Facing History and Ourselves
The Audacity of a Vote: Susan B. Anthony’s Arrest
Susan B. Anthony's speech "Is It a Crime for Women to Vote?" takes center stage in a lesson that asks class members to consider how they might respond to what they consider an unjust law. Groups work through the speech paragraph by...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity and Place
Build scholars' ability to understand their own values and learn about World War II at the same time. Scholars write poetry and discuss identity and place in depth with an in-depth social studies resource.
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: Questioning Strategy
Focus on chapter two of Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science with a questioning activity. After teaching and modeling several types of questions, learners work with partners and then independently to answer and...
Film Foundation
The Day The Earth Stood Still: The Filmmaking Process
How are films made? As part of their study of film, middle schoolers investigate the pre-production, production, and post-production process and consider the role of the director, the screenwriter, production designer, cinematographer,...
Curated OER
Creative Writing: Children's Building Blocks
Your class can participate in a writing program involving four building blocks. By exploring words, sentences, writing forms, and story organization, they improve their creative writing skills throughout this year-long unit. Early in the...
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Hyperbole and Idiom
Seventh graders use context clues to determine the figurative meaning of idioms and hyperboles. They practice writing idioms and hyperboles in sentences about real life situations around them. This lesson is a good way to improve variety...
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Shoe Fish
Fishy, fishy, fishy, fish! Kids take off their shoes and trace them to create fish for a large aquarium art project. Each traced shoe shape is decorated with gills, fins, scales, and eyes, then hug on an aquarium background. Three book...
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Putin: 'No way back' from democracy
Imagine a meeting between President Bush and Putin. Get your class thinking about global awareness, democracy, and totalitarian modes of government. They examine how two leaders approach major governmental issues and run their countries...
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Links to the Past
Learners use documents from California As I Saw It: First Person Narratives, 1849-1900 , in American Memory to create a script depicting the motivations, expectations, fears, and realizations of immigrants who settled California between...
We are Teachers
Phrases to Outlaw in Students' Writing
If your writing classroom was the Wild West, what phrases would be "outlawed"? Here is one poster that every writing instructor, and really, any teacher of communication, should have in their classroom!
Brown University
Culture Connect: Experience the Culture of the World
A rich series of activities introduces learners to the concept of culture by closely examining the behaviors, practices, and art of three distinct peoples: the Highland Maya of Guatemala, the Hmong of China and Southeast...
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Tossing the Text Book: Teaching Modern History
Tenth graders analyze primary sources. In this Current Events lesson, 10th graders write a short two - three paged paper answering a specific question. Students prepare a fact sheet for the class detailing points that support...
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Memorial Day Fun
Students research Memorial Day and complete activities about the day. In this Memorial Day lesson, students discuss the definition of the word 'memorial' to understand its meaning. Students create flags for the day and listen to a...
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On the Shoulders of Giants
Students select an astronomer or scientist from the past, research the role that they played in the development of the heliocentric revolution, and make presentations on their achievements.
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Folktale Quilt
Students read several selections of folktales from different historic periods and different cultures. Then they incorporate a folktale theme into a modern day story, using elements that parallel those from the original version.
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Thematic Amusement Park Projects
Theme park lesson plans help students learn about history, science, and have fun at the same time.
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Slices of American Pie: The 1960s Through Music
Eleventh graders examine political, cultural, and social movements through music. In this 1960s American history lesson, 11th graders explore the music of the decade in order to better understand the complexity of the time period....
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English Literature Circle Discussion
Young scholars participate in literary circles to analyze characters, critique writing, discuss events, and story elements. For this literary circles lesson, students take responsibility for their learning as a member of the...
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Quilting
Second graders make a quilt. In this cultural diversity lesson, 2nd graders review their knowledge of the Metis people. Students work in groups to create a class quilt that illustrates the lives of these people. Quilt themes include...
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Visualizing Jazz Scenes From the Harlem Renaissance
Students identify themes of selected nonfiction, fiction, poetry and art to Harlem Renaissance jazz and describe the impact of jazz on African-American literature of the Harlem Renaissance
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Debating Iraq
Students analyze the main themes of President Bush's UN Speech and discussion of the NewsHour report on the Iraq Debate. In this debate instructional activity, students answer pre-listening questions and view a transcript of the speech....
Learning to Give
Africa - The Great Southland
Applying the five themes of geography, preteen explorers develop a visual aid for younger learners in celebration African American History Month. They investigate the political, geographic, economic, and social aspects of the continent...
Curated OER
Song of Solomon By Toni Morrison
For this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 14 essay and short answer questions about Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. Students may also use the provided link at the bottom of the page to access...
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Archaeology and Storytelling
Students identify and interpret both individual families and whole cultures learn about their pasts by collecting and analyzing stories and artifacts. Then they identify that not all archaeological finds readily reveal their history to...