Young journalists write diary entries from the point of view of a person involved in a historical event. They focus on including facts, clear narration, and accurate description of the individual's feelings. 

Explore the Great Depression! Discover the challenges people experienced during the time period. Learners investigate photographs from the Dust Bowl and WWII era and create a story line about the photographs, writing a newspaper article...

A reading of a New York Times review of the movie Beloved launches research into how the Civil War affected the lives of people living during this period. Creative thinkers select a person from an included list of historical figures and...

Which is more likely: 130 children followed a magical piper out of Hamelin and disappeared forever, or that they died of the plague? Or could they have escaped from Hamelin via a secret tunnel to Transylvania? Learners investigate...

Three lessons make up a unit on the birth of Canada. Learners in the third grade will analyze famous works of art, research historical events, and discuss the role women played in the early development of Canada. Writing, history, and...

Here is a instructional activity designed to acquaint learners with two amazing forms of entertainment from the 19th century: The Cyclorama and the Moving Panorama. After seeing what these two contraptions were all about, pupils make...

How does background and experience influence one's point of view? Dwight Okita's famous poem about the Japanese internment is the text used to explore this essential question. Class members study primary documents to gain the necessary...

Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...

Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record...

Exploring the baroque era can be exciting and fun when it's done thorugh the arts. Middle schoolers examine the music and art history of the baroque era through research. They use their findings and class notes to create an expository...

Young historians explore US culture by investigating the US flag. They will use their textbooks, prior knowledge, and sources provided by the teacher to research the history of the American flag. They will design and create a trading...

Famous people in the history of Arkansas are the focus of a history lesson for kindergartners. Pupils identify important Arkansas citizens, such as President Bill Clinton. They create an illustrated poem that features some of the...

Kids look at a beautiful work of art to practice grammar, make connections from life to art, and sketching. They identify all the parts of grammar they see in the image, discuss what they see and do on a picnic, and then draw an imaged...

Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...

What is figurative language, and why do we use it? Introduce your high schoolers to some examples and discuss the importance of including this element in your writing. After studying a text and searching for examples, writers will...

George Bailey learns that it truly is a wonderful life when he discovered how many lives he has touched—not to mention how many new generations of lives the story touches every year. A study guide on It's a Wonderful Life ...

Five segements from Ken Burns' documentary series Prohibition, easily accessed on the PBS website, are at the center of a terrific short unit on the roots of America's ambivalent relationship with alcohol. Engage your secondary...

Where did the Olympic Summer Games originate? The class takes a look at ancient origins of modern Olympic games. They research the Olympics and write a compare and contrast essay that describes how the Olympic Games have changed since...

Giving gifts has been a part of the human experience since modern man walked the earth. Upper graders explore the culture of gift giving in Mayan times through an artistic analysis. They analyze gift giving and palace life as seen on an...

By viewing the works of Robert Harris, high schoolers gain an understanding of what life was like back in the Victorian era of Canada's history. They also peruse many works of Victorian era writers in order to further their understanding...

High schoolers examine the origins of the Canadian nation and government. They study the principles upon which each of the provinces was founded. The four-instructional activity sequence also provides opportunities for experiences in...

Fourth graders construct an original booklet that consists of summaries and artwork dealing with their study of the state of Maryland. They work on this booklet after their study of the Piscataways, a Native American tribe in Maryland,...

Explore concepts of audience, purpose and symbols in this lesson from Media Smarts that asks students to consider all the functions of music. Through a series of discussions and activities, your class will brainstorm possible functions...

Students discuss meaning of symbols associated with Statue of Liberty, read and analyze Emma Lazarus' sonnet, "The New Colossus," and write persuasive letter to a nineteenth-century audience to gain support for bringing statue to America.