Civil War Trust
The Common Civil War Soldier
Imagine you are a soldier in the Civil War. What are you wearing? What do you need to carry with you? Examine the life of a person during the Civil War, from drummer boys to powder monkeys to musket-toting soldiers. Elementary learners...
Civil War Trust
Transcribing Civil War History
Primary sources are valuable for understanding the context of historical events, but the diction and dialect in these documents can be difficult to understand. Middle and high schoolers participation in a transcription process in which...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Newspaper
One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...
James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
This exercise on the Constitution requires small groups to design a visual metaphor that expresses the concept behind one of seven principles: popular sovereignty, federalism, republicanism, separation of powers, checks and balances,...
Curated OER
Islamic Society: A Lesson in Surrender
High schoolers examine the third pillar of Islam. They discover the influence of Islamic ideas and practices on other cultures, Explore the various meanings of social group and the ways that each group functions. Then, they research the...
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 1 - Grades 9-12
Archaeologists have discovered a cache of Native American relics. They want to preserve these relics by removing them from the rapidly eroding site to a lab where they can be studied. Native American traditions demand that the items be...
iCivics
Drafting Board: Military Intervention
Should countries use their militaries to stop humanitarian crises in other countries? Learners make claims, organize their reasoning, and provide evidence for their arguments with this rich resource.
Curated OER
Trail of Louisiana Indians
Prime your students for a lesson on the Native American Tribes of Louisiana. Each slide in this series contains either vocabulary words or facts and background on the Chitimacha, Coushatta, Caddo, Tunic-Biloxi and United Houma tribes.
Curated OER
19th Century Settlement Houses
Students will take notes on 19th century settlement houses using a four-door book of foldable notes. For this lesson on Settlement Houses, students will analyze the Hull House through a variety of primary sources, then create a list of...
Curated OER
Freedoms We Enjoy
Students compare lifestyles of the United States to another foreign country. In this social studies instructional activity, students use the information they previously researched on the Internet and publish a PowerPoint presentation to...
Curated OER
Philanthropy Framework
Students become community philanthropists. In this social studies lesson plan, students learn the definition of philanthropy and apply it to Martin Luther King, Jr. The next day, students complete 3 T-charts for 3 historical figures....
Latin America Network Information Center
Urbanization
Brazil's population has been changing dramatically in the last century. Study the causes of Brazilian urbanization, including industrialization and and migration, and the implications for the country of the populations'...
Center for Civic Education
The Power of Nonviolence: What Is Nonviolence? What Does It Cost?
Your young learners will delve into the language of primary source documents in order to identify the characteristics, benefits, and costs of nonviolence. The activity includes a mix of activities, including an anticipatory activity,...
North Carolina Civic Education Consortium
The Nineteenth Amendment
Beginning with an exercise of favoritism to engage learners, progressing through image and primary source analysis of the Nineteenth Amendment and the Seneca Falls Declaration, and culminating in a look at a political cartoon called...
Carolina K-12
Loyalists and Patriots
Your young historians will square off as Loyalists dedicated to the English crown or revolutionaries fighting for a new nation in a role-play of a colonial town hall debate before the American Revolution.
University of Kentucky
Bullying Awareness
As a teacher, it's likely you're seeing bullying at your school in some capacity. Use three activities as a refresher course for junior high schoolers on what bullying is, the severity of its consequences, and how they can make a...
TCI
By George!
What better way to learn about George Washington and other United States presidents than with a fun board game? Learners review the accomplishments of Washington's administration through a collaborative board game, as well as draw...
Youth Outreach
Connecting the Separate Powers
Scholars demonstrate what they know about the separation of powers through role play. Two individuals act out a skit as the remaining class members discuss and decide whether the interaction they observed is an appropriate example of the...
Historical Thinking Matters
Spanish-American War: 1 Day Lesson
After analyzing newspaper articles portraying different perspectives of the explosion of the Battleship USS Maine, your young historians will take a stand on which position is the most believable in both discussion and writing.
Curated OER
Anticipatory Set for Japanese Internment
Learners simulate Japanese relocation to internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. They select items to pack that are personally, sentimentally, and financially important to them. They create a Venn diagram comparing and...
Curated OER
Social Studies: Regions of the United States
Third graders create Powerpoint presentations of various geographic regions of the United States. They focus on the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest regions. Students combine their individual slides into a class presentation.
Curated OER
Social Studies: Geographic Regions
Third graders create Powerpoint presentations about the five themes of geography in regions of the United States. They focus on the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest regions. Students use both pictures and words in their shows.
Curated OER
Warfare Strategies of WWI
Incite your historians' curiosity with forms of warfare used during WWI. An anticipatory set has learners considering life in a trench, leading to a trench warfare discussion. A lecture is complemented by images (linked) and the...
Curated OER
Bullying and Core Democratic Values
Middle schoolers explore the concept of core democratic values. After completing a survey of student populations regarding bullying, small groups analyze their findings and present their findings to the Student Council, principal, or the...