This task helps students summarize and review a period of history and can be used with any time and/or place. Students begin by recalling important events, particularly conflicts, within a particular time period and then compare, contrast, and evaluate those events with a focus on the impact of the events at the time in which they occurred and beyond. 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.

All students in the class will be introduced to various historical figures (from their community, state, nation, and the world).  The teacher will read books and find videos from the internet that explain the contributions that these historical figures made to our world, and she will guide students to discuss what life would be like today without their contributions.  Then higher-level students will be asked to complete analogies connecting historical figures to their contributions.  Students will need to research via books and the internet the historical figures and their contributions to be able to complete the analogies.  Students will also write their own analogies with good relationships.  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 read books and articles from the internet about different aspects of other cultures (food, dress, recreations, language, traditions, beliefs, etc.), and as they read, they will take notes on these aspects/cultures that have influenced their own lives. Then they will create a “Me” web on the computer to demonstrate the different aspects they have “adopted” from other cultures. Then they will write an expository piece to bring the information on the poster all together. 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 classroom discussions and activities of changes in people over time, higher-level students can extend their learning by creating a timeline of themselves and a timeline of a grandparent or parent. A grandparent would be preferable so a greater difference could be seen between the two. Then the student can articulate similarities and differences in the two. 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.

In this lesson, higher level students will think critically while solving analogies that relate to jobs and how jobs help people earn money to purchase things that they need or want. 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.

In this lesson, students will work on identifying physical features of landforms by using Logical Reasoning.  The higher level students will also think critically by creating their own Logic problems to identify landforms.  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 local laws and how they are made, local government officials including city council and the mayor, and how local laws are written and can be changed, higher level students will research a local community problem/issue via the internet and/or by interviewing citizens.  They will then write a letter to the mayor and/or city council bringing attention to the community problem and offering a solution.  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 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.

After reading books about and discussing needs and wants of families and discussing the difference between needs and wants, higher level students will complete a classification page (Odd One Out) to exemplify the differences between needs and wants. 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 given the details of the imaginary community that they are to create. They will be told the natural resources which they will have available to them. They will create a 3-dimensional town with industry, businesses, etc. Students will need to be specific with which businesses and industries will work in their community; this may require research of actual businesses/industries. Then they will create a flyer to encourage people to come live there, giving details of the important aspects of the town. 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 looks at maps and globes and explores legends/keys on the map and how symbols represent places/objects/meanings of drawings/details on the map, all students will work together in small groups to collaboratively draw a map of the school.  Each group of 3-4 students will create their own map of the school.  Then as a class, students will analyze and critique the maps and find the positive attributes of each map.  Then higher-level students will take the assignment further by analyzing the layout/structure/plan of the school and deciding what changes would make the school better.  They will then work collaboratively to create a map of a “new school” which makes changes to their school to make it more eco-friendly, easier to get around, a better layout for classes, with additions that make it a more enjoyable and functional place to be, etc.  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 shows students her online timeline she has created of her own life, she will instruct higher level students to create an online timeline of the life of someone famous/historically significant.  If the class is studying famous African-Americans who have contributed to history, the teacher could assign a famous African-American (or if the class is studying U.S. Presidents, a president could be assigned to each student).  Students will research the famous/historically significant person which they are assigned from books and the internet.  Then students will create an online timeline of the person to share with the class in a presentation.  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 begins with a concept development task (Taba) designed to elicit ideas about systems. The students then apply this thinking to the structure of the US government as they learn about the 3 branches of government and the system of checks and balances. 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 learning about needs and wants and the difference between the two, students will get to budget “play money” to decide how to spend money on a budget to acquire needs and wants. Teacher may want to read books about needs and wants. Some books are listed in “Needed Resources/Materials” section. 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 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.

Higher-level students will individually identify a problem in the school, and they will think critically to find ways to solve the problem.  Then each student will write a persuasive letter to the principal describing the problem, detailing why it is a problem, and offering a solution to solve the problem.  Students will have experience with real-life problem-solving through this project.  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 learning how people use positional words to describe their surroundings, the students will use the positional words to solve analogies to increase critical thinking 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.

After learning how people use positional words to describe their surroundings, the students will use the positional words to solve logic problems to increase critical thinking 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.

After the teacher has read books about wants versus needs, managing money to buy wants and needs, bartering, trading, producers and consumers, resources, and scarcity, she will lead a discussion with the whole class about identifying local businesses in the community, how a market economy works, and how businesses both pay out and make money. Then higher level students will work on a R.A.F.T. project. They will assume the “ROLE” of a business owner, a producer, or a consumer, and they will write to a particular “AUDIENCE” (ex. business owner, consumer, producer) with a particular “FORMAT” (business letter, friendly letter, poem) about a given “TOPIC”. 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.