Higher-level students will answer questions on a cube to show that they understand how people adapt to, change, and protect the environment to meet their needs. Students should be allowed to view the cube and research any unknown information before “cubing” with a group of higher-level students. Students will then have a high level discussion together. Each student will take turns rolling the cube and answering the question that comes up. 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 lesson has two components: 1) a fluency list of poverty words and 2) a world map of poverty cases. In the first component the teacher introduces a list of poverty words organized by part of speech that will be learned and practiced during this lesson. Fluency practice continues to occur throughout the unit in both the reading fiction and non-fiction components. Being able to read content vocabulary words, phrases and sentences fluently is so important in a student’s ability to comprehend complex texts and issues. Providing students with ample time and opportunities to practice academic language directly from their texts will allow this to occur (Rasinski "Fluency Matters" 2014). In the second component a large world map is used to investigate the issue of poverty by comparing the effects of poverty of people in 6/7 continents. Students will engage in speaking and writing tasks using the world map. This lesson was developed by Karie Gregory 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.            

This lesson begins by following up to the previous lesson in which students were instructed to politely refuse one single-use item. Students will observe how one community in South America makes something wonderful from trash. Students will learn the importance of reducing their trash by actively participating in a trash-sorting activity, and demonstrate the ability to reuse trash by making a "trash to treasure" product. This lesson was developed by Lee Ann Smith 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.

This lesson introduces students to ideas on how they can make the world a more beautiful place. Students will discuss trash vs. recycling, decomposition rates of various items, and how to refuse and choose alternatives to single-use items. This lesson was developed by Lee Ann Smith 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.

Michigan. The Mitten State. Surrounded by the Great Lakes, filled with many natural wonders and a rich history. Learn about Michigan in our third grade offering from the Michigan Open Book Project.

The teacher will introduce to students the idea that different places vary, grow and change over time, partly because of human beliefs and actions and partly because of physical characteristics. Then the teacher will work with higher-level students to research several different communities around the world. They will work with the teacher to find contacts for other school children so that all students in the class may Skype to learn more about different communities around the world and how changes have taken place due to human and natural causes. Lastly, the students will create an Excel spreadsheet to list different categories of the environment that have been influenced by human and environmental causes. After Skyping with people in several different communities, higher-level students will create the spreadsheet with their own community and several other communities and the categories so they may easily compare/contrast the physical and human characteristics of each. 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.