National First Ladies' Library
Slavery in the Beginning: Creating a Virtual Museum
Social studies learners explore slavery in the American colonies from 1607 to the Revolutionary War. In groups, they explore a PBS website and a virtual museum. Using these websites and other online resources, students create their own...
National First Ladies' Library
'Tis a Gift to Be Simple: The Shaker People
Learners identify the difficulties and benefits of a utopian community. They examine their own ideas of utopia and research an example of one such community that has had an impact on our own culture.
National First Ladies' Library
Riding the Underground Railroad
Young historians explore the underground railroad and life as a slave during the Civil War. After internet research, they discuss the hazards of travel as a slave and the benefits of freedom. Individually, students write a short story...
National First Ladies' Library
Who Invented Crayons?
Pupils use a specified website to study the history of Crayola crayons. In groups, they discover who invented the colors, their cost, and who thought of the name. Students create a timeline of Crayola colors and choose one project from...
National First Ladies' Library
Will the Real Pocahontas Please Stand Up?
Learners explore the life of Pocahontas and Powhatan Indians. After studying information on a given website, students compare and contrast what they read about Pocahontas and what they previously thought of her. They explore life in a...
National First Ladies' Library
Peace in the Middle East: A Primer
Middle schoolers are introduced to the concept of three Abrahamic religions and complete the Comparative Religion Exercise. They view slides after taking their best guesses and read the article, "The Path to Peace Runs Through a History...
National First Ladies' Library
Recovery! Coping with the Effects of a Natural Disaster
Students explore natural disasters and the devastation caused by them. Using specified websites, learners examine how people rebuild after a disaster. In groups, they design and rebuild a community and conclude by writing an essay...
National First Ladies' Library
Building a Federal Town: Washington, DC
Young scholars create a timeline of the history of Washington, D.C. from 1787 to 1879. Using the internet, they read specified articles about the design of the capital and city of Washington DC. Students write a newspaper article about...
Curated OER
Energy and Me: What is My Responsibility?
Pupils investigate energy and their impact on the environment. In this environmental lesson plan, students will conduct a series of three activities that will help in their understanding of energy and how we use it.
Curated OER
African-American Autobiography for the Middle School Student
Students are introduced to the characteristics of an autobiography. For each author, they research their life and works and discuss why it reflects different time periods of African-Americans. In groups, they brainstorm characteristics...
Curated OER
American Genre Painting in the Nineteenth Century: Teaching Artistic Interpretation as a Tool for Critically Viewing History
Students view a variety of artwork to determine the history and lifestyle of people from New Haven, Connecticut. In groups, they develop their individual hypothesis about why the paintings were created and share them with their group...
Curated OER
Analysing a game
Students play a game called 'Limit 2' and analyse their moves in order to establish a winning strategy. The subtraction game in this activity is one of a number of games in a unit called 'Analysing games' in the above publication.
Curated OER
Artifacts: Bringing the Past Back to Life -- the Mexican Case
Students examine and discuss the meanings of the various symbols in Tenochtitlan. In groups, they complete a part of the model of the city and discuss the importance of finding artifacts. Individually, they choose an a two-dimensional...
Curated OER
New Movements For Social Justice: The Latino Struggle for Equal Rights
Students examine myths and stereotypes about Hispanic immigrant groups. They appreciate and share the strengths of their diversity and view films that challenge ideas about education and cultural values. They explore the Latino Rights...
Curated OER
Mathematics and Ecology: Through the Window Garden
Student discover some of the ideas and concepts that make up the topic of Ecology. They read and interpret graphs to assimilate the information that is displayed. They discover the rate of increase of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere...
Curated OER
Sherlock Holmes: Teaching English Through Detective Fiction
Students read examples of mysteries and detective fiction. With a focus on Sherlock Holmes, they are introduced to the techniques for reading properly. In groups, they define new vocabulary, make predictions and summarize the stories. ...
Curated OER
The Odyssey and The Morte Darthur: Reading and Making Observations for Writing and Discussion
Young scholars read "The Odyssey" and "The Morte Darthur". In groups, they research the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology and the history of the places mentioned in the stories. Individually, they are to write a paper about a hero...
Curated OER
Write On! Express and Enjoy Yourself
Students discover how writers put their feelings into language. They identify words of emotion and imagery and see their experience as an important base for language use and writing skills. They use colorful words when describing a...
Curated OER
Wrapped in Mystery
Sixth graders can identify five basic elements that most mysteries contain. They put the elements of mystery into a graphic organizer they can follow. They construct meaning after reading Poe's short story and identify or infer the...
National First Ladies' Library
School Reform, Again!
Students discuss their perceptions and experiences with changes in schooling. They work in small groups to prepare a PowerPoint presentation to explain the efforts toward reforming schools since 1983. Students speculate on the next...
Curated OER
The African-American Experience in the 20th Century through the Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence and the Novels of Bruce Brooks a
Students attempt to answer how African-American, Latino, and white students address race relations in the United States in the future.
Curated OER
Black Hole Lesson
Tenth graders experiment with detection techniques for black holes by modeling the rotation of galaxies with larger and larger masses in the center. They discover while some events cannot be directly observed they may be observable in...
Curated OER
Everybody Needs a Rock
Students, after making quantitative and qualitative observations of their rocks, construct a Venn diagram or dichotomous key to classify their rocks.
Curated OER
Choices That Adolescents Make
Students examine the different types of information available to adolescents. They analyze the decision making process of adolescents and examine the basis for egocentric thought. They analyze to what degree peer pressure affects...