Curated OER
Happy Birthday to You
Students explore how people celebrate traditional holidays in various cultures. They participate in activities that are used to celebrate birthdays in different cultures. Students analyze the celebrations.
Curated OER
What Does a Cowboy Do?
Students participate in a variety of activities as they study cowboys and the cowboy culture. They read stories and sing songs about the cowboys. They study the area of the United States cowboys are from and review the tools cowboys...
Curated OER
Mosaics
Sixth graders discuss and identify shapes, spaces, colors, patterns, or tesserae in mosaics and compare them to cultural symbols of the Roman Empire. They design and create mosaics using paper.
Curated OER
Exploring Mexico
Sixth graders describe images of a characteristic of a cultural group from 4 different time periods of Mexico's history analyzing how it has changed and why the student thinks it changed. They describe maps on 4 different time periods in...
Curated OER
Indian Village ( Totem Poles)
Students become familiar with Indian culture and why they built totem poles. For this totem pole lesson, students understand that totem were built to keep away evil spirits. Students create totem pole.
Curated OER
Preserving History for Illuminating Today's Values and Traditions
Students discover the value of oral history by creating their own audio recordings. In this traditions and customs instructional activity, students listen to a local historian discuss the idea of preserving history through oral...
Lee & Low Books
First Come the Zebra Teacher’s Guide
Accompany a reading of First Come the Zebra written and illustrated by Lynne Barasch with a teacher's guide equipped with before reading, vocabulary, and after reading activities. Additional social studies, science, music, art, math, and...
Smithsonian Institution
Dia de los Muertos: Celebrating and Remembering
Help scholars understand the history, geography, traditions, and art of Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Find background information for your reference as well as a detailed cross-curricular lesson plan. Learners compare...
Curated OER
Japanese Festivals and Celebrations
Students investigate the importnce of celebrations anf festivals in Japanese culture and then create a story based upon an image from the lesson. Resource links are provided for images of events.
Curated OER
The Art of Political Cartoons in Revolutionary America
Students analyze political cartoons. In this colonial America lesson, students examine the provided political cartoons and respond to analytical questions about each of them.
Curated OER
Creation Mythology
Pupils construct a map from geographic data and explain relationships found in the information. Students identify ancient beliefs and customs through Hawaiian creation myths while comparing similarities and differences and appreciating...
Curated OER
Designing Objects
Students customize either a watch, bicycle, or car using the templates provided inspired by Keith Haring. In this customizing lesson plan, students explore product design and development.
Curated OER
Macbeth Madness
Students participate in various social studies activities in correlation to William Shakespeare's Macbeth. For this Macbeth lesson, students study maps of Scotland, England, and Norway to identify locations mentioned in Macbeth. Students...
Curated OER
The Task of the Mask
Students discover historical value and use of different African masks through research and literature. Students also relate different customs and traditions of ethnic groups to the masks.
Curated OER
Dream Catcher
Seventh graders discover the purpose of dream catchers. In this Native American customs instructional activity, 7th graders read stories that feature dream catchers, discuss their significance, and then create their own.
Curated OER
Shinto, Stones, and the Garden
Students examine how Shinto and Buddhism are reflected in the Japanese art and life-style, especially as seen in the relationship people have with the land (gardens). This lesson is for the elementary classroom.
Curated OER
Homecoming
Students explore the theme of the art of Romare Bearden. They choose a family tradition or event and create a work of art illustrating that tradition or event. In addition, they write a paragraph describing the activity.
Curated OER
Country: Ghana
Students investigate the culture, history, and government of Ghana. They take a virtual journey and discover the sports, arts, crafts, and food of Ghana. They observe how Kente cloth is made.
Curated OER
Nomadic and Sedentary Tribes in Kansas
Seventh graders compare and contrast sedentary and nomadic tribe life. In this Native American culture lesson plan, 7th graders research primary documents about the Osage and Kiowa tribes. Students create a series of illustrations to be...
Curated OER
Self-portraits: Integrating Arts And the Language Arts
Students look into a mirror and draw their own self-portraits. Then they write a descriptive essay, describing the portrait and the features of their face.
Curated OER
"Power: Abuse and Resistance
Tenth graders will use the camera as an instrument of self-expression (photography) and gain cultural appreciation and a sense of pride from greater understanding of self through their family heritage, customs and traditions. Then...
Curated OER
Language and Dialect
Practice listening skills while studying oral story tellers from different parts of Louisiana. Consider the regional dialects and insider language of folk groups with your class. Identify language as part of folk life and recognize that...
Curated OER
The Family: Louisiana Family Folklore
Every family has a different story to share. Your learning community examines the checklist that applies to the lesson, share some of the teacher's family photos, and look for clues in their own family photos in order to complete a...
Curated OER
Those Fabulous Fables
A video leads off this activity on fables, introducing the class to this important form of traditional storytelling. The group defines fable and hears an explanation of the origin of this type of folk tale. They summarize the story they...