Curated OER
The Art and Science of Impressionist Color
Discover Impressionist painting as learners investigate the 19th century combinations of colors characteristically used. Students experiment with their own paintings, utilizing primary and secondary colors.
Core Knowledge Foundation
The Victorian Age
The length of Queen Victoria's reign, surpassed only by Queen Elizabeth II in the modern era, stretched through much of the 19th century and into the 20th century. Explore the many social, industrial, and political shifts that occurred...
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Nellie Bly's Newspaper Club: Introducing the Science of Writing
Students evaluate a video about Nellie Bly, a famous reporter from the 19th century. They consider what makes a high-interest news article, write an essay in pairs and present it a literary tea.
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Inventions of the 19th Century
Young scholars explore inventions that have been created since the nineteenth century.
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The American Wilderness? How 19th Century American Artists Viewed the Separation of Civilization and Nature
The attitudes of European settlers toward the American wilderness, as reflected in art and literature, is the focus of this resource packet designed for teachers. Included in the unit overview you will find lists or paintings and works...
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Boom and Bust in the Ozark Forests
Here is a hard-hitting, cross-curricular lesson on the effects that the deforestation of the Ozark forests in the 19th century had on the people, animals, and ecosystems of the area. The Dr. Seuss book The Lorax is used as a way of...
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Working in Photographs
Students analyze illustrations of workers in the 19th and 20th centuries. In this social science lesson, students examine photographs of workers and identify the types of work that were available in the 19th century compared to the 20th...
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Celebration and Satire- Beginning Level
Students examine art elements in a late-19th-century self-portrait painting. For this visual arts lesson, students analyze the painting "A Centennial of Independence" and identify the color, shape, and symbols in the art piece. Students...
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Post-Civil War American History
Fifth graders examine significant events in Post-Civil War America. In this Post-Civil War lesson, 5th graders investigate the important events after the war in 19th century America. They read primary source documents about six topics...
American Evolution
Virginia Runaway Slave Ads
What does an ad reveal about a culture, or about the values of its intended audience? Class members examine a series of runaway slave ads—one of which was written by Thomas Jefferson—and consider what these primary source documents...
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Too Bright At Night?
Students explain what causes light pollution and how it can be curtailed. They consider the negative consequences of nighttime lighting, enabled by the invention of electric lights at the close of the 19th Century.
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Introduction to Mendelian Genetics using Fiction
Students investigate Mendelian Genetics by studying the history of Mendel and what it was like to be a 19th century scientist. They read a pieces of fiction during this investigation.
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The Golden Spike
Students investigate modern transportation in the 19th century by examining artifacts. In this U.S. history lesson, students read the story Joseph's Railroad Dreams, and discuss the Golden Spike used in the first transcontinental...
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Bison on the Plains
Fifth graders explore U.S. geography by reading assigned text about American Indians. In this migration lesson, 5th graders identify the differences between Native Americans and European settlers who traveled through middle America in...
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A Handy Measure
How many hands tall are you? Challenge kids to measure themselves the way the 19th century Oklahoma horse traders measured their prize horses (can they guess how many hands tall a horse had to be?). There's some background information...
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Late 19th Century U.S. Foreign Policy
Eleventh graders discover that many of the issues the United States faces today elicit the same type of political, philosophical and moral debate that has divided the country in the past.
Curated OER
Adventure Writing: Oregon's Landscape as a Setting
Students identify geographical features of different regions encountered by migrants on the Oregon trail. Students research how the Oregon landscape may have affected life and 19th century westward migration. Students write a narrative...
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New Sights and Sounds: Inventions That Changed A Century
Middle schoolers analyze the role and impact of technological innovation in the late 19th and early 20th century. They evaluate manuscripts, sound recordings, and motion pictures to construct historical meaning. Students observe the...
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Science: Einstein's Big Idea
Young scholars explore the various aspects of Einstein's energy equation and discover how energy is transferred from one form to another. In teams, they rotate through seven stations to experience such aspects of energy change through...
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Westward Expansion
Students locate California and New York on a map and explore available means of travel in the 19th century. Students explore the role of trade in pioneer America and simulate various barter transactions.
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Mental Health 2: Bedlam
Learners are oriented to the kinds of treatment and care the mentally ill received prior to the 19th century-using the example of England's legendary Bedlam, the world's oldest mental health asylum.
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Discovering New Species
Students identify animals observed by Lewis and Clark while evaluating the animal's habitat and describing the animal's behavior. Students construct a food web mobile to illustrate the animal's position in the food web in the 19th...
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From Bolls to Bolts
Fifth graders explore the economic effects of the colonization of North America. In this Social Studies instructional activity, 5th graders examine the economic and cultural results that occurred due to North America entering the...
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Colors
Students learn about the Impressionist painters' use of color and how it connected to early nineteenth century scientific theories about color. In this colors lesson plan, students explore combinations of primary and secondary colors,...