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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

From Smithson to Smithsonian: Who Was James Smithson?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students evaluate and examine primary and secondary source material as they relate to the life of James Smithson.In this "From Smithson to Smithsonian" lesson, students analyze documents looking for clues to the identity of James Smithson.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

If These Objects Could Talk

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars examine American Indian artifacts through historical, cultural and artistic lenses. They explore the philosophy behind the Smithsonian Institute's new museum to honor American Indian history and traditions.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Smithsonian

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students explore the Smithsonian Institute. For this technology and history lesson, students work in pairs to complete a worksheet by researching questions using the Smithsonian Institute website.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Smithsonian Research Cuts

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the Smithsonian research projects of 2001. They complete a Webquest that explores the Smithsonian Institution website, answer discussion questions, and locate newspaper articles about research conducted by the forest...
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Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: First Lady for the Environment

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
This resource provides information about Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, and the efforts she put forth to preserve the environment. Activities, videos, and book recommendation are included.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: A Vision of Puerto Rico

For Students 9th - 10th
A virtual look at a wide-ranging mix of art and artifacts that visually represent Puerto Rico's culture and history. With thematic overviews of everyday life on the island, music, families, and religion along with many useful educational...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Whatever Happened to Polio?

For Students 9th - 10th
Online exhibit commemorates the discovery of the polio vaccine. Includes a timelined history of the disease, beginning with the first clinical description of polio by British physician Michael Underwood. Inquiries into the research to...
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Article
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: July 1942: United We Stand

For Students 9th - 10th
Exhibit, honoring a nationwide design contest to encourage Americans to buy war bonds while boosting morale, explains the rationale for the campaign and tells the stories behind the magazine covers designed for the campaign.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: The Price of Freedom: Americans at War

For Students 9th - 10th
View comprehensive sets of artifacts that tell the story of America's wartime past and present. Artifacts from every major American military conflict, beginning with the American Revolution, can be closely examined. Full curatorial notes...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Sports: Breaking Records: Breaking Barriers

For Students 9th - 10th
A virtual exhibit featuring sports legends and great Olympians from more than a dozen sports. See artifacts from the Smithsonian's sports collection, and explore the exhibition spotlights on athletes who dominated their sports.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

Gifts and Blessings: The Textile Arts of Madagascar

For Students 3rd - 8th
To the people of Madagascar woven cloth is more than just something nice to wear. Come explore the topic of textiles and their importance to these African people.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African Art: Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about African kente cloth, including how it is made, when to wear it, and how to wear it. Accompanying interactive lets you can design your own kente.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African Art: El Anatsui: Gawu

For Students 9th - 10th
The work of Ghanaian artyist El Anatsui is presented in this on-lone companion to the travelling ehibit of his work created by the Arts Council of Wales.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African Art: Artful Animals

For Students 9th - 10th
African artists commonly base their work on animals observed in their natural habitats. Artful Animals lets you view African art that takes animals as its subject and inspiration. Learn about animals as symbols in African art, the beauty...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African Art: Contemporary African Art

For Students 9th - 10th
An exhibition of contemporary African art that pulls together the work of 28 artists from 15 different countries. Read artist biographies, view representative works, and think about two prominent themes that emerge from the collection:...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African Art: Big and Small Are Tricky

For Students 9th - 10th
An exhibition that uses African art to explain the concepts of bigness and smallness. In the world of art, big and small can refer not only to physical size but to relative size, to the impression an object makes, or to the largeness of...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African Art: Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems

For Students 9th - 10th
These works of art reveal symbols and graphic systems that help to communicate values and ideas of the African people.
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PPT
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African Art: African Vision: Explore African Art: At Home

For Students 1st - 8th
This printable guide is to be used in conjunction with the African Vision web site from the NMAfA. It offers six different activites to try on your own including connections between art and science as well as some games.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African American History: Playful Performers

For Students Pre-K - 1st
A past exhibition that offers a fascinating look at the African tradition of mask-making and masquerades. Includes colorful photos and information, to spark children's creativity.
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Handout
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian American Art Museum: John Henry Twachtman

For Students 9th - 10th
The painting career of John Henry Twachtman is discussed in this biography. Also provided are images of five of Twachtman's works.
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Graphic
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian American Art Museum: George Catlin's Indian Gallery

For Students 9th - 10th
The Smithsonian offers 32 of Catlin's Indian Gallery paintings online. Catlin visited 50 tribes living west of the Mississippi from 1830 to 1836.
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Graphic
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian American Art Museum: African American Masters

For Students 9th - 10th
An interesting site that contains paintings, sculptures, and photographs by African American artists. Each piece has a short paragraph below it describing the artwork, and the message the artist was trying to convey.
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Graphic
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian American Art Museum: Calico and Chintz: Early American Quilts

For Students 9th - 10th
An informative site containing twenty-one different images of quilts made in America prior to 1850. A brief paragraph below each picture describes the colors, fabrics, and message of each quilt.
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Graphic
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian American Art Museum: The Land Through a Lens

For Students 9th - 10th
"The Land Through a Lens: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum," features 84 photographs from the early years of photography in the 1850s through the 20th century. Included in the collection are works by early, modern, and...