BBC
Community Action
How does community involvement make good citizens? Use all or a few of the included ideas to foster a better understanding of what it means to be a good citizen. Learners will brainstorm community issues, discuss how to get involved, and...
Curated OER
Who’s Got Your Back?
You can explore art, social studies, and history all at the same time with a great lesson about the painting Rodeo-Pickup Man. The class examines several close-up images of the piece and then considers what the painting is telling them...
Curated OER
Inform the Community
Students gain an understanding of the U.S. Census. For this social studies civics lesson plan, students explore understand the link between the census and the availability of community services.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
Hometown Heroes
Transform studying about veterans in a textbook to personal interviews with veterans in the community. Four varying lesson plans make up an entire unit or individualized learning based on your class's needs. Exercises include researching...
Smithsonian Institution
Art to Zoo: Life in the Promised Land: African-American Migrants in Northern Cities, 1916-1940
This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...
Curated OER
Lesson 1: The Importance of Rules in Our Country and in Our Classroom
Explore the importance of rules in a community with the engaging first lesson of this series on the US government. To begin, children play a paper clip game that requires them to make up their own rules as they go, after which the...
Curated OER
How Can Understanding and Helping Others Build Our Own Community?
Young scholars examine the different cultures and disabilities people face in their community. They discuss how they can become better citizens. They answer discussion questions to finish the lesson plan.
Curated OER
A Sense of Community
Students brainstorm characteristics they associate with a community. In groups, they discover the role of a town square and create their own model. They also identify the various roles in keeping the community going and role play their...
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 TRAVELS OF BABAR: An Adventure in Scale : Integrating Visual Art and Social Studies
Students comprehend how the use of color impacts a work of art. They research how a theme can be rendered in a variety of ways (words, music, visuals). Students analyze how an artist's choices affect the aesthetic quality of artwork.
Curated OER
Land Plan Challenge
Students use maps to plan towns, being conscious of water resources. In this geography and land planning activity, students create collaboratively in small groups towns using maps. At the conclusion of the activity, students build their...
Curated OER
The Power of Empathy
Learners investigate the emotion and social practice of empathy. They role play being in various situations in order to understand the feelings of others. Students pick an adult to interview who has overcome great difficulty.
Curated OER
In His Own Words: James Madison On the Problem of Faction
Students are introduced to the writings of James Madison and explain why he is often called "The Father of the Constitution". Using primary source documents, they examine his view of the Bill of Rights and what he meant by faction. In...
Curated OER
The World In My Community
Learners identify products in their community which are imported from other countries. After conducting a personal household survey, students research the product's country of origin. They discover the role imports have upon their...
Curated OER
Walking the Five Themes - Your Community to Ours
Students in two classrooms share information about their communities in classrooms throughout the year. In groups, they identify the physical and human characteristics of each area and how they change through time. They also discover the...
Montana State University
Everest Extremes: Biodiversity
How many animals can live in a climate as cold as Mount Everest's? Find out with a science lesson all about biodiversity. Activities include research, presentations, group work, coloring maps, and a simulation of a food web.
Curated OER
The Jewish Community in America, Past and Present
Students examine the beginnings of the Jewish Community in America. Using the internet, they examine the role of Jewish organizations and resources that are available to them. They compare and contrast the view of the community they...
Curated OER
Community Construction Kit
Students engage in a lesson designed to be used with the Print Gallery section in the Community Construction Kit. The Print Gallery is a library of photographs, which provides students with an auditory description of each dwelling...
Curated OER
Producers of Goods and Services
Young scholars use newspapers to brainstorm a list of the producers of goods and services in their community. In groups, they organize coupons based on the good or service and create a chart to organize the information. They discuss...
Curated OER
Quilting the Past and Present
Students construct a quilt using symbols of the past and present. In this communities lesson plan, students interview an older adult and discuss the history of their community. Students create a quilt.
Curated OER
Peacemakers
Students study people who are peacemakers. In this peacemaker lesson, students examine and identify everyday peacemakers. They imagine what peace is in a visualization exercise and interview a community adult about peace and peacemakers.
Curated OER
Townsite Era
Students learn about the Townsite Era and are able to explore who they were and how they lived at that time. In this Townsite Era students create their own map of the Loma Linda are, design their own community and use a computer...
Curated OER
Where Should We Land?
Learners discuss the difference between major landforms as a class. In groups, they rate the landforms based on the needs of the community that wish to settle there. They also discuss the push and pull factors of the colonists that made...
Curated OER
Opposites
Pupils choose a category to discuss and write down the name of an activity that represents the various characteristics. They record their responses on a class sheet and discuss how it feels when someone disagrees with them. They discover...