Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native Americans of Rockland County

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students comprehend Native American cultures through the use of both secondary and primary sources. They explore and investigate Native Americans in New York State. Students are shown some old Indian arrowheads and they are challenged...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduction to Archaeology

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students view a PowerPoint presentation called, Archaeological Terms then discuss the job of an archaeologist and new vocabulary. They view the teacher made "artifact grid" and photograph the grid from different angles. They work in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Art: African Collar Necklace

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Students investigate the significance of African collar necklaces. To make replicas of the jewelry, they cut out the centers of paper plates leaving only the ribbed edges. To complete the necklaces, students apply tempera paints and...
Lesson Plan
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Investigating Sources-Artifacts

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students discuss artifacts. In this social science lesson plan, students realize that artifacts can help one in determining about the person the artifacts belonged to. Students will be put into small groups and will look at objects from...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kidding Around In The 1980s

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine pop culture of the 1980s.  In this historical time period lesson plan, students view a Smurfs cartoon from the 1980s and discuss its similarities and differences to cartoons today.  Students work in groups to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Contextual Clues

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Learners observe and interpret images of artifacts in different contexts in order to recognize importance of leaving artifacts in original context to correctly understand their meaning, and observe what is surrounding object to interpret...
Lesson Plan
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Treasure Chest

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore Chicago in the fur-trading era. In this Chicago lesson, students discover what life what like during this time. Students read an historical fiction story about life in the fur-trade era. Students view replicas of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Traveler's in Time

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students analyze artifacts to become familiar with the Great Migration.  In this migration lesson, students read an article and answer comprehension questions. Students role play a migration scenario using an artifact to help...
Lesson Plan
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A Siouan Village

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders examine the artifacts obtained from an excavated Siouan village site. They make inferences about the people who once lived there based on the artifacts and complete a Research Team Report.
Lesson Plan
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To Protect and Preserve

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students discuss the impact of war on the Iraqi National Museum and the importance of protecting artifacts of cultural heritage. They write letters to the Milwaukee Public Museum to show support for funding for the protection of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Protecting the Past: Give a Hoot, Don't Loot!

For Teachers 4th - 9th
Students, in small groups, simulate an ancient civilization and the art they created, another group represents vandals, and the final group represents archaeologists who try to figure out what life was like for the "ancient peoples". ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Treasure in the Trash

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners decode archaeological artifacts in order to recreate an event, using discarded objects as a model for real-life artifacts. They apply this model to reconstructing historical or literary events from artifacts they create.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Of Amulets And Scrolls

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students come to an understanding of the time period covered in the first five books of the Bible by researching and recreating ancient artifacts. They recreate artifacts that represent the people, lifestyles, and culture of people...
Lesson Plan
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Real-Life History

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students collect artifacts which are part of their family/community history. They gather at home and share in the classroom at a specified time when extra care and supervision might be provided.
Lesson Plan
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Mongolian Museum

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students act as curator of a Mongolian museum and create a brochure detailing a new exhibit of artifacts. The brochure include a floor plan of the exhibit and a description that be used in the museum tour.
Lesson Plan
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How Do We Learn About the Past?

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students examine archaeological discoveries. In this learning about the past lesson, students view a "Magic School Bus" video, discuss the role of an archeologist, and complete a graphic organizer. Students discuss a variety of artifacts...
Activity
PBS

Interviewing a Parent

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students complete a personal interview in order to discover important information about family history and interesting family artifacts.They analyze statements from the interview in order to prove the accuracy of these statements, as...
Lesson Plan
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Mesoamerican Market Fair

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students organize an Mesoamerican market fair. In this early civilizations instructional activity, students celebrate the culmination of a unit on Mesoamerican cultures by planning, marketing, and hosting a market fair complete with...
Lesson Plan
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Foods and Languages of the World

For Teachers K
Students study world cultures with an emphasis on languages and cultures. For this world cultures lesson, students study the countries of Spain, China, Italy, and the United States. Students read the story Everybody Cooks Rice and move...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Digging Into the Past

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students participate in an excavation simulation, and explore the ruins of Sardis. They ponder which clues scientists use to determine if artifacts found in the excavation are of Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, or Lydian origin.
Lesson Plan
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Right About Now… and Then

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students discuss significant figures in music history and read an article about the Smithsonian's Hip-Hop exhibit. In groups, they develop and curate an exhibition of hip-hop music and history using artifacts that represent relevant...
Lesson Plan
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Sticks, Stones, Sinews and Stuff: How Early People Used the Environment to Meet Basic Needs

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students create an artifact. In this early survival lesson, students use found objects to create an artifact that could have been used to help early people meet their basic needs.
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Remains of the Day

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students consider how archaeologists discovered and pieced together artifacts that indicate a Celtic presence in ancient Turkey. They research ancient civilizations and create archaeological digs containing items representative of these...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My Family: Past, Present,

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders explore the lives of actual people who make a difference in their everyday lives. They differentiate between events that happened long ago and events that happened yesterday by studying their family histories. The unit...