Curated OER
Family Animals: Reading Historic Photographs
Students read photographs. For this social studies lesson, students "read" historic photographs and discuss what they learned from looking at the photographs. Students look at the pictures and write a caption.
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Changes in Transportation over Time
Planes, trains, and automobiles. How many ways to travel are there? Scholars learn about modes of transportation in the past and how they have changed over time. Budding historians view a timeline, participate in group discussion, and...
Curated OER
Games around the World
There are three little words every teacher is just dying to hear; investigate, discuss, and play. Kids love those words too, and they'll love finding out what types of things children did for fun long ago. As homework, they interview...
Denver Art Museum
My Animal Symbol
Here is an art lesson that combines visual arts and language arts into one very nice package. In it, youngsters study a fascinating painting called Painting of Bear and Sun Dances. They begin to understand the importance of traditional...
Curated OER
Exploring Gullah Culture...Through Language and Numbers
First graders examine the culture of the ancient Gullah people. As a class, they practice saying and writing the days of the week and numbers in Gullah. They are read a Gullah folktale and put the events of the story into the correct...
Curated OER
Stories in Quilts
Have your class analyze the narrative art in quilts. They identify elements in this domestic art and the stories they tell. They define a story quilt, view an example, and analyze the work of Harriet Power. This is a great instructional...
Curated OER
Special Sunflowers
Students view a picture of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. In this caring and kindness lesson students read Camille and the Sunflower and explore the feelings of the characters. Students complete worksheets related to Camille's feelings in the book.
Curated OER
If You Were a Pioneer on the Oregon Trail
Students examine what it was like to travel west on the Oregon Trail. They develop a list of questions about the trip, explore various websites, and create a story about the experiences of a 19th century family travelling on the Oregon...
Curated OER
Our Changing Community
Students investigate how communities grow and change. In this communities lesson, students discuss how their community has changed and construct a model of a community.
Curated OER
A Big Book About Us
Students work on fine-motor, creative-thinking and language skills as they share special photos and stories about their families with their classmates. Students create individual pages for a class book that will include drawings and photos.
Curated OER
Journal Writing
Young scholars investigate the life of Martha Wayles Jefferson. In this American history lesson, students examine excerpts of the journals kept by Thomas Jefferson's wife. Young scholars infer what life at Monticello may have been like....
Curated OER
QUILT SHARING
Young scholars share in the family histories of their peers as told through the quilt stories, and apply math skills by using invented strategies to determine the (approximate) age of the quilt from the information given about the date...
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
Relationship with Nature
After a class discussion that focuses on kinship and extended family, young learners explore how Native Americans have lived in clans and other forms of extended family divisions. Pupils also see how Native Americans relate to the...
Smithsonian Institution
Our Story: Duke Ellington and Jazz
Get parents or guardians into the swing of things with a jazzy homework assignment. A detailed six-page guide provides before, during, and after reading suggestions for Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra, Andrea Davis...
Curated OER
Activity Name: A Step Back In Time
First graders step back in history. In this history lesson, 1st graders compare life in the past with life today as they create books that compare clothing, homes, schools, chores, and technology of today to those of the past.
Curated OER
Pilgrim's Progress- Get on the Boat
Students investigate the Pilgrims and their journey. In this history lesson, students role play the journey of the Pilgrims and discuss the conditions of the Mayflower. Students record their feelings about the "journey" in a journal.
Curated OER
Zora Hurston Teacher's Guide
Students explore American culture by reading classic literature in class. In this African-American history lesson, students read the story Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree while identifying the work and contributions of the real life...
Curated OER
Tracing Our Own Family Pilgrimages
Students observe a world map and are introduced to vocabulary like: cities, continents, rivers, lakes, and oceans. They discuss the names of the cities they live in and locate them on the map; then using a colored pushpin indicate: the...
Curated OER
Family Picture Quilt
Students explore family backgrounds and traditions while discussing how memories are preserved. In this patchwork quilt lesson plan, students create a keepsake by compiling pictures, drawings, and magazine clippings of things that are...
Smithsonian Institution
Autobiography through Objects
Show youngsters how objects can tell a story! Here your class will learn about Cuban salsa dancer Celia Cruz by analyzing pictures of her dress, her shoes, and her marriage certificate. After describing Cruz's items and imagining what...
Curated OER
Celebrate With Silhouettes
Students explore history of silhouettes, and help create keepsake silhouettes, frame them, or use them to make a special Mother's Day card.
Curated OER
Huichol Yarn Painting
Young artists of many ages apply yarn painting techniques in combining their ideas and their art. After viewing actual examples of yarn paintings created by the Huichol people, learners choose an important scene from their own lives...
Curated OER
Ethnic Folklore in Your Classroom: Traditions, Tales, and Treasures from Tijuana to Timbuktu
Students create their own festival. In this folk life lesson plan, students research their folklore history by interviewing their parents and grandparents, organizing the data found, and presenting that material to the class. Students...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Benjamin and the Way to A Good Life
Young scholars explore American history by reading biographical text in class. In this Benjamin Franklin lesson, learners research the famous inventor by reading assigned text and answering reading comprehension questions afterwards....