Curated OER
Analyzing Non-Fiction Text Features- Graphs
Students examine the text features of non-fiction. In this literacy lesson, students practice reading graphs and discover the authors intent for using them in primary and secondary sources.
Curated OER
Downing's Oyster House: Building New York
Fourth graders explore African American contributions to New York City. In this antebellum New York lesson plan, 4th graders research the accomplishments of Thomas Downing. Students explore primary and secondary sources about Downing's...
Curated OER
Social Studies - Concentration Camps -2
Eighth graders investigate the typical day in a concentration camp. In this Holocaust lesson plan, 8th graders read primary and secondary sources about the conditions of the camps. Students also conduct research about the Warsaw Ghetto,...
Curated OER
The Women's Suffrage Movement Signature Debacle
Students examine the Women's Suffrage Movement in Nebraska. For this women's rights lesson, students explore primary and secondary sources regarding suffrage in the state and obstacles that women in the state faced when it came to...
Curated OER
Could the Civil War Been Avoided Through Compromise?
Students determine whether the American Civil War could have been avoided. In this Civil War lesson, students examine primary and secondary sources to prepare to participate in a classroom debate that requires them to compromise to avoid...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the Unreliable Biographers
High schoolers research biographical facts about Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce and complete literary analysis activities. In this biographical lesson plan, learners research basic biographical facts about Poe and Bierce. High...
Tennessee State Museum
Deciphering the Document: Unlocking the Meaning of the Emancipation Proclamation
Help your learners truly understand the Emancipation Proclamation by asking them the put it into their own words. After reading the document out loud to the class, and briefly discussing the legal language, split your class into small...
Curated OER
1880s Agricultural Nation: Foods and Families on the Move
Students complete activities to learn about the agriculture during the 1880s. In this agricultural history instructional activity, students discuss the brainstorm questions about their neighborhood and its agricultural history. Students...
Curated OER
From Smithson To Smithsonian, The Birth Of An Institution
Learners evaluate historical sources. In groups, students explore the differences between a primary and secondary source. They examine the importance of evaluating sources and using credible ones when writing reports. Learners...
Curated OER
Carbons to Computers
Young scholars collect, organize, and analyze primary and secondary source information that documents a local office. (Students synthesize what they have learned to predict the office's organization and functions in the year 2025.)
National History Day
Propaganda Posters of World War I: Analyzing the Methods Behind the Images
The power of a picture. During the events surrounding World War I, propaganda posters were widely distributed in American society to sway the emotions of its citizens. By analyzing World War I propaganda posters in the first installment...
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Mathematicus Dramaticus
The best part about this resource is that you've got four wonderful activities to choose from. Each of the projects can work together or on its own to help learners understand the history of math and how it can be seen every day. In...
Syracuse University
World War II
During World War II propaganda was as important to the war effort as the soldiers in the field. Scholars consider how the government communicated messages of patriotism with propaganda by examining pieces from World War II. Then, they...
Museum of the American Revolution
Object Observation: Purpose on a Powder Horn?
Young archeologists discover the significance of ordinary objects from the past in an interesting lesson plan on artifact analysis. The activity focuses on examining the image of a powder horn from the Revolutionary War to understand...
University of Arkansas
Promises Denied
"Promises Denied," the second instructional activity in a unit that asks learners to consider the responsibilities individuals have to uphold human rights, looks at documents that illustrate the difficulty the US has had trying to live...
American Evolution
Virginia Runaway Slave Ads
What does an ad reveal about a culture, or about the values of its intended audience? Class members examine a series of runaway slave ads—one of which was written by Thomas Jefferson—and consider what these primary source documents...
Curated OER
Red is the Word!
Through the use of stories, artwork, and the KidPix program, youngsters explore the color word red, and engage in activities around the word. Teaching kindergartners about the color words can be so much fun. This could be adapted for any...
Curated OER
The Home Front (Circa 1863)
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this American Civil War instructional activity, students examine sources and then write personal accounts of the war.
Curated OER
American Indian Reservation Controversies
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this American history lesson, students research the reservation controversies of the 1870's. Students use problem based learning...
Curated OER
Did Southern Free Men of Color Fight for the Ideals of the South?
Young scholars explore how to read and interpret various primary and secondary sources and how to use them to draw conclusions about motivations of African American soldiers in the Civil War. They evaluate the quality of primary sources...
Curated OER
Stono Rebellion
Fourth graders explore the Stono Rebellion. In this Colonial America lesson, 4th graders research the Stono Slave Rebellion using primary and secondary sources. Students study how the rebellion affected the treatment of slaves in America.
Curated OER
Analyzing Nonfiction Text Features - Graphs
Students examine the text features of non-fiction. In this literacy lesson, students practice reading graphs and discover the authors intent for using them in primary and secondary sources.
Curated OER
Alphabet Soup Job Descriptions
Eleventh graders investigate New Deal programs. In this Great Depression lesson plan, 11th graders read the provided source materials that detail the agendas of 3 New Deal agencies. Students complete the provided analysis sheets and then...
Curated OER
Education in Colonial New England
Fifth graders examine schooling now and in New England Colonies. In this compare and contrast lesson, 5th graders describe schools of the present to schools of the past. Students also investigate the goals of schooling and the part...