Minnesota Literacy Council
Introduction to Historical Thinking
Christopher Columbus: hero or villain? Prepare class members for the debate with activities that asks them to think critically about how history is reported.
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The Powers of Government
Explore the powers of the federal and state government. Learners use a Venn Diagram to classify tasks as belonging to the states, the federal government, or both. This activity provides a quick way to review these concepts.
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The Eyes Have It ... Or Do They?
Learners explore facial expressions for the hidden meanings being communicated. Truth can be hidden or at least disguised by a particular expression. The reality of control and the manipulation of truth is discussed in this lesson plan.
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Car For Sale!
Students practice their writing and editing skills by developing a plan for and then writing a grammatically correct description of an item (car or otherwise) that they would like to sell.
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Voyage to the New World
Students examine the exploration of the New World. They write a descriptive account of the first encounter between Europeans and Native Americans, analyze and label maps, plot Columbus's journey on a map, and write a chapter summary.
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Does the Supreme Court Affect Teens?: A Survey of Court Cases
Students read and restate the Ten Amendements of the Bill of Rights. They analyze Supreme Court cases using the Bill of Rights. Students make predictions about how the Supreme Court might have deicided each case. They evaluate how the...
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Discovery of America
Students examine the European conquest of North America. They participate in activities which allow them to discover the indigenous peoples of the region. They also place events in chrongological order.
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Convey Ideas in Writing
Write an unsent letter about a consumer scam, paying attention to the writing conventions of punctuation and spelling. This activity could be adapted to fit a variety of social issues in which letter writing is appropriate. 4
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African-American Inventors
Students conduct research on a variety of African-American inventors. They choose an invention that they feel has had the greatest impact on the world today and write a short summary of the invention, its impact and the inventor's...
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How History Changed the Way We Eat
Learners participate in a lesson that is concerned with the history of the food pyramid and how it evolved and changed into its modern state. After being presented with the information they conduct classroom discussions about the research.
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Reading a Local and National Weather Map
Learners practice reading a national and local weather map. Using this information, they work together to make predictions about the weather for the next few days. They discuss the use of symbols and maps as a class and discuss how...
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What's Your Temperature?
Learners take a look at the local newspaper and focus on the weather section. They get into small groups, and each one looks at the same map, but of a different part of the country. They must prepare a presentation that shows how...
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Where Am I?
Students apply map reading skills by locating places through the use of latitude and longitude.
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Global Statistics
Students select appropriate data to determine the mean, median, mode and range of a set of data. They calculate the statistical data on literacy rates and life expectancy within each geographic region of the world. Students determine...
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Probability
Here is a classic activity used to introduce your class to the concept of probability and data collection. They will roll one die 30 times, then record and discuss the results. Great introduction, but too shallow to be considered a...
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Ohio Census 1990 and 2000
Pupils begin the instructional activity by examining Census data from the state of Ohio from 1990 and 2000. Using a worksheet, they solve problems using the data and a calculator. They share their responses with the class and discuss...