University of Virginia
Illustrating Uncle Tom's Cabin
Historical illustrations reveal more than what they are meant to portray. After reading Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, high schoolers view a series of illustrations, movie posters, photographs, and book covers that exemplify...
Curated OER
Chinese Folktales: An Illustrating Activity
In need of a really good lesson that incorporates literature, art, and cultural themes? After hearing a traditional Chinese folktale and discussing cultural themes and symbolism, learners create original illustrations for the story. This...
Curated OER
Animating a Historic Event
Research a historic event using textbooks, primary source documents, the Internet, and other library and media resources. Young historians will take the research they have gathered and write an attention-grabbing, historically accurate...
The New York Times
Revolt! Comparing Historical Revolutions
What elements are needed to have a revolution? How do historical revolutions from across the globe and generations compare with one another? This is an excellent activity that incorporates group work, source analysis, and an engaging...
Virginia Department of Education
Historical Models of Atoms
What does the past have to do with today? Young scientists find that answer as they learn more about past chemists and their significant contributions to the field. Pupils use the Internet to research historical figures and create a...
Curated OER
The Great Gatsby Historical Background Using Multi-Genre Research Project
Before beginning F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, create a historical context of the Roaring 20s with this lesson. Set up a gallery walk with the provided PowerPoint, which features 10 topics related to the 1920s. Then begin a...
Scholastic
Helen Keller: An Inspiring Life (Biography Mini-Book)
Inspire young readers with this printable biography of Helen Keller. Including a timeline, glossary, and realistic illustrations with supporting captions, this is a great resource for not only teaching children about this amazing...
Curated OER
Charting Historical Gas Prices
Students investigate the historical and current prices of a gallon of gasoline. Using an online tool, they calculate the inflation-adjusted cost of gasoline over the years, and create a graph to demonstrate the actual cost vs. the...
Curated OER
Historical Fiction- Thanksgiving
Students write a story. In this historical fiction lesson, students research how Thanksgiving began. Students write a fictional story where they are a main character of this time period.
Curated OER
Straight to the Source
Research famous figures from history through the primary sources they created! Explore how these types of documents can enrich our study of the past with your middle and high school learners. They create picture books to illustrate...
Curated OER
1846: Portrait of America in the Time of Don Pasquale: An Historic Look at American Life During the 1840's
Young scholars construct an historical timeline extending from 1840-1850. They discuss various people, places, and events on their timelines.
Curated OER
World History Pre-Assessment
What do the members of your class already know about world history? This is a fabulous pre-assessment that will illustrate the varying levels of general world history knowledge among your young historians that you can use to inform your...
Curated OER
Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: Mixing Words and Pictures
Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy lesson focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then discusses how...
Curated OER
Identifying Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives That Changed the World
Students complete a graphic organizer as they watch a video about the roles of dogs in society. In this social and cultural perspectives of dogs lesson, students view a video and sort information into a graphic organizer. Students may...
Curated OER
Readers Theatre: Presenting Historical Events Through Theatre
Students examine historical events. In this instructional activity on the US Constitution, students engage in a theatrical exploration of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They also engage in an extensive discussion, complete...
Curated OER
Trading Cards
Students create trading cards based on historical individuals that helped people with disabilities. In this disabilities lesson plan, students put the name, picture, description, and graphic on the card.
Dick Blick Art Materials
Painted Story Quilt
Creating story quilts is a great way to combine art, social studies and literature. Kids select a story, a published one or one of their own, to illustrate, paint on a canvas square, embellish, and mount on a felt backing.
Curated OER
Historical Heroes and Character Sketches
Students write a character sketch and present it in first person. In this historical heroes and character sketches lesson, students "meet" Harriet Tubman (played by their teacher) and discuss her contributions. Students read examples...
Curated OER
History In the House
Students analyze primary sources. In this historical analysis instructional activity, students will closely examine the household objects that most impact their lives. Students will use research, analysis, and class discussion to draw...
Library of Congress
Investigating the Building Blocks of Our Community’s Past, Present, and Future
As Ken Jennings said, "There's just something hypnotic about maps." Certainly, the longer you look at them the more you can learn. In this project-based learning instructional activity, individuals study both historic and present-day...
Federal Reserve Bank
History of Money and Banking in the U.S.
Why was there a lack of confidence in the money and banking system of the early United States government? What historical events led to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System? Here you'll find reading materials and worksheets to...
Curated OER
Reliving History through Slave Narratives
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
Digital Public Library of America
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Any classroom study of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved requires careful planning and scaffolding. A primary source set that includes a video, illustrations, photos of artifacts, and a broadside of the Fugitive Slave...
Curated OER
Handcarts - A Unique Form of Transportation
An interesting historical fact about how handcarts benefitted to the Mormon pioneers is the context behind this math lesson. Using given facts and figures regarding the handcart, pupil pairs create math word problems, share them with the...