This capstone project can be used for students taking United States History to 1865 through Virginia and United States Government.  The project was written specifically for the state-developed African American History Elective course, but can be easily modified for any course.

Have students learn about the main characters in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Let THEM become the casting director as they decide who is best fit to play the part!

Students will create a presentation including images and quotes from a select celebrity or a celebrity of their choice.  ** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

It is often difficult for students to remember the functions of the cellular organelles because they cannot see, feel, or touch them. Presenting the analogy of the "Cell As A City" helps them realize that each organelle has an essential function. There is also a small section at the bottom of the resource asking the students to recall which cell parts are in a eukaryote, prokaryote, or both.

This worksheet will help your students demonstrate understanding of the concept after a lecture. It could also be used after a traditional organelles lecture, but before you have presented the analogy as a non-graded exercise.

The cell is vitally important to all living things. Students will choose ONE of the following projects to reinforce their study of cell structure and function. Be sure to look at the rubric on page 2 for grading criteria.

Students will participate in a 5E lesson. To ENGAGE, students will connect their understanding of similarities between parent and offspring to the fundamental molecule of life: DNA. To EXPLORE, students will participate in interactives to observe, analyze and summarize how genes are used to create proteins and traits. In the EXPLAIN section, students will take notes on DNA replication and the Central Dogma. To ELABORATE on their understanding of DNA, students will participate in a protein synthesis race (game) to practice transcription and translation. Formative evaluations of students's ability to explain the process of protein synthesis include (1) a protein synthesis and codon practice sheet, (2) a labeling activity, and (3) making a recording that models and explain the process. As an extension, students can apply their understanding of mRNA to explain how the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines work. Finally, int summative EVALUATE, students model replication, transcription, and translation as they build an organism!

How are grocery shelf location and sugar content of cereals related? In this task, students visit two grocery stores to compare the amount of sugar in boxes of cereal that are displayed on the top shelf to the amount of sugar in boxes of cereal that are displayed on the second to the bottom shelf. They design and conduct a survey to compare their findings from two stores. In doing so, they encounter sample size, sampling technique, data collection, and
data analysis and reporting. Students compare their data in summary plots using two box and whisker plots. Students create a written report to share and relate findings to marketing decision making.

In this unit, students will explore the meaning of true friendship by reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. Charlotte's Web, a classic novel written in 1952, clearly illustrates how difficult and scary it can be to make a friend, yet how rewarding a true friendship really is. Over the course of the novel, students will consider what it means to be a good friend, whether or not friendship is always easy, and whether or not conflicts and struggle really are an important part of strengthening friendships. By deeply connecting with the characters, students will learn about the power of helping others, how creativity and determination can help solve problems, and that people can and do change. Students will also begin to understand the cycle of life and beauty, and the emotional responses that come with death through the eyes of Wilbur. It is our hope that this unit, in connection with other units, will provide the foundation for developing empathy and understanding about true friendship and life.

Charlotte's Web was chosen not only because of the strong theme of friendship and life, but because it is a classic in children's literature. Charlotte's Web was written in the early 1950s and contains themes and language that are more archaic than other texts from the year. Therefore, students will learn how to analyze themes, settings, characters and language that are less familiar and relatable.

3rd Students will complete a novel study on Charlotte's Web.  At the end of 3 chapters, students will complete and independent assessment.  

This is a video (2:03 long) resource of a woman from El Salvador talking about her childhood. Ideas for guiding students through understanding this video are given.

During the teaching of Ancient Chinese Philosophies, this is a formative assessment to check for students understanding and application of the Chinese Schools of Thought.

During the teaching of Ancient Chinese Philosophies, this is a formative assessment to check for students understanding and application of the Chinese Schools of Thought.

In this first unit of second grade, students read multiple versions of a classic fairy tale, Cinderella. Through reading various versions of the same story, students are not only exposed to a wide variety of cultures, but they are also challenged to think about how the culture, or setting, of the story influences the plot. In first grade fiction, students took a trip around the world, exploring a wide variety of themes and stories from all over, in order to build a foundational understanding that our world is made up of many diverse and unique cultures. This unit builds on the exposure to new cultures students received in first grade and provides an opportunity for students to explore the idea that even though cultures may appear to be different, there are many things embedded within the unique characteristics of different cultures that make them similar. Storytelling, and the role of storytelling, is one of those similarities. It is our hope that this unit, in connection with others in the sequence, helps students build empathy and understanding of the world around them.

The different versions of Cinderella help students understand the components of a fairy tale and the lessons associated with traditional fairy tales. Over the course of the unit, students will be challenged to ask and answer questions about the text and illustrations as a way of deepening their understanding of plot, setting, and characters. In the first section of the unit, students will focus deeply on the setting, characters, and plot of the different versions of Cinderella, learning to compare and contrast the nuances across different versions. In the second section of the unit, students will read Cinderella stories that vary from the traditional plot structure but still include the underlying theme that a person's actions (good or bad) influence his/her life outcomes. In this section students will dive deeply into three texts to analyze different characters' traits and how the author uses those traits to help reveal the lesson of the story.

Students will plan, write, and submit a formal MLA formatted research paper regarding Checks and Balances from the VA Civics Curriculum. Students will research a topic, create a thesis statement, and include in-text citations in their final product. ** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

The goal of this module is to provide USII students with background knowledge in the Civil War as they begin the Reconstruction curriculum. Each day begins with a Hook for the day’s content. This hook is designed to engage students in the day’s content through a whole class or small group discussion. Students will independently review the provided Learning Resources for each Learning Intention.  They should review all of the available resources to get a full understanding of this topic. Students will independently complete the Success Check for all Learning Intentions to receive credit for the module. There are optional Extension activities associated with each day. This extension is designed to connect USII Geography content with the Civil War content.  Google Drive Folder with all resources (must make a copy of each resource to modify): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jG7DTzswj3bsZM7xKHfMgJhVM07evQfN?usp=sharing Google Docs Lesson plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ErmsDxexiKYJNbqz49QqIGAxuDHZ00O2NJ6B5X3caww/copy

Students will create a Prezi tour of 7 of the battles of the American Civil War, justifying why they chose each battle as one of their 7.

Students will participate in a 5E lesson on classification. To ENGAGE, students will think about common vs scientific names and interpret relatedness between four species. To EXPLORE, students will watch a clip of their choice from Our Planet and document organisms' defining characteristics. Students create a hierarchy to predict the relatedness of the species. To then learn about classification systems, students will participate in the EXPLAIN activities. Three videos and guided notes are available for students to document their learning. An EVALUATIVE formative assignment Candy Cladogram Drag and Drop is available for students to practice their understanding of phylogenetics. Then, students will ELABORATE on their knowledge by researching the scientific names of the organisms they observed in the Our Planet clip (explore section). Students will evaluate the accuracy of their orginial hierarchy and explain how scientific developments have impacted classification. Additional cladograms are included for students to interpret.

Students create a class composition of a thunderstorm by exploring expressive qualities of crescendo/decrescendo and accelerando/ritardando

The Portuguese language lessons of ClicaBrasil highlight aspects of Brazilian culture. They are designed for intermediate to advanced students, but are accessible to everyone. Each lesson includes videos of Brazilians from all walks of life speaking naturally about their lives and their country. All lessons integrate reading, writing, listening and comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, oral communication and cultural activities with the videos. This is also available as a free PDF textbook and as print on demand.

This activity should be used as a review for the reasons why colonists came to the New World. After the context clues are filled in, students will choose a photo from Google Images that represents each of the colonies that came to the new world.