Slavery is a serious topic that can be challenging for middle schoolers to study. Young scholars can see firsthand through primary sources what occurred during that time period in the United States. The third of five lessons provides...

Learners read about Viking exploration and complete activities based on the Indigenous people they encountered. In this Viking exploration lesson plan, students compare and contrast stories, write a character sketch, and more.

Explore U.S. geography with your class by viewing a documentary. Show a portion of the Ken Burns documentary "The National Parks," and identify the individuals responsible for keeping the parks in order. Elementary and middle schoolers...

Young scholars read My Name is America about the Donner Party journey and create a scrapbook of what they read. In this Donner Party lesson plan, students also map out the journal they read about.

A quintessential resource for teaching an elementary unit on the first Thanksgiving addresses a variety of skills, including informational reading, critical thinking, comparing and contrasting facts, technology tools, and historical...

Students become aware that people lived in America before Columbus came.  In this Inuit culture instructional activity, students discuss lives of the Inuits. Students listen to Mama Do You Love Me, A Promise is a Promise and The...

Students conduct research dealing with some aspect of human rights in Latin America. They create a sculpture as a response to an instance of repression that touched them from their research. They give a brief oral report on their country.

Many of your class members will have heard of Executive Order 9066 and the Japanese internment camps of World War II. Some may even recognize the terms “Issei” and “Nisei,” but few will have heard of Enemy Alien Hearing Boards, of the...

Students view the "Sitting Bull" video, complete vocabulary work, and discuss the video as a class.

Fifth graders understand chronological order of events. In this Boston Tea Party lesson, 5th graders compare the events surrounding the Boston Tea Party to current times. Students learn vocabulary and customs of the revolutionary times....

"I all alone beweep my outcast state." After a discussion of the "Shakespeare in American Life" segment in which Maya Angelou's relates her reaction to Sonnet 29, class groups create and perform a scene about an outcast that includes the...

Darwin kept a travel diary as he voyaged to South America, noting the politics, geography, cultures, animals, and interesting facts he encountered. Your class will do the same. Each student chooses a country to research and keep a five...

Students research the Spanish explorations and North American geography. They create web pages based on their study.

Students identify and explain the significance of key terms, such as: 19th Amendment, Femisnism, Flappers, Immigration and Jobs in Wisconsin. They identify and analyze viewpoints, events, social classes, and people of various years.

Students complete a variety of exercises and activities as they plan a coast to coast trip across America. They keep a journal that includes where they went, what they did, what they saw, etc. They compare two cities they visited along...

Learners create their own landscapes based on the topography of their region after studying the artwork of Cincinnati-based artist William Sonntag and other "Hudson River School" artists.

Students study the battle for the Serapis. In this measuring distance lesson, students find the North Sea on a globe and find various locations.

Students write creation stories and design stamps to use on banners accompany them. They discuss the use of stamps in African culture to take the place of words. Students use a handout of stamps and their own creations to create banners...

Fourth graders research Native American People of the plains, the forest, the northwest coast and the desert. They compare how their lives were similar and how they were different. They make a model of one type of dwelling.

Pupils access web based resources in order to study the history of Asian-Americans as they immigrated and assimilated into live in America using grade level appropriate resources. Also, they examine journals, artifacts, and complete arts...

Students research water clocks online, investigate how water clocks work, and construct water clock that will keep time accurately for at least two hours without human intervention.