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Out of the Dust: Visions of Dust Bowl History Lesson Overview
Learners complete activities with the book Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. In this literature lesson, students read this story and view the Dust Bowl history from the eyes of a child. They discover the Great Depression and life in...
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Twentieth Century Entertainment: When Work is Done
Students determine how Americans enjoy leisure time. In this 20th century America lesson, students research primary sources to study how Americans gained leisure time during the century and what they did with it.
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American Lives in Two Centuries:What Is an American?
Young scholars decide what it means to be an American. For this historical perspectives lesson, students read Crevecoeur's "Letter from an American Farmer," and interviews with everyday Americans from the Works Progress Administration....
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Drake's West Indian Voyage 1588-1589
Middle schoolers investigate several maps detailing Sir Francis Drake's voyages. In this geography lesson, students practice reading maps and locating the precise locations of where Sir Francis Drake visited. Middle schoolers...
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Waldseemuller's Map: World 1507
Students investigate the 1507 word map. In this world geography lesson, students examine the details of each section of the map and then draw conclusions about how the people of 1507 understood the world. Students are evalated on...
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How Transportation Transformed America
Eleventh graders focus on the role of transportation. In this transportation lesson, 11th graders look at the lives of Americans at the turn of the centuries. They compare and contrast 2000 to 1900.
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Women's Suffrage: Their Rights and Nothing Less
Students explore women's rights. In this women's history lesson, students examine primary and secondary sources regarding the women's suffrage movement in the United States. Students compare and contrast the states' methods for achieving...
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Mapmaker, Mapmaker, Make Me a Map!
Students evaluate the different types of historical and geographical information that one can gather through close study of historical maps from the 16th through the 19th centuries. They create their own maps.
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Immigration to the Golden Land: Jewish Life in America
Students examine waves of Jewish immigration during three time periods and analyze a variety of primary sources, including letters, memoirs, and laws, to gain insight into both the American immigrant experience and American society...
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A Soldier's Letters
Students explore the role letters play in a soldier's life and learn background information about Vietnam in the 1960s.
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Immigration and Migration Today and During the Great Depression
High schoolers conduct oral history interviews and research primary resources to explain changes in immigration and migration over time.
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Cosmic Wheels
Students build a scale model of the Solar System and determine the time other planets take to travel around the Sun in comparison to the time of the Earth's revolution. The velocity of the planets are also determined in this lesson.
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Not Just A Man's War
Learners write 2 letters from a woman who may have lived during the Civil War and 2 letters from her relative which include factual information that they have research using the Internet and other resources, along with other activities.
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Analyzing Poetic Devices: Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" and Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz"
Young scholars examine how Robert Hayden and Theodore Roethke incorporate poetic devices to convey meaning in the poems, 'Those Winter Sundays,' and 'My Papa's Waltz.' They listen to audio clips, explore websites, and write an analysis...
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"Jazz is About Freedom": Billie Holiday's Anti-lynching Song Strange Fruit
Working in small teams, learners analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of...
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Gwendolyn Brooks
Students examine the contributions of the author Gwendolyn Brooks. They create a journal, read and discuss poems by Brooks, write a poem about themselves, and create a timeline of their own lives.
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Language Arts: Putting Together a Position Paper
Students are able to identify the target audience for their writing. They are able to create an appropriate format for their papers. Students are able to focus on the developing clear arguments and supporting all key points with facts.
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Family Interviews: The Grandparent/Elder Project
Students explore key concepts/facts in 20th Century history, develop interview questions, and produce master list of questions that can be used in project. Students then interview grandparent, great-grandparent, or other elder about...
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Bill of Rights
Twelfth graders list, describe, and illustrate the specific rights guaranteed to individuals and how they are secured. Then they examine landmark Supreme Court cases, such as, Airport Commissioner vs. Jews for Jesus, New Jersey vs. TLO,...
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A New Candidate for Animal Farm
Students create an advertising campaign in which a candidate from Animal Farm will run for an upcoming election. In this follow-up activity to George Orwell's Animal Farm lesson, students explore propaganda, rhetoric, and satire as they...
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Exploring Islamic Lands
Young scholars examine the lives of Islamic teens. In this global studies lesson, students explore selected Internet sites to discover the attributes of Islam, the cultural traditions of Islam, and information regarding Middle Eastern...
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The Immigration Experience
Students research the reasons people immigrated to the United States. In this United States history lesson, students explore the causes and effects of immigrating. Students engage in a role-playing scenario , watch a video, and explore a...
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All Aboard The Campaign Train!
Students explore campaign politics. In this political campaign lesson, students investigate multimedia sources in order to examine the structure of political parties and platforms from previous presidential elections. Students then...
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Inventions Change the World: The Enigma Machine
Third graders explore WWII by analyzing technological advances. In this invention instructional activity, 3rd graders discuss the use of the Enigma machine which decoded private German messages that communicated with U-boats. Students...