Curated OER
Corn Cob Toys
Students make toys from corn cobs. They study the many uses for corn, both historically and today. They write a description of the toy/object he or she has made and provide instructions for making it. They write and perform plays,...
Curated OER
Toys and the more distant past
First graders research the history of toys and games. In this toys and games lesson plan, 1st graders read books and look at paintings from the past and discuss the toys and games that were played. Then they paint themselves playing a...
Curated OER
Journal of Time: A Historical Perspective
Analyze the setting behind the Great Depression in California with Pam Munoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Middle schoolers assess the protagonist during her coming-of-age moments, while migrant workers manage the hardships of the...
Scholastic
Thanksgiving Lessons Grades PreK-2
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...
Curated OER
Coal Flowers
Let's make coal flowers! With this fun activity, young learners watch and learn as they grow crystals! With simple household materials and the instructions included in this lesson plan, your class can grow their own crystals. Learners...
Curated OER
Tracing Our Own Family Pilgrimages
The Pilgrims may have arrived in North America by way of the Mayflower, but chances are, your class members' ancestors came to the United States in another way. Guide them through an exploration of their own heritage, countries of...
Curated OER
Real-Life History
Students collect artifacts which are part of their family/community history. They gather at home and share in the classroom at a specified time when extra care and supervision might be provided.
Curated OER
Rural Voices Through Photography
Students research the history of the Depression particularly in the ways it was documented by photography. Then they take their own pictures in the style of one of the best documentarians, Dorothea Lange.
Curated OER
Yes, There Really Was a Santa!
Third graders read a selection concerning Santa Claus and the orgin of the Jolly Old Elf in the United States. They also create their own version of a new and modern Santa Claus that remain in the American culture.
Curated OER
The Clay Marble
Students probe the story, "The Clay Marble" by Minfong Ho to identify examples of courage, quick thinking, and perseverance. The lesson creatively extends the plot of the story by celebrating the heroin's birthday many years after the...
Curated OER
Expressing Emotions Through Art Lesson 1: Everybody Shows They Care
Students examine how artists depict the idea of caring in works of art. They create drawings of themselves that use the principles of design to express their feelings of caring for something.
Curated OER
Quilting Our Communities
High schoolers share personal artifacts and use them to make a classroom community quilt.
Curated OER
Cardboard History
Students investigate the history of baseball and create baseball cards based on research they have collected about early baseball players.
Curated OER
Boomerang
Students build their own boomerang. In this physics lesson, students trace the origin of this equipment. They practice throwing and catching them.
Curated OER
Coal Flowers
Young scholars create coal flowers. In this mining lesson, students discuss the importance of coal during the 1800s and use ingredients to make coal flowers. Young scholars determine the effect temperature has on crystal formation.
Curated OER
Performance Standards/Competencies
Students research how children dressed during Colonial times. Students design and create life-sized likenesses of themselves, dressing the paper dolls in colonial dress.
Curated OER
Down on the Farm
Students are introduced to a map of an Illinois farm. They determine whether the map is of the past, present, or future by looking at features on the map. They also use the map to make a three-dimensional model.