Curated OER
The Ashcan School of Artists
Complete with explanations and many examples of relevant paintings, this presentation takes students through the characteristics of the Ashcan School of Artists. The slides include works by artists such as Everett Shinn, John Sloan, and...
Polk Bros Foundation
This Week's Social Studies Journal
This worksheet is ideal for a bell-ringer/writing warm-up in your class to review what was learned in a previous lesson, and includes identifying important terms and facts associated with a historical topic. Encourage learners to...
Curated OER
Boston's Arnold Arboretum
Students examine how 19th-century urban conditions influenced the development of parks. They research local trees and shrubs, develop a display of trees and shrubs, plan a new park or arboretum, and write a report on a local park.
Curated OER
Progress Amidst Prejudice: Portraits of African Americans in Missouri, 1880-1920
Students explore and analyze a database of historical portraits of an African American family of the late 1800's. They trace the migration of one of the African Americans as he/she migrates toward urban areas.
Curated OER
The Rhythm of Life - Episode 3 - Harmony
Students complete a unit on musical harmony. They listen to examples of three part harmonies, watch a video, complete a data sheet, prepare a report on the history of harmony, and complete a multimedia report on music for the movies.
Curated OER
Aqueduct Architecture: Moving Water to the Masses in Ancient Rome
Ninth graders compare ancient and modern technology in water transporting. In this lesson on the evolution of the aqueduct, 9th graders build a working aqueduct model and examine its components. They explain the importance and use of the...
Curated OER
Populists and Progressives
Students study the Gilded Age in American History. They present a speech demonstrating knowledge of the platforms of the Progressives and Populists.
Curated OER
Immigration: A Cultural Perspective
Learners investigate immigration and migration patterns near Pittsburgh, and distinguish between voluntary and involuntary migrants. They evaluate the importance of urban villages in relation to the immigrant experience.
Curated OER
Multicultural Issues and the Law: Gender and Race Based Schooling
Young scholars examine the problems associated with gender based and race based education. In groups, they research the history of education and the laws that have changed education and impacted lives. They brainstorm a list of the...
Curated OER
A Nation Counts
Students explore the functions of the U.S. Census. In this civics lesson plan, students understand the origins of the census and its role in U.S. history, recognize the political importance of apportionment based purely on population,...
Curated OER
Shoot for the Moon
Second graders distinguish the different phases of the moon. In this astronomy lesson, 2nd graders study the history of its discovery and myths about its origin. They simulate how the moon's surface is illuminated by the sun.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Understanding the Context of Modernist Poetry
Students examine the historical, social, and cultural context of modernist poetry. They explore websites, complete a chart, compare/contrast rural and urban life, watch a video of early New York, and complete a writing assessment...
Curated OER
The Immigrant Experience
Students utilize oral histories to discover, analyze, and interpret immigration and migration in the history of the United States. A goal of the unit is fostering a discussion and encouraging students to make meaning of the bigger...
Curated OER
Brucemore Mansion
Learners take a closer look at Brucemore Mansion. In this Iowa history lesson, students research what life was like at the mansion during the Gilded Age and through history. Learners also research the responsibilities of servants as well...
Polk Bros Foundation
Chicago: Choices and Changes
Chicago, a city that is ever changing. A thought-provoking lesson, geared toward third-grade social studies, explains how the city of Chicago has changed over time. It discusses important leaders to the founding of the city, like Daniel...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Franklin’s Philadelphia: Another Point of View
The impressive story of Benjamin Franklin, including his rise from a printer’s apprentice to a statesman, color upper-level scholars’ understanding of the possibilities of life in colonial Philadelphia. But not everyone had the...
Curated OER
Social Studies: Exploring Boston's Big Dig
Young scholars, in a high school class for autistic children, take a virtual tour of Boston's "Big Dig" and the artifacts discovered there. During weekly lab sessions, they discover the processes involved in artifact preservation. ...
Curated OER
Places in My World
Second graders explore where they are located on the globe. In this maps and globes lesson, 2nd graders use a map to show where they live and show the cardinal directions. Students identify characteristics of mountains, flat land,...
Curated OER
South American Architecture
Seventh graders review and discuss what they read about North American architecture. They then study images of North and south American architecture and make comparisons
Curated OER
Chicago's Amazing Growth
Students, in groups, collaboratively explore the rapid growth of Chicago (from 350 to 300,000 in less than 40 years), and how the city changed to accommodate such rapid growth.
Curated OER
From These Beginnings
Students prepare a bulletin board that shows the changing identity of their state before and after statehood.
Curated OER
What Is Smart Growth?
Students practice planning for the development of an area using the goals of Smart Growth as a guide. They analyze how regions can affect government policies. They role-play citizens who recommend how an area should be developed.
Curated OER
Prairie Settlement
Middle schoolers make a decision for site selection for a farm during the 1840s in the Midwest. They build research and writing skills by recording the information used for analysis in a chart and as diary entries.
Curated OER
Street/Urban Games
Students research and appreciate non-traditional games and activities that were played (and are still played) in our inner cities. They give presentations on stick ball, handball, off the wall, and stoop ball and invent their own game...