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Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.
| Name |
Description |
| Gr. 6 Lesson 1-Kissimmee-Lake Okeechobee-Everglades Watershed: | Students will be able to find locations and waterways pertinent to the Kissimmee-Lake Okeechobee-Everglades (K-O-E) watershed on a map after watching a video and reading a story. |
| Climate and Careers!: | Students will explore chosen outdoor careers and how the careers connect to certain climates based on temperature and precipitation. The guiding question states "How might you use evidence from weather data and dot plot displays to allow you to identify which location's climate would be best for your career and why?" Students will collect data online and display the data using dot plots on posters with analysis using the mean. Students will engage in collaboration throughout. A power point is included with all necessary resources. |
| Too Hot, Too Cold-6th Grade STEM Lesson: | A two day STEM lesson where students get a hands-on experience understanding positive and negative integers. Students will understand how temperature demonstrations and their own created models are used to visualize positive and negative integers in relation to 0 in real-world settings. Students will summarize their understanding of the relationship between positive and negative integers in relation to 0 for the evaluation of this lesson in a journal format. |
| Breaking Out of the Confines of the Single Image to Represent Time, Motion, and Altered Perspective:: | We are exploring representation of the world around us and analyzing how the camera can be used as a tool to create realistic, alternative, and abstract imagery. |
| Narrative Writing: Climate Change and “The Sand Castle”: | In this lesson, students will view a video about climate change, read and analyze a short story depicting the effects of climate change, and write their own narratives sending a message to their readers about the impact of climate change. |
| I'll Fly Today: | Students will use the provided data to calculate distance and total cost. Students will consider this data and other provided criteria to assist a travel agent in determining which airline to choose for a client. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| All “Tired” Up: | In this lesson students will utilize mathematical computation skills involving percentages and critical thinking skills to select the best tire deals advertised. |
| Real Estate Rental Agency: | In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, students will choose the best location for a family relocating and will find the monthly costs per month to make the best decision. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| On The Road: | Students will analyze data to create a route and itinerary, while following time frame guidelines. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Snack Time: | Students will look at a data set to determine which vending machine should be placed in a school. Students have to determine profit and consider other provided data. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Selecting a Car for Display/Ratio: | Teacher will use students’ responses to their selection of the most efficient car to create and introduce ratio concepts and reasoning. The activities can be completed as a whole group, a few groups, or individually. The teacher may also alternate so that certain parts of the activities can be whole group, few groups, or individually according to the classrooms functional, behavioral, and academic levels. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words: From Image to Detailed Narrative: | This two-day lesson, "A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words: From Image to Detailed Narrative," by Traci Gardner, is provided by ReadWriteThink.org, a website developed by the International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, with support from the Verizon Foundation.
In the lesson, students view an image that tells a story and brainstorm the possible event or situation the image illustrates. Each student then writes a narrative from the point of view of one of the characters, revealing the character's thoughts/feelings and the events that led up to the image or the events that will follow. |
| Philosophical Chairs with Tom Sawyer: | In this lesson, students will close read a short section (chapter 23) of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, gathering and organizing evidence to collaboratively defend a position with textual support in a debate-style activity. They will use this experience to assist with the creation of an extended written response addressing the development of theme in Twain's novel, this time citing evidence in writing to support their assertions. |
| Action Is Character: Exploring Character Traits with Adjectives: | Students gain a deeper understanding of characters from a novel they have read by creating charts linking characters' actions with the characters' traits. Then they explore adjectives that describe character traits using a variety of resources. Next, students use their analysis of the characters and their knowledge of adjectives to create descriptive lists for three other characters from the point of view of one particular character. Finally, they play a game in which the class tries to identify which character is described by the students' adjective lists. This activity is effective using any story with rich characterization. |
| Inland Flood Protection Using Levees-An Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of protecting human life from hazardous weather from SC.6.E.7.8 as they build levees to prevent flooding. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark. |
| Journey through the Body - An Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of the human body and organ systems from SC.6.L.14.5. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark. |
| Narrative Retelling: The Enchanted Raisin: | This three-block lesson includes an interactive collaborative vocabulary activity, a guided read of the short story "The Enchanted Raisin," and culminates in a narrative storyboard planning activity and creation of a picture book with the goal of retelling the story to a younger audience. |
| Out of the Dust: Visions of Dust Bowl History: | This is a Library of Congress lesson plan about "seeing" the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl through the eyes of children by reading the novel Out of the Dust. |
| Vacation: | In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, the purpose of this lesson is to provide students with the opportunity to solve real-world problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of multi-digit decimals. They will write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Obama: The Editorials: | This lesson is part three of a three-part unit that describes the importance of teamwork to resolve life's issues and problems. The goal of this lesson is to compare and contrast two editorials that both describe President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Students will use close reading, questioning, cooperative learning, note-taking, graphic organizers and discussion in order to get ready for the summative assessment: a debate as a culminating performance task to address the issue of working together to achieve unity. |
| A Lesson on Personification in "blessing the boats" by Lucille Clifton: | In this lesson, students will work in small groups to identify and interpret the personification used in "blessing the boats" by Lucille Clifton. At the end of the lesson, students will individually write an expository response about the poet’s use of personification and how it contributes to the meaning of the poem. |
| A Room with a View: Which Characters Reached their Peak Potential in The View from Saturday?: | In this lesson, students will compare two characters from the novel, The View from Saturday, analyzing how many of their physical and emotional needs were met by the time the story ends. This determination will be reached by using Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" as a guide. Students will also explore the influence of gender on how many human needs are reached in someone's lifetime. As a summative assessment, students will compare two characters from the novel, identifying the needs each character fulfilled and interpreting their findings in the form of a written analysis. Students will use their analysis and comparison as the basis for an informal class debate. |
| Building a Tree House: | This MEA will have students determining the safest and most cost effective material to use when building a tree house.They will do this by calculating surface area and determining cost. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Exercising A Right or a Wrong?: | In this lesson, students will debate the issue of whether a character was justly punished for his violation of a school rule: standing in respectful silence during the national anthem. They will assume the identities of administrators, teachers, parents, and students while arguing the issue in a mock PTSA meeting held in a school library or auditorium. In preparation for the debate, students will be asked to speak and write from the perspective of a character, stating their opinions in a slanted or biased way in both a newspaper article and persuasive paragraph using text evidence to support their perspective. |
| Scuba Diving Mask Search: | This MEA asks the students to decide which company would be the “best and the worst” to use to purchase scuba diving masks for Tino’s Scuba Diving School to provide to their diving certification students. Furthermore, the students are asked to suggest which type of scuba diving masks should be purchased in term of multiple panes – single pane mask, double pane mask, full face mask, skirt color, fit, durability, and price. Students must provide a "top choice" scuba diving mask to the company owner and explain how they arrived at their solution. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Teen Cell Phone Plans: | In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, the purpose of this lesson is to solve real-world and mathematical problems. Students will also use operations with multi-digit decimals to solve problems. They will write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Students will engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| A Poignant Passage about the Middle Passage: | In this lesson, students will explore what makes a passage poignant by analyzing an important chapter from the historical fiction novel, The Slave Dancer, by Paula Fox. In cooperative groups, they will use their prior knowledge of figurative language, conflict, theme, and characterization to identify a passage that has high emotional impact, relating to the journey along the Middle Passage during the slave trade. As culminating assessments, students will present their group's textual analysis to the class. |
| Punkin Chunkin - An Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of the transfer of potential and kinetic energy from SC.6.P.11.1. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark. |
| Building a Skyscraper—An Engineering Design Challenge: | This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of contact and non-contact forces as they build structures able to withstand the forces of wind and gravity. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark. |
| Moon Light Through the Month: | Students will work in small groups to arrange moon phase cards into the correct sequence. |
| Picture This: Visualization: | Students will practice visualizing and understanding that visualization is an important comprehension strategy. Students will share their visualization of the story through original artwork. |
| Understanding Decimals: | These games and activities help students investigate the relationship between fractions and decimals, focusing on equivalence. |
| Name |
Description |
| Using "The Bully" by Paul Langan to Teach Tolerance: | This unit plan uses the book "The Bully" by Paul Langan, which is from the Bluford series, to teach tolerance. There are a plethora of resources and activities including graphic organizers, reflective journals, and reader's theater. Students work together to gain an understanding of the effects of bullying and an awareness of this important issue. |
| A Study of "America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories": | This is a sixth grade unit using the collection of short stories in "America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories" by Anne Mazer. Students will examine point of view, multiple perspectives, character development, and setting in these varied texts. This unit includes a complete packet with graphic organizers, a pacing guide, and an assessment with answer key and possible student responses. |
| Investigating a Mystery in "Chasing Vermeer": | This sixth grade unit is based on the mystery novel Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett. Students will analyze clues and motives, study plot, and make predictions while learning about the artist Johannes Vermeer. It includes a complete packet with creative activities, graphic organizers, a pacing guide, and an assessment with answer key and possible student responses. |
| A Study of Science and Fantasy Fiction in A Wrinkle in Time: | This is a sixth grade unit on the sci-fi novel A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. Students will examine the characteristics of scientific and futuristic fiction including vocabulary, setting, and plot development. This unit includes a complete packet with graphic organizers, a pacing guide, and an assessment with answer key and possible student responses. |
| Exploring Verse Novels with "Keeping the Night Watch" and "Chess Rumble" : | This is a sixth grade unit on the verse novels Keeping the Night Watch by Hope Anita Smith and Chess Rumble by G. Neri. This unit explores narrative and lyric poetry, figurative language, author's purpose, voice, and symbolism. It includes games, graphic organizers, and a complete student packet, and includes a pacing guide and assessment with sample student answers. |
| Figurative Language and Author's Purpose in "Home of the Brave" by Katherine Applegate: | This is a sixth grade unit on the verse novel Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate. This unit explores narrative and lyric poetry, figurative language, author's purpose, voice, and symbolism. It is rich with games, graphic organizers, and a complete student packet and includes a pacing guide and assessment with sample student answers. |
| Drawing Conclusions and Solving Mysteries in “Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy”: | This is a sixth grade unit on the mystery novel Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy by Wendelin Van Draanen. Students will analyze characters, study the plot, make predictions, and draw conclusions to solve a mystery in this forensic-themed unit. This unit includes a complete packet with graphic organizers, a pacing guide, and an assessment with answer key and possible student responses. |
| Analyzing Characters and Making Predictions in "Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief": | This is a sixth grade unit on the mystery novel Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen. Students will analyze characters, study the plot, and make predictions in this forensic-themed unit. This unit includes a complete packet with graphic organizers, a pacing guide, and an assessment with answer key and possible student responses. |
| "The House on Mango Street": A Short Story Unit Examining Point of View, Perspective, and Plot: | This is a sixth grade unit using the short stories in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros to identify point of view, interpret a character's perspective, and utilize plot elements to retell a story. This unit includes several graphic organizers, an assessment, and an answer key with sample responses. |
| Examining an Autobiography: "The Lost Garden" by Laurence Yep: | This is a sixth grade unit on Laurence Yep's autobiography, The Lost Garden. Students analyze author's purpose and the key characteristics of an autobiography. This unit contains a student packet, pacing guide, and an assessment with answer key and sample student responses. In addition, this unit includes instructional techniques such as a PIES chart, a T chart, and more! |
| Analyzing an Autobiography through "Rosa Parks: My Story": | This sixth grade unit on Rosa Parks is a thorough examination of an autobiographical novel and includes the study of author's purpose, main idea, and fact and opinion. It includes a student packet, graphic
organizers, a pacing guide, and a unit assessment with sample responses. |
| Analyzing the Mystery Novel "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin: | This is a sixth grade unit on the mystery novel "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin. Students will analyze the character's motives, identify clues to solve the mystery, make predictions about the conclusion, and identify 'red herrings'. This unit on detective fiction includes a complete packet with graphic organizers, a pacing guide, and an assessment with answer key. |
Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this topic.
