Students will observe dance movements depicted in a drawing and a painting. Partners will use simple lines to draw their partner's movements and paint dance costumes on the figures using various brushstrokes. Students will write a persuasive speech to the school superintendent explaining why they believe dance should be a regular part of the curriculum. They will then model dance movements for classmates in teams of four and recite their persuasive speech to the class.

This interactive PDF explains the four types of writing and their applications, and provides some free examples.

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students learn the impacts of climate change on birds, explore the effectiveness of public art on climate change awareness, and synthesize informational texts into a persuasive or argumentative essay.

SCIENTIST NOTES: Bird species are suffering and facing extinction as a result of rising temperatures. Several species are slowly losing their range and changing shape and size. This lesson also establishes the possibility that a gradual rise in temperature could affect human survival, but it also gives students the opportunity to brainstorm and use their artistic talents to convey conservation strategies that would safeguard local wildlife and ecologically delicate species. This lesson is suggested for use in the classroom since the video, pictures, and materials are from reliable sources.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson can be used to teach students close reading or note-taking strategies.
-This lesson can be used to focus on elements of persuasive or argumentative writing techniques.
-This lesson can be easily adapted for writing workshops and the peer editing process in a multi-day or mini-unit.
-This lesson can be done in the Spring or Fall when students can also observe local birds outside, or during state testing days as an independent or partner project.
-This lesson can be used as a stand-alone lesson or as a lesson in a unit on non-fiction, birds, geography, art, or research.
-Students are given voice and choice and can work independently or in pairs.
-Students explore various media and guide their own learning with options for breadth and depth.
-Students learn about local bird species in their neighborhood and region.
-Students have two different options to create their own artistic responses.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-Teachers should be aware that the Audubon organization is named after John James Audubon and references his “complicated history” as an unrepentant slave owner and strong advocate for slavery. Students will explore this in the lesson, but teachers may want to preview the articles prior to the lesson.
-Students should have some basic understanding of citing sources and referencing multiple resources in writing.
-Students should have a basic understanding of the elements of persuasive or argumentative writing.
-Students should have access to devices with a strong internet connection.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Teachers can extend the research and writing portions of the lesson, using them to teach specific elements in persuasive or argumentative writing.
-Teachers can provide paragraph or essay structures, graphic organizers, brainstorming, or outline templates for students to use.
-Teachers can read one article in the Inspire section with the class as an anchor text or to model reading and note-taking strategies.
-English teachers can choose to make the artistic element a separate class period, an extension, or extra credit activity.
-Teachers can assign other articles from the Audubon website for extension activities.
-Social studies, civics, and economics classes can extend this topic to discuss social justice, socioeconomic status, and cultural impacts. Students can research and discuss how other activists’ “complicated” backgrounds have impacted their messaging.
-Music classes can listen to bird songs of birds from the Audubon website and compare the musicality and tonality of different bird songs in the same region.

Students write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper from a selected fictional character's perspective, focusing on a specific issue or situation explored in the novel.

A rubric in student language written for elementary students to self-assess a business letter.

This is a scaffolded group/collaborative activity within a unit of study on persuasive writing. Students would have already learned what claims, reasons, and evidence are in a previous lesson before participating in this activity. As a group of 4-5 students work together, they will decide which resources would be best to survive a zombie apocalypse. They would then need to compose statements of claim and reasoning for those items and complete some research as well. There is an option to allow students to create posters to present to the class as their final assignment. 

Students analyze their own nutrition and then complete a project where they develop a research question, collect data in the field about students' nutrition, and analyze their data. Students use their research on nutritional requirements and student data to recommend changes in the school to improve student nutrition. Student teams identify and summarize their persuasive arguments with the data they have gathered. They present their findings to the appropriate audience with decision-making authority.

This unit plan was originally developed by the Intel® Teach program as an exemplary unit plan demonstrating some of the best attributes of teaching with technology.

In this minilesson, students practice identifying and purposefully using vocabulary in persuasive writing that is intended to have an emotional impact on the reader.

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students explore an interactive map, learn about Cancer Alley, and take concrete action to address environmental injustice.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson introduces students to environmental justice and asks them to use an EPA mapping tool that shows how polluted an area is. The lesson also includes a video resource from Vox that highlights the area of Louisiana known as “Cancer Alley." To be as perfectly clear as possible, vast amounts of data and evidence show that people of color are disproportionately affected by pollution in the United States, and that higher exposure to pollutants directly correlates to higher incidence of disease. This video was produced in May of 2020, which is quite early on in the pandemic, and as such, some of the numbers presented in it are outdated. This outdated data is only for the numbers given when speaking on COVID-19 mortality rates. For example, the video says that Louisiana’s population is 32% Black (still correct) but Black people account for 56% of COVID-19 deaths. This is no longer the case as of July 2022, and according to data obtained from Louisiana’s government website, Black citizens account for 34% of deaths. While this is still disproportional, it is not as large of a disparity as when the video was produced. The same is true for Michigan, where Black residents now account for 17.5% of deaths but make up 14% of the population (data from michigan.gov). So, while this lesson highlights the importance of environmental justice and is overall scientifically sound, please just take note of the changes in the COVID-19 data.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson clearly connects redlining and environmental racism.
-This lesson shows a concrete example of the effects of systemic racism in the United States.
ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:Some students may never have discussed racism and climate change before. Meet your students where they are and encourage them to ask good questions.
-When teaching this sequence, it’s important to acknowledge the historical facts that have led to this injustice. Here are some resources to help you:
-Dr. Ibram X. Kendi defines racist policy as “any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups.” (Source: Article from Penguin Publishing Company)
-Government entities suppressed the Black vote through different means until the Voting Rights Act in 1965. (Source: history.com)
-Redlining was outlawed by the Fair Housing Act in 1968. (Source: ThoughtCo)

DIFFERENTIATION:
-It may be necessary to offer the letter-writing as an extension or an extra credit opportunity.
-Be sensitive to the needs of your students, as systemic racism affects them in different ways.

Students will imagine that they are an 18th-century "marchand-mercier", or salesman, and will write a persuasive letter to sell a French bed, the "Lit a la Polonaise", along with other bedroom furnishings for a client.

In this lesson, students learn about plastic pollution and write a letter to a local official advocating for a solution to plastic pollution.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students complete the Anticipation Guide individually or in groups, responding to true or false prompts and answering one question about plastic pollution and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students conduct research on plastic pollution and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and complete the RACES writing organizer.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students write a letter to a local official advocating for action on plastic pollution.

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students learn about plastic pollution and write a letter to a local official advocating for a solution to plastic pollution.

SCIENTIST NOTES: The impact of plastic pollution and how it ends up in the ocean is underscored in this lesson. The video, accompanying materials, and class activity will spur students to engage in ocean clean-up exercises and advocate for responsible consumption and bans for single-use plastic. All the materials in the lesson are well-cited, and this lesson has passed our science credibility process.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson empowers students to take concrete action by contacting a local official advocating for immediate action on plastic pollution.
-This lesson may debunk some myths about plastic pollution, including the importance of plastic straws in global plastic pollution.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-It is important for students to understand the global context of plastic recycling. Only 9% of global plastic is recycled. The rest is mismanaged, landfilled, or incinerated.
-It is also important for students to understand that more than half of oceanic plastic pollution is made up of discarded fishing gear. While much emphasis is placed on individual behavior change (e.g., replacing plastic bags with canvas bags, carrying a reusable water bottle, etc.), one can argue that the best individual action you can take is to reduce or eliminate seafood consumption. This would decrease fishing in the oceans and the amount of discarded fishing gear dumped in the ocean.
-Students may find the answers to only some of the true/false questions on the Anticipation Guide by the time you reveal the answers at the end of the Investigate section. That is OK. You can still reveal the answers and move on.
-When students are drafting their letters to local officials, make sure they know that Oregon's single-use plastic bag ban went into effect on January 1, 2020. There is no need to advocate for banning single-use plastic bags, as that is already the law in Oregon.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Some of the suggested resources in the Investigate section are more complex and might be better for higher-level students. These include Our World in Data’s Plastic Pollution website, the video titled How Much Plastic Is in the Ocean?, and the video titled Trash Island: Is It a Myth?
-When revealing the answers to the Anticipation Guide, you may have students tally their correct answers. The student with the most correct answers from the beginning of the lesson can be declared the winner.
-One possible extension is for students to draw a simple map of their local waterway and its path to the Pacific Ocean. Students can include a paragraph about how trash travels in waterways and describe a land-based solution to help prevent trash from entering waterways.
-There are ways to extend or adapt the Inspire section of this lesson. Here are some suggestions:
-Students can mail or hand-deliver their letters to local officials.
-Students can deliver a speech at a local government event (e.g., a city council meeting) advocating for more action on plastic pollution.
-Students can write letters to state or federal officials instead of local officials.
-Students can advocate for systemic change in their schools. Ideas include banning some or all single-use plastic packaging in the cafeteria, removing vending machines from school that sell beverages in single-use bottles, or changing school policies regarding birthdays or holidays such as Halloween or Valentine’s Day (e.g., banning single-use plastic candy, banning cheap plastic toys, banning balloons, etc.).
-Students can educate teachers or students in other grades about the problem of plastic pollution through speeches or posters displayed in common spaces throughout the school.

A checklist used by teachers to assess elementary students’ persuasive writing as they work on activities and projects.

A rubric in student language written for elementary students to self-assess their persuasive writing.

Students will learn about the water cycle, watersheds, and point and non-point source pollution. Students will then apply this knowledge to take a position in the debate about the proposed development at Hawn's Bridge Peninsula at Raystown Lake and write a letter to the editor expressing their opinion. Pairs well with an Engineering Design Challenge or a Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE).

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students discuss and evaluate artwork by Jill Pelto, investigate renewable and nonrenewable energy, and demonstrate their learning through writing or drawing.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson demonstrates the impact of climate change in our ecosystem through Jill Pelto's arts. Arts appear to be an effective tool in climate science communication. The lesson has passed our scientist review and is recommended for classroom use.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson creates a collaborative atmosphere for the unit.
-Students are able to identify how meaning can be created through art, especially when learning about fossil fuels and their damage to the environment.
-Students can identify and share their own thoughts and feelings about Jill Pelto's artworks.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-This is lesson 1 of 6 in our 3rd-5th grade Art for the Earth unit.
-iPads or computers with Internet connectivity are necessary.
-Students will need basic research skills and computer skills.
-Teachers will need to create a free Newsela account to access the readings on renewable and nonrenewable energy.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Teacher can create groups to include mixed ability levels, especially when students are taking notes on renewable and nonrenewable energy in the Investigate section.
-Teacher can pause throughout the reading of Sven's Search for Clean Energy to encourage students to write in the "Learned" section of their KWL charts.
-The two Newsela articles on renewable and nonrenewable energy are available in many reading levels. Teacher can select the appropriate reading level for each student.

A family of elephants rescues a baby elephant kidnapped by a rival elephant family in this video segment from Nature.