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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Grapes of Wrath: Scrapbooks and Artifacts

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary sources. In this Great Depression lesson, students read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and use ethnographic research processes...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ninteenth Century Women: Struggle and Triumph

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars examine the role of women in US society during the 19th century and how this role evolved and changed in time. They then write a persuasive letter that domonstrates their comprehensin of the subject.
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Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Oral History and Social History

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine the Great Depression. In this oral and social histories instructional activity, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of the America in the 1930's.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Out of the Dust: Visions of Dust Bowl History Lesson Overview

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students complete activities with the book Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. In this literature lesson, students read this story and view the Dust Bowl history from the eyes of a child. They discover the Great Depression and life in the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Twentieth Century Entertainment: When Work is Done

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students determine how Americans enjoy leisure time. In this 20th century America lesson, students research primary sources to study how Americans gained leisure time during the century and what they did with it.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Lives in Two Centuries:What Is an American?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers decide what it means to be an American. In this historical perspectives lesson, students read Crevecoeur's "Letter from an American Farmer," and interviews with everyday Americans from the Works Progress Administration....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Drake's West Indian Voyage 1588-1589

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars investigate several maps detailing Sir Francis Drake's voyages.  In this geography lesson, students practice reading maps and locating the precise locations of where Sir Francis Drake visited.  Young scholars create an...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Waldseemuller's Map: World 1507

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Learners investigate the 1507 word map. In this world geography lesson, students examine the details of each section of the map and then draw conclusions about how the people of 1507 understood the world. Learners are evalated on...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Transportation Transformed America

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders focus on the role of transportation. In this transportation instructional activity, 11th graders look at the lives of Americans at the turn of the centuries. They compare and contrast 2000 to 1900. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Women's Suffrage: Their Rights and Nothing Less

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore women's rights. In this women's history activity, students examine primary and secondary sources regarding the women's suffrage movement in the United States. Students compare and contrast the states' methods for...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Waldseemüller’s Map: World 1507

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners take a closer look at historical maps. For this primary source analysis lesson, students examine the first world map produced by Martin Waldseemuller. Learners complete the included map analysis worksheet and then write letters...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tools to Live By

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders compare life in the early 1900's with the life today. In this technology lesson, 3rd graders research about the development of a certain technological tool. They collect data and report findings in class.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mapmaker, Mapmaker, Make Me a Map!

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners evaluate the different types of historical and geographical information that one can gather through close study of historical maps from the 16th through the 19th centuries. They create their own maps.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

On the Oregon Trail

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners work with primary documents and latter-day photographs to recapture the experience of traveling on the Oregon Trail. Working in groups, they write a scene for the movie that is historically accurate and based on the kinds of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Immigration to the Golden Land: Jewish Life in America

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine waves of Jewish immigration during three time periods and analyze a variety of primary sources, including letters, memoirs, and laws, to gain insight into both the American immigrant experience and American society...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Soldier's Letters

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners explore the role letters play in a soldier's life and learn background information about Vietnam in the 1960s.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Immigration and Migration Today and During the Great Depression

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students conduct oral history interviews and research primary resources to explain changes in immigration and migration over time.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cosmic Wheels

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Young scholars build a scale model of the Solar System and determine the time other planets take to travel around the Sun in comparison to the time of the Earth's revolution. The velocity of the planets are also determined in this lesson.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Not Just A Man's War

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students write 2 letters from a woman who may have lived during the Civil War and 2 letters from her relative which include factual information that they have research using the Internet and other resources, along with other activities.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analyzing Poetic Devices: Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" and Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz"

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine how Robert Hayden and Theodore Roethke incorporate poetic devices to convey meaning in the poems, 'Those Winter Sundays,' and 'My Papa's Waltz.' They listen to audio clips, explore websites, and write an analysis of the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Jazz is About Freedom": Billie Holiday's Anti-lynching Song Strange Fruit

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Working in small teams, learners analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gwendolyn Brooks

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students examine the contributions of the author Gwendolyn Brooks. They create a journal, read and discuss poems by Brooks, write a poem about themselves, and create a timeline of their own lives.
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Language Arts: Putting Together a Position Paper

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students are able to identify the target audience for their writing. They are able to create an appropriate format for their papers. Students are able to focus on the developing clear arguments and supporting all key points with facts.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Family Interviews: The Grandparent/Elder Project

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Learners explore key concepts/facts in 20th Century history, develop interview questions, and produce master list of questions that can be used in project. Students then interview grandparent, great-grandparent, or other elder about...