Curated OER
Maize to Maquiladoras: Movement from Mexico to Arizona
Fourth graders label maps of Arizona and Mexico to show the people, goods, and ideas that have moved between the two places. In this Arizona and Mexico lesson plan, 4th graders summarize the effects of the movement on Arizona life.
Curated OER
Planning A Railroad Online Lesson
Students plan a route across Donner Summit using topographical maps in order to understand the challenges involved in constructing the railroad in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In this history lesson, students first discover how to read...
Curated OER
Mapping in Words
Pupils create maps to describe the Wabanaki's relationship with their environment. They discuss the names the Wabanaki people gave to areas of land and water. They review a map of their community to discuss the names of towns and their...
Curated OER
Land Use Change Over Time
Middle schoolers use historical aerial photographs and current aerial photographs to compare the change over time to the land. For this land changing lesson plan, students analyze, compare, contrast, and list the land change in their own...
Curated OER
The American Trail System
Learners research a trail system. They create a display board of the trail system, generate a map of the trail system, and develop a commercial advertising of the trail system. They design a display board featuring facts about the...
Curated OER
Expanding the Mission: Historical Parks
Students explore U.S. geography by viewing a documentary in class. In this national parks lesson, students view video clips of individual national parks and locate them using Google Earth software. Students create a persuasive...
Curated OER
Colonial Vacation Planner
Looking for a good lesson plan on the Colonial Period for your upper-elementary class? Then, this lesson plan is for you! They use website designs, U.S. travel publications, and maps to plan a family vacation to states which were part of...
Curated OER
Where is the Trail? The Journey of Lewis and Clark
Students explore the trail followed by Lewis and Clark on their journey across the United States. In this United States History instructional activity, students complete several activities to establish the Lewis and Clark Expedition,...
Curated OER
Learning to Ask Questions
First graders analyze historical materials and create questions about Dwight D. Eisenhower. In this question writing activity, 1st graders ask and answer questions about the life of Eisenhower. Students write about photographs they view.
Curated OER
Living in the Desert
Conduct an investigation on the plants used by the Hohokam tribe. To survive in the harsh desert environment the Hohokam used many natural resources. Learners read, research, map, and graph multiple aspects of Hohokam plant use as a...
School Rack
Westward Expansion Project Choices
What a great list of brief research projects for reviewing the era of westward expansion in the United States! Learners are directed to choose and complete three of the projects on the given list, which includes opportunities to design...
Curated OER
Searching the Attic
Learners investigate an attic or basement to "discover" family artifacts. They develop a grid map using string, create a naming system for the grid, and analyze items of interest.
Curated OER
The Kansas State Capitol
Second graders research the Kansas state capitol building. In this historical landmark lesson, 2nd graders explore the Kansas state capitol. Over three days students explore the Governor's office, Senate and House of Representatives, and...
Curated OER
Nina Bonita: Culture and Beauty
Students read Nina Bonita by Ana Maria Machado. In this reading comprehension/ geography lesson, students recall various parts of the story and create a map of where the rabbit traveled throughout the story. They participate in group...
Curated OER
Italy: The Landscape
Students work in small groups to create a topographic map of Italy. They must include labeled line drawings of bordering countries and bodies of water. Students use salt and flour clay to make Italy three dimensional, showing the many...
Curated OER
America: The Land We Live In: Landmarks
Young scholars explore the concept of landmarks. In this landmark lesson plan, students brainstorm different landmarks around their community and nationally. Young scholars then identify the patterns in Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings or...
Curated OER
Hungary: The Landscape
Students work in small groups to create a topographic map of Hungary. The map will include labeled line drawing of the bordering countries. Hungary should be three dimensional, made of salt and flour clay. The mountains, plains and...
Curated OER
El Nino Lesson
Students compare graphs of weather occurrences. In this environmental lesson plan, students will being using the website to gather weather related information for a certain time period. The students will then graph the data that will be...
Curated OER
Research Lesson on the Dust Bowl
Eleventh graders connect art (photographs) to the historical period and conjecture about conditions during this era in American history, sharing ideas in class discussion. Each student completes a project on a period depicted in one of...
Curated OER
Where Am I, and How Do I Get Where I am Going?
Students describe geographical places through art, music, writing, and math. They compile information in booklets which may be published.
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,...
Curated OER
United Kingdom
Middle schoolers investigate the geographical features of the United Kingdom. They create a clay, playdoh, or salt and flour map of the region. The maps should be labeled with landmarks and bodies of water. They can also draw maps on...
Curated OER
Down on the Farm
Students are introduced to a map of an Illinois farm. They determine whether the map is of the past, present, or future by looking at features on the map. They also use the map to make a three-dimensional model.
Curated OER
A Differentiated Way through Think Dots
Students examine reasons that led people to explore, identify "West" as defined following Revolutionary War, explain importance of finding natural resources, develop time line of dates and events leading up to Lewis and Clark Expedition,...