Curated OER
Wagons West: Native Americans
Students examine interactions between Native Americans and settlers. In this Westward Expansion instructional activity, students analyze select passages from Plains Indians by Dana Newmann and The World of Native Americans by Marion...
Curated OER
African Art and Personal Adornment
Young scholars explore the concept of personal adornment. They view and compile a list examples and compare personal adornment in American culture to that in African culture.
Curated OER
The Pottery Project
Learners research Native American culture regions and archaeology techniques. In small groups, they decorate a clay pot, break the pots, and repair and analyze the designs on the pottery.
Curated OER
VH1 Fan Club
Learners connect the diversity of American culture to the music of Dave Matthews Band and then create lyrics that emphasize how diversity pertains to their own life.
Curated OER
Northwest Indian Masks
Learners explore the cultural importance of Native American masks. In this indigenous cultures lesson, students are first introduced to the tribal groups of the Northwest and how they used masks for medicine, religion, and entertainment....
Curated OER
Energy Generating a Culture: Early American Coal Miners and Coal Mining Culture
Students calculate how much coal they use based on their electric power usage. In this environmental science lesson, students trace the history of coal mining in US. They write a letter to USPS to encourage them to create coal mining...
Curated OER
Changing Places
Learners investigate the Chinese-American immigration experience. In this assimilation lesson, students watch "Becoming American: The Chinese Experience" and then participate in classroom activities regarding the topic. The activities...
Curated OER
Native Lands: Indians in Georgia-Shifting Ground Political Cartoon-Introduction
Learners explore the relationship between the Creek, Cherokee, and European/American cultures prior to the American Revolution. Students do Internet research to identify and explain changes in these cultures, then ...
Curated OER
Protest Songs
Students analyze and perform an American social protest song. They describe its historical setting, consider the effectiveness of the music and recognize that popular music is a reflection of American culture.
Curated OER
Mountain Creation: A Drama Exploration
Students explore mountain formation. In this cross curriculum earth science and legend writing lesson, students listen to the poem "The Way to make Perfect Mountains" by Byrd Baylor and identify examples of vivid language used. Students...
Curated OER
Modern Interpretations
To conclude an eight-lesson study of the events that occurred in the early colonial period in Deerfield, Massachussetss, class members evaluate the point of view and bias found in late 19th and early 20th century retellings.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: Breaking the Rules
Breaking the rules isn't always a bad thing, sometimes it pushes the boundaries of the imagination. Young art enthusiasts examine the Kevin Red Star piece, Knows Her Medicine Crow Indian. They analyze how the artist broke rules...
Curated OER
Lesson: Differing World Views: Human and Animals
Kids challenge their understanding of the world around them and consider the impact man has on the environment and animal life. They examine a Tlingit piece, read two Tlingit stories about man and animals, then participate in a research...
Curated OER
Lesson: More Than Meets the Eye
Older learners analyze a controversial painting entitled The Cutting Scene, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony 1832. They use the issues raised in the image to construct debate arguments questioning if the artist's painting exploits Native...
Curated OER
International Folklore
Folklore is composed of stories that convey cultural heritage and traditions. Many types of tales are listed as well as what they portray in various contexts and situations. Give your learners a brief description or definition of...
Curated OER
Cultural Impact of Jim Crow Laws and Civil Rights Movement
Students compare the cultural customs of people from European descent and African Americans between 1900 and 1940. Next students listen to interviews about life during the time of Jim Crow laws, and determine how life might be different...
Curated OER
Native American Music: Call-and-Response
Students are introduced to call-and-response form of Native American song and dance. They identify and describe a call-and-response form as used in "0 Hal'Lwe."
Male students will perform "0 Hal'Lwe" in call-and-response style with drum...
Curated OER
Native American Music and the Flute
Students study the role of the flute in Native American music while determining what an exemplary example of flute music sounds like. They develop a method of assessing a Native American flute performance. They perform a Native American...
Curated OER
Jazz in America Lesson Plan 8
Students explore the present and juture of jazz. They identify terms associated with jazz and listen to contemporary recordings. They participate in a class discussion regarding jazz's contribution to and reflection of American culture...
Curated OER
Masks
Students examine traditional masks from Southwest Indian groups and create their own mask based on Internet research. They share their mask with the members of their class.
Curated OER
Demystifying Stereotypes and Understanding Contemporary Cultures
Fourth graders compare and contrast folk songs from different cultures. In this music instructional activity, 4th graders listen to and list the attributes of selected Japanese and American folk songs. Students discover the customs,...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Kennewick Man: Science and Sacred Rights
"Have respect for the dead!" Scholars investigate how science and religion often clash. As they look into the laws of science and the laws of religion, the legal ramifications at the federal level of both play into an argument they...
Curated OER
American Indian Art
Students complete a unit of study about Native American visual art. In this visual art lesson, students complete five lessons to study Native American art.
Curated OER
German Immigrants Contributions to the Upper Midwest
Young scholars explore contemporary lifestyles, cultures, traditions are influenced by the contributions of the German settlers of that region. They research these influences and design a brochure to entice potential immigrants to the...