Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
What Does It Mean to Be an American?
A series of four activities focuses young scholars' attention on what it means to be an American. They identify key qualities, values, and virtues they consider shared by Americans. Participants then pretend they have been selected to...
Museum of the American Revolution
Hamilton Was Here: Rising Up in Revolutionary Philadelphia
Hamilton may be a hit Broadway show, but there is so much more to learn. An eight-unit resource guides young historians through the life of Alexander Hamilton and the Revolutionary War. The lessons include hands-on-activities, writing,...
Facing History and Ourselves
Citizen Power Makes Democracy Work
Eric Liu's formula "power plus character equals citizenship" and his three strategies to making change happen model for high schoolers how to develop citizen power, how to get involved and participate to make democracy work. Class...
Judicial Branch of California
American Heroes
What makes a hero? After discussing the term and considering a book about Franklin D. Roosevelt, classmates work together to write a script and present their biography of a Great American hero. Notes sheets help group members organize...
Brown University
Considering the Role of Values in Public Policy
Strong opinions come from deeply held values. Young citizens explore the values that are most important to them in a class discussion and activity. As they prioritize a list of values cards that include freedom, justice, and democracy,...
Brown University
The Candidates and Their Values: Election 2016
Voting for the next president of the United States is about finding the candidate who most closely aligns with your own values and sense of democracy. High schoolers become acquainted with the candidates from the 2016 election with a...
Curated OER
The Star-Spangled Banner
Get your kids moving as they learn about the history of the United States National Anthem. Scholars examine the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key, and the meaning behind The Star Spangled Banner as they listen to an 18-minute...
Curated OER
What is An American?
Students consider American values. In this individual responsibility activity, students discuss democratic ideals that the nation was founded on and participate in an activity that requires them to create "What is an American?" collages...
Curated OER
Ship of Gold
Students explore American values. In this American history lesson plan, students read passages from Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea. Students collaborate to conduct research in order to build a timeline of the events surrounding the...
Curated OER
Vocab Grabbing the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
Students identify concrete and abstract nouns in the preamble to the Constitution, and complete Frayer Model graphic organizers using history and current events as examples of American values. For this preamble lesson plan, students use...
University of Georgia
University of Georgia: The Work Ethic Site
A perfect site for the study of work ethics. Online lessons and the history of the American work ethic are particularly impressive.
Other
The Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge
This museum resource provides images, education resources, and a wonderful biography of artist Norman Rockwell.
Center For Civic Education
Center for Civic Education: 9/11 and Constitution: American Identity, Diversity
A set of lessons that can be used to commemorate the anniversaries of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and the signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1787. They help students to reflect on the...
Peace Corps
Peace Corps: Culture Matters Workbook
In-depth and thoughtful look at culture and the role it plays in our lives. Site includes lessons and handouts, articles about how non-Americans view Americans, what it's like to be from a different culture, the roots of American culture...
Other
A Civic Framework for Community
A framework for discussing what it means to be a community, based on the principles in the Declaration of Independence and on the values Americans hold dear that form the basis of successful communities.
PBS
Pbs: Benjamin Franklin: An Extraordinary Life: Franklin's Thirteen Virtues
Understand the virtues valued by Franklin, and other eighteenth-century men and women, by perusing this list.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: George Washington and Civic Virtue (Lesson Plan)
A lesson for gaining knowledge and insight into the founders' ideas of civic virtue - civic knowledge, self-restraint, self-assertion, and self-reliance. Includes an examination of an excerpt from a primary source document: George...
Other
Memory Is a Painter: The Art of Grandma Moses
This site has a short biography with three enlargeable images of the work of Grandma Moses.