Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
What Does It Mean to be a Good Citizen?
Civics scholars are challenged to determine what it means to be a good citizen. Class members select three adults in their lives and interview them to discover what the term "good citizen" means to each of these people. The class then...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Practice Passing Laws
Getting a bill through the legislative process to become a law in the United States is a very long and difficult procedure by design! To understand the deliberation, debate, and compromises involved, class members take on the role of...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
The Power of Propaganda in Shaping Civic Actions and Understanding
Propaganda posters are powerful. Using images from The Art of War: American Poster Art 1941-1945 exhibit, young historians analyze the symbols, images, colors, and text used to rally support for World War II. Through seven activities,...
British Council
Christmas
Pupils learn more vocabulary and English language by taking a close look at the words Happy Christmas and working in groups to see how many words they can make of the letters. Scholars then take a quiz to test their knowledge about...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Service Learning Projects
Service learning projects provide pupils an opportunity to put the theories they are learning about civics into practice. Scholars investigate the needs of their community and then adopt a project for them to become involved in.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
The Constitution
Three activities focus on the need to have rules. Young historians are first challenged to suggest rules for their classroom and then to create their own constitution that balances the need for freedoms and protections. The third...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Developing Your Voice and Your Right to Free Speech
Three activities focus on the First Amendment, especially the freedom of speech. Scholars craft a letter to the President of the United States and express their views about a topic important to them. Another activity has participants...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
What Does It Mean to Be an American?
A series of four activities focuses young scholars' attention on what it means to be an American. They identify key qualities, values, and virtues they consider shared by Americans. Participants then pretend they have been selected to...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Pearl Harbor Activity #7: Pop Up Video Activity
A pop-up video version of FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech engages scholars in depending their understanding of the attack on Pearl Harbor. After watching the video, class members select five new things that they learned and research how...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Pearl Harbor Activity #6: December 7 and September 11 - Infamy Twins?
Why did attackers on December 7, 1941, and on September 11, 2001, choose the targets they did? That is one of several questions young historians try to answer as they compare and contrast the two attacks. They also consider the...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Pearl Harbor Activity #5: The Medium Matters
Young journalists learn that how we get our news and information matters in a collaborative social studies activity. The class is divided into three groups with the first analyzing a transcript of FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech, the second...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Pearl Harbor Activity #4: Who is the Audience?
Young historians use the prompts on a worksheet to analyze President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech. They identify the intended audience for the speech, the devices FDR used to persuade his audience, the responses promoted, and the...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Pearl Harbor Activity #3: Public Opinion Word Cloud
As part of a study of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, young historians imagine the feelings of those who lived during the attack by creating a word cloud of 10 words they think express the emotions of people at that time....
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Pearl Harbor Activity #2: Why Do Words Matter?
Words matter! That's the big idea behind an activity that asks scholars to replace words in FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech with synonyms. They then listen to a recording of President Roosevelt's address and compare his version to their own.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Pearl Harbor Activity #1: Newspaper or Radio Account
After listening to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech, young historians research information about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, possible motives for the attack, and the consequences of the attack. Scholars...
Newseum
Civil Rights: Turning Points
As part of a civil rights movement study, groups select an event from an interactive timeline that they feel marks a turning point in the struggle. After collecting evidence to support their choice, the teams develop a multimedia...
Newseum
Free Press Challenges Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources
The debate over the integrity of stories in media is not new. Young journalists analyze historical sources that reveal freedom of the press controversies and draw parallels to challenges freedom of the press faces today.
Newseum
Persuasion Portfolios
After class members brainstorm a list of current social and political issues, groups each select a different topic from the list to research. Teams create a portfolio of at least 10 examples of stories about their issue, stories that...
Newseum
Civil Rights: Knowns and Unknowns
Class members generate a list of research questions to review the civil rights movement and determine what scholars still need to learn. Groups then select a different compelling question, create a hypothesis and find evidence to support...
Newseum
Before and After: Analyzing Turning Points in History
Scholars examine front-page news stories to gather evidence about significant historical events. They hypothesize how these events changed people's lives who lived through them and how they continue to impact lives today.
Newseum
The Women Who Made the Movement
Granting women the right to vote was a long time coming and took many efforts. Young historians select one woman involved in the suffrage movement to research. They compare and contrast the depictions of their subject in mainstream and...
Newseum
The First Amendment in Action Today
Young activists research a community issue and apply the rights defined in the First Amendment to develop a proposal that would solve the issue—using Pinterest's board "The Freedom to Make A Change Posters" as examples, groups design a...
Newseum
Is This Story Share-Worthy?
Young journalists use a "Is This Story Share-Worthy?" flowchart graphic to decide whether a story is worth sharing online. Instructors provide groups with fake news, poor quality stories, opinion pieces, biased news, and high-quality...
Newseum
Making a Change: Letter From Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From Birmingham Jail" was written in response to "A Call for Unity," written by eight white ministers from Birmingham and published in the local newspaper. After reading both letters and following a list...