US Department of Education
A Close Reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides the text for a series of close reading exercises that model for instructors how carefully crafted guiding questions can help readers think critically about what they read, thus developing...
Facing History and Ourselves
Social Media and Ferguson
How can social media help or hinder civil dialogue? How can information shared on social media be verified? As the investigation of media reports of the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown continues, class members read...
Heritage Foundation
Procedural Rights: Amendments VI, VII, and VIII
Even in court, your class members have procedural rights provided by the amendments. Teach high schoolers this important lesson by using the 18th installment of a 20-part unit exploring the US Constitution. The resource provides several...
Historical Thinking Matters
Social Security: 5 Day Lesson
Did the New Deal fundamentally shift the role of the American government in the economy? Your class members will examine the interpretations of various historians in answering this question, and use a variety of primary and secondary...
Curated OER
History Of The American Flag
Fourth graders investigate the concept of the American Flag. They conduct research using a variety of resources and answer questions to create the context for the information search. Then students use the information to have class...
University of Oklahoma
Learning About Special Education
The lessons in the second unit in a three-unit series provide students with the historical background of disability education. After reading about events that impacted attitudes towards disabilities and how learners are identified for...
Macmillan Education
Webquest: Thanksgiving
Class members use the Internet to research the history of Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada, as well as the traditions surrounding the Thanksgiving-style celebrations of the Hebrews, the Chinese, and in Ancient Greece and Rome.
Museum of Tolerance
Where Do Our Families Come From?
After a grand conversation about immigration to the United States, scholars interview a family member to learn about their journey to America. They then take their new-found knowledge and apply their findings to tracking their family...
BBC
Royal Patronage
The relationship between European royalty and the artists, scientists, and philosophers they support has been a building block in the artistic and technological progress throughout the world. Learn more about patronage throughout the...
Channel Islands Film
Magic Isle: Lesson Plan 1
What are the factors that limit growth and expansion? As part of their study of Catalina Island, class members view the West of the West's documentary Magic Isle and research William Wrigley and the Santa Catalina Island Company. After...
Civil War Trust
The Common Civil War Soldier
Imagine you are a soldier in the Civil War. What are you wearing? What do you need to carry with you? Examine the life of a person during the Civil War, from drummer boys to powder monkeys to musket-toting soldiers. Elementary...
Curated OER
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Literature Study Guide
Yo-ho-ho, Treasure Island can be lots of fun with the aid of a resource that guides readers' exploration of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of buccaneers and buried gold. It's the glory of the read that will turn your...
Curated OER
About Life: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange Going to the Promised Land
To better understand the migrant experience during the Great Depression, pupils analyze two primary resources: photographs by Dorothea Lange and a U.S. Map that shows the Dust Bowl. They compare and contrast Lange's images to Steinbeck's...
NET Foundation for Television
1850-1874 Native Americans and Settlers
Did Western settlers receiving free land from the Homestead Act realize it wasn't really free at all? Scholars investigate the impact Western expansion had on Native American culture in the mid-1800s. They use documents, timelines, and...
Curated OER
Political Cartoons: Literacy
Readers decode and deconstruct political cartoons to heighten critical thinking, extra-textual literacy, and making meaning from symbolism and metaphor. A compatible activity to use in English class when your 8th or 11th graders are...
Population Connection
The Human-Made Landscape
Agriculture, deforestation, and urbanization. How have human's changed the planet and how might we mitigate the effects of human activity on the planet? To answer these questions class members research the changes in human land use from...
University of Chicago
Gender Roles in Ancient Egyptian Society
After reading about the legal status of women in the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt and doing some additional research, your young historians will work in groups to develop short skits that reflect a typical gender-role related scenario...
ProCon
Gay Marriage
The first legal gay marriage in the United States occurred in Massachusetts in 2004. Since then, countless others have tied the knot. Scholars decide whether gay marriage should be legal by reading a history of the issue, analyzing the...
Describing Egypt
Horemheb - (18th Dynasty)
Who was Horemheb and why is his tomb so famous? An fascinating resource uses virtual reality tools and even comes equipped with the ability to use a VR headset. Learners view information panels to the side of the location to understand...
Curated OER
History of Toys and Games
Students research history of popular toys to learn when those toys were first introduced. They use measurement skills to create an accurate timeline.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Meet the Heros
Vaccine development is the focus of a instructional activity that explores its history, timeline, and how the scientific method aids the process. Following a discussion about Edward Jenner and Small Pox, learners answer questions in...
Newseum
The Freedom to Make a Change
As part of a study of the First Amendment, young historians research instances when individuals or groups used the First Amendment to change the United State's laws or policies. Teams are each assigned a different case study. With the...
ReadWriteThink
Looking for the History in Historical Fiction: An Epidemic for Reading
Combine informational reading skills with fictional text in an innovative historical fiction lessons. After reading a fictional text related to diseases, class members read non-fictional text to gain knowledge about specific infectious...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
One Land, Many Trails: Challenge Activities (Theme 5)
Bring history to life through literature. The first in a series of three challenge activities designed to accompany Theme 5: One Land, Many Trails does just that through unique projects connected to historical fiction and nonfiction...