National Museum of the American Indian
Lone Dog's Winter Count: Keeping History Alive
What is oral tradition, and what unique tool did the Native Americans of the Northern Great Plains use to help them remember their complex histories? Through pictograph analysis, discussion, research, and an engaging hands-on activity,...
Curated OER
Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition: Corridos
Students create and perform Corridos which are oral tradition ballads. In this Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition lesson, students interview family members using a predetermined list of questions. In addition, students...
Curated OER
Learning From the Past
Coming up on the Olympics? Be sure your middle schoolers understand the dynamic and ancient history of this global tradition. They begin by recalling traditions parents have passed down, considering their relevance and ways they might be...
Curated OER
Oral History
Use oral history as a way to help learners develop communication skills. They interview a trusted adult about their life as a young person, challenges they overcame, and what they are proud of. Learners are then interviewed themselves in...
Curated OER
Family Traditions, Customs and Beliefs
Students discuss African childhood, explore family traditions, customs, and beliefs, examine African recipes, discuss differences or similarities in food preparation between the U.S. and Africa, and prepare a dish with adult supervision.
Curated OER
John and Mary Jones and the Importance of Oral History
Students examine the role of John and Mary Jones in the abolitionist movement. Using primary source documents, they discover the importance of an oral history and take notes on the Jones' role. They write a summary of the data to...
Museum of Tolerance
Oral History Activity
Oral history has brought a multitude of lessons, stories, and factoids to our current knowledge of the past. Let us continue to use oral history traditions through a lesson that encourages pupils to discover and appreciate where they...
Incredible Art Department
Story Tellers - "Passing on the Traditions"
It's important for young people to learn about their ancestry and the role of storytelling as a means of passing along traditions, information, and lessons. Based on what they already learned about Native American oral tradition,...
Curated OER
Folklore and Oral History
Learners listen to a lecture about the tradition of story telling and oral history. They research three examples of African American and/or Negro Leagues oral tradition. they work in groups of four, and decide on one example from their...
Curated OER
Latino Folklore and Culture: Stories of Family, Traditions of Pride
Learners define the terms fable and folktale. They write a fable to illustrate a Latino proverb. Students are explained that a folktale is a story passed down through the oral tradition of a particular culture. A fable is a type of...
Library of Congress
Oral History and Social History
Students examine the Great Depression. In this oral and social histories instructional activity, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of the America in the 1930's.
Curated OER
Introduction to Traditional Oral Narratives
Students are introduced to the idea of traditional oral narratives and divide them into genres. They explore the genres of context, motifs and variants. Each student finds oral narratives in their own lives and practice retelling them in...
Curated OER
Diversity: Origin Myths
Fifth graders analyze origin myths and the diversity of First Nations groups. In this history lesson, 5th graders review the geography of Canada and read various origin myths. Students illustrate one of the myths and research others in...
Curated OER
Theatre: Oral Traditions
Students investigate cultural traditions. In this multi-cultural lesson, students discuss various cultures and research their traditions.
Curated OER
Oral History
Students create oral histories. In this oral history lesson, students prepare for and conduct interviews with Holocaust survivors, liberators, or rescuers. Students study the provided procedure for the interview and present their...
Curated OER
African American Poetry: Family and Traditions
Learners are introduced to the elements of African-American poetry. As a class, they are read different types of poems to discover there are different styles of poems and practice rhyming words. They share information on their family...
Curated OER
Exploring Community Through Local History: Oral Stories, Landmarks and Traditions
Students explore the history of their local community. In this local history activity, students analyze primary documents to develop an understanding of the local culture and traditions of their local community.
Curated OER
Seeing Words in a New Way
What's the best resource to use when looking up words? Use Visual Thesaurus to see a word's meaning. The class accesses the interactive website and then compares and contrasts the difference between using a traditional dictionary and the...
Curated OER
Preserving History for Illuminating Today's Values and Traditions
Young scholars discover the value of oral history by creating their own audio recordings. For this traditions and customs lesson, students listen to a local historian discuss the idea of preserving history through oral traditions....
Curated OER
Discovering Your Heritage
Students interview a family member about their heritage. They listen to and record part of their family's oral history. Students also create and label a family tree going back a minimum of two generations and compare and contrast...
Curated OER
Let's Go To Mexico
Students are able to use the Internet to conduct research. They research Mexican culture and traditions. Students compare and contrast Mexican and U.S. food and clothing. They convert United States currency to Mexican pesos. Students...
Curated OER
Discovering Russian Folk Dance
First graders explore the art of Russian folk dancing. In this cultural traditions instructional activity, 1st graders research the Troika and incorporate attributes of the Russion folk dance into their own renditions.
Curated OER
Storytellers Past and Present
Middle schoolers read and discuss an article about Olga Loya, a modern storyteller. They watch a videotaped performance of a story and then create a storytelling experience for a story of their choice to share with the class.
Curated OER
American Prehistory: 8000 Years of Forest Management
Young scholars discuss the first people to live in North America and the types of evidence we have of their existence. They complete a set of worksheets and explore their answer in group discussions.