This manual provides guidelines, sample documents, and sample lesson plans for the trainers, trainees, and host families involved in homestays for Peace Corps volunteers. The manual contains 11 sections that deal with the following topics: (1) introduction; (2) policy, timelines, and responsibilities; (3) medical and financial issues; (4) host…

How have "monsters" been viewed in society, what purpose do they serve, and why are they necessary? In this language-arts-based curriculum unit for grades 9-12, students explore the ways "monsters" are depicted in literature, music, and drama. According to the unit, students will: define what a monster is; read the classic…

This curriculum unit addresses myths in Western cultures and in other cultures around the world. The three lessons in the unit gives students the opportunity to think critically about how and why myths were first created, and to create their own myths. Specifically, in the unit students read, discuss, and respond in writing to myths from Greek,…

Developing financial fitness requires developing a knowledge base and then applying it. This teacher guide and student workouts package contains 15 lessons from students at grades 3-5, divided into 4 theme areas of earning and income, saving, spending and borrowing, and managing money. The development of knowledge for use in the everyday life of…

This curriculum presents lessons on the use of public transportation and is intended to encourage special education teachers and paraprofessionals to incorporate the skills and concepts of public transit usage into the educational program of elementary school children with disabilities. Six sequential lessons culminate with a trip using public…

This paper provides information about the beginnings of literacy in young children and the skills they need for reading readiness. The paper also describes what is meant by a "quality early literacy instruction" and reading skill development in early childhood settings. It outlines early reading behaviors, including phonemic awareness,…

In this lesson, students will explore daily life in the 13 original British colonies and its influences in the late 1700s for two families in different colonies--Delaware and Massachusetts. The lesson asks students to become historical detectives and learn to gather information from artifacts and make inferences about the lives and time they…

Children can learn to express themselves through the performing arts in constructive ways. Theater, specifically, employs the use of all dimensions of learning. In this lesson, students will engage in basic theater techniques for creating a character through movement and voice. The lesson, lasting 5 class periods, introduces them to guidelines for…

The realities of slavery and reconstruction hit home in oral histories from the Library of Congress. In this unit of study, students research slave narratives from the Federal Writers' Project and describe the lives of former African slaves in the United States--both before and after emancipation. From varied sources, students can sample the…

This paper introduces a research-based model of sheltered instruction that promotes teaching practices that make teachers more effective in promoting the learning of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. The model is instantiated in an observation instrument, the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP). The SIOP may be used as part…

This document contains teacher and student materials for a course on brakes in the diesel technology curriculum. The course consists of 12 units organized in three sections. The three units of the introductory section cover: (1) brakes; (2) wheel bearings and seals; and (3) antilock brake systems. The second section, Hydraulic Brakes, contains the…

Problem-based learning (PBL) has great potential for inspiring K-12 learning. KaAMS (Kids as Airborne Mission Scientists), an example of PBL, was designed to help teachers inspire middle school students to learning science, math, technology, and geography. The children participate as scientists investigating environmental problems using NASA…

Aligned with its 1998 standards for first and second language learning, Alberta Learning has published lesson plans that aim for a closer relationship between learning and evaluation. Each volume in this series presents a specific task for students that involves planning, carrying out and evaluating their work. The task for seventh grade students…

Arguing that picture books have much to offer students in the upper grades (including middle school and even high school students), this book discusses using picture books to stimulate students' thinking in a variety of topic areas. Chapter 1, Using Picture Books in the Middle School To Stimulate Thinking, introduces the topic of using picture…

Using this inquiry-based process allows the teacher and librarian to assign mystery topics to individual students so they can conduct independent research on high-interest subjects. The book provides the tools and strategies teachers and librarians need to help students think and rethink methods of gathering and organizing information to solve…