Middle Tennessee State University
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? A Comparison in American Culture
As part of their study of the Progressive Era, class groups examine a 20th century version of "The Three Little Pigs" through a New Era lens and identify how ideals such as the value of hard work, creativity, and problem solving,...
Library of Congress
Industrial Revolution
Could you live without your phone? What about cars, steel, or clothing? Class groups collaborate to produce presentations that argue that either the telephone, the gramophone, the automobile, the textile industry, or the steel...
PBS
Inventions
Use this lesson plan to discuss inventions that have changed your class's world and have impacted society. Middle schoolers investigate important inventions of their time and design an invention in a simulated business atmosphere. Modify...
Curated OER
Desert Fever: A Student-Centered Approach to Learning About the Middle East
Explore the exciting and diverse geography, people, history, governments, and economies of the Middle East. Curious minds develop a basic vocabulary of Arabic terms and work with various materials to create an aesthetically pleasing,...
Curated OER
Renaissance Music Questions
Add a comprehension resource to a unit on the Renaissance or music of the Renaissance period. Middle schoolers answer eight comprehension questions and complete ten additional questions in order to fill out a crossword...
Brown University
Considering the Role of Values in Public Policy
Strong opinions come from deeply held values. Young citizens explore the values that are most important to them in a class discussion and activity. As they prioritize a list of values cards that include freedom,...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Soldier: Experiencing the Battle of Franklin
Fighting a war over home soil makes a living nightmare even more real. Class members describe the experience of a Civil War soldier during the Battle of Franklin, poised right at a major turning point of the war, after researching the...
British Council
Letters Home
When you're writing historical fiction, the past really can become the present — especially if you're writing in the present continuous tense! Cover World War I, verb tenses, censorship, and letter writing with one informative lesson and...
Peabody Essex Museum
Chinese New Year Celebrations
Gong He Xin Xi! Happy New Year! Planning a Lunar New Year/Spring Festival Celebration? Check out the activities and resources in a packet that encourages pupils to research the cultural values and traditional practices associated with...
Curated OER
Arkansas and NAFTA
Build literacy through social studies and reading strategies. This lesson focuses on using pre-reading, vocabulary building, and comprehension questions to boost literacy while educating learners on international trade, NAFTA, and...
Digital Forsyth
Restoration Project
In need of a neat idea that incorporates technology skills, art, and history? Young art historians will each select an old photograph from a local archive to digitally restore. The primary focus is to add color, clarity, and remake the...
Curated OER
House and Holmes: A Guide to Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Test your pupils' reasoning skills with several activities and a quick mystery to solve. Learners watch and analyze a few video clips that demonstrate reasoning in action, practice deduction with an interactive and collaborative...
Institute for Humane Education
Selling "Boy" and "Girl"
Monster trucks, action figures, and video games. Are these toys designed for boys or girls? Scholars work in small groups to find and categorize examples of boy and girl toys from catalogs. Next, learners analyze the two sets of pictures...
Simon & Schuster
Les Miserables Classroom Activities
Modern readers apply classic themes to Victor Hugo's masterpiece, Les Miserables. After they discuss tricky vocabulary and plot elements from the novel, class members compare Hugo's written work to a stage or film adaptation of the...
EngageNY
Examples from Life Today
Does that happen in real life? Scholars look at their Themes of Adversity graphic organizers and think of examples in today's world for each type of adversity. They determine if today's world has the same struggles as those in the...
Curated OER
Asking Questions
Students examine a painting that depicts a scene from the Underground Railroad. They discuss the painting and write journal entries and poems in response to the painting's themes and their impressions.
Curated OER
The Art of El Anasui: Creating a Mural with Discarded/Recycled Objects
Students create murals that feature recycled objects. In this West African art lesson, students examine artwork by El Anatsui and his commentary on social issues. Students then create murals in the style of El Anatsui using discarded...
National First Ladies' Library
Designing an Appalachian Folk Art Museum
Learners investigate the concepts related to the Appalachian area and the movement of Folk Art. They conduct research using a variety of resources and use the samples as inspiration for creating their own works of art. They could...
Curated OER
The Spread of Enlightenment Ideas
Looking for a simple and straightforward reference on the Enlightenment for your young historians? Check out this list of key terms and important figures from the period, followed by a traditional assessment where your learners will be...
Curated OER
The Collaborative Works of Rodgers and Hammerstein: Show Business
Students study the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in an historical context of the development of American musical theatre as an art form. Students explore "roots" of the genre as it evolves in last half of the 19th and first two decades...
Curated OER
Talk it Over and Work it Out!: Compromise
Fourth graders explore, analyze and discuss how to interact with others in ways that respect individual and group differences. They identify and practice the skills used to compromise in a variety of situations. Each students studies the...
Curated OER
Splash & Splatter
Students research the work of Jackson Pollock, a 20th century painter. They experiment with splatter-painting methods and discover the meaning of field or action painting, terms used to describe Pollock's abstract work. Students apply...
Curated OER
Creative Communication
Students create art works in both visual and written form. They explore how we develop and record our ideas. They create their own sketchbook or journal using simple book making techniques and use the book they created to record ...
Curated OER
Outside...North of the 49th Parallel
Students explore and discuss images of Canadian landscape focusing on the work of the Group of Seven. The discuss different Canadian environments in a group of art works and complete a chart categorizing the depictions. They complete a...