Student will research an animal they are assigned from Australia using an informational rubric. The students will research their animal using the guide given by teachers. They will investigate the information and take notes regarding their animal. They will use the computer to research and learn about their animal in its habitat and ecosystem. Students will identify environmental changes, adaptations, and behaviors that enable animals (including humans) to survive in changing habitats. They will communicate their ideas in writing using a rubric before they construct a Google Slideshow representing their findings. This lesson was developed by Victoria James as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

Review with students how they have been learning about how all living organisms have basic needs. Ecosystems are made up of interactions of organisms with their living and non-living environment. Organisms and their environments are interconnected and therefore rely on one another for survival. If one part of the environment changes, the interconnectedness will change and cause a chain reaction. Using this information, students will create a Google Slides presentation using the research from their collaboration with ELA class. This lesson was developed by Lindsey Chavis-Turner as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

Students learn to use the QuIP (questions into paragraphs) comprehension strategy to organize information and then synthesize it in writing.

In this lesson using Ben’s Dream, a picture book by Chris Van Allsburg, students highlight ten major landmarks of the world: the Statue of Liberty, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Parthenon, the Sphinx, St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, and Mount Rushmore. After reading and discussing Ben’s Dream, students identify the landmarks shown in the book and examine photographs of them. Working in small groups, students select one landmark to research. Using their research skills, students locate these famous landmarks, conduct further research on them, publish their findings using an online tool, and share that information with the class.

Higher-level students will be divided into 3 small groups so that they may work collaboratively with their peers to research entrepreneurs of the 3 main regions of NC (coastal, piedmont, and mountain). Each group will work to find the entrepreneurs of their particular region, and they will make the connection as to why the entrepreneur was able to make business decisions based on the needs and desires of the consumers in the region of NC. Students will work together as a whole group to create a topographical map of NC and show where entrepreneurs have established businesses/developed products or services in each region. Students will create a legend to show types of businesses/products/services. Then each individual student will write a paper telling about one entrepreneur in their region explaining how/why the region was conducive for entrepreneurship. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

Note taking is an essential skill that should begin in the elementary. Students should be taking notes as they do research, watch videos and listen to lectures. Research shows that when students listen to a lecture that if they take notes they will better retain the information. The students can highlight the key ideas and add their own thoughts to help them study for a test.

After the teacher has led a discussion about how we depend on the physical environment and natural resources to meet basic needs and how challenging/impossible it would be to live without all of the resources our environment provides us with, she will lead a discussion with students about how people affect the environment (positively and negatively). Then higher-level students will be asked to write creative skits to inform the audience of ways that people affect the environment and the consequences that humans and animals may face due to the negative effects that we have caused in the environment.  After the higher-level students have written the skits, all students in the class will participate in acting out the skits.  This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

After the whole class has learned about historical figures and events that helped develop cultural traditions that we participate in today, all students will get a R.A.F.T. to write from a particular ROLE, to a particular AUDIENCE, in an assigned FORMAT, and on a TOPIC. Then higher level students will work on an assignment to evaluate traditions/celebrations for how well they teach us about the culture. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 4th Grade English Language Arts.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 4th Grade English Language Arts. 

In this lesson, students will develop a deeper understanding of chemical and physical changes as they participate in an activity to see the effect salt has on the body, participate in discussions about making healthy choices about salt and then research/share findings about reasons (pro and con) for reducing salt intake. Extension activities included.

Help students explore an important moment of environmental activism in North Carolina with Save Our Sand Dunes by Hannah Bunn West and with Ann-Cabell Baum. This complementary learning guide to the book is designed to help educators guide young readers in discovering how Carolista Baum rallied a community and advocated for local and state leaders to preserve Jockey's Ridge.

In this lesson, students write theme poems using their content knowledge and sensory awareness of a familiar object. Students first learn about the characteristics and format of a theme poem. They then engage in an online interactive activity in which they select a graphic of a familiar object (e.g., the sun, a heart, a balloon), build a word bank of content area and sensory words related to the object, and write poems within the shape of the object. Finished poems are printed and displayed in class.

After the teacher has read books and internet articles to students regarding key historical events that occurred in NC and in their own area of the state and that have affected the local community, region, and state, higher level students will be asked to research more deeply these  events and collaboratively create a timeline of these events (in NC). This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

After the teacher has led a discussion about how we depend on the physical environment and natural resources to meet basic needs, students will begin to help her make a list on the board of natural resources that we depend on and need for our survival.  Students may list things such as:  trees for lumber to build houses and furniture, water from springs and rivers, plants to eat and use for medicinal purposes, animals for food and food products, etc.  Then higher-level students will research the Pilgrims and create a poster to show all the ways they had to depend on natural resources and the environment for survival.  This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

Higher-level students will work collaboratively to create trivia game cards about the elements that define states and nations.  They will find information on the internet or in books to help them find information about specific states and nations.  Students will analyze the information to determine which information would be important enough to include on the game card to help someone figure out the answer.  The information that they will be finding will include details about culture, demographics, economy, and geography of the state or nation for which they are trying to define and write a trivia card.  This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

Higher-level students will be divided into small groups so that they may work collaboratively with their peers to research (even possibly interview via Skype or e-mail) a particular entrepreneur of NC.  Students will draw from “a hat” the entrepreneur who they will research, and they will also draw from “a hat” the type of project that they will complete on the entrepreneur to reveal what they have learned.  Then after exploring how entrepreneurs have become entrepreneurs, students will work on a small entrepreneur fair for their class/school.  They will develop a product to sell at the fair.  This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.