Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween 2009 Lesson Plan

Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic tradition and the Christian holy day of All Saints, but is today largely a secular celebration. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

- Wikipedia

Lesson Plan Information
Title: The History of Halloween
Objectives: Students will learn about the origins of the Halloween holiday.
Concepts / Vocabulary: Relic, Secular
Grade Level: 6-9
Subject: Social Studies / Holidays
Materials: Plastic bowls, Halloween stuffed animals and figures, peeled grapes, a head of cabbage, a big carrot, Halloween candy, Halloween scary music and a stereo.
Handouts: History of Halloween flowchart, ghost story.
Time Needed: 45 minutes
Provided by: Educator's Reference Desk (Author: Tiffany Bender)
Year: 2002
Link: http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/Social_Studies/Holidays/SSH0201.html

Monday, October 19, 2009

Jonathan Swift, The author of Gulliver's Travels, Died

Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) was a prominent Anglo-Irish satirist, best known for his famed novel Gulliver's Travels.
- Wikipedia

Lesson Plan Information
Title: Gulliver's Travels
Objectives: Students will understand Jonathan Swift's, and other authors', attitude towards undesirable outcomes of advances in science.
Vocabulary: abstraction, bizarre, nepotism, perspective, satirist
Grade Level: 9-12
Subject: Literature
Materials: Poster or display board, markers, glue, paste, tape; biographical reference works about writers.
Time Needed: Two class periods
Provided by: Discovery Education, authors: Kirsten Rooks and Mary McLean
Link: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/gulliver/#

Monday, October 12, 2009

Columbus Day 2009 Lesson Plan

Columbus Day is the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492.

- Wikipedia

Lesson Plan Information
Title: Columbus Day (Native American Perspective)
Objectives: Students will:
- recognize how Columbus' discoveries effected the Native Americans.
- write a story about Columbus' first step on American ground from the Native American point of view.
Grade Level: 4-5
Subject: Columbus Day / Native Americans
Materials: Christopher Columbus book, stamps, reader's theater, map of the world, water colors, paint brushes, glue
Handouts: Reader's theater
Time Needed: 1 week
Provided by: TeacherLINK @ Utah State University (Author: Jamie Huggard)
Link: http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/Byrnes-celebrations/columbus.html

Saturday, October 3, 2009

German Unity Day 2009

The Day of German Unity is a national holiday in Germany, celebrated on 3 October, which commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990. Each year, there is a Citizens' Festival (German: Bürgerfest) on that day in addition to the traditional celebrations at Berlin.

- Wikipedia

Lesson Plan Information
Title: Has the Wall Truly Tumbled Down?
Objectives: Exploring the Destruction of the Berlin Wall and the Invisible Barriers that Remain
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subject: World History, Social Studies
Materials:
- Student journals
- Robert Frost poem "Mending Wall",
- Copies of "Haphazardly, Berlin Wall Fell a Decade Ago"
- Computers with access to the Internet.
Provided by: The New York Times Learning Network; Author: Alison Zimbalist.
Link: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/1999/11/10/has-the-wall-truly-tumbled-down/

Friday, October 2, 2009

Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) Was Born

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence—which led India to independence and has inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
Gandhi is commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi (Sanskrit: 'Great Soul') and in India also as Bapu (Gujarati: 'Father'). He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

- Wikipedia

Lesson Plan Information
Title: The relationship between Martin Luther King's teachings on nonviolence and those of Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Objectives: Students will:
- examine the philosophy of nonviolence developed by Martin Luther King, Jr.,
- consider how this philosophy was translated into practice during the Civil Rights Movement,
- explore the relationship between King's teachings on nonviolence and those of Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Grade Level: 6-8
Subject: Philosophy, US history, world history, civil rights, human rights
Materials: Computers with access to the Internet.
Time Needed: Two 50-minute class periods
Provided by: EDSITEment / National Endowment for the Humanities
Year: 2002
Link: http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=326