Lesson Plan
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Playing Historical Detective: Great Grandmother's Dress and Other Clues to the Life and Times of Annie Steel

For Teachers Pre-K - 8th
Students draw conclusions about an mystery person based on documents and artifacts provided. In this drawing conclusions lesson, students become detectives by reading and analyzing evidence provided. This lesson includes information on...
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Tall Tales: Reconstructing A Personal Tell

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders discover the ways archaeologists examine artifacts and where they are found. After being introduced to new vocabulary, they use artifacts from their own lives and discover what could be told about their life from them. ...
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Why is the Past Important?

For Teachers 3rd - 7th
Students explore, examine and study why it's important to study the past and connect this importance with reasons why we should learn from the past and how cultures have changed over the years. They bring an object, photograph or a...
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Curious Curators

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students write a theme statement for a collection of diverse objects. Using the internet, they research and write descriptions of various artifact. They role play the role of a museum curator and produce a museum style exhibition. ...
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It's in the Garbage

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students analyze how studying garbage relates to methods of archaeology. They examine garbage to determine things about their culture and relate that to prehistoric peoples.
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Lesson 1: The Image of Maine in Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students study excerpts from Sinclair Lewis, "Babbitt" for its accuracy and socio-economic point of view. They rewrite a portion of "Babbit" using the point of view of a Maine guide.
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Leaarn to Think Like an Archaeologist

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers examine how to act as archaeologists by examining artifacts. The inquiry is meant to teach learners about analysis of ancient civilizations and scientific finds. Fossil evidence is also covered to make connection to the...
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Secrets of the Mummies

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
How did the ancient people of Egypt preserve their dead so well that their bodies are still recognizable today? Learn the painstakingly complex process they used for preservation. Young scholars read and summarize a narrative detailing...
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Oliver Twist Goes to Hollywood

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
How does Oliver Twist, the novel written by Charles Dickens, compare with its screenplay adaptation? Although the activity doesn't require learners to have read the novel, the similarities and differences of the highlighted passages...
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Woodblock Printing: Early Printing Traditions in China

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Pupils examine important role of woodblock printing in Chinese history, identify message important to them, and create woodblock prints to gain first-hand understanding of how it was used as tool for communication.
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Shoe Box Archaeology

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students make a box layered with information about grandparents, parents, and themselves. They dig up each other boxes and try to decipher the personality or lifestyle of the person whose box it is.
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Pharaoh Phonetics

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Learners explain the purpose of hieroglyphics and identify their role in communicating ideas. They research the history of writing and it's significance in ancient Egyptian life and identify the components of hieroglyphics.
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The Ruins of Pompeii: A Window into History

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders research the history of Pompeii and its destruction. Locate important geographical features of Rome. Gain insight into the past through archaeological interpretation. Synthesize historical information through imaginative...
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Creating Characters

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners identify simple pictographs and ideographs from Chinese writing. They create their own images, and combine characters to communicate ideas to one another, introducing basic foundations of how elements of the Chinese writing...
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Memories to Last: Observing Monuments

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students use scientific observation and inference to examine the Hazen Brigade Monument. In this observation lesson, students review the reasons for building monuments in society. Students then recall monuments they have seen and...
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Death On Board La Belle: Finding Clues from Old Bones

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students practice analyzing skeletal remains for clues by using the Internet.  In this scientific investigation lesson, students research the La Belle shipwreck using the Internet and written materials, later completing a Skeletal...
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Digital Storytelling

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students write a personal narrative and convert the story into digital format. In this digital storytelling lesson, students write a personal narrative, record the story, create images for the story, add animations or transitions, and...
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Stories Behind Pacific Northwest First Nations' Images

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Learners investigate Canadian culture by examining mascots of the 2010 Olympics.  In this Canadian history lesson plan, students read a Vancouver Olympics guide to identify three Canadian mascots and their importance to the First...
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The Anasazi

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers investigate and determine the origins of the ancient Anasazi who inhabited present-day Utah and the Four-Corners-Region.
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Colonial America

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Young scholars discover the history of Colonial America by creating a class presentation.  In this U.S. History lesson, students utilize the Internet to research one of 20 topics in which they will create a PowerPoint or other type...
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Polar Energy

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students define and read an article on polar energy.  For this polar energy lesson, students answer questions about the article.  Students participate in activities related to isotopes, half-life and radiocarbon.  Students...
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Looking Back to 1980

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students use clustering/mind mapping techniques to generate ideas, graphically represent inferences, organize their conclusions and write a report that presents conclusions the writer has reached, and facts substantiating those conclusions.
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Irish-Americans: Work and Song

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students research the experience of Irish immigrants who helped build the railroad systems of the United States. They analyze primary source documents, take notes, and create an artistic piece.
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Ancient Egypt

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students discover facts about ancient Egypt and find information and pictures of structures in Egypt. They write a story using as many hieroglyphic symbols as possible. Stories are made into a display on bulletin board.