Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
What Does It Mean to Be an American?
A series of four activities focuses young scholars' attention on what it means to be an American. They identify key qualities, values, and virtues they consider shared by Americans. Participants then pretend they have been selected to...
ReadWriteThink
Defining Literacy in a Digital World
What skills are necessary to interact with different types of text? Twenty-first century learners live in a digital world and must develop a whole new set of skills to develop media literacy. Class members engage in a series of...
Amnesty International
Respect My Rights, Respect My Dignity Module Three – Sexual and Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights
Give learners the support they need to take action in their communities when it comes to sexual and reproductive rights. A resource teaches the class about global issues surrounding gender inequality, including both readings and...
Health Smart Virginia
Mental Health/Social Emotional Skills
Looking for social-emotional resources? Check out this seven-page packet that includes activity and lesson ideas, as well as links to information resources that support the social and emotional development of tenth graders.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Gorongosa: Making Observations Activity
Do you have young scientists wanting to make new discoveries rather than just completing the same experiments? Young scientists use their observational skills to identify animals and patterns in animal behavior. Through tracking...
Curated Video
Privacy Part 2
Why is online privacy so important? Explore privacy with a group assignment for which pupils create word clouds with words they associate with privacy. A discussion and online activity follow. Learners will read articles, explore the...
Curated Video
What Makes YouTube Unique
Start off a unit on YouTube with an introduction to the service and all that it offers. Learners watch various video clips before participating in a brief discussion about YouTube. The plan includes an activity based around information...
Curated Video
Policy - The Community Guidelines
Following a site's community guidelines is just one step toward being an excellent digital citizen. After a brief introductory video, small groups come up with their own community guidelines and present their ideas to come up with a...
Girl Scouts
Flag Protocol, Ceremonies and Activities
How can an American flag be displayed indoors vs. outdoors? What is proper etiquette for handling the flag? The Girls Scouts of the USA have put together a fantastic packet of information with everything you need to know about the...
Annenberg Foundation
Service Learning in the Social Studies
Active Citizenship Today (ACT) is a "unique social studies service learning program" that requires learners to learn about the public policy associated with community issues they identify in their local community. This web site provides...
Facing History and Ourselves
Life for German Youth in the 1930s: Education, Propaganda, Conformity, and Obedience
The German youth faced an onslaught of propaganda when they went to school, thanks to the Nazi regime led by Hitler during World War II. Pupils relate their education experiences to German youth by analyzing primary source readings,...
Curated Video
Copyright
Introduce your class to the concept of copyright with a series of activities. Pupils first learn about copyright laws and fair use, putting their knowledge to the test with a quick categorizing task. They then watch a video and answer...
iCivics
Immigration Nation
If citizens are living abroad, can their children still be considered citizens? How long does citizenship last for someone who has been permitted to work in the country? Here is a fun online interactive game that will help your learners...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Human Impacts on Biodiversity
Have you always wanted to take your science class on an amazing field trip they will never forget? Now you can! Observe the wildlife in an African savanna through trail cameras with a five-part data analysis activity. Learners analyze...
Space Awareness
The Fibre Optic Cable Class
Many people know that fiber optics are used in delivering the Internet, but are surprised to learn they are also used in astronomy. Scholars explore light, reflection, and fiber optics through hands-on activities. They discuss methods of...
DocsTeach
Benjamin Franklin: Politician and Diplomat
Benjamin Franklin was many things: a scientist, businessman, diplomat, politician. Learners explore facets of the legendary figure with a matching activity. By matching primary source documents to their descriptions, they analyze the...
Curated OER
Action Through Art
How can we make the world a better place? Help your class members become world citizens, active in philanthropy and the community around them. Use a comic book (included) to discuss the idea of philanthropy. Then, using the superhero...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Incredible Stories: Challenge Activities (Theme 3)
Real or fantasy? Dogzilla, the Giant of Barletta, the Garden of Abdul Gassazi. To enrich their understanding of incredible stories, teams create a mouse newspaper and report on the invasion of Dogzilla, craft folktales, and draft a story...
C-SPAN
Presidential Birth Requirement
Every president of the United States must be a natural-born citizen, but the definition of natural-born is not as straightforward as it seems. Secondary scholars examine two points of view surrounding the constitutional requirement and...
University of Arkansas
Human Rights
What basic rights are guaranteed to all Americans? Do citizens, legal aliens, illegal aliens, and minors all have the same rights? Should individuals all over the world enjoy the same rights? Class members read the Declaration of...
University of the Desert
A Plan For Positive Action
Can one person really make a difference? As the culminating lesson in a twelve-part series, learners discuss how they can partake in an intercultural dialogue that can have a lasting impact on the global community, and how single...
Carolina K-12
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission & the First Amendment
Should Congress limit how much a corporation spends to support a political candidate? Here is a fantastic lesson plan and activities to help young citizens approach this question.
American Press Institute
Newspapers in Your Life: What’s News Where?
Big news isn't necessarily newsworthy everywhere! How do journalists decide what to cover with so much happening around them? A instructional activity on media literacy examines the factors that affect the media's choice of stories to...
iCivics
Mock Election
Here is an excellent resource in which class members host a mock election for a candidate and policy that will be implemented into your very own classroom. Progressing from primaries, through the campaign trail, and finally to the mock...