Curated OER
Living Art-i-facts: Technology Takes Us There!
Students create living artifacts dealing with different times and cultures. They explore Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, Islam, Africa, and the United States.
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Asian Islam and Arab Islam
Focus on the impact and practice of Islam throughout Asia and the Middle East. Learners review the seven major religions, the spread of Islam, and Islamic tenets commonly practiced. They then research one country that practices Islamic...
Curated OER
US Constitution
Think about the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence with your budding historians. They analyze the importance of historical documents by examining several famous documents, and then they complete activities that check...
Curated OER
Tension Between Conflict and Compromise
Learners prepare for and participate in a debate and mock trial regarding laws broken during the Boston Tea Party. Several primary documents and a homework chart are included.
Curated OER
The Movement Before the Movement: Civil Rights Activism in the 1940s
Many educators focus on the civil rights movement as it occurred after Rosa Parks incited the bus boycott. Extend the understanding of the fight for civil rights in the United States with this post-WWII instructional activity. Learners...
Curated OER
The Great States Race
Here is another in the interesting series of lessons that use the special State Quarters as a learning tool. This one uses the Indiana State Quarter. During this lesson plan, utilize a brilliantly-designed board game that is embedded in...
Curated OER
What's Wong? What's Right?
Explore the ethics, responsibilities, and impacts of the career cluster that relates to law. Learners examine various cases where legal action was taken and resulted in a consequence. They'll act out various scenarios, research jobs in...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nonviolent Resistance
Was nonviolent resistance the best means of securing civil rights for black Americans in the 1960s? In this highly engaging and informative lesson, your young historians will closely analyze several key documents from the civil rights...
Close Up Foundation
Rights Auction
In an engaging activity on universal and unalienable rights, learners work in groups to establish a democratic nation and determine what principles they want to protect to ensure a democratic society. They conduct a "rights auction" in...
Federal Reserve Bank
Market Basket SMART/ActivInspire Lesson Plan
Inflate your knowledge, not the economy! Pupils learn more about inflation with detailed worksheets and exciting activities such as role play, an interactive PowerPoint presentation, and a project in which they design a podcast on...
Center for Civic Education
The Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and Today
Discover the fascinating history of the Equal Rights Amendment and discuss the major implications and considerations associated with it today. Here you will find background information on the topic, a graphic organizer summarizing...
Federal Reserve Bank
Barbie in the Labor Force
How have the women's share of the labor force and chosen occupations evolved in the United States over the last century? Using census reports, graphs detailing the gender makeup of the labor force, and analysis of the careers of Barbie...
National Endowment for the Humanities
David Walker vs. John Day: Two Nineteenth-Century Free Black Men
What was the most beneficial policy for nineteenth-century African Americans: to stay in the United States and work for freedom, or to immigrate to a new place and build a society elsewhere? Your young historians will construct an...
Federal Reserve Bank
Turn Your Radio On
After listening to and analyzing a series of FDR's Fireside Chats, groups create their own recordings, and using New Deal programs, address a current economic condition.
Federal Reserve Bank
Could It Happen Again?
The final instructional activity in a series of six about the Great Depression focuses on the Federal Reserve's role in stabilizing the economy.
Visa
Make It Happen: Saving for a Rainy Day
Every little penny counts, especially when it comes to saving for emergencies or long-term goals. Pupils evaluate different saving and investment strategies, such as a CD or money market account, through worksheets and by researching...
Delegation of the European Union to the United States
Cultural Identity
How does cultural diversity impact political identity? That is the question researchers face as they continue their examination of the European Union and the programs it has developed in its attempt to achieve unity in diversity. To gain...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Continental Differences
Middle schoolers break into groups and closely investigate primary sources associated with the seven different continents. After deciding which continent their primary sources relate to, representatives from each group present their...
Curated OER
Stock Ownership & The Economy
Students, in groups, discuss, define and write about several basic economic terms. They create a PiCoMap that reflects the concepts they have discussed and explain the risks and benefits of owning stock.
Curated OER
Communities
Students are introduced to the concept of communities. Using a map, they locate and describe different communities of all sizes. They watch a video and answer questions on a worksheet to complete the lesson.
Curated OER
From Where Does Prejudice Come?
Students explore the concept of discrimination. In this social studies instructional activity, students view pictures and write down the first thing that comes to their mind. Students discuss if stereotyping or prejudice affected their...
Walters Art Museum
The Symbolism of Allegorical Art
Introduce learners to allegorical art with four bronze sculptures by Francesco Bertos. After modeling how to recognize bias and allegory in Bertos' Africa, class groups examine the other three sculptures in the series before creating...
Edgate
Why Map a Map?
After brainstorming reasons why Native Americans mapped their lands, your young critical thinkers will work together to review their ideas and determine the definition of a map. With today's extensive use of mapping technology and GPS...
Curated OER
Houghton Mifflin Social Studies/Chapter 11, Lesson 1: California in Wartime (pp. 250-253)
Fourth graders explore the crisis of Japanese Americans during World War II. The benefits of the California economy are explored. The lesson has a discussion portion that is culturally relevant for many types of students.