Curated OER
Voyage of the St. Louis
Ninth graders explore the lives of Jewish refugees during WWII. After reading a brief passage about the people and the voyage of the St. Louis, 9th graders discuss how refugees have been treated historically. Reading and testing...
Curated OER
Mountain Magic: Identifying the Basic Physical Characteristics of Mountains
Students read about and identify on maps the physical characteristics of mountains. In this mountains lesson plan, students also write about the characteristics using personification.
Curated OER
Second Graders Create Their Own Social Studies Book (Part I, The 5Ws of the Constitution)
Students develop their own social studies textbook using a blank theme book as they complete activities and learning experiences throughout the year. The activities are in art, music, simulations, read alouds, shared writing and a class...
Curated OER
Commemorations Across Cultures
Students explore how different cultures commemorate people and events. They research how commemorations are created through music, painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, and poetry. In collaborative, students create a...
Curated OER
Nina Bonita: Culture and Beauty
Students read Nina Bonita by Ana Maria Machado. In this reading comprehension/ geography lesson, students recall various parts of the story and create a map of where the rabbit traveled throughout the story. They participate in group...
Curated OER
A Novel Idea
Fifth graders read a historical novel. In groups they reenact chapters of the novel.
Curated OER
Hidalgo's Fight for the Independence of Mexico
Tenth graders study and examine the life of Miguel Hidalgo while working to identify major themes. Small groups create sequence of event chains, analyze and label maps of Hidalgo's travels, and work together to create giant chalk maps...
Curated OER
Bias in Journalism
Pupils evaluate the credibility and reliability of various sources. Students survey the coverage of a particular event in different newspapers, select a current event and compare different perspectives. They write an article...
Curated OER
Summertime Travel
Third graders write about a summer event they participated in. In this paragraph writing lesson, the teacher models how to write about a place they have visited. Students then write their own paragraphs. Students will point out on the...
Curated OER
Reformation and Counter-reformation
Tenth graders examine the major theologies and practices for major religions. In this World History lesson, 10th graders describe the historical significance of key leaders and events. Students analyze the changes over this time period.
Curated OER
Territorial Characters
Eleventh graders study the Kansas Territory. In this American History lesson, 11th graders read ten biographical cards and summarize the main ideas. Students create cards to play Who am I?
Curated OER
If These Walls Could Talk: Seeing a Culture Through Human Features
Students read Talking Walls and discuss the walls presented and their importance to the culture. For this geography lesson, students locate and label each country/continent discussed in the book on a world map. Students take a walk and...
Curated OER
Inferring Themes
Fifth graders practice making inferences on various types of reading material. As a class, they develop a definition of the word "theme" and discuss themes for some of their favorite stories. They use the context of the reading...
Curated OER
Beyond Chopsticks and Rice
Students explore the stereotypical American images of China. In this English and World History lesson, students read a novel to become familiar with China and its people. Students research various events in China's history and report...
Curated OER
World History: Chronology
Students examine periods of time throughout world history. In this time chronology lesson plan, students read and create time lines. Students complete a variety of activities involving the ordering of events in time.
Curated OER
The Outrage of Ordinary Men: Pennsylvania's Role in the Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Students study the events that surround the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. In this historical lesson students work in groups to analyze documents, determine the facts and present a summary of their findings to the class.
Curated OER
Nasreddin Hodja - Turkish and Middle Eastern Folklore Philosopher
Third graders read a readers theater written by Nasreddin Hodja. In this Nasreddin Hodja lesson plan, 3rd graders learn about the philosopher and participate in one of his reader's theaters.
Curated OER
Which Way is Up? The Tree of Life in Africa
Students read a book titled This is the Tree about a baobab tree and draw a picture and label the tree. In this tree lesson plan, students also write a paragraph explaining why they drew that tree.
Curated OER
Jean Fritz's American History Series
Students explore children's literature by reading biographies in class. In this history analysis lesson, students read books written by Jean Fritz about the Revolutionary War and discuss the events that led up to the critical moment....
Curated OER
Wars and Conflicts
Students explore the concepts of war and conflict. In this research skills lesson, students use Internet and print sources to research the causes, effects, main events, and significant figures of selected wars.
Curated OER
Analyzing Poetry and Characters
Students investigate historical context by reading poetry. In this language arts lesson, students discover the work of Michael Longley and examine his poem "Ceasefire." Students identify the sonnets used in the piece and discuss the...
Curated OER
Poetry Describing Ordinary Life
Students examine the cultural and historical context which a poem is written in or describes. In this poetry lesson, students listen to an online recording of Philip Larkin reading "The Whitsun Wedding." Students explore how the poem...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Counting Numbers: Four
Students practice counting to four. In this counting to four lesson, students access an e-book at "I Save A Tree.com" where they count items up to four. They examine the text and images which can be seen in both Spanish and English.
Curated OER
Home: The Ties That Bind
Students read two novels, The Human Comedy and A Separate Peace and an autobiographical memoir, Farewell to Manzanar. They focus on the difficulties faced by the teenage protagonists in order to set up a connection between adolescence...