Curated OER
Slave Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources
Learners access oral histories that contain slave narratives from the Library of Congress. They describe the lives of former slaves, sample varied individual experiences and make generalizations about their research in journal entries.
Curated OER
Sodbusters!
Students study American settlers, how and where they lived by observing images. They investigate how the settlers used sod to build houses that were adaptable to the plains environment. They compare living in a sod homes with their home.
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Darcy's Proposal to Elizabeth
Why did Elizabeth refuse Darcy’s first proposal? Was it pride or prejudice? Readers of Austin’s classic struggle with the significance of Darcy’s proposal and Elizabeth’s refusal by crafting personal response journals and sharing these...
Curated OER
Benjamin Franklin: Goods and Services in Colonial America
Fifth graders examine the impact of Benjamin Franklin's ideas on the goods and services available in Colonial America as well as analyze the importance of Franklin to modern society. While listening to "How Ben Franklin Stole the...
Curated OER
Mark Twain: Straddling the Civil War
Mark Twain's life, politics, writing, and role as a mirror of pre- and post-Civil War American culture are the focus 11th and 12th graders in this section from an expansive author study. A critical writing assignment comparing Twain to...
Curated OER
Discovering Language Arts-Intermediate Fiction
Explore the elements of science fiction. Students investigate the literary elements present in science fiction and write their own science fiction stories.
Curated OER
"Circles of Strength: What Do You Stand For?" ~ A Reflection of Us~
Middle schoolers determine how they are included in "Circles of Strength." In this character activity, students reflect on how they are part of "Circles of Strength" in the "Circle of Life." They make an individual circle that includes...
Curated OER
US Immigration Policy: What Should We Do?
High schoolers evaluate immigration policies. In this global issues instructional activity, students analyze the long-term goals of divergent immigration policies as they role play the deliberation process.
Curated OER
Cartoons for the Classroom: Defining a Revolution with Symbols
Cartoons for the Classroom has put out another thought-provoking image along with some great discussion questions. Learners will consider the symbolism used to portray this and other cartoons about Egypt. They will also discuss the genie...
Middle Tennessee State University
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? A Comparison in American Culture
As part of their study of the Progressive Era, class groups examine a 20th century version of "The Three Little Pigs" through a New Era lens and identify how ideals such as the value of hard work, creativity, and problem solving, etc.,...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Working in Birmingham's Iron Industry
What did railroads, iron, and industry contributed to Birmingham's successful growth? The instructional activity explains how the iron industry worked. It also describes how the location of Birmingham and its proximity to railroads....
Curated OER
Modernism: American Literature 1914-1945
What characterizes modern literature? The first few slides of this 31-slide PowerPoint discuss what sparked the change to Modernism and discuss some of the key figures of the time (like Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud). The 20s and 30s are...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Revelations
They say art often imitates life. Learners research and write an expository paper on modern dance choreographer, Alvin Ailey. They focus on describing how his life and background has influenced his dance creations. This is a great way to...
NPR
Exploring the American Dream
What is the American Dream? When did this term first gain popularity? Intermediate and advanced English language learners discuss the idea of the American Dream and conduct out-of-class interviews with those who immigrated to the US. On...
Curated OER
A Multi-Media Approach to Teaching The Grapes of Wrath
Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...
PBS
Supernatural Shakespeare and Macbeth
"A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come." The withered and wild witches of Shakespeare’s Scottish play launch an examination of the fantastical elements in Act I, scene iii, paying particular attention to the action, imagery,...
California Academy of Science
A Day in the Life of a San Francisco Native Animal
Before Google, before Sillicon Valley, before the Gold Rush, the San Francisco landscape was a biome filled with grizzly bears, mule deer, tule elk, coyotes, gray fox, gophers, and moles. To explore the early days of yesteryear, kids...
NASA
Discovering the Milky Way
What do you call a tiny collection of galaxies? A puny-verse! Young scholars graph data gathered by scientists studying Cepheids. They attempt to identify a relationship between the variables through standard and logarithmical graphing....
NASA
Science Fiction Story
A lesson allows you to go back in time and see the big bang actually happen. Bazinga! In reality, pupils research the Big Bang Theory and theorize what it would be like to go back in time and see it happen. There are four different...
School Improvement in Maryland
Evaluating Political Advertisements
How do interest groups try to influence elections? As part of their study of the election process, groups view 30-second advertisements produced by advocacy groups and use the provided worksheet to evaluate these ads. They then craft...
School Improvement in Maryland
Political Systems: Advantages and Disadvantages
Every political system has advantages and disadvantages. To gain an understanding of these differences, groups investigate the political system of another country—oligarchy, monarchy, dictatorship, parliamentary—and prepare a...
NASA
The Evidence is “Clear”!
Do you think you know better? Become a scientist and prove it. Scholars review the evidence for two different theories of the origins of the universe. They notice the empirical observations as well as the inferences to determine which is...
Museum of Tolerance
Immigration Journeys
Through the journey of four stories of immigration, scholars complete graphic organizers and apply knowledge to create a visual representation of their findings on a large poster. Third and fourth readers write a letter to their family...
Virginia Department of Education
Isotopes
Lead your class through the amazing world of isotopes as they investigate the various properties they contain and further understand their respective location on the periodic table. They explore half-lives and radioactivity as each...