Smithsonian Institution
Changing Gender Roles on the Home Front
Many historians discuss how gender roles changed because of World War II, but how did this come to be? An informative resource challenges scholars to do some digging and research the information for themselves. They research how...
Curated OER
Environment: Clouds of Changing Times
Here is a wonderful instructional activity which has youngsters interview family and local elders about the seasonal history of their local area. They focus on climate change by asking questions about rainfall, temperatures, length of...
Curated OER
Family Forms and Family Life Cycle
There are so many different types of families, and each family functions in a different way. Discover the different roles, responsibilities, and relationships that develop in different family types. The lesson provides you with five...
Curated OER
Cultural Discovery and Identity Project Generation Journey
Students create a genealogy book tracing their heritage many generations back. They examine their own ethnicity, attitudes, and self-awareness. They examine new American trends regarding family structure and ethnicity.
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Geography and our Family Favorites
Students talk with older family members about favorite family foods and where they have originated. They learn the process that went into the preparation and cooking of these foods and contrast how technology has affected food...
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Presentation of Our Family
Although there is no real lesson plan included here, you could easily recycle the idea! Get kids using vocabulary related to family, age, feelings, and nationality. Start by teaching basic vocabulary words and phrases (you'll need to...
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Family Responsibilities
First graders discuss the possible jobs each family member may do in the home. They view picture cards of each task and decide which family members would best perform the given task. They learn a song about family tasks and complete a...
EduGAINs
Preparation for Transitions and Change— Guidance and Career Education
Every hopeful in your class has gone through some kind of life change, from parents' divorce to a death in the family to moving up into another grade. Encourage them to discuss these changes, the skills they used and acquired during...
Curated OER
Charades and Roles
Fifth graders explore the roles that an individual may have and how these roles complement their family lives. The concepts are examined through a game of charades.
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We Are Family
Students explore art and stories that depict families in different cultures. They examine how family members help each other, create traditions, have fun and change or grow. They describe their own families and create a class family...
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Families and Communities
Here is a week-long lesson on the roles of family members designed for first graders. In it, learners share stories of their families, listen to books about families read to them by their teacher, complete homework assignments and...
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Family Finances
Students examine the dynamics of family finances. In groups, they discuss the importance of a budget and create their own given a fictional amount of money. As a class, they listen to a speaker from the bank discussing the importance of...
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Be the Change: Core Values
How do core values and identity contribute to citizenship and leadership? After engaging in a series of activities that explore core values, writers craft a children’s story that focuses on one value. They arrange to read their story to...
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My Roles
Fifth graders describe the different roles they play in their lives. They discuss how these roles change as they get older and how boys' roles are different than girls'. They construct a mobile that describes the different roles in their...
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Nineteenth Century Family Portraits
Students compare two nineteenth century family portraits using historical data, statistics, and historical context. Students analyze their own family pictures adjusting the criteria to the current decade. Lastly students study the...
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Many Roles
Third graders investigate the word "role" and describe the various roles an individual may have in their life.
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Through Their Eyes: Video Taping Oral History
Students identify the stereotypes they are faced with on a daily basis. In groups, they use this information to identify the ways stereotypes are portrayed in movies and television. They use a video camera to record oral histories of...
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The Relative Location of Relatives
Students map the distribution of their family members within the town, state, country, or world using their own personal knowledge and information from interviews. They create a mental map of family members, and develop a sketch map...
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On a Pilgrimage
Sixth graders engage in a variety of learning experiences surrounding the study of the Middle Ages. They construct a map of Europe, create a graphic organizer for the hierarchy of feudalism, design their own family crest, and write their...
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April Fool's Day
Young scholars research how April Fool's Day began. They identify and discuss various theories, interview family members, write original myths about the first April Fool's Day and design a wild goose chase for another class.
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Four Seasons
Students identify the change in the seasons. In this earth science lesson, students describe weather of each of the seasons and illustrate pictures of each season. Students discuss their illustrations with their classmates.
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The Value of Genetic History
Students research and assemble their own pedigrees using star patterns for each family member and coloring in various dominant traits. They arrange these patterns on long strips of paper making large, colorful family pedigrees.
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What Are Friends For?
Students develop an awareness of the behaviors signaling that a friend may be in trouble with alcohol or drugs of abuse. They practice ways to encourage a friend to seek out adult help by viewing a video, role-playing situations, writing...
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Eyes in the Sky
Middle schoolers examine the use of satellites. For this research lesson, students discuss the history of satellites and how we use the information today. They will conduct interviews with older adults who have lived in the changing...