Students will become engaged learners through this unit that prepares students for studying ancient Greece with digital storytelling skills. First students develop a list of questions to research Greek gods, heroes, and creatures. Then with a partner, they choose the topic of their research and divide the questions between themselves. After conducting research, the partners write scripts for their digital story using the online tool PowToon.

In this lesson students will work in groups to rank a list of words from one extreme to the other, such as cold-hot, love-hate, etc. Groups will share their results with the class. After discussion and upon reviewing model descriptive writing, students will apply their knowledge by making more specific word choices to complete a descriptive writing assignment.

Students will read the story, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold and compare thier own lives with that of a girl in a tenement builidng in New York City. Through reading the story, students will better understand the hopes and dreams of the less fortunate.

Student will predict ideas or events that may take place in the text, give rationale for predictions, confirm and discuss predictions as the story progresses.

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. 

This three-part lesson introduces students to the use of speedwriting (also called free writing) as a prewriting technique. Learning the technique of speedwriting allows students to generate a foundation of ideas on which they can build a narrative structure. The goal is to fill up the blank page without worrying about grammar, spelling, or even coherence. Students then identify key ideas and phrases in their speedwriting, and use a graphic Story Organizer to develop the ideas into the main elements of a story (exposition, rising action, climax, conclusion).

In this lesson, students gain familiarity with descriptive, figurative, and vivid language by writing free verse poetry.

Within the life science strand of 7th grade science, students focus on the processes, structures, and functions of living organisms that enable them to survive, reproduce, and carry out the basic functions of life. In this task, students research endosymbiotic theory and create fictional narratives from the point of view of the prokaryotic cell, aerobic bacterium, and photosynthetic bacterium involved in the collaboration forming the first eukaryotic cell. The interdisciplinary and creative nature of this activity allows students to build meaningful connections while promoting 21st Century Skills. 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.

Through haiku, students learn to slow down and become mindful of their natural surroundings, enabling them to capture experiences vividly through description. In this unit, students read and listen to examples of haiku, and learn about the history and structure behind this Japanese poetic form. They engage in both outdoor and classroom activities that encourage mindfulness and the exploration of sensory imagery. After writing, illustrating, and pairing their haiku with instrumental music, students collaborate with classmates in creating movements to their poems. The final project is a student compilation of choreographed haiku performances put to movement and music.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science created this resource as part of an online workshop series, but you are welcome to use or modify it for your classroom. It includes a video and written directions for creating nature journals and tips for incorporating them into your classroom. For information on taking any the Nature Neighborhood online workshops for CEUs or EE credit, visit: https://naturalsciences.org/learn/educators/online-workshops.

In this lesson, students are encouraged to explore the idea of memory in both large- and small-group settings. Students access their own life experiences and then discuss family stories they have heard. After choosing a family member to interview, students create questions, interview their relative, and write a personal narrative that describes not only the answers to their questions but their own reactions to these responses. These narratives are peer reviewed and can be published as a class magazine or a website.

In this lesson students will use fables to determine the moral or central theme of a piece of writing. Students then create their own personal fables editing for grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

Students work together in small groups to read, discuss, and analyze fairy tales. After compiling a list of common elements, students collaborate on their own original fairy tales—based on events from their own lives or the lives of someone they know. Each student decides what kind of experience to write about, composes and revises a fairy tale, and then presents their story to the rest of the class.

After reading the novel, “The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton, students will follow the engineering design process to build  fire truck vehicles that will transport water from a starting line, 20 feet, to a finish line to put the “fire” out.  The students' fire trucks will be powered by a Sphero robot and driven using the Sphero app. Students will work in groups of 3-4.  Students will be supplied with a 3 oz cup to represent a fire bucket and a 16 oz cup to represent the fire.  The cup that represents fire will have a high water mark drawn on it and students must fill their cup to the mark to successfully complete the challenge.

In this lesson, students write a letter to an author to discuss their points of interest in a novel.

This resource includes one poem, with an accompanying link to the poem being read aloud, and nine text-dependent questions (including one optional constructed-response prompt for students), and explanatory information for teachers regarding alignment to the CCSS.

Students will demonstrate their understanding of how writers make intentional choices that impact the message of a story. This lesson was developed by Jaclyn Garing 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.