Curated OER
Evaluating Information on Food Labels
What kinds of foods include corn? Corn syrup? Start by viewing a clip of Food Inc. with your middle or high schoolers. Then, study a list of corn-derived ingredients, encouraging your class to see how many food products contain corn. A...
Curated OER
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
How do artists affect and how are artists affected by the time periods in which they live? Learners examine the life and work of controversial and influential cultural artist Patti Smith as they seek answers to this essential question....
Polk County Public Schools
Suffragists
The Women's Rights movement is the focus of an engaging and collaborative exercise, in which young historians use information found in textbooks, class notes, and the provided documents to craft a DBQ essay.
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...
Curated OER
The Statue of Liberty: Bringing the 'New Colossus' to America
Learners discuss meaning of symbols associated with Statue of Liberty, read and analyze Emma Lazarus' sonnet, "The New Colossus," and write persuasive letter to a nineteenth-century audience to gain support for bringing statue to America.
Curated OER
Teaching with Primary Sources Across Tennessee
Students examine Gee's Bend Alabama. For this resettlement lesson, students view a series of photographs taken of Gee's Bend Alabama. Students will write a series of newspaper articles based on the images, that exemplify the evolution of...
Curated OER
Write Your Own "I Have a Dream" Speech
Learners listen to King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. They use a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet to express their dreams for the world in a format similar to King's speech.
Curated OER
Truman's Foreign Policy Decisions
Students examine foreign policy decisions of former President Truman which still affect us today, review factors to be considered in making foreign policy decisions, closely explore specific major foreign policy decisions, and share...
Curated OER
Cells: Structures and Processes
Students explore the basic unit of life, the cell in this nine lessons unit. The cell structure of animal and plant cell functions and how they affect our world are probed in this unit.
Curated OER
Pioneer America: Journey West
Fourth graders experience pioneer life on the Oregon trail. In this pioneer instructional activity, 4th graders research the reasons for moving west and what life was like on the trail. They create a map, complete an oral presentation,...
Curated OER
Evaluating Web Sites for Bias
Students become familiar with checklist they use to evaluate Web content for bias. They use the checklist to evaluate two Web sites from very different sources.
Curated OER
Kids Get School Named for Obama
Students read about the renaming of a school for Barack Obama. In this political lesson, the teacher presents vocabulary words from the news article, then the students read the article and answer comprehension questions. Lesson includes...
Curated OER
Twain: Tom Sawyer—Mythic Adventurer
Students take a closer look at archetypes. In this characterization lesson, students examine the setting and the characters of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as they read and analyze the novel. Students consider how Twain mythically...
Curated OER
Assignment Discovery Lesson Plan World War II
High schoolers examine primary and secondary documents about life on the homefront during World War II. In this World War II lesson, students research the conditions of daily life in the United Kingdom, the United States, and...
Curated OER
Decision-Making Scenerios
Eleventh graders review what they have gathered on the Gold Rush and how the Native Americans lived in the Plains. Using a worksheet, they choose one scenerio they would have liked to be a part of and write their opionions about it...
Curated OER
Evolving Views about Minority Rights in the United States
Tenth graders compare and contrast majority and minority outlooks on issues. In this social justice lesson plan, 10th graders research majority and minority values regarding the Salem Witch Trials, Plessy v. Ferguson, the McCarthy...
Curated OER
Pioneer America: Pioneer Living
Fourth graders research pioneer life. In this pioneer lesson, 4th graders read the book Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder and discuss what life was like for early pioneers. They research pioneers and show what they...
Curated OER
Twain: Icon and Iconoclast
Learners examine work by Mark Twain in the context of pre- and post-Civil War America. In this cross curricular lesson, students gather biographical information about Twain, use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast him with...
Curated OER
Assessing the Character of the Colonies: Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior
Students read a primary source document about the rules of civility and behavior in the presence of company. Using the text, they make assumptions about how life was like in the colonies. They compare and contrast the culture of the...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Progressive Era: Muckrakers
Using Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, guide your class in the process of identifying unknown terms using context clues and formulating text-based answers. The lesson plan includes a useful worksheet incorporating scaffolding questions on an...
Indiana Historical Society
Lesson One – Vietnam War Time Line
To prepare for an in-depth study of the Vietnam Era, class members research and create a timeline that tracks the United States' involvement in Southeast Asia and especially Vietnam.
Foreign Policy Research Institute
A Geography Lesson
Fewer and fewer people have a strong grasp of world geography, but this activity helps students understand geopolitics by creating their own original historical map. The activity requires selecting a country from the list provided,...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Understanding China: The Prospects for Democracy in China
This document provides useful information for a unit on democracy in China. While it does not include detailed activities, it does have a list of democratic principles, and important facts about China that facilitate understanding of its...
PBS
Baseball: The Tenth Inning
The intent of this resource is to explore Latin American accomplishments in baseball, recognizing the changes in demographics of players over the last century. Social studies classes begin with a discussion and brainstorm surrounding...