Curated OER
How to Make a Mummy Mask
With some plaster casting materials and a quick lesson on the ancient burial traditions of Egypt, your class can create amazing mummy masks. Listed here are all the tools, precautions, and steps needed for each child to make an Egyptian...
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...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
What Brought Settlers to the Midwest?
Drawn by promises of fertile land, thousands of settlers poured West because of the Homestead Act of 1862. By examining images of the ads that drew them westward, learners consider the motivations for movement. They also consider how the...
Curated OER
Ad Creation
Students create an advertisement. In this writing lesson, students discuss how to create an ad for a product. Students write an ad for a cereal.
Curated OER
How Much is That Monkey in the Window?
Students investigate exotic pets and the ecological and personal risks involved in trading and owning such animals. They synthesize their knowledge by creating advertisements that promote the sale of exotic pets and picket signs that...
Curated OER
Don't Type To Strangers
Students create Web advertisements to protect young people from online predators. For homework, they write letters pitching their ads and analyzing their effect. They discuss their own use of the Internet and how to protect young people.
PLS 3rd Learning
It Costs How Much!?!?
Many teens conjure up images of how great their first apartment will be, but they lack a solid understanding of what it will cost to make it look that way. To gain an appreciation for the cost of furnishings, they create a collage of a...
Institute for Humane Education
In Your Face: Reclaiming Billboards
Ads here, ads there, ads everywhere—but what do they communicate? Pupils discuss this topic and develop a list of personal values. They then work as creative directors at an advertising firm to create billboards that reflect community...
Historical Thinking Matters
Social Security: 3 Day Lesson
What does social security reveal about the political and social culture of the 1930s? After beginning with a brief introductory video on the impact of the Great Depression and how various Americans, such as Huey Long and Francis...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Birmingham, Fall 1963
Can any good come from acts of evil? The 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the eventual outcomes of the tragedy, are the focus of a lesson plan that asks groups to examine primary source...
Curated OER
Political Advertisements
Students are shown how to analyze the messages and the impact of the candidates' politicial adertisements in print, video, and audio formats. They are shown the techniques that candidates use to influence voter decisions and how to...
Curated OER
Imus: How much free speech is too much?
Young scholars read background about Don Imus and his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. They explore current interpretation of the First Amendment, including that of commercial speech. Students present the findings to...
Media Smarts
The Broadcast Project
As part of a unit on media studies, kids are asked to chart their viewing habits, observe the advertising that sponsors their favorite shows, and then to imagine what they would broadcast if given a block of airtime.
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama's Secession in 1861: Embraced with Joy and Great Confidence. Why?
From December 20, 1860 to June 8, 1861, eleven states seceded from the Union. Alabama seceded on January 11, 1861. Why did so many white Alabamians want to secede? Why did they believe the South could win the war? These are the essential...
One Hen
Making Choices
When choosing what foods to eat, there are a lot of factors to consider. To help make the decision a little easier, young learners work in small groups developing short plays, stories, or advertisements that address the different issues...
Teacher Web
1920's Magazine
What a creative and engaging project to incorporate into your studies of the 1920s! Your young historians will work in groups to design a magazine discussing the political and cultural topics of the decade, each member writing one...
Curated OER
Fighting The Horse Race: Creating Ads Which Explore 2008 Presidential Candidates & Issues
What is advertising? What role does it plan in an election? Middle and high schoolers discuss advertising and its purpose by sifting through different magazines and discussing the products they find. Then they relate advertisements to...
Curated OER
The Function of Music
Explore concepts of audience, purpose and symbols in this lesson from Media Smarts that asks high schoolers to consider all the functions of music. Through a series of discussions and activities, your class will brainstorm possible...
Curated OER
I Can Buy Anything I Want: Consumer Debt and Social Responsibility
A clear, comprehensive overview of consumer debt, credit, interest, international currency, and social responsibility, this 45-minute session falters in the application stage. You'll need to create a way for learners to demonstrate their...
Curated OER
Life Skills - Advertising Tricks - Learning About Food Advertisements
In this advertising worksheet, learners learn about food advertisements, including jingles, images, products, animation and more. They then complete the 3 activities in which they create their own product, spokes-character and jingle.
Curated OER
Trick or Treat for Unicef
Creative thinkers develope advertisements. They work in groups to create an advertisement featuring the importance of contributing to UNICEF. They research, learn about point of view, and present final projects to the class.
Curated OER
Deciphering Propaganda Posters of World War I
What strategies are employed when creating propaganda? Your young historians will learn about six different techniques utilized in the construction of political propaganda, particularly in the advertisements of World War I. The...
Curated OER
Sculpting a Message: From the Counter-Reformation to the Present Day
Students discuss persuasive messages in art. In this art history lesson, students research 17th- century European sculptures to find the messages given. They create their own sculptures and write press releases to explain their art.
Curated OER
Using Primary Sources to Discover Reconstruction
Fifth graders discover how reconstruction had an impact on racial issues in the United States. In this Reconstruction instructional activity, 5th graders are introduced to primary vs. secondary resources and then rotate through...