9/11 Memorial & Museum
Exploring Afghani Culture through Literature
Hosseini Khaled's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are the anchor texts in a semester-long course that explores Afghani culture and traditions.
Curated OER
Grocery Store Field Study
Students visit a local grocery store (not a community market) to gather information about where some commonly eaten produce items come from. Once they have collected this information, locate the countries of origin on a map and research...
Curated OER
Social Studies: Improving Academic Skills
Third graders play a variation of Bingo to reinforce study skills, time management, and test taking strategies. As the teacher draws key words, they offer brief explanations or descriptions about how the words can be used. As key words...
Curated OER
First Amendment Guarantee of Free Speech (Senior, Social Studies)
Students receive a list of banned books from which they choose one to read. They read their chosen book and write a paper that includes a discussion of the First Amendment and its guarantees and the reason(s) why they believe their book...
Curated OER
Social Studies--Important People/Groups of the Holocaust
Young scholars take the personas of eight different groups of people involved in the Holocaust. In this lesson about the Holocaust, students view "The Rise and Fall of Adolph Hitler" young scholars view and discuss the video,...
Curated OER
The Future of Social Studies Education
Students work in groups of four and complete a roster of their names and personal information and to complete a release form that allows their pictures to be placed online. They then engage in classroom activities while being...
Curated OER
Creating a Database: Africa, Technology, Social Studies
Students use technology to create a database demonstrating their knowlede (in the case) of the African Continent. This project could be applied to almost any other concept studied.
Curated OER
Disease and Epidemics - Social Studies
High schoolers explore how the study of diseases, epidemics and disease management promotes our understanding of human culture and history. They also examine the roles of agriculture, trade and living in cities in promoting the spread of...
Curated OER
Social Studies Lesson: Apartheid
Students examine the Apartheid system of South Africa through a role-play activity. The role-play activity ends with a class discussion on how the events affected each individual. A class discussion continues after reading an article...
Curated OER
Houghton Mifflin Social Studies/ Chapter 5, Lesson 2: Mexico Defeated (pp. 116-120)
Third graders study how the United States declared war on Mexico and succeeded in gaining control of California. Several activities are included in the lesson. The lesson outline is included as a link.
Curated OER
The Journey of a Banana
To investigate the price of bananas in order to evaluate basic counting and number sense skills, your mathematicians focus upon multiplication and problem solving that incorporates social studies in the form of building awareness about...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Relationships…Quality Control
Quality relationships don't just happen. They require nurturing, patience, thoughtful communication, and honesty. Help tweens develop these relationship skills with an activity that asks them to themselves and then outline a...
Curated OER
Before Rosa Parks: Ida B. Wells
The contributions of Ida B. Wells to the Civil Rights Movement are the focus of this social studies activity. Middle schoolers read a handout regarding Wells, discuss the handout, and write about non-conformist behavior.
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Debate: Islam & Democracy
World religion or social studies classes studying Islam may find this debate-based lesson plan useful for exploring Islam and its compatibility with democracy. The final assessment is a five-paragraph persuasive essay. Some information...
Curated OER
Advertisements
Students explore educational offerings for people with disabilities. In this social studies lesson, students research early schools for people with disabilities and discuss the advertisements that were used at the time. Students create...
Curated OER
Immigration and Ellis Island
Fourth graders explore family histories. In this social studies lesson, 4th graders identify the countries from which their ancestors came and locate them on a map. Students discuss the role that Ellis Island played in immigration in the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Road to the Constitutional Convention
After defeating the most powerful nation in the world, the United States had to deal with its own weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation. Activities in the activity include analyzing primary sources from the Founding Fathers to...
Museum of Tolerance
Cultural Research Activity
Class members explore cultural diversity through a variety of texts that showcase the importance of traditions. Then, they interview their family members to research their own cultural background and write their findings on quilt...
Museum of Tolerance
Oral History Activity
Oral history has brought a multitude of lessons, stories, and factoids to our current knowledge of the past. Let us continue to use oral history traditions through a instructional activity that encourages pupils to discover and...
Museum of Tolerance
Artifact Research Activity
Artifacts give us the privilege of learning about the past, may it be family, culture, or traditions. Here, class members learn about their family's past with the help of an artifact, or family heirloom. Once an artifact is...
Museum of Tolerance
Quilt Activity
After completing the first five lessons from the series, scholars assemble their quilt pieces to create a family history quilt. They then rate their experience of learning about their families by conducting interviews, creating family...
ESL Library
Beginner Level Thanksgiving ESL Lesson Plan
Thanksgiving is a cherished tradition in the United States and Canada. Introduce the beginnings of the Thanksgiving celebration with a resource that features reading comprehension activities, vocabulary exercises, and a short...
Curated OER
Greeks Around the World: A Case Study on Greek Diaspora
Students gain an understanding of the concept of Diaspora relating to Greeks. They use guided discovery to apply the geographic inquiry model to an examination of the reasons for Greek Diaspora.
Museum of Tolerance
Family Role Model Activity
What does is take to be a role model? Through grand conversation, and the use of books and a graphic organizer, scholars find out and apply the requirements to identify a role model within their family. They then journey through the...