Curated OER
A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History
The Nashua River serves as the focal point of an investigation of the treatment of and care for natural resources. A reading of A River Rand Wild: An Environmental History by Lynne Cherry, launches the study and class members consider...
Curated OER
Poetry Through Digital Storytelling
Bring digital storytelling to your language arts class! To begin, learners select their own topic, such as a poem that reflects a life experience they had or a historical figure who interests them. Then they work to create a storyboard...
Curated OER
Information Overload: Looking at News
How do events reported in mainstream newspapers, on television news, blog posts, and social network sites differ? Ask your class to investigate the way the same news item is presented in the many information sources available. Groups...
Curated OER
How Would You Feel?
Sixth graders put themselves in the shoes of aborigines who were displaced from their homes in the 1800s by Europeans who came in and took their land from them. They discuss the social injustices suffered by these people, and write a...
Curated OER
Telling Our Own Stories
Explore online profiles and social media with your middle and high school classes. Use blogs to inspire your class to craft a well-written, thoughtful response to a prompt you give. A few example prompts are given.
Curated OER
Communicative Choices & Linguistic Style
Start by watching a video entitled Do You Speak American? and respond to discussion questions about the various dialects showcased throughout the video to identify the regional linguistic styles throughout America. As a culminating...
Museum of Tolerance
Cultural Research Activity
Class members explore cultural diversity through a variety of texts that showcase the importance of traditions. Then, they interview their family members to research their own cultural background and write their findings on quilt pieces....
Channel Islands Film
Dark Water: Lesson Plan 1 - Grades 3-4
As part of their study of the history of the Channel Islands, class members craft an informational article to post on a bulletin board that features the Chumash ancestral tradition of tomol paddling.
Curated OER
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution: The American Revolution
The contributions of African-Americans to the American Revolution are the focus of this Social Studies and language arts lesson. After reading and discussing Linda Crotta Brennan’s The Black Regiment of the American Revolution, class...
National Literacy Trust
Mark The Bard!
Commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death with a packet of cross-curricular literacy lessons and activities centered around two of the Bard's most popular plays, Macbeth and The Tempest. Class members look for evidence of...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
The Effect of the Great Depression on Children
How did the Great Depression affect children? Sometimes studying the Great Depression means only studying about how it affected adults, however, relating the experiences of children and peers their age to themselves may make the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
La Familia
Young scholars identify at least one country where the Spanish language is spoken, describe similarities and differences between Spanish, Mexican, and Puerto Rican families, and practice speaking the Spanish words for several family...
Curated OER
The Presidential Quotation Report
Famous quotations by American Presidents are the focus of this Six Trait writing activity, which could be used in a U.S. History class or in language arts. After reading the picture book Theodore by Frank Keating, have your 7th graders...
Curated OER
Newspapers in the Digital Age
Is journalism more or less reliable with the influx of Internet sources? Learners investigate the issues of freedom of speech, journalistic ethics, and social responsibility in the age of Twitter and Facebook. After examining the...
James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
Those "Other Rights:" The Constitution and Slavery
Did the United States Constitution uphold the institution of slavery, or did it help to destroy it? Young historians study Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution and evaluate the rights of slaveowners as they compared to or...
Curated OER
Historic Cemeteries: "History Written in Stone"
Students explore the history of their community through researching grave markers. They visit a local cemetary, partcipate in a cemetary scavenger hunt, conduct a survey for various graves, and write an essay describing their cemetary...
Library of Congress
Stars, Stripes and Symbols of America: Comparing Our Flag, Past and Present
Your young historians will compare and contrast the details of the American flag today with an an image of the nation's flag from the post-Civil War era, and identify the flag's importance as a national symbol through analysis worksheets...
Time Warp Trio
See You Later, Gladiator!
Young historians take a look at the age of gladiators, and the cultural atmosphere present when they staged their epic battles. Pupils pretend to be reporters and write newspaper articles about one of the events they stage. Then,...
Curated OER
Who Was That Man?
Develop historical analysis and interpretation with your older students. They will study and analyze three given interpretations of Christopher Columbus' life, which includes significant events, his character, and the impact he made on...
Curated OER
"Declaration of Independence" From Plagiarism
So, what does the Declaration of Independence even mean? Learners of all ages paraphrase the Declaration of Independence in modern terms. They work as a group or class to paraphrase the language of the Declaration of Independence. There...
Curated OER
Invetories Slave owner or not?
Primary source analysis is a great way to bring history to life. Learners examine a series of personal inventories taken from Southern white males who died during the Civil War era. They analyze the documents to determine the social and...
Curated OER
Understanding "The Stans"
Students explore and locate "The Stans" in Central Asia to create, write and illustrate maps, graphs and charts to organize geographic information. They analyze the historical and physical characteristics of Central Asia via graphic...
Curated OER
Now That's Beautiful!
Your class experiences dozens of messages about beauty every day by reading magazines, watching movies, and listening to the radio. Have them analyze society's view of beauty in groups after discussing several resources, including Dove's...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Night to Life is Beautiful
After reading Elie Wiesel's Night, watching the movie Life is Beautiful, and researching World War II, class members write a comparison essay on the book and film. This includes a prior knowledge activity, discussion in whole and small...