Teaching American History
Interpretation of the Declaration of Independence
Ready to interpret the Declaration of Independence and understand its meaning? The resource divides scholars into pairs, where they work as a team to match translations with excerpts from the declaration. The class then engages in...
Curated OER
Book Discussions in a Reading Partnership
Do you have a lot of different reading levels in your class? Pair kids up by level and have them choose a book to read independently. They will make predictions, ask questions, make connections, etc. Consider creating a general reading...
Public Schools of North Carolina
Democratic Republic of Congo - Map Skills
Work on your map skills with a packet of activities about the river basins in the Democratic Republic on Congo. Learners study the maps provided before answering the geography questions and writing an acrostic poem about the region.
Curated OER
Home Living/Life Skills: Face Washing
Having good hygiene skills is a very important part of living an independent life. Learners with special needs follow sequencing cards to practice washing their faces. They follow each step in the process and discuss the importance of...
Curated OER
Land is the Basis of All Independence
Young scholars develop debating and analytical thinking skills. They take a position in the Back-to-Africa discussion, based upon any readings and the two opposing essays they read. In groups, they discuss an issue from two different...
Curated OER
The Drafts of the Declaration of Independence
Seventh graders compare drafts of the Declaration of Independence. In this primary source analysis lesson, 7th graders access copies of Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the document and compare it the final document that gave birth...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Building - Declaration of Independence
Young scholars read the first part of the Declaration of Independence and mark the words they don't know. First, they try to guess what the words mean by looking at the them in context, and then they look up the words in a dictionary.
Newseum
Photo Ethics: News Independence
Young journalists read a case study about an annual school tradition of a streaker running across the football field after the homecoming game. Small groups then decide whether or not to cover the story and whether or not to include a...
Curated OER
To Declare Independence or Not??
Students debate and role play about whether the colonists should declare independence from England or not. In this American history and oral communication lesson plan, students read informational text about the colonists and their...
Ontario
Critical Literacy—Media Texts
Media texts convey both overt and implied messages. As part of their study of media, class members analyze the language, form, techniques, and aesthetics in a variety of media texts.
Curated OER
US Constitution
Think about the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence with your budding historians. They analyze the importance of historical documents by examining several famous documents, and then they complete activities that check...
Smithsonian Institution
A Ticket to Philly—In 1769: Thinking about Cities, Then and Now
While cities had only a small fraction of the population in colonial America, they played a significant role in pre-revolutionary years, and this was certainly true for the largest city in the North American colonies: Philadelphia. Your...
Curated OER
The Achievements and Challenges of Zimbabwe
Here is an excellent set of five short lessons and activities intended to help learners not only gain an understand of current issues in Africa, but build critical thinking, synthesis, analysis, expository writing, research, and...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The Platinum-Blond Man
Before reading Chapter Six, "The Platinum-Blond Man" in Matilda, readers preview the illustration of Mrs. Wormwood dropping her plate of food, and think about what may have happened to cause the scene. After reading the chapter, class...
Curated OER
Teaching Word Meaning Synonyms, Antonyms, and Analogies
Strengthen and enhance your class's vocabulary with a guided lesson on word relationships. Focusing on synonyms and antonyms, the lesson demonstrates ways to compare and define different words, including word analogies and thesaurus skills.
Perkins School for the Blind
I'm Thinking Of...
Learning how to describe an object or a person is a great way to develop verbal and written expression. Learners with special needs improve their verbal expressive skills and concept development skills while playing a guessing game. The...
Hampton-Brown
From "First Crossing"
Young scholars look closely at four tales taken from the collection of short stories, First Crossing edited by Donald R. Galloby. While examining the life of four teenagers and the lives they lead as U.S. immigrants, your enthusiastic...
Curated OER
The Declaration of Independence: From Rough Draft to Proclamation
High schoolers discover how the Declaration of Independence transformed from a draft to a treasured historical document. In this Declaration of Independence lesson, students discuss the context in which Jefferson wrote the document and...
Curated OER
Eviction: The Law
Start those 12th graders thinking about what life on their own will be like. They'll review eviction laws, work through several scenarios, and take a quiz in order to understand the rights of both a renter and a landlord.
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
Why Did Some Colonial Virginians Seek Independence?
To understand the reasonings of those colonials who sought independence from England, young historians are divided into content groups that examine documents related to either the Boston Tea Party, the Yorktown Tea Party, Tea Overboard,...
Microsoft
Final Independent Project
Finally ... the final project. As a culminating activity for the nine-part Intro to CS with MakeCode unit, scholars create a program within Minecraft that incorporates skills from the unit. They consider how to survive in the wild and...
Perkins School for the Blind
Conversation Skills
It is so important for learners with multiple disabilities to learn how to communicate for both social and functional reasons. Each child will choose a topic from the list and generate five questions related to that topic. They'll split...
Little Stones
How Can Poetry Make People Think and Care?
Can beautiful words change the world? Literary scholars discover how to paint their visions of change using poetry in a series of three workshops. Each independent topic gives participants a chance to examine their feelings about...
A&E Television
Thomas Jefferson: Teachers Guides
Thomas Jefferson remains one of the most fascinating figure in American history, both for his innovative contributions to the United States government and his remarkably contradictory personal life. A series of discussion questions and...