Introduce middle schoolers to playwriting and the elements of drama with a six-session storytelling unit that encourages kids to expand their acting and writing skills. The 12-page packet includes overviews of the lessons,...

Scholars assess a government's ability to intervene in personal health decisions. They research basic facts about euthanasia and describe their opinions about new legislation passed in the United States Congress about an individual's...

Here is a fantastic activity through which class members discover how music has the ability to influence others in a meaningful way. After reviewing selected pieces and modern-day protest songs, learners will research other songs that...

Ensure that your kids don't even consider saying "Not me!" when it comes time to read by engaging them in this set of lesson plans based around "The Little Red Hen." The class reads the story together before starting in on additional...

Twelfth graders examine the impact of African American culture on the United States by inspecting Faith Ringgold's story quilts. Working in groups, they create a collective story quilt about current cultural issues. They research their...

Learners analyze the impact of American Bandstand on race relations. In this race relations instructional activity, young scholars use the music and dance show American Bandstand to learn about race relations. Learners categorize pivotal...

Students explore African American history by researching the Jim Crow laws. In this Civil Rights lesson, students define the Jim Crow laws, the reasons they were put into place, and how they were ultimately defeated. Students write a...

Students explore the contributions of African Americans of the 20th century. In this African American history lesson, students examine portraits of Muhammad Ali, Romare Bearden, Lorraine Hansberry, Judith Jamison, and Leontyne Price in...

Students discuss Public Enemy's lyrics and compare and contrast them with songs popular during the Civil Rights Movement. They write their own rap song that expresses feelings of oppression or freedom from oppression.

Students investigate the definitions of poverty and impoverishment. They design a poster that show the Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that are violated by poverty. They write an article for the school newspaper...

Amazing efforts of African American leaders are celebrated in a instructional activity on civil participation. The engaging resource focuses on primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of African American leaders such as Ella...

Students make connections between nonviolent ideals and art. In this visual arts lesson, students discuss the successes of the American Civil Rights Movement and discuss Gandhi's influence on the movement. Students then examine images of...

Think about your favorite place ... now, think about what it looks like at different times during the day. How does the change in lighting affect the colors you see? Young artists explore the tools available in digital art software to...

Fifth graders explore the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In this human rights lesson, 5th graders create their own country, country flag, and charter of rights and freedoms after they have studied the Canadian Charter of Rights...

Students listen to the Louis Armstrong song, "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue?" and consider it as a protest song. They write in their journals about Armstrong, his music, and civil rights.

Students investigate equality and racism by creating a word art project.  In this civil rights lesson, students discover the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and create a word art project using the Internet site Wordle Web. ...

Put on an eight-actor show based on Pan Munoz Ryan's When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson. The resource comes with a color-coded script that includes some images from the picture book.

Students identify/analyze a variety of strategies to explain, create artworks and write about persistent issues involving the rights, responsibilities, roles and statue of individual citizens from a global perspective. A variety of...

Students research press freedoms in various countries such as Iran and North Korea. They create a freedom of the press report card for the countries examined.

Shell Silverstein’s “Sick” provides an opportunity for kids to demonstrate their understanding of syllables and phonemes. The class creates a list of descriptive words used in the poem that have more than one syllable, and brainstorm how...

Explore U.S. geography with your class by viewing a documentary. Show a portion of the Ken Burns documentary "The National Parks," and identify the individuals responsible for keeping the parks in order. Elementary and middle schoolers...

Students explore the Civil War by reading a children's book in class. In this underground railroad lesson, students read the story Henry's Freedom Box and discuss the plot, settings and characters. Students create their own "freedom box"...

Students assess the impact of music to portray emotions and tell stories. Examples are taken from the life of Rosa Parks and a piece of band music called "A Movement for Rosa". Evaluation is accomplished through in-class participation...

Elementary schoolers view and study ten pictures of the location of a ball adjacent to a box. They decide where the ball is and match it to its appropriate preposition on the right. A good language arts lesson!