The Boston Massacre may be an iconic event in American history, but perhaps the British soldiers had another point of view. Using primary sources, including reports from Boston newspapers and secondary sources from the British...

Once the class learns about the hero's journey, they'll find it in every story and movie they see! Take characters from their humble beginnings to their atonement and apotheosis with a set of lessons about the hero's journey...

Students research 1920's US History.  For this historical literature lesson, students use the novel The Great Gatsby as a tool to examine the era.  They work in individually to create newspaper articles based on different...

Young scholars collect and analyze the front pages of various newspapers and perform research on the Titantic tragedy. They choose a name for their newspaper, a headline, gather photographs, and write a front page article. Using...

Students, in groups, create a student book for an assigned group of immigrants to the Colonial United States (Huguenots, Scots, Irish, Africans.) They create drawings for the book and rhyming text that depicts three struggles that...

Students design to explore the world of objects as related to lace. Students will create a lace mural highlighting what they learn about the world of lace. Students brainstorm ideas via the internet websites.

Students use a multimedia project, The Valley of the Shadow: Two American Communities in the Civil War, to create a presentation about the significance of the Gettysburg Address. They work on expert teams to explore the interactive...

Students create Venn diagrams comparing and contrasting the Vietnam and Iraq wars. They write informed letters to their senators expressing their opinions and possible solutions to the war. They also create mock bumper stickers...

Middle schoolers compare/contrast the Hollywood film industry of the 30s and 40s with Hollywood today. They watch a video on David O. Selznick and Alfred Hitchcock, conduct Internet research, and create a poster to present their findings.

Students assess the ways in which editorial cartoons, both current and historic, offer insight into events that shape our world. They create a poster that includes a current editorial cartoon and their explanation of the details of the...

Young scholars explore and discuss significance of what happened to the world on 9-11-01, and create a paper quilt.

Students inquire about the Holocaust. In this Holocaust lesson plan, students read books and discuss their thoughts. Students also collect current event articles from newspapers. Students investigate ghettos, Pearl Harbor and Navajo Code...

Fifth graders connect reasons for coming to the New World with identity. The create identities and place them in one of three settled regions. They refer to prior study notes in their Colonial Notebooks to establish their identities.

Students brainstorm a list of news sources. They interview people about today's media and discuss their results. After watching segments of a film about Walter Cronkite, they role play as reporters and subjects from an historic period...

Students create an art piece that expresses their opinions while circumventing hypothetical government restrictions in this instructional activity on art and government censorship. Emphasis is placed upon historical instances of...

An engaging lesson focuses on the contributions of the Navajo people during World War II. Learners read the book Navajo Code Talkers by Andrew Santella, answer a series of comprehension questions about the text, and write a letter...

Young scholars survey Bebop and identify the basic terms associated with jazz.They experience the music of Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday and participate in a class discussion regarding jazz's contribution to and reflection of...

After reading an interesting article comparing the disputed presidential election of 1877 to a similar event in the year 2000, kids blog a response. They read the article, check out the embedded links, then respond to four related...

Learners consider the classification of people. In this race studies lesson plan, students examine the concept of race as it relates to U.S. history and trends. Learners research racial discrimination and prejudice in order to support...

Students discuss idea of social status, examine antebellum social reform movements, and compare and contrast experiences of activists who sought to improve workers' lives, end slavery, reform immigration laws, and establish voting rights...

Young scholars collect artifacts which are part of their family/community history. They gather at home and share in the classroom at a specified time when extra care and supervision might be provided.

Students draw political cartoons. In this editorial cartoons lesson plan, students discover the history of the cartoons in America, analyze some cartoons, and then draw their own cartoons that make social statements.

Students explore history of technological advances in making, recording, and listening to music that have intrigued and inspired musicians and scientists for decades.

Students study Chinese jade carvings and then carve an animal from soap in a similar fashion.