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Museum of Tolerance

Oral History Activity

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
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...
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Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

Interview a Family or Community Member: Taking Oral Histories

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Young scholars gain insight into how historians record events by engaging in an oral history project. In preparation, class members brainstorm open-ended interview questions and take part in and debrief a mock interview simulation....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Partners examine the family tree of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, a Spanish admiral and explorer who founded St. Augustine, Florida, and answer several questions about the text using a worksheet. After they've explored the family tree,...
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Lesson Plan
2
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Museum of Tolerance

Family Role Model Activity

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
What does is take to be a role model? Through grand conversation, and the use of books and a graphic organizer, scholars find out and apply the requirements to identify a role model within their family. They then journey through the...
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Lesson Plan
Diane Venzera

Kwanzaa Celebration: Celebrating Family, Community, and Culture

For Teachers K - 3rd
Kwanzaa is the focus of a three-part lesson plan that celebrates the history and traditions of the holiday. Before lighting the Kinara, scholars listen to a read-aloud of Seven Candles of Kwanzaa by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Learners express...
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Museum of Tolerance

Cultural Research Activity

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Class members explore cultural diversity through a variety of texts that showcase the importance of traditions. Then, they interview their family members to research their own cultural background and write their findings on quilt pieces....
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Lesson Plan
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Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

Exploring Oral Histories of Angel Island Immigrants

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Empowered by the previous lesson where they interviewed a family or community member, young historians examine Angel Island immigrants' oral histories. They use a matrix to record their interpretation of the feelings of the immigrant....
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Lesson Plan
Digital Public Library of America

Teaching Guide: Exploring To Kill a Mockingbird

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, considered by many to be a seminal piece of American literature, contains many complex literary themes that carry through United States history. Use a series of discussion questions and classroom...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Impact of the U.S. Expansion on Indigenous People and Stereotypes About Native American People

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
The 2004 U.S. bicentennial sparks a discussion about its meaning and importance to United States history. Readings, maps, tables, and reflective writing prompt small groups to explore the westward expansion, Lewis and Clark, and how...
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Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Defying British Rule: Women's Contributions to The American Revolution

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
Primary and secondary sources are the focus of a lesson that showcases the important role women played during the American Revolution. Pairs review sources and discuss their findings. A close-reading of an informational text leads the...
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Lesson Plan
National Park Service

The Power of Remembrance

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
On every July 4th, we watch fireworks and celebrate our independence, but how is the history of the American Revolution preserved? Four social studies lesson guide learners through different memorials, commemorative objects, and restored...
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Smithsonian Institution

Art to Zoo: Life in the Promised Land: African-American Migrants in Northern Cities, 1916-1940

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Shizuko’s Daughter: Before, During, After Lesson Plan

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori presents a vivid picture of Japanese culture and history. As kids read through the third chapter, they find novel-specific vocabulary to enhance their understanding and use context clues to determine...
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Lesson Plan
2
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Museum of Tolerance

Immigration Journeys

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Through the journey of four stories of immigration, scholars complete graphic organizers and apply knowledge to create a visual representation of their findings on a large poster. Third and fourth readers write a letter to their family...
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Lesson Plan
Our White House

The Our White House Inauguration Celebration Kit for Kids!

For Students 4th - 8th Standards
Get the youngest American citizens involved in the presidential election and inauguration with a set of social studies activities. Focusing on the history of presidential inauguration ceremonies, learners draft their own poems, design...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

The Royal Seal What Can It Tell Us?

For Teachers 7th - 11th Standards
Analyze the images and details of the Great Seal of Queen Elizabeth I, and discover clues that reveal how one of the greatest monarchs in the history of England wished to be seen and respected. This is a great way to discuss how even to...
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Lesson Plan
Civil War Trust

Civil War Slang

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Introduce a lesson on Civil War slang to your class of fresh fish. After looking at pictures from the Civil War and examining the list of slang terms, young historians write a letter to a family member as if they are a Union soldier or a...
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Lesson Plan
AAAS

Identification and Classification of Grassland Plants

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Take learning outside and start classifying grasslands. Young ecologists observe grassland plants in order to classify them into the appropriate species by family. They note their characteristics and where they grow. A true field...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

America’s Early Colonies: John Smith and Jamestown, Va

For Teachers 7th Standards
John Smith's 1616 letter to Queen Anne of England offers ELLs an opportunity to learn about a bit of early American history. The four-page packet includes the full text of the letter. In addition, the packet includes a worksheet that...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Emojis and Me

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
A lesson features the work of O'Plérou Grebet, a graphic designer who created a collection of emojis to represent his life in West Africa. Scholars explore the history and purpose of emojis, then read and discuss an article about...
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Smithsonian Institution

Changing Gender Roles on the Home Front

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Martin Luther King and Malcom X on Violence and Integration

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were contemporaries. Both were gifted orators, both were preachers, both were leaders during the Civil Rights era, both were assassinated. But the two had very different views on violence and...
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Lesson Plan
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

What Was Everyday Life like in Colonial Virginia?

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
After reflecting on jobs people perform in the present day, scholars discuss what they believe jobs would have been like in Colonial Virginia during the American Revolution. Small groups then perform a jigsaw using informational packets....
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Lesson Plan
Crafting Freedom

The Self-Empowerment of Harriet Jacobs

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
After reading Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, one of the most famous slave narratives of all time, learners imagine what it would have been like to experience the small dimensions of her hiding space. They then...

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