Curated OER
Understanding Folklife and Folklore
Student examine the basic characteristics of folklore. In this folklore lesson, students complete activities to identify two kinds of folk, folk groups, and folklife. Students list daily activities in their home, identify folk groups...
Curated OER
National Marine Sanctuaries Fish
Information is provided on Gray's Reef, Florida Keys, and Flower Garden Banks marine sanctuaries. Young marine biologists then visit the FishBase and REEF databases to collect fish species information for each location. They then...
Curated OER
Traditional Crafts and Decorative Arts in Louisiana Worksheet
This resource outlines an extensive list of websites about different kinds of material culture in Louisiana. The list covers five categories: outdoor and indoor crafts, Louisiana folk life articles, quilt making, house types, and general...
Curated OER
"Their Eyes Were Watching God": Folk Speech and Figurative Language
Using or considering using Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God? Then this packet is a must for your curriculum library. The examination of how Hurston combines folklore and folk language to create the voice of her...
Digital Public Library of America
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their eyes Were Watching God has been highly praised and severely criticized for its depiction of African American folk culture. A set of primary source materials, including photographs, articles, essays, and...
Curated OER
Making Use of Fieldwork
Young scholars transcribe, analyze, and archive fieldwork and create a team project drawn from fieldwork. They brainstorm a list of reasons why preservation of collected materials is important and explore the online archives of the...
Curated OER
Folk Music
Students explore Folk Music in Iowa. For this folk music lesson plan, students discuss different types of folk music and how it relates to life in Iowa. They take the tune of a song and write their own lyrics to describe their life.
Curated OER
Bringing Household Items to Life
Use folk tales as inspiration for learning about and using personification in creative writing. Learners brainstorm together in order to practice personification before writing their own poems or paragraphs about a household object.
Curated OER
Johnny Appleseed, An American Folk Hero
Students explore American folktales. They review the elements of folktales. Students read the folktale of Johnny Appleseed together. They discuss the vocabulary words from the story. Students discuss the differences between the real...
Annenberg Foundation
Social Realism
Many American writers in the late nineteenth century wanted their writing to reflect real life. Individuals watch and discuss a video, read and explore author biographies, write a journal entry and a poem, and complete a multimedia...
Curated OER
Dreamcatchers
After reading a Native American legend about dreamcatchers, why not make some. This resource provides several good links that explain the legend of the dreamcatcher and step-by-step instructions for making them with the class. Tip: If...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama Farm Life in the Great Depression
The Great Depression not only impacted city folk and factory workers, it also had a profound effect on farmers. Young historians examine primary source materials that document the struggles of Alabama farmers during this time and then...
Curated OER
Poetry: A View of African American Life,
Fifth graders analyze many examples of African-American poetry and examine how different poems reflect the cultural experiences of African-Americans. The poems and spirituals chosen are very effective for public presentation.
Curated OER
English Folk Music
In this English folk music worksheet, students read an article pertaining to the history of folk music in England from the times of the Industrial Revolution until the 1970s.
Curated OER
African American Traditions: Cameroonian and African-American Folktales
Students compare Cameroonian and African-American folktales. In this folktales lesson plan, students participate in a jigsaw activity that requires them to read "The Owl Never Sleeps as Night," "Why the Lizard Often Nods," "Tappin, the...
Curated OER
Latin American Music
Learn about the music of Latin America! Four types of music are defined by their instruments, uses, and cultural impact or influences. Indigenous, Iberian, African influenced, and Urban music are all discussed.
Curated OER
Paul Revere, American Patriot
Students research Paul Revere's life and role in U.S. history by examining first-person accounts, works of historical fiction, a popular narrative poem, and other resources. They create a mural depicting their findings.
Curated OER
Fiber of Life
Students examine the importance of plants to individuals and society through a multi-discipline set of activities. They observe and draw different leaf structures and then create a book about trees and photosynthesis. They explore ways...
Curated OER
American Revolutionary War: Two Sides...Two Perspectives
Pupils investigate the American Revolutionary War era from the perspective of Britain and the American colonists by researching causes, effects, events and people. They compare the views of the Colonists, and the British and recognize...
San Francisco Symphony
By the Great Horn Spoon!
By The Great Horn Spoon is a fantastic novel for introducing learners to life during the California Gold Rush. First, kids research and analyze American folk songs, then they connect to the text as they listen to symphonic pieces written...
Curated OER
Country's Music
Jazz, Blue Grass, Hip Hop, Swing. Gospel, R&B, Ragtime, Disco. So many music genres born in the USA. After reading an article about the fate of New Orlean's Jazz after Hurricane Katrina, class members investigate the life cycles of...
Curated OER
Civil War Music - Irish Folk Songs
Students determine what it was like to serve as an Irish-American in the American Civil War. In this Irish folk song lesson, students use the provided worksheets to analyze selected Irish folk songs and make inferences about war...
Curated OER
Celebrate A People!
Students explore African-American students literature as an integral building block in empowering all students to a better awareness when reading and writing. They use as a productive Social Studies tool for overall understanding of the...
Curated OER
First Meeting of the Indians and the Europeans
Your class hears a Native American Indian point of view of Europeans' arrival in Louisiana. They assess how cultural perspectives (especially an insider's view) and native language can shape a story. Each pupil identifies the...