Curated OER
Kumeyaay Indians
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...
Curated OER
The Living Museum: George Washington, the Slave Owner
Eighth graders bring early America to life. In this George Washington lesson, 8th graders listen to a lecture about the first president, explore the relationships he had with his slaves, and research the backgrounds of some of his...
Facing History and Ourselves
Connecting to the Past
Young historians research the connections between their personal histories and the histories of our country to gain a deeper understanding of who they are. To begin, class members write about an object that they consider significant to...
Curated OER
The Catcher in the Rye Creative Comprehension Projects
This kind of stuff knocks me out, it really does. I mean, five fun project ideas for The Catcher In the Rye? When you're done reading all this stuff you'll wish the author was a terrific friend of yours.
Curated OER
The Called Themselves the K.K.K.; The Birth of an American Terrorist Group
How did Ku Klux Klan develop and flourish in the US? How did the government respond to acts of terrorism conducted by the KKK following the Civil War? How does the government respond to acts of terrorism today? This resource launches a...
DocsTeach
Analyzing a Letter to Congress About Bloody Sunday
The brutality of Bloody Sunday—when non-violent protesters who supported voting rights for African Americans were beaten by police—captured a nation. Young historians examine the letter of one horrified American to Congress to consider...
Curated OER
His Story/Her Story/Your Story
High schoolers read a variety of biographies to gain insight on the experiences of an African-American's life. Individually, they try to determine the time period it was written and compare the event with ones that occured in their own...
Curated OER
The Harlem Renaissance: Awakening the Black Soul
Eleventh graders explore, examine and study about the impact of the Harlem Renaissance on the American culture. They assess and explain how the Harlem Renaissance was a "rebirth" for the African American culture through art, music, and...
Curated OER
World War Ii - Japanese American Internment
Ninth graders determine that nationality is not defined by race, especially in the United States. They group into teacher created dyads with eight pictures. Four pictures are of American citizens (multiracial representations), and...
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Slave Narratives: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and the Columbian Orator
Young historians practice in-depth, quality analysis of primary source texts in this three-lesson unit, which examines excerpts from the slave narratives of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Caleb Bingham.
Curated OER
Mother's Nature
Students discuss the term "women's issues". Students read "Pulling Strings: Invoking the Moral Authority of Moms." Students explore and evaluate women's movements throughout American history. Students synthesize discoveries by...
Curated OER
Poet Naomi Shihab Nye
Students read and analyze poetry by Naomi Shihab Nye. They define stereotypes, view and discuss a video interview with Nye, present an oral reading of a poem, and write a persuasive letter to an author.
Curated OER
Freedom, Rights, and Responsibilities
Students 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 freedom....
Curated OER
American Women Who Shaped the Civil Rights Movement Explored Through the Literature of Eloise Greenfield
Examine the women who contributed to the Civil Rights movement. In groups, children read excerpts of writings from Eloise Greenfield and research the women she mentions using the internet. To end the lesson, they create a timeline of...
Curated OER
Digging Up Artifacts On Line
Why is it important to preserve historical documents and artifacts? Examine the role of primary source documents and the availability of these documents on the Internet. Middle and high schoolers write a journal about the nature of...
Curated OER
Chemical Formulas for Molecules
Newcomers to chemistry compare hydrogen peroxide to water, realizing that the difference of one oxygen atom significantly affects the chemical properties. Other pairs of compounds and their formulas are also examined. A few chemical...
Curated OER
American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins
Students explore daily life and its influences in the late 1700s for two families in different colonies- Delaware and Massachusetts by becoming historical detectives. After gathering information from artifacts to make inferences about...
Curated OER
Revolutionary War
Students identify and research significant people, causes, and primary documents of the U.S. Revolutionary War. They create a class Revolutionary War web using Inspiration computer software, write a journal depicting three days in the...
Curated OER
Nomination Speech
Learners research and American author and nominate them for an award. They determine significant accomplishments of their author's career and life. They access the Biography Resource Center and research their author.
Curated OER
A Differentiated Way through Think Dots
Students examine reasons that led people to explore, identify "West" as defined following Revolutionary War, explain importance of finding natural resources, develop time line of dates and events leading up to Lewis and Clark Expedition,...
Curated OER
America's Civil Rights Movement
Eleventh graders explore, analyze and study the background to America's Civil Rights Movement through the court system, mass protest, public opinion, political cartoons and legislation. They research Rosa Parks, Brown vs. Board of...
Stanford University
Voices of the Struggle: The Continual Struggle for Equality
As part of a study of the Civil Rights Movement from 1868 to the present, class members examine first person narratives, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, and other significant events in civil rights history. They then...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Upton Sinclair, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harvey W. Wiley
Though Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle shocked the American public into a thorough examination of the meat-packing industry, the author was disappointed that his book's main argument—the exploitation of American immigrants—was not part...
Curated OER
Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...