Cave Creek Unified School District
Crusades and Culture in the Middle Ages
The Crusades sounds like a glamorous time period in the Middle Ages full of glory—but was it? Scholars find and review the truth of the Crusades' influence on the world through the resource. The study guides, separated individually by...
Curated OER
Exploration of Utopias and Dystopias
If you are considering adding or expanding a unit on utopian and dystopian literature you simply must check out this fabulous resource. Packed with plans, activities, project-based and 21st century learning opportunities, the unit uses a...
ReadWriteThink
Decoding the Dystopian Characteristics of Macintosh’s “1984” Commercial
Known as one of the most iconic advertisements of the 20th century, Macintosh's "1984" commercial has become more of a social statement. Present the ad to a new audience of viewers with a lesson focused on identifying dystopian...
Curated OER
"The 1,000,000 Pound Bank Note" by Mark Twain
Compare real events from Mark Twain's life to events in the story. Middle school readers identify point-of-view, its purpose, and its reliability by citing two examples. They describe the tone of the story using four examples and...
Visa
Savvy Spending: Sharpening Money Decisions
Do you really need that new laptop/phone/dress/jacket/etc.? Financial decisions require us to distinguish between our wants and our needs. Through discussion and the evaluation of scenarios on provided worksheets, this resource will...
Heritage Foundation
Slavery and the Constitution
It's hard to believe the abolition movement was once seen as scandalous. Help learners understand how the US Constitution changed everything. A variety of activities such as corresponding reading activities, group work ideas, and...
Curated OER
Indian Languages
Fifth graders explore the different types of Indian languages used today in the United States.
Curated OER
My Reading Words in My Social Studies Book?
Connect social studies and language arts using this resource. After studying root words, have learners locate five words from their social studies book that have a prefix, suffix, or root word. This puts a new twist on practicing basic...
Curated OER
Slang and Language Change
Slang, as an example of language change in action, is the focus of a short lesson that asks learners to contribute examples to a class list of terms that they use to separate themselves from other groups or adults. Consider expanding the...
Curated OER
Diversity Discussion Questions
Have a class discussion on diversity. With your class, explore the ideas of prejudice, fear, suspicion and individual rights. Discuss the benefits of uniqueness and how diversity contributes to strength and unity.
Curated OER
Telecommunications and the Whole Language Program
Young writers use technology and other media to research information on a chosen topic. They explore countries where keypals and e-mail friends are located. Using their writing skills, they correspond with their e-mail friend and...
Curated OER
Studying Mind Maps Created at Other Schools
Students explore Africa and mind maps created by students from other schools. They discuss Africa and the number of countries, diversity of language, cultures, races, religions, and lifestyles and in groups study a mind map from another...
Curated OER
The Rigors of Learning a New Language
Students read an autobiography of a peace corps volunteer studying Chinese. In this cultural acceptance lesson, students compare the dialects of Chinese with English dialects. Students discuss the differences in learning and teaching a...
Curated OER
Social Studies: Looking at Regions
Quiz your 3rd graders on why we have regions. This regions quiz includes 16 questions on why and how we group areas into regions based on physical features, culture, politics or religion. A class discussion on technology completes this...
Curated OER
Sleuthing A Writer's Skills
Learners read The Train Ride Home by Robin Solomon. In this literature response lesson, students will inspect the writing of Solomon to determine how she established a certain tone through her word choice and paragraph structure....
Curated OER
Cross-Curricular Language Arts Lessons
Here are lesson ideas to begin integrating social studies content into the language arts classroom.
Missouri Department of Elementary
Happy, Sad, Scared and Mad: All Belong To Me
"What are feelings?" and "Why are feelings important to understand?" are the essential questions of a lesson that boosts self-awareness. Scholars discuss the four basic emotions—happy, sad, scared, and mad—in preparation for a creative...
Curated OER
Teaching the Language of Thinking
Use explicit instruction of academic language to strengthen student comprehension
Digital Public Library of America
The Poetry of Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou's work reflects her passion for life, civil rights, and justice for all. A collection of 12 primary sources provide scholars with insight into this amazing woman. The set includes photographs, articles, recordings of...
Curated OER
An Inspiring Scene
In Guatemala, around AD 600-900, a vase was created. This vase is the inspiration for a lesson that incorporates expressive language skills, writing skills, and social studies. Children analyze the images on the vase and then choose one...
Talking with Trees
Empathy
Strengthen the skill to empathize with others with a worksheet that challenges scholars to match emotions—including happy, confused, sad—to one's body language.
National Humanities Center
Teaching The Great Gatsby: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
The 41 slides in a professional development seminar model how to use close reading techniques to examine the many layers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In addition to passages from the novel, slides provide biographical...
Idaho State Department of Education
Lessons for Social Studies Educators
Point of view, purpose, and tone: three concepts readers of primary and secondary source materials must take into account when examining documents. Class members view a PowerPoint presentation and use the SOAPS strategy to identify an...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Dueling Telegrams: 1963 Verbal Power Play Between Wallace and JFK
Information, inferences, and innuendos. Text and subtext. Class members examine telegrams exchanged between President John F. Kennedy and Alabama Governor George Wallace, studying both what is stated and what is implied by the diction...