Benjamin Banneker Association
Celebrate Benjamin Banneker
Inventor, astronomer, surveyor, mathematician, clock maker. Learners celebrate the life of Benjamin Banneker by building creative analog clocks, making scale models, and solving problems related to surveying. The activities model the...
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The Pre-Civil War Era (1815–1850)
For this online interactive U.S. history worksheet, students respond to 9 short answer and essay questions about 19th century America. Students may check some of their answers on the interactive worksheet.
US Environmental Protection Agency
Teach English, Teach About the Environment
Spread the message of recycling while teaching your English language learners new vocabulary and practicing verb tenses. Included here are four lesson plans for each level (beginning, intermediate, and advanced) as well as accompanying...
Federal Reserve Bank
Measuring the Great Depression
Young historians examine the cost of goods and services through the Consumer Price Index (CPI), output measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and unemployment measured by the unemployment rate to gain an understanding of the economic...
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Freedom, Rights, and Responsibilities
Young scholars look at the primary sources that emerged from the Exodus (the Ten Commandments) and the War of Independence (the Declaration of Independence) and examine how each attempts to construct a free society and a definition of...
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Transcontinental Railroad Web Quest
Students examine aspects of the Transcontinental Railroad. In this Westward Expansion instructional activity, students conduct a web-quest in order to gather information about the Transcontinental Railroad. Students will use their...
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Northwest Indian Masks
Students explore the cultural importance of Native American masks. In this indigenous cultures lesson, students are first introduced to the tribal groups of the Northwest and how they used masks for medicine, religion, and entertainment....
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Stamp of Courage
Students discuss the attributes that a hero can have and what it takes to be a Distinguished American, and be commemorated on a stamp. In this courage lesson, students research an everyday hero that they know about and create a...
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What's Behind that Mask?
Students use a "spider web" graphic organizer to record information about different types of masks they are familiar with. They write a paragraph about masks. Students read about Native American cultures and compare/contrast the...
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FOOD FOR THE ANCESTORS
Young scholars identify the foods associated with the "Days of the Dead Celebration." They compare and contrast these foods to the foods associated with American celebrations and become familiar with the foods of Mexico and their...
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The Treaty Trail: U.S. - Clothing That Talks: Meaning and Material Culture
Learners investigate the cultures of Native Americans and Euro-Americans through their clothing. In this photograph analysis lesson, students observe historic photographs and analyze the style of clothes people wore and how it...
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The Cotillion or One Good Bull is Half the Herd, a Black Arts Movement novel by John O. Killens
Students study late twentieth-century African American satirical literature as well as its cultural antecedents. they analyze and discuss, within the contexts of race and gender, the social criticism of the middle classes presented by...
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The Impact
Students investigate the impact inventions have on people. In this technology lesson, students explore inventions, such as the light bulb, and identify ways the invention impacted society. Students design a simple project that could...
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Jazz Talk
Middle schoolers analyze the origins of jazz music by examining work songs, spirituals, blues, and gospel songs as well as works of poetry from African American artists. They create their own poems from either the narrative, dramatic,...
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Deaf and Diverse
Students examine deaf culture and the role that American Sign Language plays in forging a sense of community.
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This is America
Learners explore world geography by viewing a documentary film in class. In this national parks instructional activity, students view the Ken Burns documentary about the subject and identify the contributions of individuals in support of...
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Plum Stone Dice Game
Students read about a Native American dice game online. They make replica games, and practice playing with them. They predict the outcome of the dice rolls by completing a dice throw chart.
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Immigration History Firsthand
Middle schoolers interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this immigration lesson, students conduct research regarding Ellis Island and the American immigrant experience. Middle...
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Life on the Trails
Fourth graders explore U.S. Geography by completing a worksheet. In this west coast geography lesson, 4th graders discuss the Santa Fe and Oregon-California trails and the people who traveled them in the 1800's. Students define...
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Stephen Crane: The Open Boat
Students explore the genre of American literary naturalism by reading,"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane. They examine the relationship of man and nature through analysis of the characters, narration and descriptive vocabulary.
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James Hopkinson's Plantation. Planting Sweet Potatoes
In this primary source analysis activity, students analyze the photograph that features freedmen planting sweet potatoes. Students respond to 1 short answer question about the photograph.
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The Game of Life
Students explore the game of life which refers to what happens to a species when most of the population is gone. For this endangered species lesson, students describe what it means for a marine animal to be endangered. Students...
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The Introduction and Diffusion of Household Technology
Students conduct research and develop a matrix demonstrating the introduction and spread of common household items from 1900 to 2000 in the U.S. They conduct Internet research, watch and discuss a video, and develop the matrix.
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Do We Control Nature, or Does Nature Control Us?
Student examine the theme of man versus nature in art. In this man versus nature instructional activity, students examine various pieces of art and discuss the theme as it is depicted. They discuss whether the themes shown in the artwork...