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Ask the Presidents Grade Level: 3-6
Story Preview: Penny shows her lack of understanding of and knowledge about the presidency when she e-mails to her teacher a joke about the president. Her teacher's reaction spurs Penny to go online to learn more about what a president does. There, she discovers a Web site at which former presidents chat about their accomplishments, and learns what those men consider to be the important qualities of a president.
Roles: Narrator, Penny, Ms. Abbington (teacher), I_Like_Ike (Dwight Eisenhower), Honest_Abe (Abraham Lincoln), Gentleman_Farmer (George Washington), Monty_Cello (Thomas Jefferson), New_Deal (Franklin D. Roosevelt), Pillbox_Hat (Jacqueline Kennedy), PT_Boat_Commander (John F. Kennedy), Great_Communicator (Ronald Reagan)
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Setting: present day, school and home
Theme: Presidents' Day
Vocabulary:
- dud: failure or misfit
- secede: withdraw from a group
- Confederacy: union of persons, parties, or states
- morals: values or beliefs
- virtues: good or admirable qualities
- executive branch: the branch of the U.S. government responsible for carrying out the laws; includes the President, Vice President, Cabinet members, and heads of some agencies.
- legacy: something received from a predecessor
- promote: contribute to the growth of
Props: none required
Follow-Up Questions:
- What are the full names of the presidents in the script?
- What is the full name of each of those president's first ladies?
- What branch of the U.S. government is the Supreme Court part of?
- What is the Declaration of Independence?
- Which presidents gave their lives for their office?
- Which president do you think had the most difficult term of office? Why?
- Do you agree that "courage, commitment, and communication" are the most important qualities of a President?
- Do you think Penny only dreamed about the chat room? Why or why not?
Follow-Up Activity:
Separate students into small groups and ask each group to research a president in this script: I_Like_Ike (Dwight Eisenhower); Honest_Abe (Abraham Lincoln); Gentleman_Farmer (George Washington); Monty_Cello (Thomas Jefferson); New_Deal (Franklin D. Roosevelt); Pillbox_Hat (Jacqueline Kennedy) and PT_Boat_Commander (John F. Kennedy); or Great_Communicator (Ronald Reagan). Have students look for information that explains the alias used by each speaker and comments he or she makes. (For example, why does John F. Kennedy call himself PT_Boat_Commander and the "man who accompanied Pillbox Hat to this chat"?) Next, have students create a profile for the speakers that includes the years that each president served, place of birth, and other key facts. Reconvene to share their findings as a class and put the presidents on a timeline based on the events they discuss and their years in office.
Click here for a printable script.
Article by Cara Bafile
Education World®
Copyright © 2006 Education World
02/10/2006
Updated 01/20/2010
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Lesson Plan: Different Types and Sources of Energy
Subject: Science
Grade: 4
Lesson Objective: To understand that there are different types and sources of energy
Next Gen Science Standard: 4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
Starter:
Say:
What do you think energy is? (Allow the students to answer.)
Main:
Say:
Today, we are going to be talking about energy.
Energy is power that comes from a source and is used to provide light, heat or to work machines.
There are different kinds of energy and energy comes from different sources.
One type of energy is kinetic (ki-ne-tic) energy and one type of energy is potential energy.
Kinetic energy is energy that is in motion. A ball bouncing is using kinetic energy.
Potential energy is stored energy. A ball that is sitting at the top of a hill has potential energy.
When you are sitting at your desk with your hands on your desk, your hands have potential energy. When you raise your hand or move your hand to write, your hand has kinetic energy.
Now, we are going to talk about the sources of energy. That means where energy comes from.
Energy comes from many different places.
Coal, natural gas and oil are all burned and then turned into energy.
Energy can also come from the sun, wind, heat in the Earth, water and natural things like wood and corn.
Energy comes from the sun is called solar energy. Solar panels soak up the sun and turn it into energy.
Wind, energy and heat from the Earth are all caught and used to make energy.
Wood, manure and corn can be burned and that is used to make energy.
Energy is transferred from place to place and can then be used to produce motion, sound, heat or light.
You are now going to look around the room and make a list of the different places where you see energy being transferred and producing something.
Does anyone have any questions?
Allow about 10 minutes for the students to make a list of places where energy is being transferred.
Feedback:
Say:
Who would like to share the list that you made? (Allow the students to answer and share.)
Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer
Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.
Copyright© 2018 Education World
Image by wpclipart.com
Lesson Plan: Changes in Habitat
Subject: Science
Grade: 3
Lesson Objective: To understand that changes to an environment can be dangerous
Next Gen Science Standard: 3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Starter:
Say:
How do plants and animals in a habitat depend on each other? (Allow the students to answer- students should explain that animals eat plants that grow and then other animals eat those animals. When animals die, they put nutrients in the soil that helps the plants to grow.)
Main:
Say:
Last class we talked about how the plants and animals in habitats rely on each other to survive.
Today, we are going to talk about what happens to the plants and animals in a habitat if there are changes to the environment.
Sometimes there are changes to an environment or habitat. These changes can happen for different reasons.
Some of the changes happen because of something that people do or because of weather patterns or a natural disaster.
Animals and plants in habitats are affected by any change that happens to an environment.
Any change to an environment can cause a change in the way that living things interact or depend on each other.
People often cut down trees to make room for farms or for houses.
When trees are cut down, it takes away places for animals to live and it takes away food from animals that eat the leaves or fruit from the trees.
This can be very dangerous to the animals in that habitat because if they cannot eat, they will die. Then, the animals that eat those animals will not have food either.
Sometimes making changes to an environment like cutting down many trees can cause a change in temperature or rainfall in that habitat.
This will make it difficult for the plants and animals that live in that habitat because they are not used to the new temperature or amount of rainfall.
Air and water pollution also cause problems for animals that live in habitats that are affected.
Any change to an environment can cause really big problems for plants and animals in a habitat.
The changes can make the plants and animals in that habitat die.
We just talked about how changes to the environment can be very dangerous for the plants and animals that live in a habitat.
Please take out your notebooks.
You are going to write a few sentences describing what makes changes to an environment dangerous.
Feedback:
Say:
Who would like to share what you wrote about what makes changes to an environment dangerous? (Allow the students to share.)
Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer
Kimbery is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.
Copyright© 2018 Education World
Image courtesy of: wpclipart.com
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