Curated OER
Happy Birthday!: Internet Research and Historic Events
Talk about intrinsic motivation! Begin where your students' natural interests lie -- with themselves -- and launch a variety of projects with this activity. Class members research important events that took place on their birthdays....
Curated OER
Historical Interview Project
Students interview a subject about important historical events in his or her lifetime and create an iMovie of the experience. Era-related data is imported into the project from a variety of sources and presented to the rest of the class.
Civil War Trust
Creating a Historic Site
A historic site marks a place where a relevant historical event occurred, no matter how many people know about it. Small groups choose their own historical sites, including a place where a class member was born, or even a football field...
Curated OER
Animating a Historic Event
Research a historic event using textbooks, primary source documents, the Internet, and other library and media resources. Young historians will take the research they have gathered and write an attention-grabbing, historically accurate...
Curated OER
Fill-In - October Event in History
A lot has happened in the month of October in the past 100 years or so. Kids fill in the blank for 31 events, each of which occurred on a day in October. Each event can be found in a New York Times article from the past 100+ years....
Curated OER
A Day of Infamy:Analyzing FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address
In 1941 FDR spoke out on the events at Pearl Harbor. The class will get to analyze word choice, word meaning, author's craft and structure by analyzing an actual draft of this speech. They will look critically at the words used,...
Curated OER
Sunken Millions for People in our Past
This multiple choice review covers famous historical figures from all walks of life. each slide has a scoring set up in the corner which assumes two teams and allows for hints and lifelines etc. but it is not clear how to use this...
Curated OER
Historical Events of the Civil War
Fifth graders research the Civil War through the use of primary documents. In this historical events of the Civil War lesson, 5th graders write about the information gotten from the primary document. Students answer critical thinking...
Polk Bros Foundation
How to Summarize an Event in History or Today - or a Story
Ask your class to write a quick summary of a historical or current event. The worksheet offers a place to note down important details about the event, such as time, place, people, how it started, and how it ended. Pupils then take this...
Briscoe Center for American History
Applying the SOAPS Method of Analyzing Historical Documents
Young historians use the SOAPS (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject) method of questioning to determine the historical value of primary source documents. The third in a series of five lessons that model for learners how...
National Park Service
The Power of Remembrance
On every July 4th, we watch fireworks and celebrate our independence, but how is the history of the American Revolution preserved? Four social studies lesson guide learners through different memorials, commemorative objects, and restored...
Curated OER
How are People Portrayed by Different Media?
Your 9th - 12th graders can hone their analysis and critical thinking skills by studying the way a subject is portrayed across media types. They examine how various print, visual, and online sources have portrayed key players in the 9/11...
Curated OER
Historical Population Changes in the US
Students conduct research on historical population changes in the U.S. They conduct Internet research on the Historical Census Data Browser, create a bar graph and data table using a spreadsheet program, and display and interpret their...
Curated OER
Wisconsin Historical Events Calendar
Fourth graders create a calendar of historical events and people in Wisconsin. They select a month of the year and research events and people using the Internet and other resources. They collect their research and create a reencactment...
Warren County Public Schools
Small Group Discussion Questions
Support a class reading of the novel Song of the Trees by Mildred D. Taylor with this series of discussion questions. Covering a variety of topics from character and setting to historical accuracy and symbolism, these questions challenge...
Stanford University
Chronology: Civil Rights in the 20th Century
Test pupils' knowlege of history and the way civil rights movements unfolded using a series of images. With a primary source analysis activity, scholars practice their chronology and deductive reasoning skills. They use their knowledge...
Curated OER
"I" Witness to History
Young journalists write diary entries from the point of view of a person involved in a historical event. They focus on including facts, clear narration, and accurate description of the individual's feelings.
Smithsonian Institution
Women's Role in the War Effort
Did you know that many women were Confederate spies during the Civil War? The resource focuses particularly on the important role women played for both the Union and Confederacy. It uses exercises such as a discussion, video, analyzing...
Curated OER
Holocaust Denials
Do people deny that the Holocaust occurred? When posed with this question in class, high schoolers answer with a discussion on relativism, historical perspectives, and anti-Semitic historians. The presentation is full of information that...
Curated OER
Read All About It! California History of the 30s and 40s
Explore the Great Depression! Discover the challenges people experienced during the time period. Learners investigate photographs from the Dust Bowl and WWII era and create a story line about the photographs, writing a newspaper article...
Curated OER
Using Primary Source Documents in the Classroom
Students use primary documents to explore the past. They consider the source of the documents and identify and biases that the author may have held. They identify any questions about the historical event that may remain after reading the...
Curated OER
HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES ANALYSIS
Young scholars examine a variety of maps and documents to identify physical and cultural features of neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries, to explain the historical migration of people, expansion and disintegration of empires,...
Alberta Learning
Creating Authentic Diaries
Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "What is history but a fable agreed upon?" A series of lessons encourages learners to look beyond the basic fable agreed upon related to events in history and consider multiple accounts of the event. The...
Stanford University
Evaluating Historical Sources on Juana Briones
Most have never heard of Juana Briones, the incredible woman who came to own property and divorce her husband in 1850s California. Yet, her relatively unknown life reflects the historical dynamics of the American West, particularly those...