Civil War Trust
Creating a Historic Site
A historic site marks a place where a relevant historical event occurred, no matter how many people know about it. Small groups choose their own historical sites, including a place where a class member was born, or even a...
Curated OER
Bridge to the Future: Enlarging the European Union
The political, social, and economic challenges the European Union faces as it enlarges is the focus of a six-lesson unit. Class members investigate and craft a presentation about a member country, the treaties member states must...
Rainforest Alliance
Who Takes Care of the Maya Forest Corridor?
Who keeps animals safe? Who keeps us safe? Discover the helpers that make learning and growing possible through a medley of activities that focus on habitats—ours and those in the rainforest. Scholars are asked to identify one...
NOAA
Make Your Own Volcano!
Make a volcano erupt in your own classroom! Young scientists use household and craft materials to model and simulate the eruption of a volcano.
PBS
African American History: Lunch Counter Closed
Young historians investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies the Civil Rights Movement used to end segregation in the United States. After watching an video interview with Carl Matthews and Bill Stevens who participated...
Jane Addams Project
Woman Suffrage
Suffragettes, suffragists, and anti-suffragists. A two-day, richly detailed lesson plan has young historians investigate the twentieth-century suffrage movement. Groups examine primary and secondary source materials about Jane Addams and...
Curated OER
Conflict Resolution
Lessons on how to deal with bullying and conflict are very important for young learners. This one sets up role-playing situations which present conflicts that occur between kids. Several role-play situations are set up, and they should...
Curated OER
Changing Seasons
Explore expository writing and using precise language in this descriptive paragraph writing lesson. Learners brainstorm prior knowledge about the changing seasons in Ohio. They describe seasonal items, view seasonal pictures from...
Global Oneness Project
Flamenco: A Cross-Cultural Art Form
Notes of pride and persecution, exclusion and isolation resonate in flamenco. Introduce this musical art form to your social studies or Spanish language classes with a resource that follows a young flamenco guitarist as he...
Global Oneness Project
Witnessing Icebergs
Camille Seaman's photoessay, "Witnessing Icebergs" documents just a tip of the problem of climate change through images of icebergs in both the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions. After viewing the haunting images, viewers respond...
National Constitution Center
Town Hall Wall: Coming to America
Everyone seems to have an opinion on the status and rights of illegal immigrants. Help secondary learners research each perspective and arrive at their own conclusions with a collaborative exercise. As they read an informative passage...
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Racism
Photographs capture a moment in time. And some of the best pictures demand that viewers not only ask questions about why the photo packs such an emotional wallop, but also about what happened before and after it was taken. A photograph...
University of British Columbia
Pondering Poetry and Playing with Words
First-year High school scholars explore the world of poetry with an 11-lesson unit that examines a range of poetry forms and tries their hand at crafting their own poems. Young poets then collect their work in a portfolio that they...
Nebraska Department of Education
Personal Roadmap
Sometimes you need a map to get to your destination. High schoolers list 10 short and long terms goals and personal assets they have that will help them achieve these goals. They then craft a paragraph in which they reflect on how these...
Nebraska Department of Education
A Letter to Myself
Middle schoolers craft a letter to themselves describing what their life will be like in four years using a prewriting organizer to guide their work.
Nebraska Department of Education
Where I'm From
We are a tapestry woven of the threads of our family and its history, our environment, our ethnicity, and our culture. High school freshmen reflect on how these threads influence their goals for the future. After reading George Ella...
Nebraska Department of Education
Leaving A Job
Neither "You're fired!" nor "I quit!" make for leaving a job on good terms. As part of a career development study, job seekers learn to craft both a verbal resignation and a formal resignation letter.
Curated OER
FACS:Puppet Factory (Mktg)
Students explore marketing strategies while producing a hand-sewn puppet. They obtain information about child care and safety as well as basic hand sewing techniques.
Curated OER
Something From Nothing
Students listen to story Joseph Had A Little Overcoat to explore people from another culture and how one item can be used to make other items; students use scraps of fabric and other knickknacks to create pictures or toys.
Curated OER
Women
A close study of two works of art provides the introduction to this cross-curricular writing assignment. After comparing the clothing, facial expressions, body language, setting, and color in the two 19th century paintings Tissout’s...
Curated OER
Examining What Sharing Really Means
After reading "The Senegalese Miracle" about the degree of sharing the author encounters upon arrival in Africa, class members read Mike Tidwell’s “Sharing in Africa” and compare the two stories. This cultural diversity lesson plan...
Curated OER
Water: Narrative vs. Expository Texts
A reading of vignettes written by Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Lesotho and Madagascar launches a study of the difference between narrative and expository texts. As final products, young writers craft both a narrative and an...
Curated OER
Think of an Ending
Good endings are hard to find. And write. This, the final lesson in a six-part series devoted to study of the ingredients of a good story, focuses on crafting endings. Class members draft ideas about what should happen to each of their...
Curated OER
Introducing the Hamburger Model or Persuasive Writing
A one-page template provides primary writers with a graphic organizer to assist them in drafting a persuasive paragraph. Labeled the “Hamburger Model” because of its appearance, the worksheet asks pupils to craft an introduction, provide...