Curated OER
Primary Sources and Personal Artifacts
Connect historical text to primary sources. Researchers observe and discuss primary sources. Then, historians bring in their own personal artifacts and connect them back to their history.
Curated OER
Primary Sources and Protagonists: A Native American Literature Unit
Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...
National Woman's History Museum
Unsung Voices: Black Women and Their Role in Women's Suffrage
Reclaim perspectives often left out of the narrative about the suffrage movement with an activity that lifts up the voices of African American women. Using primary sources and biographical details of Fannie Barrier Williams' life, young...
Curated OER
Exploring the Irish in America Through Found Poetry
What was life like for Irish immigrants settling in America during the late 1800's? Learners examine primary source documents, such as lyrics, poems, and letters, to understand the immigrant experience. They then use those primary source...
Curated OER
Teaching with Primary Sources Across Tennessee: Debunking Civil War Photographs
Students analyze photographs and texts using primary source analysis. In this primary source lesson students determine whether the photographs and text are truthful.
Curated OER
The See Family
Third graders examine photographs as primary source documents. Students are broken into groups and are given photographs of the See Family.
American Battlefield Trust
Antietam 360
It was the single bloodiest day in Civil War history. Now, class members have the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of soldiers who fought in the Battle of Antietam using an interactive website. Supplemental resources include...
Curated OER
Kids These Days!
Students create a scrapbook of college student life during the 1960's using digital archives and Internet research. They read and discuss the article "What's the Matter With College?" and then compare college experience of today with...
Curated OER
Teacher Notes
Gathering information, distinguishing between arguments, preparing an oral presentation; these skills are fostered as 10th graders explore aspects of global trade and politics. They use the Internet to gather information about NATO, The...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Lists to Live By: Developing a Self-Improvement Plan
Ben Franklin was a man with a plan. Learners investigate his plan for self-improvement using excerpts from Franklin's autobiography. Then, pupils develop their own plans and discuss how to sell them to others using the two-session lesson...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 2 James Madison: The Second National Bank—Powers Not Specified in the Constitution
How much power is too much power for the federal government? Scholars use primary documents and constitutional research in groups to analyze the creation of the Second National Bank under James Madison. This is the second instructional...
Curated OER
The Donner Party
Who is the Donner Party? Find out why this group of pioneers lives in infamy. A lot of information is provided in this resource, but you will have to copy and paste the text to acquire the handouts. Learners will look at primary sources,...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Benjamin Franklin, Elder Statesman
Ben Franklin was the only American to sign The Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Paris, and the US Constitution. An interesting resource explores his role in the latter by comparing the US...
Curated OER
Introduction of Primary Sources
First graders create two personal artifacts to add to a primary source shoebox that represents information about themselves. The first draw a self-portrait then build an artifact from Play-Doh and pipe cleaners to represent something...
Curated OER
Family History
Fourth graders identify primary source items in the study of their families. They relate the importance of primary source materials in understanding history and events of the past.
Curated OER
Forced to Flee: Famine and Plague
Students examine facts about the Irish Potato Famine and explore primary resources, such as newspaper articles, photographs, songs, and poems, related to the famine. Once research is complete, they create a small collage of their...
Curated OER
Lines From Behind the Lines
Fifth graders create a timeline of events in a soldiers life. In this World War I lesson, 5th graders learn about the Great Depression and World War I. Students watch video segments about World War I and examine primary...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Soldier: Experiencing the Battle of Franklin
Fighting a war over home soil makes a living nightmare even more real. Class members describe the experience of a Civil War soldier during the Battle of Franklin, poised right at a major turning point of the war, after researching the...
Curated OER
Library Main Hall: Using Primary Sources in the Classroom
Students choose a historical photograph or film and try to predict what happened after the photo or film in question.
Curated OER
Introduction of Primary Sources
First graders are introduced to photographs and newspaper articles to be used as primary sources. Using a projecter, they are shown photographs of a famous person to prove they were real and not make believe. In groups, they use...
Curated OER
Woody Guthrie: Life and Art
Woody Guthrie will capture the imagination of even your most reluctant learners. Using his work, your class will develop their skills in non-fiction reading comprehension, interpreting primary source material, and use of multiple forms...
Ohio Center For Law-Related Education
Four Activities: Thurgood Marshall and the Nomination and Confirmation of Federal Judges
The process of nominating and confirming federal judges can sound like a lot of bureaucratic hoops, but a resource breaks down the steps of the Supreme Court nominations in a simpler manner. Learners participate in four activities that...
Curated OER
The Poetry of Chinese Immigration
Numerous people from China immigrated to the US during the era of industrialization and expansion. Provide your class with a glimpse into the life of a Chinese immigrant through the poetry they left behind. They then compose a poem of...
Curated OER
Personal Stories and Primary Sources: Conversations with Elders
Students learn from their elders. For this oral and social histories lesson, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of the America in which their grandparents grew up. Students conduct interviews with elders in...