartography or map-making. When teaching the formulas for midpoint and distance, I have found that more concrete understanding of the topic helps students to understand and apply the process for midpoints and distances. A distance between two arbitrary coordinate points is more difficult for students to grasp conceptually than the distance between San Antonio and Dallas or the distance from school to their favorite restaurants.

Students will begin the unit with a …

Ap Chemistry: Bonding And Intermolecular Forces (11th-12th Grade), Carrie Duesing

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This unit is designed for Advanced Placement Chemistry as a review and extension of topics introduced in first year chemistry. Students will review the different types of bonds and intermolecular forces to help them make predictions about the properties of materials and analyze data and draw conclusions. In class, students will utilize this information to better understand how they can predict the properties of materials and how scientific data help us understand properties and interactions of materials.

The unit culminates with an inquiry lab where students are tasked with deducing the type of bonding in a sample of a solid …

Place Value: Representing And Comparing Numbers (1st Grade), Marian R. Zelaya, Leah Sanchez

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit was designed for first grade to teach how to represent, order, and compare numbers using place value. Students will be using their knowledge about numbers to determine and justify the quantity of a real-world item they want, as well as representing that quantity in various ways.

6th Grade Math: Toro Dream House, Claudia Cardenas

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit’s focus is on area and volume (specifically TEKS 6.8B, 6.8C, and 6.8D). Students will be building on their prior knowledge of areas of rectangles and squares by including trapezoids and triangles. Students will also be introduced to the beginnings of 3-dimensional objects and how the volume formulas come to be. Students will continue to practice with the volumes of rectangular prisms which are centered on multiplying length by width by height. They will also begin to discover that if the area of the base is known then height is what makes these shapes three-dimensional. Thus, students will be …

La Bienvenida (Grades 7-9), Merida Elizondo

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is designed to be taught near the beginning of the year. In this unit, students will explore what it takes to learn another language. The unit focuses on language learning through repetition, practice, and observation. This unit was designed to be taught within the scope and sequence of Holt Spanish 1 ¡Exprésate!, but can be used without access to the source materials. At the end of the unit students will have a better understanding of the repetition and practice it takes to learn another language. They will also have built up their presentational speaking skills by leading the …

Imagination Station: Teaching 2nd Graders To Publish Fictional Stories Using Story Elements, Elle V. Norman

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this writing unit, students will learn about and apply fictional story elements—characters, setting, plot, conflict and solutions. Students will write their own stories with developed characters, a clear setting, a logical sequence of events as well as a problem that gets solved. Before writing their story, students will identify elements of fictional stories that we read in class. As students plan and write their stories, they will also learn about the writing process, with a focus on revision. At the end of the unit, students will know the difference between revision and editing and be able to discuss why …

Colonization: Evaluating The Right Of Groups To Settle Other Lands [8th Grade], Elizabeth A. Hunt

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit, students will briefly review geography, including vocabulary terms, reading maps and correctly labeling maps. They will learn and analyze motives for European exploration and settlement America in the 17^th century. They will learn about the French, Spanish, English, Puritans, Pilgrims, Catholics and Quakers (why each group came and where they settled). Activities include learning geography through the Zombie Apocalypse, comparing and contrasting the motives for current refugee groups and historical ones, evaluating the best push and pull factors of the 17^th-century Europeans and a competitive ‘Claim the Classroom’ simulation for colonization.

At the end …

Linear Relationships (Algebra) (8th-9th Grade), Melanie R. Webb, Nicole D. Legrone

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Students will combine all linear relationships and writing equations to perform a task involving scatter plots and line of fit with and without technology. Includes lessons on writing equations and inequalities in context given slope and a point or two points. Students will choose a data set to analyze and determine the context in which it exists. The student will make a scatter plot and determine a line of fit three ways: pencil and paper, on the computer, with a calculator. The student will analyze and compare their results. The student will justify their results and write a story within …

Problem Solvers, Inc., Caroline Arroyo, Lianet H. Olvera

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

Our unit centers on building our students' social-emotional skills. The skills we focus on are listening, following directions, self-control, and problem solving. Using various read-alouds, kid-friendly videos, and visuals, we hope to provide students with tools necessary to become problem-solvers in their daily lives.Students will be introduced to different age-appropriate solutions and practice them in an interactive and fun way. Ideally, this unit should be taught during the first weeks of school in effort to build a positive learning community.

Dante's Inferno: Allegory, Hero's Journey, Or Epic Poem? Yes! (12th Grade), Sherry Brown

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is designed to explore three aspects of Dante's Inferno. We will look at the cautionary and didactic aspects of this work as an allegory; we will look at the way in which it functions as an epic poem elucidating the way it reflects national identify and nostalgia for a Golden Age; and we will look at the universality of the work through its identification with the archetypal Hero's Journey.

Finding Our Strengths: Creating A Strong Classroom Community (3rd-6th Grade), Emily B. Delgado

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is intended to help students identify their strengths, get to know their peers, and build classroom community from the beginning of the school year. The unit should be taught during the first three weeks of the school year and could begin as early as day 1 or 2. Throughout the unit, students will complete activities to help them uncover their strengths and intelligences, as well as those of their peers. The unit also challenges students to enact problem-solving skills and reflect on their effectiveness. The unit culminates with a performance tasks that asks students to work in small …

Greek Tragedies: Oedipus The King And Antigone (Grade 10), Amy R. Thomson, Heather M. Patillo

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This is a four-week unit that introduces Greek tragedy using Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Antigone. The unit explores the elements of Greek tragedy to include the scene of suffering, the unities of time, place, and subject, and catharsis. The unit focuses on the literary elements of dramatic irony, archetype, and the motifs of blindness, and fate vs. free will.

The writing focus of the unit is expository emphasizing the idea of justice and decision-making. Students will use non-fiction texts such as Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, the Patriot Act of 2001, and the Freedom Act …

Improvisation: Skills For Theatre And Life, William A. Parker

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The improviser's number one job is to live an interesting life, then share it. As students study and practice the steps and principles to improvisation in the theatre, they will discover that these concepts also lead to living a positive, meaningful and effective life. As the students grow in self-confidence, they will also learn to fully listen, to gladly accept and learn from mistakes, and to pay attention and be in the moment. By rehearsing, creating and performing together, the class will create bonds and build trust in themselves and each other so that they may conduct unscripted dramas without …

Picking Apart Plot (6th Grade), Amanda Aird

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This is an examination of plot, first as a reader, and then as a writer. There are both reading and writing components in the activities. Students will gain an in-depth understanding of the plot elements (exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, turning point, falling action, and denouement) from their definitions to their functions in a story. Additionally, students will learn how to map a plot line, how a reader's mood is tied to the plot line, and how other fictional concepts (character, setting, conflict, theme, point-of-view, sensory language) flesh out the plot. Students will then transition into designing their own …

La Cultura De Deseos Y Necesidades (7th-12th Grade), Haley Hansen

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is designed for the middle of the school year in a Spanish 1 classroom. The unit focuses on reviewing previously learned vocabulary including school supplies and activities while adding the present tense verbs "tengo," "quiero," and "necesito." Students will be exposed to information about and images of classrooms around the world to show how wants and needs differ by culture. At the end of the unit, students will have two Performance-Based Assessments- an interpersonal conversation about what they want to do and need to do and an integrated writing assessment comparing wants and needs in their school to …