TYING IT ALL TOGETHER: Students should be able to label all the parts of speech in the sentence that the students just worked on.

Progress to having students label similar sentences on their own.

Have the students at their seats correctly diagram the sentence that the class just worked on.

Progress to having the class diagram similar sentences on their own.

KIDS LOVE THIS ACTIVITY TO BRING LANGUAGE ARTS OUT OF BOOKS AND INTO THEIR HANDS!!!

EXTENSION:

If you wanted to find information about this topic online, what words would you need? Introduce the concept of Keyword Challenges to reinforce the idea of meaning: what is this sentence really talking about?

• What are the most important words? (Have them step forward)

• What words wouldn’t you need? (Have them sit down)

This creates an opportunity to talk about the importance of numbers and nouns, especially proper nouns, the lesser importance of adjectives--unless they identify an aspect that makes the noun unique, and the relative unimportance of verbs and adverbs for finding information (what they do is less important than what they are—why? There are often many things they can do or that can be done to them and many ways to express this).

Common parts of speech (articles, prepositions, etc.) are unimportant.

How many words are left? Can you think of other words that could be substituted which might improve the meaning?

Objective: Students will learn how to train a pet and create a pet training guide that anyone can use.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:

Have children work in small groups to find information about animal training. Here are some suggestions to help children locate information:

Get books or magazines about animal training from the library.

Visit a veterinarian or a pet store owner. They may have free brochures that children can take home with them.

Call or go to a dog obedience school and interview a trainer if there is a school near where you live.

Help your students search the Internet for pet training information (one site is listed).

Help children organize the information they gathered from the different sources into sections or chapters for the training guide. Then have children write a draft of the guide information.

Have children exchange their drafts with one another to find out if their guides make sense and to proofread them. Then have them make a final copy, making any necessary changes. Suggest that they begin each chapter on a new page.

Encourage children to draw pictures to go with the information.

Put it all together. Guide children in inserting pictures in the appropriate places and fastening all the pages together.

Make copies of the books for children to take home and share with their families. If a child has a trainable pet, such as a dog, encourage them to try to teach the pet a simple command.

Objective: Students will broaden their knowledge of non-food plant products that are in common use.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:

1. Ask students to make a list of objects that they think might be made from a plant or a tree. When students have finished, hold a class discussion on the items on their list. Suggest that students continue to add items to their list during the discussion.

2. Ask students why it might be difficult to identify items made from plants (most items are not specifically labeled; many items are made to look like they're made from natural materials but are actually plastic or other man-made materials).

3. Provide students with research materials. Then hand out one or more copies of the Plant Uses Research Form and World: Countries map to each student. From the list provided, assign one or two plants to each student. Depending on the number of students in your class, you may have more than one student study the same plant. Or you may wish to divide the class into small groups and assign one or more plants to each group.

4. Explain to students that they will do research, focusing on five areas of information: scientific name, common name, location where the plant or tree is grown, one or more products that are made from this plant, and where the products are commonly used. Have students complete each section of the Plant Uses Research Form. Then have students mark on the world map the name of the country where the plant is grown.

5. Have students share what they have learned with the class.

Objective: Given the hypothetically evolved condition of the ocean, students will create a fish of the future, listing many, different, and unusual ways that their fish will adapt to survive.  The student will name the fish and create a labeled model of it.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:

1. After creating the ocean descriptors, individually, then as a class, students will brainstorm in fifteen minutes of less, many, different, and unusual adaptive characteristics and behaviors. Ideas are then to be categorized.

2. Students will narrow the specific characteristics of their fish's environment.

3. Using the generated adaptive characteristics and behaviors as a resource, students will identify adaptations that will impact characteristics of their fish. They will then collect materials needed to make a model.

4. Students will make a model and name it.

5. Fish models will be labeled, presented and displayed in a synthesized environment.

Objective: Students will hold a conference to learn how cooperation among nations might solve a problem that affects much of Africa.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:

1. Have students study a climate map of the desert regions of Africa: the Sahara and Kalahari. Then have them use a political map to determine which African nations are in those regions. Point out that the maps make it clear that desertification, the process by which land becomes desert, is not limited to one country. Encourage students to discuss how cooperation among the countries they've listed might help fight desertification.

2. Announce (and schedule) an upcoming Pan-African Conference on Desert Control and Reclamation. Divide the class into delegations, appointing two or more delegates to the conference from each of the nations in the desert region. Before the conference opens, each delegation is responsible for learning as much as it can about how the desert is affecting its nation.

3. Appoint a conference chairperson or fill the role yourself. When the delegations come together as a conference, divide the group into committees to study the List of Topics and Questions provided or a list of your own. Explain that each committee, which should have members from several nations, is to produce a report that suggests answers to the questions posed. The reports should include ideas on positive steps African countries can take in cooperation with one another.

4. Make the climax of the conference the presentation of the reports.

Objective: Students will plan a new business and present it to a panel of local entrepreneurs.

Have students offer ideas on how they would go about starting a new business. Suggest that one step might be consulting people who have successfully set up new businesses.

Tell students they are going to work in teams to develop ideas for a new business and present it to a panel of business people. Develop, with student input, a list of local people who have started their own businesses. Appoint a committee of letter writers to develop a form letter inviting at least three such people to participate in the panel.

Have each team brainstorm ideas for a new business. To help them develop their ideas, they can use the Business Plan Form, which is based on the five W's and an H.

Have each team present its idea. Let the class vote to narrow down the final number to three. You might present these plans in advance to the panelists. Or choose a spokesperson from each group to make the presentation to the panel.

In preparing for the panel, have students draw up general questions about entrepreneurship. These might include asking panelists how they started their businesses, where they got the ideas, what difficulties they encountered, and what general advice they would offer new business people.

Have a recorder or recorders take notes on the ensuing discussion. Later, students can use these notes to summarize what they learned about setting up and developing a new business.