DocsTeach
Debating Monuments, Memorials and Statues
An illustrative activity explores images of monuments, statues, and memorials in the US to decide whether they should be kept or removed. Scholars place images in a keep or remove pile, then complete a worksheet online. The resource...
DocsTeach
Analyzing an Allegorical Statue
Everyone sees art differently. An informative resource focuses on the image analysis of an allegorical statue. Scholars study the photo of the statue and complete a worksheet based on their findings. To finish, academics participate in...
DocsTeach
Can you Identify the First Lady?
Guess Who? The first lady edition! Scholars read documents to figure out the first lady that is being described. The activity focuses on Pat Nixon, the wife of President Richard Nixon. Academics then work in pairs and share their...
DocsTeach
Baseball: A Morale Booster During Wartime?
How did baseball become America's national pastime? A sports-minded activity explores the importance government placed on baseball to boost morale during both world wars. Academics read letters to understand the importance of baseball...
DocsTeach
American Indian Voting Rights through History
Vote ... it's your right! An enlightening lesson examines the history of voting rights for Native Americans. Leaners analyze primary documents and place them in chronological order. Academics also create a list of other events that took...
DocsTeach
A Revolution, a Reaction and a Reform: Getting Ready for National History Day
Get ready for National History Day! A thought-provoking activity focuses on a hypothetical project for National History Day (NHD). Academics review three primary sources to determine if they would meet the criteria for a NHD project....
Center for History Education
Transforming the West: Did the Reality Match the Expectations for Kansas Homesteaders?
They expected good soil and hearty crops ... but they found buffalo chips and grasshopper plagues. Using an advertisement encouraging famers to go west, budding historians examine primary sources including letters, photographs, and...
Center for History Education
Reshaping American Society: How did Immigration and Urbanization Affect America in the mid 1800s?
From the Know-Nothings to the Bible Riots, immigration and urbanization changed the face of America in the middle of the 1800s. Using documents that range from immigrant experiences to renderings of violent conflict between immigrants...
Center for History Education
The Louisiana Purchase: Real Estate Deal of the Century?
It's about real estate! Almost overnight, Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase about doubled the size of the young United States ... but was it constitutional? Using a variety of secondary and primary sources, including Jefferson's own...
DocsTeach
The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements
It's the American way to put one foot in front of the other and march. Using images of protests from the civil rights and women's suffrage movements, young historians analyze similarities between the two watershed moments of social...
Newseum
Front Page Photographs: Analyzing Editorial Choices
Frontpage photographs are the focus of four activities that ask young journalists to consider what the images reveal about a newspaper and its community. To begin, groups compare what images different papers from across the country use...
News Literacy Project
News Goggles: Quotes in News Reports
To quote or paraphrase? That is the question examined by a 29-slide presentation on the importance of including direct quotes in news reporting.
News Literacy Project
Is It “Checkable”?
Upper elementary scholars test their checking skills with a lesson that challenges them to distinguish between fact and opinion. First, the class takes part in a discussion regarding a helpful flow chart. Next, learners follow the flow...
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Three activities are designed for readers of Jack London's The Call of the Wild. First, class members research and create posters that reflect the setting of the novel. Next, groups create posters with images that represent each chapter...
Center for History Education
Where Did Thomas Jefferson Stand on the Issue of Slavery?
Thomas Jefferson was a complicated man with a complex legacy. Middle schoolers examine a series of primary source documents to gather evidence for an essay in which they answer where Jefferson stood on the issue of slavery.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Mexican Culture and History through Its National Holidays
Young historians have an opportunity to study the complex history and culture of Mexico by learning about several holidays: The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe), The Day of the Dead (El Dia de los...
Roald Dahl
George's Marvelous Medicine
Six lessons comprise a unit about Roald Dahl's George's Marvelous Medicine. Over time, scholars explore themes such as the power of words, exciting writing, and mixed feelings. They examine the writing's literary devices, persuasive...
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for Emma by Jane Austen
Coldhearted snob or warm and caring? A series of activities prepares scholars to evaluate the main character in Jane Austen's Emma. To begin, class members compare the gender expectations for women in Regency England and those of today....
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
An 11-page packet includes three activities to engage pupils in reading Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth. To understand the historical context, class members research a list of topics related to Chinese history and culture. They then...
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
Kon-Tiki, the record of Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 raft journey across the Pacific Ocean, is the focus of three classroom activities. In a lesson on connotation and bias language, class members record instances of Heyerdahl's word choice....
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
A 15-page packet includes detailed plans for three activities related to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. To gather background information, class members research topics and create a newspaper page reporting their findings. After finishing...
Simon & Schuster
Curriculum Guide to: The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
A 20-page curriculum guide for Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince includes five lessons and related worksheets. For background, class members research and create travel brochures for Florence, Italy, in 1500. Next, they analyze...
Simon & Schuster
Curriculum Guide to: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations can prove to be a challenge for instructors who choose to use Dickens's novel as required reading. Here's a curriculum guide that includes lessons that address some of these challenges. The first lesson in critical...
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
A curriculum guide for Jane Eyre focuses on Charlotte Bronte's portrayal of women. Readers engage in three activities that prepare them for an essay in which they argue whether the novel is a work of female rebellion or affirms...