Voices from the past. Young scholars listen to a podcast interview with a historical re-enactor as they continue their research in the eleventh instructional activity of this unit on colonial trade. Applying their close reading skills,...

In the tenth instructional activity of this unit, young scholars learn to categorize information as they continue researching their colonial trade. During guided practice, the teacher models how to read informational text slowly while...

What was life like in colonial America? Follow this lesson and your pupils will find out what people in colonial times did for work and for fun. Ask learners to compare and contrast the two texts and explain what the reading helped them...

The twelfth instructional activity of this unit builds on the skills developed in the previous instructional activity, as fourth graders continue their quest to become experts on colonial trade by listening to interviews with historical...

Fourth graders work in small groups to become experts on different colonial trades in the eighth instructional activity of this unit. Working toward the long-term goal of writing a piece of historical fiction, young scholars read...

Improve class understanding of colonial times by reading an informational text and filling out the accompanying graphic organizer. Class members work with a partner to read, take notes, make inferences, and synthesize information.The...

Building on the previous activity in this unit on colonial trade, the ninth activity has young experts continuing their research and writing summaries of the information they find. To begin, children participate in guided practice where...

Assist your class as they take notes on the Carolingian Dynasty. This handout contains spaces for them to take down information on each of the six rulers of the time period. Starting with Duke Pepin and finishing up with Louis I, this...

After completing an online activity about the Mayflower, scholars draw a picture about what they know of the Thanksgiving holiday, including a one-sentence summary. A reading of If You Were at the First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma is...

Learners take notes on the physical geography of an assigned country, as well as its type of economy, major cities, and the student's own first impressions of the country, with this graphic organizer.

In instructional activity 13 of this unit on colonial trade, young researchers learn about apprentices as they prepare to write help-wanted ads for the specific trade they have been researching. To begin, the class listens closely as the...

Learners who have a grasp on the events of the Revolutionary war view clips from five different films as secondary sources. They take notes on each clip thinking about historic inaccuracies. They then view parts of the film The Patriot...

Young scholars explore the Middle Ages. In this research skills lesson, students research selected Internet sources regarding the Middle Ages and use the provided graphic organizers to take notes regarding the information they find.

Who were the absolute monarchs of Europe and what effect did they have on their countries? Young historians begin by naming qualities they believe are important for a monarch to possess. They then take notes on four key factors...

The Maltese Cross Cabin, a frontier residence of Theodore Roosevelt, is a time capsule that commemorates Roosevelt's time in the Dakota territory. An explanatory video and response guide takes students on a virtual tour of the wooden...

In this graphic organizer worksheet, student take notes using a graphic organizer that identifies the topic and source in the middle of the page. They fill in boxes with information about events, people, key terms, and facts. They write...

As a summative assessment for this unit on colonial trade, fourth graders listen to and read informational texts in order to demonstrate their ability to take notes, write summaries, and draw connections. Young scholars first listen as...

What effect did innovations like the Bessemer Process, the light bulb, and the telephone have on the industrialization of the United States? Here is a nice graphic organizer that will help your young historians approach this question.

Encourage creative, independent, and reflective thinking and writing throughout the school year by having your class members keep Interactive Student Notebooks (ISN). Here you'll find a presentation designed to...

Using an online internet simulation, learners will role-play various members of a family living in rural Haiti. The objective is to increase global awareness by requiring them to consider poverty as an obstacle to education in Haiti....

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...

Why is it so difficult to develop a clear understanding of the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer? To answer this question class members listen to a NPR discussion of the findings of...

Fourth graders take notes on a class discussion. In this economy lesson students discuss Indiana's economy over a span of history. The students use a map and a timeline.

Introduce your class to Spain and liven up the class period with some Spanish pop music! Learners view a presentation about Spain and take notes on the information before watching a couple of music videos in Spanish. They use listening...