Education Commons^™

5th Grade Adaptation, Michael Carroll

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

A 10 day lesson plan for teaching students in the 5th grade about Biology; specifically on adaptation, inherited traits, and learned behaviors.

Our Roots, Our Branches: Listening And Writing To Tell A School's Story, Michael Shay

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In this unit, students will explore the identity of their school community through story. Students will examine why we tell stories, how stories are told, whose stories are told, and how the storyteller's identity and perspective shapes the story.

Students will engage with stories in print, artifacts, school data, and visuals to examine the history of their school. They will then explore how various stakeholders in the school's past and present give different perspectives about the school and important moments in its life.

The unit culminates with a performance task in which students prepare for and conduct interviews of multiple …

Ap United States History: Period 4 (1800-1848), Kelsey Toms

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This unit is designed for Advanced Placement United States History. It is based on the Fall 2019 update of the course description by College Board. This unit covers Period 4 (1800-1848) and focuses on opposing perspectives, political parties, and identity as core themes. The download includes the Understanding by Design outline as well as the lesson plans for each learning activity.

La Frontera Y La Comunicación: How Language Influences Our Identity, Josie Hammons, Claudia Fernanda Ramirez

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This unit is designed for IB Spanish B Standard level year 1 and year 2 and it is aligned to the core topic Identidades although it can also be used in AP Spanish language or other higher level Spanish classes. Students must have completed at least 2 years of Spanish prior to taking the class. The purpose of this unit is to begin the year by demonstrating the relevance and importance of language as part of our identity as human beings. In this unit, we will incorporate history, theory of knowledge, linguistics, and composition in a variety of assessments. The …

Understanding Poetry: 5th Grade Introduction To Writing Poetry, Samantha Bos, Jackie Jaramillo

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This unit introduces 5th grade students to 5 primary poetic forms: haiku, limerick, cinquain, narrative poetry, and free verse. This unit includes a brief review of similes and metaphors and can likely be adapted for younger or older students. This poetry unit is projected to take 13-14 class days, but it can be extended or reduced depending on the needs of the class. The final performance task is writing a poem that will be performed in a poetry slam.

Culture And Identity In Novels Centered Around Women Of Color, Blake R. Keeling

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Designed to actually utilize the summer reading for rising sophomores, this unit focuses on culture and identity in the novels White Teeth by Zadie Smith, The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, and Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo. Students chose which of these books they wanted to read during the summer and the unit focuses on marrying the themes and characters of these books together. Students will be able to make text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections through a persuasive one-pager and a creative final project where students will make connections from the novels to their world history class. Can …

Thinking Geographically Mapping Portfolio, Dalynn Robinson, Blake R. Keeling

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This unit is designed to introduce the students to the foundations of thinking geographically. Students will create a map portfolio that applies to the big ideas of AP Human Geography. Students will critically analyze and reflect on the “why of where” to understand geographic perspective by utilizing quantitative and qualitative data. Students will turn in a map portfolio that will address purpose, patterns, and spatial relationships among places.

Early Civilizations: Create Your Own, Waynne Warren

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This unit explores Early Man, the Neolithic Revolution, the development of the River Valley Civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley and China), as well as Ancient Greece, Persia, and Rome. The unit ends with a performance task where the students use what they have learned in this unit to create their own civilization.

The Untold Stories Project, Zachary Wilson, Sarah Hudson

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Students will learn the stories that have been left out of the dominant narrative of history. In 6th grade, students will study the experiences of Native Americans, African-Americans, and women to discover how these groups have been left out of the story of how America began. In 7th grade, students will discover how Native Americans and Tejanos were the first Texans, and explore the enduring legacy of segregation in San Antonio today.

Students will demonstrate meaning-making and transfer by creating an exhibit for a living history museum which would take place at an off-campus venue (such as a museum, a …

Sharing Stories: An Introduction To Literary Writing And Analysis (9th Grade), Talia Howard

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The purpose and intent of this unit is to provide 9th grade English students (in either Pre-AP or Grade-Level placements) with the foundational skills and understandings needed for English, particularly for literary analysis, at the high school level as well as to help students build an appreciation for literature and narrative forms. The framework and context in which the unit is designed is based on longer, ~9-week-long learning blocks based on skills-development in reading and writing, and the unit is intended to be implemented either at the beginning of the year or as the students’ introduction to literary analysis, to …

Greek Mythology: Understanding The Allusions, Heather M. Patillo

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This unit focuses on basic Greek myths beginning with the 12 Olympians. It includes myths about creation and stories about heroes. Students explore the elements of myths as well as the purpose of myths. This exploration leads students into the study of Greek mythical allusions, what they are and how they impact literature and everyday life. By the end of the unit, students should understand how Greek myths impact literature and everyday life.

Evaluating Functions And Their Domain And Range - 8th/9th Grade Algebra, Melanie R. Webb

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The goal of this algebra unit is to solidify student understanding of functions and ensure they can express domain and range for discrete and continuous functions. Students will also be expected to evaluate functions. The unit includes lesson plans for 10 class days along with many supplemental materials including activities, pre-test, data tracker, and quiz. The function unit culminates with a performance assessment (rubric included) where students create their own function machine and complete an accompanying document to show the depth of their understanding.

Community Helpers (Pre-Kindergarten), Michele Saenz, Leslie Davenport

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This unit addresses the Texas Pre-Kindergarten Guidelines “VII.B.3. Child discusses the roles and responsibilities of community workers. VII.C.2. Child explores geography tools and resources.” At the conclusion of this unit, students will understand that community helpers have a variety of roles and responsibilities including different uniforms, tools, vehicles, places and jobs. Students will understand how community helpers help our community thrive and the places in our community where we can find community helpers. Students will demonstrate understanding by role playing and engaging in play with a peer.

Fiction/ Nonfiction Writing, Grades 1-2, Lisa Schmidt, Samara Sance

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No abstract provided.

Survey Says: Graphing And Data Analysis (3rd Grade), Shayna Rosenthal, Courtney Gold

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This unit focuses on how we can better understand and address real-world questions through data analysis and inquiry. Students will learn to identify and use graphical representations in order to help them create their own graphing project. This unit is intended to be used in a 3rd grade classroom. It will take approximately 7 days to complete.

The Story Of Periodicity: An Exploration Of Sam Kean’S The Disappearing Spoon For Chemistry And English, Elizabeth Muire, Kay Newsome

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This unit incorporates knowledge of chemistry and English. Students will read and analyze, write persuasively, and explore the possibilities of storytelling to convey scientific ideas. They explore how the form and function of the periodic table is organized by the form and function of the elements on it, and extrapolate how the table could be continued. Students will design the potential next row of the table, once they have a clear understanding of how the current rows were discovered.

First Week Intro: Growth And Vulnerability (10th Grade Ap World History And English Ii), Ileana Sherry

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In the Growth and Vulnerability Unit, we hope to introduce to students concepts, skills, and assignments that will be recurring throughout the year. The interdisciplinary unit is meant for tenth graders taking a combined class of AP World History and English II, but it can be applied to any grade or content area with some adaptations. The unit concentrates on foundational writing skills: in the properly formatted paragraph (A.P.E.), citing scholarly sources (APA), using evidence to support a persuasive argument, and collaboration and presentation skills. Students will be able to independently recognize different perspectives, begin to develop a growth mindset …

Epic Natural And Anthropogenic Disasters (Grade 9), Marisa C. Cavin

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Physical location and human decisions affect the severity, impacts, and responses to natural and manmade disasters. In this 9-week unit, Grade 9 MYP I&S students will be exploring the impact that many different types of disasters have on communities, and how we respond (locally, nationally, internationally, in media, and on government levels). The students will conduct research into underreported disasters, critically analyze and evaluate sources of information, and create a media product that brings awareness to underserved communities affected by disaster.

Truss Bridge Construction Project, High School Geometry, Dayton King

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In this unit, students will apply their knowledge of transversal/parallel relationships to the construction of a truss bridge. This bridge will be constructed out of popsicle sticks and hot glue and will need to support as much weight as possible. Students will also need to sketch cross sections of the bridge; identifying special angles created by a transversal intersecting a pair of parallel lines and similar triangles.

Analyzing Financial Markets, Raphael Macapinlac

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A 10 day unit that guides students in examining the financial markets (loanable funds, money market, and foreign exchange market) by examining real world current events and situations. The unit allows students to achieve mastery of modeling and analyzing the three graphs, and then challenges them to tie in what they have learned to current events.

Who Is Texas? Exploring Dominant And Overlooked Stories About The Lone Star State, Zachary Wilson

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The state of Texas has an image problem. For some reason, Hollywood and the news media are telling one dominant story about Texas, and leaving out other stories about our state -- important ones! In this 7th grade humanities unit, students will brush up on social studies skills, and develop in such areas as: reading maps, making graphs, detecting bias, analyzing primary sources, and identifying different perspectives. In order to answer the question, "Who is Texas, really?" students will engage in research and use an expository organizational structure of their choice (compare & contrast, problem-solution, etc.) to communicate their findings. …

Market Pbl: A Cross-Curricular Exploration Of Technological Innovation In Pre-Modern Civilizations, Elizabeth Muire, M. Melendy Jacobie, Kay Newsome, Lisa Stuckey, Blake Keeling

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This project-based learning unit incorporates knowledge from history, English, math and science courses. Students explore how geography and available resources, coupled with technological advancements, shape a civilization’s industry and therefore the quality of life of the inhabitants. Students design a product that could be made from the natural resources of their civilization and attempt to sell their product in a simulated market.

We'll Be There For You: A 3rd-5th Grade Unit On Understanding And Respecting Each Other, Elle V. Norman

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In this unit incorporating third-fifth grade social studies, writing and health TEKS, students closely examine their own characteristics to first build an understanding of who they are. Students also learn that everyone is unique and that is what makes us as individuals powerful. After discovering who they are and creating the story of their lives, students then examine scenarios related to people their own age where others are not treated fairly based on who they are. Through stories that relate to what I have witnessed in school, students learn what it is like to be discriminated against and what they …

Energy Forms (5th Grade), Javier Melendez

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No abstract provided.

Rules Rule! (1st Grade), Lauren Turley

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This is a beginning of the year social studies unit for 1^st grade. It is intended to take place over 9 half-hour sessions. This unit is meant to scaffold students so they will be well positioned to create rules to solve their own problems throughout the year. It is also intended to teach students that rules are not meant to be punitive but are for their own benefit in order to maintain fairness and safety at home, school, and in the greater community. This is a literacy rich unit, anchoring relevant texts to students lived experience. Some skills addressed …

Poetry Unit (2-4th Grade), Samara Sance, Lisa Schmidt

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This unit covers a range of poetry topics covered throughout grades 2nd-4th. The focus of the unit is on the structure and elements of poetry such as rhyme, imagery, and playful language. Topics include, limericks, cinquain, haiku, and free verse.

Confianza En Mis Habilidades (9th-11th Grade), Haley Hansen

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This unit, “Confianza en mis habilidades” or “Confidence in my abilities,” is designed for the beginning of the school year in a Spanish 3 classroom for non-native speakers. The unit focuses on reviewing previously learned vocabulary including descriptions, activities, and places and previously learned grammar including the present tense and reflexive verbs. This unit is intended to remind students what they have already learned in Spanish 1 and in Spanish 2 and to help connect them to what they will be learning in Spanish 3. It will serve as the foundation for which we build upon throughout the year. Students …

Characteristics Of The Universe (8th Grade), Veronica Mansfield, Meggan Partain

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No abstract provided.

Intro To Geography Concepts And Skills, Angela Juarez

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This unit is designed to introduce concepts and skills to AP Human Geography or World Geography students. The performance task is centered in Houston, Texas but could be adjusted to any city. The goal is that students will take spatial concepts and patterns, specifically those of region, cultural landscape, and map types, and apply them to a real world situation.

The attached Performance task includes a rubric for a presentation.

The map exercise is from an APSI training and was created by S. Kotkin and P. Gray. It could be modified to fit your textbook and resources.

A New America: The Gilded Age And Westward Expansion (11th Grade), Kelsey Toms

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This unit is designed for an on level, eleventh grade class of United States History Since 1877. It is based on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). This would be the first unit of the year and covers Westward Expansion and the Gilded Age. The three major themes are assimilation, nativism, and "gilded" society.