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Activity
PBS

Broadway and The American Dream

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Considering a unit study of American Musical Theatre? What better way to start than at the very beginning. Eight pairs of cards provide class members with background information about the genre from 1893 through 2004. The cards are...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Carl Sandburg's "Chicago": Bringing a Great City Alive

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Carl Sandburg composed poetry that conveyed a time and place in American Literature and history. Learners identify the literary techniques he uses to describe the historical and cultural context of living in Chicago. They define the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Duke Ellington: Great American Musician and Composer

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students delve into the life and music of Duke Ellington as a major American musician and composer. The elements that made the sound of his orchestra unique and the talents of his band members are explored in this lesson.
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PPT
Curated OER

Empire to Independence

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Here is a wonderful presentation, perfect for setting the stage for the Revolutionary War. Containing great information and images, it acts as a timeline of events starting with the French Indian War and ending with the dawn of the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Seal

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students study patriotic symbols of America. In this American history instructional activity, students construct a KWL chart on United States symbols and examine visuals of the Great Seal and bald eagle. Students create another symbol...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music of the Great Depression

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders take a closer look at the music of the Great Depression. In this 1930's America lesson, 11th graders read and analyze the provided lyrics of 6 songs from the era. Students then compose their own lyrics for songs that...
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Lesson Plan
San Francisco Symphony

By the Great Horn Spoon!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
By The Great Horn Spoon is a fantastic novel for introducing learners to life during the California Gold Rush. First, kids research and analyze American folk songs, then they connect to the text as they listen to symphonic pieces written...
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Lesson Plan
Crafting Freedom

Thomas Day's Letter to His Daughter, Mary Ann

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Why is a letter a better way to learn about a person than a different primary source? Explore Thomas Day's ideas and advice to his daughter in a letter from 1851, which details the struggles of the American South before the Civil War....
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Lesson Plan
Digital Writing and Research Lab's – Lesson Plans

Teaching Close Reading through Short Composition/Revision

For Teachers 9th - 12th
This activity may have writers evaluate short compositions, but their subjects are quite tall: great Americans. Pupils read one another's compositions and closely examine how specific phrases and diction contribute to shaping American...
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Unit Plan
San Francisco Symphony

Learning Adjectives through the Duke

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Duke Ellington, jazz, and jive kick-off a fun and creative lesson on responding emotionally to music. The class will learn about jive talk used in the 1920s and the life and music of Duke Ellington. They'll listen to a selection of his...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Spirit of Nationalism

For Teachers 6th - 12th
What were the virtues and values that helped form America? Pupils watch and discuss a video, read biographies of early Americans, chart the differences between early American religious movements, write journals and letters, draw, and...
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Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

Overlapping Rectangle

For Teachers K - 3rd Standards
Challenge young mathematicians' ability to compose and decompose shapes with this fun geometry puzzle. The goal is simple, locate all of the rectangles shown in a picture of three overlapping rectangles. Perform this activity as a whole...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating an Original Opera

For Teachers 9th - 12th
This may be a lot to ask of a high schooler, but then again, who knows? Pupils work in groups to explore, write, and then perform an original opera. They view versions of The Magic Flute and La Traviata, then compose a plot, characters,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Migrant Workers Through the Lens of Dorothea Lange

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Students explore the lives of migrant workers during the Great Depression. In this Great Depression lesson, students examine photographs and song lyrics to gain an understanding of the conditions for people living in the era. Students...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

James Brown: Life and Times

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students trace James Brown's rise from "Little Junior" in Depression-era Augusta, Georgia, to the "Minister of the New Super Heavy Funk" and create a collage that captures his impact on American music.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Woodrow Wilson and American Involvement in the Great War

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students examine American involvement in World War I. In this World War I lesson, students investigate Wilson's policy of neutrality as they read excerpts from his messages to Congress. Students respond to questions regarding the...
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Activity
Library of Congress

The Harlem Renaissance

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The Harlem Renaissance brought forth many American art forms including jazz, and the writings of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. Using a carefully curated set of documents from the Library of Congress, pupils see the cultural...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Designing Museum Exhibits for The Grapes of Wrath: A Multigenre Project

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Challenge readers of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath to create a museum exhibit that uses artifacts to focus on one issue raised by the award winning story of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the Joads.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Writing Exercises: English Settlements in North America

For Students 9th - 11th
A great writing exercise should have it all. This one requires learners to think critically about cause and effect, compare and contrast, and summarizing. They compose responses to five short answer questions regarding Spanish and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dos mapas de Florida, el Caribe y parte de Sur America

For Teachers 7th - 12th
What can maps tell us about the past? Find out with a Spanish lesson that incorporates geography. After examining maps individually, comparing two old maps of Spanish Florida and writing notes in the provided Venn diagram, pupils pair up...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Musician Extraordinaire Based on the DC Quarter Reverse

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students develop an understanding of the role of a musician, composer, and conductor. In this musician lesson, students examine the District of Columbia quarter and see that Duke Ellington is on the reverse side. They define performer,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Streamlines and Breadlines

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Learners explore the Great Depression. In this Great Depression lesson, students research selected websites and analyze primary sources to conduct inquiries regarding the depression, northern migration, and urbanization. Learners author...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Harvey Andrews - The Man and the Music

For Students 9th - 12th
High schoolers can hone their research skills by using the Internet to find the answers to the trivia questions presented in this on-line worksheet. This particular worksheet focuses on questions that have to do with the British...
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Organizer
Curated OER

Paragraph Structure

For Students 6th - 10th
Practice writing paragraphs with this scaffolded worksheet. The "hamburger" model is used on the second page, following some examples and guided practice on the first page. Give beginning writers concrete, tangible support as they embark...