Curated OER
Fashion Fanfare of the 19th Century
Fourth graders compare and contrast the clothing during the 19th century to the fashion trends of the present day. They design something suitable for a future time period and explain why.
Curated OER
Making Cloth: The Impact of Technology
Young scholars analyze and discuss several primary source documents that address the changes in technology that affected New England agricultural communities in the early 19th century. They also identify and discuss historical contexts...
Curated OER
The Treaty Trail: U.S. - Clothing That Talks: Meaning and Material Culture
Young scholars investigate the cultures of Native Americans and Euro-Americans through their clothing. In this photograph analysis activity, students observe historic photographs and analyze the style of clothes people wore and how it...
Curated OER
Quilt Block Collage
Learn the art of quilting with this lesson plan that can be connected to a history lesson on quilts in Ancient Egypt, China, and modern art. After studying a general history of quilts, its uses, and the history of different patterns,...
Curated OER
Dress Reform in the 19th Century
Students read and discuss the writings of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Timothy Shay Arthur and others to explore mid to late 19th century dress reform. They use their findings to write a letter to an editor from a 19th century viewpoint.
Curated OER
Dress Reform in the 19th Century
Eleventh graders utilize the writings of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Timothy Shay Arthur, Elizabeth Smith Miller, Frances Hard and others to explore the dress reform movements of the mid to late 19th century.
Curated OER
Nineteenth Century Family Portraits
Students compare two nineteenth century family portraits using historical data, statistics, and historical context. Students analyze their own family pictures adjusting the criteria to the current decade. Lastly students study the...
Curated OER
Keeping Us in Stitches Activity: Whole Cloth Quilt Design
Students examine how decorative motifs are adapted to other types of objects by craftsmen and artists. They examine photos on the Illinois State Museum website, discuss design elements, adapt a motif to a line drawing, and transfer a...
Curated OER
Advertisements
Students compare aspects of daily life from the mid-19th century with those of today to contrast life then and now. They study newspaper advertisements for housing and clothing from then and now and create and illustrate their own...
Curated OER
Depicting Women and Class in a Global Society
Students analyze the evolution of women's work from the 19th century to present day and create artwork depicting women. In this women's roles lesson plan, students compare and contrast the use of space and color in the two paintings...
Curated OER
You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer!
Students study women's clothing in the 19th century as well as one prominent
feminist of the time. They examine women's dress of the period from the picture book read aloud You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! They provide adjectives...
Curated OER
What Does It Cost?
Students study the challenges diverse people encountered in the late 19th century American society, how racial and ethnic events influenced America during the Progressive Era, and the conditions affecting employment and labor in the late...
Smithsonian Institution
Solomon G. Brown: Letter Writing
Personal correspondence in the form of letters is not as common as it once was. This resource presents an opportunity for you to introduce your class to letter writing and cover topics in social studies. Learners read a letter written in...
Curated OER
Comprehension Questions for Stitching Stars
In this comprehension questions for Stitching Stars worksheet, learners answer 30 comprehension questions after reading the book about quilts made by slaves in the 17-19th centuries.
Curated OER
Life of a Logger
Students are introduced to the work and lives of 19th century lumberjacks through a living history slide show presentation. They compare and contrast life 150 years ago with the present. Students describe the history of logging in...
Curated OER
Heartfelt/Handmade Activities: Genre Painting
Students examine genre painting. They explore the Illinois State Museum website, identify how genre paintings were composed, analyze the activities of an Illinois farm in the 1850s, and create a genre painting of current everyday...
Curated OER
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
A thorough lesson introduces learners to Hans Christian Andersen, the nineteenth-century author who created wonderful tales. They read the original texts of several of his stories, including "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid,"...
Curated OER
Women
A close study of two works of art provides the introduction to this cross-curricular writing assignment. After comparing the clothing, facial expressions, body language, setting, and color in the two 19th century paintings Tissout’s...
Curated OER
Welcome Immigrants!
Students research immigration to find out why people from Europe, Asia, and elsewhere left their homelands during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Then they determine what living conditions were like when immigrants first settled...
Curated OER
John Wanamaker and his "New Kind of Store"
High schoolers study John Wanamaker's department store and its attractions to 19th century consumers. In this Civil War instructional activity pupils compare the different styles of shopping pre department stores and evaluate images...
Curated OER
Keeping the Pioneers Warm
Fourth graders are introduced to some of the history and background of the art of quilt making by 19th century pioneer women. They use tagboard shapes to design, construct and display quilt squares.
Curated OER
A Presidential Portrait: Andrew Jackson
Eighth graders examine the role of intended meaning in Ralph Earl's portrait of Andrew Jackson. They, in groups, research periods in Jackson's life and use gathered information to create their own portraits of Jackson.
Smithsonian Institution
Mary Henry: Journal/Diary Writing
A great way to connect social studies with language arts, a resource on Mary Henry's historical diary reinforces the concepts of primary and secondary sources. It comes with an easy-to-understand lesson plan, as well as the reference...
San Francisco Symphony
Beethoven's Sixth Symphony and the Expression of Feeling through the Arts
Here is an activity used originally to finish off a unit on country life and nature. It requires learners to have a basic understanding of harvest, rural life, and autumn. They'll use what they know to construct dance movements showing...