Curated OER
Anti-Slavery and Reform-Related Sources
Fifth graders use primary sources to explore events witnessed by ordinary people. In this primary documents lesson, 5th graders answer critical thinking questions based on their documents. Students recognize the...
Curated OER
The Driveway Case
Young scholars discover how courts determine property possession using evidence. In this critical analysis instructional activity, students use provided case studies and evidence to determine legal possession. This instructional activity...
Curated OER
Analysis of the Diary of Narcissa Whitman
Seventh graders explore the West through the eyes of a settler. In this Westward Expansion lesson, 7th graders read excerpts from the diary of Narcissa Whitman as she journeyed West from Pennsylvania. Students respond to critical...
Curated OER
School Life Today and in the Past at Freyberger School
Learners compare and contrast school life today with that of Pennsylvania in the 1900's. In this school life lesson students create a description of a typical one-room schoolhouse. They think critically about attending school in a...
Curated OER
Cartoons for the Classroom: A Parody of Broken Promises
Parodies of political figures are the lifeblood of the editorial cartoons in a free press. North Korea's nuclear threat provides young political scientists an opportunity to hone their critical thinking skills as they analyze a...
Curated OER
Citizens Together
Students examine the bill of rights as it relates to founding documents and their significance today. In this bill of rights lesson plan, students use newspapers as sources to answer critical questions regarding democratic citizenship....
Curated OER
First Things First: Using the Newspaper to Teach the Freedoms of the First Amendment
Learners use the newspaper as a tool to make connections about what the five freedoms guarantee in the First Amendment. In this first amendment lesson plan, students analyze events in the newspaper to form conclusions about the freedoms...
Curated OER
Writing Exercise: The Neolithic Revolution
Provide a format for your historians to explore the Neolithic Revolution using this writing exercise. Three display questions prompt scholars to reflect on how the revolution was a turning point in human history, its impact on gender...
Curated OER
Writing Exercises: Political Revolutions
Political Revolutions are fascinating! Historians explore the 18th century revolutionary period through writing with these three broad short-answer prompts. They consider the long-term effects of the Napoleonic Code and describe the...
Curated OER
Comparison of Economic Systems
Here is a worksheet in which learners identify and compare economic systems (market, command, mixed, etc.) with 18 fill-in-the-blank questions and a graphic organizer.
Learning for Justice
Marian Wright Edelman
Marian Wright Edelman's 2014 Commencement Speech at Lewis and Clark College serves to inspire young scholars to investigate a problem in their community, to determine why the problem is important, and then to develop a plan for one thing...
Curated OER
The Question of Annexation
Middle schoolers examine the sequence of events that led up to the annexation of Texas to the United States. They create a timeline of significant events, analyze primary source letters from this time period, and write a letter from the...
Education Bureau of Hong Kong
Evaluating Casual Claims
Responsible decision making relies on the ability to a recognize, analyze, and evaluate claims. The worksheets and activities in this 32-page packet teach learners how to distinguish among opinions, reasoned arguments, facts, and logical...
Arizona Department of Education
Be Independent / Life Management Skills
Living independently is about more than managing money. Learn how to manage time, balance responsibilities, and calculate overtime and income with a set of activities about life management skills.
National Park Service
The Battle of Stones River: A Contrast in Leadership Styles
US Commanding General William S. Rosecrans led the Union soldiers and Confederate Commanding General Braxton Bragg led the rebel army at the Battle of Stones River. Young historians compare how the leadership styles of these two...
National Woman's History Museum
Helen Keller--Citizen and Socialist
Do history books tell the full story of Helen Keller? The sanitized version of Helen Keller found in most textbooks leaves out her most provocative ideas. She was a socialist, fought for workers' rights, and advocated for the use of...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: “Making History” by Marilyn Nelson
What makes an event newsworthy, worth a reference in a news magazine or textbook? Who decides? These are questions Marilyn Nelson asks readers of her poem "Making History" to consider. To begin, class members list details they notice in...
Curated OER
Stop Action and Assess Alternatives
Students stop action and determine how history may have been altered. In this historical perspectives lesson, students consider how the Cherokee Removal, the Transcontinental Railroad, the Immigration Act of 1924, and the dropping of the...
Curated OER
Meet the Reformers
Seventh graders interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this American reformers lesson, 7th graders research the accomplishments of selected reformers. Students then use the information they uncover...
Curated OER
From Greece to Main Street
Learners consider the influence of the Greeks on American architecture. In this American Greek Revival architecture lesson, students identify the attributes of architectural style as they compare the Parthenon with the Lincoln Memorial....
Curated OER
The Underground Railroad
First graders read a book about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. In this underground railroad lesson, 1st graders learn songs and code words that the slaves used to communicate with one another. Students discuss how all...
Curated OER
Governance
Second graders practice decision making. In this government lesson plan students role play making different types of decisions. They discuss how decisions affect life. The Great Binding Law of the Iroquois Confederacy is used as a focus.
Curated OER
Controversy over the NYC Muslim Community Center & the 9/11 Experience
Students investigate the controversial planned mosque at Ground Zero. In this current events lesson, students watch 3 public service announcement clips sponsored by the Council on American Islamic Relations and discuss their...
National Park Service
Freedom at Antietam
Explore how the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation affected everyday individuals in the Civil War era. Learners are given the opportunity to read and evaluate primary and secondary source material, and then to compose a writing...