Lesson Plans and Worksheets
As the International Teacher for Miina Härma Gumnaasium in Tartu, Estonia, I teach classes in English that include children from Estonia, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, and even Pakistan besides Britain and the United States. Lesson Planet helps me find many worksheets and lessons that feature hands-on activities, good graphic organizers, clear, simple language and diagrams, step-by-step math explanations. It is basically very useful for helping a teacher with a largely ESL population. Moreover, I must develop my own teaching materials since I follow the Estonian national curriculum PLUS the national standards of the students, which can be difficult to reconcile together -- never mind, trying to find a textbook that suits (and, I might add, English-language texts are not easily obtainable here).
- Wakefield, RI
- 04-06-12
Important Explorers, Investors, and Settlers Lesson Plans
Find teacher approved Important Explorers, Investors, and Settlers lesson plan ideas and activities
Fourth graders Discover the history of Missouri exploration by French explorers. Learn their biographies and input into development of local lands by Jolliet, Robert de La Salle, Etienne de Bourgmont, Pierre Laclede, and Rene Auguste Chouteau.
Students compare and contrast the voyages of early explores with the space explorations of the present day. After reading the biographies of Benjamin Banneker and Timothy Livengood, students create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting their lives and their explorations.
Students search interactive sites to discover the history of exploration. They inspect an explorers' timeline and read about them. They participate in a Viking quest game and a multimedia recreation of Marco Polo's explorations.
Eighth graders access and read the Nebraska Studies Website. They read information about settlers and African American Settlers. Then, they create a story and headline based on their interpretation of how the Homestead Act influenced settlement in Nebraska. Encourage them to use textual evidence to back up their arguments.
Pupils examine why people move from one country or area to another. Using photographs, they analyze the culture and lifestyles of people pictured in the image. They research and explain the daily experiences of the settlers to discover who they were.
Fourth graders research information about the contributions of La Salle and De Soto in the history of Louisiana. They examine what it means to be an explorer by participating in a magnifying glass activity, determine the importance of De Soto's expedition for gold, and look at De Soto's routes. After completing the lessons the complete a multiple choice assessment.
Learners study Marquette and Joliet who explored the Mississippi in 1673
Discuss the differences between the North and the South and how those differences led to the Civil War. Middle schoolers examine and analyze a famous speech or writing by President Lincoln in order to better understand the speaker's argument and discuss the conflicting opinions of the President during the war. After analyzing the speech or writing, students write an essay in which they briefly summarize the speech.
Have your class explore the representation of water in Canadian art. This lesson plan has learners investigate the representation of water in a variety of art forms. They focus on their personal feelings about art and the topic of water. What a great way to discuss art.
Ninth graders differentiate the Native American and European values. In this world history lesson, 9th graders define colonialism in their own words. They study the effects of epidemics and other diseases to Native American populations.
