Social Studies School Service
“Duck and Cover” (Civil Defense)
Bert the Turtle models for viewers the 1950s Civil Defense Duck and Cover strategy that was supposed to protect citizens from a nuclear blast. After viewing the video, watchers are asked to consider the motivations of the producers of...
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WW II Names and Faces
For this social studies worksheet, students find the terms that are related to the people and events of World War II. The answers are found at the bottom of the page.
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Controlling Nuclear Weapons: Debating the Non-proliferation Treaty
Students brainstorm about their prior knowledge of nuclear weapons and answer questions related to nuclear weapons based upon this brainstorming.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The House Un-American Activities Committee
Was the House Un-American Activities Committee justified in investigating subversive influences in the entertainment industry? Part two of the three-part series of lessons that examine the anti-communism movement after World War II,...
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Identifying and Using Parallelism and Balance in Literature
Analyze the use of balanced sentences and parallelism in a narrative. Included in this resource is a narrative about serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan titled, "The Train Ride Home". Middle and high schoolers review...
Student Handouts
The Cold War: The Truman Doctrine of 1947
What was the Truman administration's position on foreign policy during the Cold War? Class members respond to an excerpt from President Harry S. Truman's "Truman Doctrine" with three questions in the space provided.
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Witch Hunt or Red Menace? Anticommunism in Postwar America, 1945-1954
High schoolers investigate the goals and methods of the House Un-American Activities Committee and offer an opinion regarding whether their investigation of Hollywood was justifiable.
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Cold War Roots and Events
Ninth graders examine the causes and major events of the Cold War. They listen to a lecture and fill in the blanks on a handout, and in two groups develop a proposal to deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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Cartoons for the Classroom: Herblock at 100
In celebration of renowned cartoonist Herb Block's Library of Congress exhibition, this handout includes 2 of his famous political cartoons for scholars to analyze. Background information describes "Herblock's" career, and talking points...
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The Importance of Being Flexible and Open-minded as a Visitor to Another Culture: Lesson 2 For "The Train Ride Home"
Students examine the advantages of being flexible when visiting or living in a different culture. They read and discuss a first-hand account by a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan, and write a letter from the point of view of a...
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Sleuthing A Writer's Skills
Students read The Train Ride Home by Robin Solomon. In this literature response lesson, students will inspect the writing of Solomon to determine how she established a certain tone through her word choice and paragraph structure....
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The Cold War: Solving the Mystery of History with Voices on Vinyl
Eighth graders explore the Cold War Era. In this world history activity, 8th graders discover the positions taken by countries during the Cold War as they listen to lectures regarding the major events and turning points in the Cold War....
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The Cold War (1945–1963)
In this online interactive history worksheet, students respond to 8 short answer and essay questions about the Cold War. Students may check some of their answers on the interactive worksheet.
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Identifying and Using Parallelism and Balance in Literature
Students examine the story for use of balanced sentences and parallelism-two literary devices-and then practice using those devices in writing of their own. They combine the simple sentences grammatically into one correct sentence. A. I...
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Sleuthing a Writer's Skills
Students examine the author's lively text to determine how she achieved her many literary effects. They discover the author's techniques in describing people and events, in setting tone, and in establishing pace. They reflect about the...
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Cartoons for the Classroom: Herblock at 100
In this current events worksheet, students analyze political cartoons by Herb Block and respond to 3 talking point questions.
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Filmstrip Worksheet: After World War II
In this World War II filmstrip worksheet, learners review a film about the war as they respond to 15 fill in the blank questions. A word bank is included.
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Math: Where Do I Put the Elephant?
Students listen to the story, "Harriet Goes to the Circus," to launch into a lesson on positional words, such as over, under, and behind. After clipping out and coloring pictures of circus animals, students place them into a parade line...
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Indian Removal
Students investigate the historical events surrounding The Trail of Tears. They write a letter that identifies the people, destination, events, and descriptions surrounding the timeframe. Students provide a written summary of the history...
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LESSON PLAN: CONTROLLING NUCLEAR WEAPONS: DEBATING THE NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY
Ninth graders examine various nuclear weapons. In this American Government lesson, 9th graders conduct primary source research to investigate nuclear weapons and the international nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Students compose a...
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Changing Circumstances, Changing U.S. Foreign Policy
Students examine how relationships between countries change overtime. They identify the factors that play a role in altering the relationships and contribute to U.S. foreign policy toward their country of research. Groups conduct their...
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TOEFLesque Quiz: Big News Events from the 1990s
In this online interactive grammar skills lesson, students examine 10 sentences and identify the part of each sentence that is grammatically incorrect.
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The Cold War at Home
Eleventh graders discover the perspective of Cold War on the American homefront. In this Cold War lesson, 11th graders watch Duck and Cover video segments that instruct citizens what to do in case of nuclear attack. Students discuss the...
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Prisoners in Another War
Students identify violations of the Geneva Convention in video clips. They discover the role of international bodies in dealing with war crimes. They read primary source documents as well.