Looking for ways to plan project based learning activities? Suzie Boss suggests borrowing ideas from your colleagues and adapt or remix to fit your context.

Suzie borrowed ideas from professional development and learning conferences for teachers who may need a boost to get their project-based learning off the ground.

This resource accompanies our Rethink 7th Grade ELA course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning. 

This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 7th grade ELA content.

Seven-year old Annie Dillard enjoys playing football with the boys in her neighborhood because it requires her to play with concentration and courage. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In this activity, students will work in collaborative groups to create 9M x 9M models of plant and animal cells. Class population can be split into 2 or 4 groups, with half the students constructing animal cells and the other half constructing plant cells. Students must organize and assign duties, provide materials for this activity, and write a written report. They will also give "Cell Tours" to other students and/or classroom guests.

This is a poem about love that Poe has written in memory of his wife, whom he calls Annabel Lee. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In this lesson, students will select and record a poem, article, or short story that incorporates images and sounds within the text to elicit emotions in the listener. They will write an explanation of how sounds and images are used to elicit the emotional response.

This culminating performance task is to be completed once students have finished reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. All students must complete the white square labeled number 5. Students will then pick one blue square and one yellow sqare to complete. 

Students will view a reality television episode and read a news article related to reality television. Then students will complete a graphic organizer to create an argument for or against children participating in reality television. Students will apply supportive details for writing a persuasive paragraph.

Students will be taught the "drill skill and kill" method to be used on grammar concepts within an argumentative paper.

As a way to support teachers with English Language Arts (ELA) instruction during the pandemic, the NCDPI ELA team created choice boards featuring standards-aligned ELA activities.The intended purpose of these choice boards is to provide a way for students to continue standards-based learning while schools are closed. Each activity can be adapted and modified to be completed with or without the use of digital tools. Many activities can also be repeated with different texts. These standards-based activities are meant to be a low-stress approach to reinforcing and enriching the skills learned during the 2019-2020 school year. The choice boards are to be used flexibly by teachers, parents, and students in order to meet the unique needs of each learner.Exploration activities are provided for a more self-directed or guided approach to independent learning for students. These activities and sites should be used as a way to explore concepts, topics, skills, and social and emotional competencies that interest the learner. 

In this lesson the students will be using a variety of skills to analyze fiction and expository texts. This combines the reading of detective fiction with written expository analysis in the form of a Detective’s Handbook. Each student reads a detective mystery, and the class watches and analyzes Murder She Purred to establish a collective example.

In this lesson, students will use their creativity to create a visual representation of a human right that is important to them. The lesson meets NCDPI global education goals such as recognizing perspectives, communicating ideas and taking action (through creation of their poster). Note: This lesson was created in accordance with the 7th Grade Social Studies Essential Standards and the VIF/Participate Global Competence Indicators for Grade 7. For more information about VIF/Participate and these indicators, please visit https://www.participate.com/. This lesson was developed by Lindsey Gallagher 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 will begin to take what they have learned about human rights, the UN and apply it to an issue that is important to them. Students will work together to write a simple UN resolution to address that issue and present it to the class through a model UN activity. The lesson meets NCDPI global education goals such as investigating the world, recognizing perspectives, communicating ideas and taking action. Note: This lesson was created in accordance with the 7th Grade Social Studies Essential Standards and the VIF/Participate Global Competence Indicators for Grade 7. For more information about VIF/Participate and these indicators, please visit https://www.participate.com/. This lesson was developed by Lindsey Gallagher 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 will learn about Nelson Mandela and Apartheid and imagine what it would be like to walk in the shoes of Nelson Mandela. Students will then research a global leader who has gone through adversity and made a positive difference in the world. They will honor the person through researching and creating a clay shoe sculpture using three or more symbols in their sculpture to tell the story of the person and include a quote that speaks to them personally. Students will create a video or presentation to explain their sculpture and tell about their individual. Students will print a code for their sculpture that links to their video. The sculptures will be displayed with the code for the school and community as they are invited to the Art Walk of Shoes. This lesson was developed by Laura Mitchell 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.            

In this lesson, students observe the characteristics of effective small-group discussions through video examples of a "fishbowl" technique. In subsequent discussions, they are encouraged to interact with one another in a productive and respectful manner, with a focus on the value of exchanging meaningful compliments. Through targeted self-reflection, students set goals for improving their participation in productive discussions and take responsibility for monitoring their progress. Although this lesson is recommended for middle school students, it could also be used effectively with both younger and older students.

As background knowledge to Susan Pfeffer’s novels, The Dead and the Gone and Life as We Knew It, students research natural disasters for this lesson. In these two companion novels set in two different locations in the United States, the world’s environment has been changed because the moon has been pushed closer to the earth. This disturbance causes a series of natural disasters and epidemics. To fully understand the effects natural disasters have had on the world’s environment, each student researches a different natural disaster. Then they use these facts as well as safety tips in unique glogs, online interactive multimedia posters, that will include student-recorded weather announcements.

The entry task for this lesson is a recap of the communication skills assessed in the end of unit assessment. Encourage students to think critically about which skills they should highlight and demonstrate from the Fishbowl and which they should practice further before presenting the visual display they create in this lesson.

In this lesson, students engage in the End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part 2. They previewed this during Lesson 18. Because students are being assessed on their speaking skills, a checklist rather than a rubric is used. The purpose of a checklist is to facilitate teacher recording of skills during the presentation itself.

In this lesson, students work in groups using presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint to create a slide presentation highlighting the elements of literature contained in Holocaust novels.