Curated OER
Family Life in the 1830s
Students compare and contrast family life today with family life in the 1830s. They conduct research on Old Sturbridge Village, read primary source documents, and develop a list of generalizations comparing/contrasting families of the...
Smithsonian Institution
Dia de los Muertos: Celebrating and Remembering
Help scholars understand the history, geography, traditions, and art of Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Find background information for your reference as well as a detailed cross-curricular lesson plan. Learners compare...
Curated OER
Myth and Truth: The First Thanksgiving
Encourage learners to think critically about common myths regarding the Wampanoag Indians in Colonial America. They discover that behind every myth are many possible explanations—and that learning more about American history helps them...
Curated OER
Journey
Students complete a variety of enrichment activities that focus on the book, Journey, by Patricia MacLachlan. They create a photo album that shows their own family history.
Curated OER
All The Way to Timbuktu
Students discuss the concept of historic preservation and relate it to their own families and communities. After reading an article, they discuss the efforts of Mali to preserve their history. Using the internet, they research one...
Curated OER
What Can We Learn from Artifacts?
Students examine how artifacts are discovered and explore their significance as it pertains to gathering important information. In this artifacts lesson, students obtain knowledge about the way artifacts are excavated and examine an...
Curated OER
Tell a Totem Story
Students study and view pictures of Native American totem poles on the internet. They create totem poles using PowerPoint that represent their family histories using symbols to designate historic events.
Curated OER
Family Origins and American Cultural Pluralism
Students explore, analyze and discuss family origins, special legacies, and racial/cultural groups in literature and art that exposes them to positive examples in African-American history and culture. They encounter examples from dance,...
Curated OER
Family Structures
Learners organize information about their family into a family record. In this research lesson, students collect information about their families and organize it chronologically.
Curated OER
Soil, Designing the Small Farm of the Future
Middle schoolers examine the history of farming. In this environmental farming lesson, students explore the web and complete a variety of activities in order to understand the necessity of local, sustainable, and small farms for the...
Curated OER
Whites of their Eyes
Students analyze the steps that lead to the Revolutionary War. They view an eye exam chart to illustrate how important it is to focus on your end destination and see how difficult it is to focus on over time and the retelling of a...
Curated OER
The Family: Louisiana Family Folklore
Students determine that all families create and pass on folklore. They research stories of their own names and draw parallels between their own and others' naming traditions. They infer characteristics of their communities' history...
AAAS
Identification and Classification of Grassland Plants
Take learning outside and start classifying grasslands. Young ecologists observe grassland plants in order to classify them into the appropriate species by family. They note their characteristics and where they grow. A true field...
Curated OER
Farewell to Manzanar
Students investigate themes of justice and rights while reading the novel Farewell to Manzanar. They research contemporary civil rights issues and write reports. They also research the background of internment camps during World War II.
Curated OER
British Royal Family Tree
Students explore the rules of succession and how succession to the British throne works. Students arrange the royal family members in succession order. They explore the concept of lineage by constructing the British royal family tree.
Curated OER
All in the Family
Students develop family genealogy charts in search of noticeable genetic relationships between relatives. They research their family and write a reflection on the genetic relationships between individuals on the chart.
Northeast Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency
Who Were the Tired, the Poor, the Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free?
Elvira Woodruff's The Orphan of Ellis Island: A Time Travel Adventure is the core text in a interdisciplinary unit study of immigration at the turn of the century.
Curated OER
The Star Fisher
What a terrific way to discuss racism in the 1920's. Learners read a story called The Star Fisher by Laurence Yep. It is about a Chinese American girl who experiences racism and prejudice after moving from Ohio to West Virginia. Learners...
Institute for Humane Education
I've Been Branded!
How many pairs of Nikes® or Apple® products are in the average American home? What makes someone buy one particular type of laundry detergent over another? Scholars grapple with these questions as they develop a list of brands they use...
Curated OER
Collective Poetry: Teaching Tolerance
Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...
Curated OER
Different Points of View
Considering an examination of point of view? Use visual arts to engage learners in of this element of art and literature. Class members select a portrait from the Renaissance Connection and, guided by a series of brainstorming...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Slang
Introduce a lesson on Civil War slang to your class of fresh fish. After looking at pictures from the Civil War and examining the list of slang terms, young historians write a letter to a family member as if they are a Union soldier or a...
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
A lot of secrecy shrouded the creation of the atomic bomb. Readers uncover some of that secrecy using an educator's guide for the novel The Green Glass Sea. Three weeks of lesson plans feature discussion questions and reading...
Curated OER
Importance of Rice
Third graders explore the importance of rice in our world. In this rice farming lesson, 3rd graders discover how much rice we use on a daily basis. Students also discover myths from other cultures about rice. Students color code a map of...