Curated OER
Collage of Kwanzaa Colors
Students explore African cultures by creating a holiday collage. For this Kwanzaa art lesson, students identify the popular colors associated with the African holiday and create a collage using them. Students present their art work for...
Curated OER
African Ceremonial Masks
Fourth graders examine and discuss the purposes and traditions of African ceremonial masks. They design and create African ceremonial masks using various materials.
Curated OER
African Folktales
Learners read African folktales. For this literature lesson, students share prior knowledge about South Africa, Morocco, and Nigeria. Then learners work in groups to read an assigned African folktale and answer response questions about...
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African American Music
Students investigate a variety of sites to gather relevant information for a
presentation about African American musical forms in this general Music lesson for middle school and high school. Resource links are provided to aid instruction.
Curated OER
Comparing African, American, and European Folktales
Students find compare an African, Native American, and European folktale. In this folktale lesson, students listen to three different folktales before finding the similarities and differences in them. They complete a worksheet of...
Curated OER
Economics Lesson: The Real McCoy
Students research the origination of the expression "The Real McCoy." In this economics research lesson plan, students read the book The Real McCoy. Students examine Elijah McCoy and his invention of the oil cup and how it relates to the...
Curated OER
To Tell The Truth
Students create a faux ivory napkin ring using art supplies and knowledge gained from in-class discussions and teacher supplied information in this art lesson easily adaptable to a Social Studies or Language Arts classroom.
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African Masks (Pre-Visit)
Second graders observe and describe several masks from different parts of Africa housed in the Smithsonian Institute (National Museum of African Art) Washington, D.C. They use the internet to view the Smithsonian's virtual exhibits.
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African American Inventors Society
Students examine the inventions of African Americans and how their inventions contributed to the common good. In this African American inventions lesson plan, students research the inventions of African Americans and reflect on how that...
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History: An African American Cultural Celebration
Students prepare and organize a cultural celebration of African migration and immigration. Working in groups or individually, they research topics and present the information, including dance demonstrations, instrumental or vocal...
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The Education Element of the Harlem Renaissance and Its Impact on the New Negro
Students investigate African American history by researching culture. In this Harlem Renaissance lesson, students identify the teachings, music and art associated with African Americans in Harlem in the early 20th century. Students...
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Medieval African Kingdoms
Seventh graders examine the geography and political history of West Africa. They role-play as applicants to a company that transports customers to any historic time period. Working in teams, they create promotional products encouraging...
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Michael Jackson Lessons: A Cross-Curricular Experience
By learning about Michael Jackson through these lesson plans, students can explore history, science, math, etc . . .
Curated OER
Text Features
Fifth graders utilize text features. In this text features lesson students read The Story of Jackie Robinson: Bravest Man in Baseball by Margaret Davidson. Students use clues from the table of contents, illustrations, and timeline to...
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Kinara
Students create examples of Kwanzaa Kinaras (candlesticks) using construction paper, glue, poster paper, and tissue paper in this multi-cultural art lesson for the elementary school classroom. A detailed materials list is included.
Curated OER
An Academic, Economic, Cultural, and Political Lesson Plan
Students reflect on how many board games they've played have African Americans, their culture or history incorporated within. They identify four street games and three card games that appeal to African Americans. They play the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: Oral and Literary Strategies
Readers are first introduced to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart by making a map of Africa. They will better understand the novel's historical and literary contexts, European and African literary traditions, and how...
Curated OER
Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits
Students compare and contrast historical and contemporary photographs of important figures in African American history. In this photography analysis lesson, students learn key photography vocabulary and use a Venn Diagram to explore...
Lesson Planet
Black History Month- Lessons For Everyone
Black History Month lesson plans provide a way to meet academic standards, and have students learn about a variety of subjects.
Curated OER
Changes in African-American Expression from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present
Students examine and analyze struggle for racial and gender equality, influences on African-American culture during the 1920s, and economic boom and social transformation of post-World War II United States.
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The Effects of Slavery
The emotional and spiritual oppression of slavery in the African-American experience is the focus of this instructional activity. Middle schoolers analyze various texts by Frederick Douglass and Maya Angelou related to freedom...
National Gallery of Canada
From Africa to Canada
Represent the African diaspora with figurines. Using a discussion on the contributions of people of African descent as inspiration, class members prepare sketches of a figure and put together a small sculpture from those sketches.
Curated OER
Struggle for Equality
Young scholars read and discuss a selection of news clippings, sermons, and narratives that depict the continued struggle for equality and mistreatment of African American citizens. They present a "60 Minutes"-style news program with the...
Curated OER
The Importance of Storytelling
Students examine how African Americans escaping slavery used storytelling to communicate. They listen to and read the lyrics for the song, Follow the Drinking Gourd, view the Reading Rainbow video, and write and illustrate their own story.