University of Chicago
Using Artifacts for Clues About Identity
Learn about the ancient Near East through a close examination of ancient artifacts. Lead your class into analysis by first observing an artifact as a class. Pupils can then work in pairs to analyze the other artifacts and compile a list...
Curated OER
Treasure Tales
Create an artifact kit to engage your young learners. Then, assign small groups a section of chapter three. They will identify the main idea and three supporting details for their section. Then, they select one artifact from the kit that...
Curated OER
The ABC's of Artifacts
Students create their own ABC book about artifacts. In this artifact lesson, students read ABC History Mystery and review the artifacts pictured in the book. They create their own ABC book with each student working on a letter.
Curated OER
Stampin' Around Chicago
Students discuss the United States Postal Service and choose an artifact from one decade. In this art lesson plan, students research how the artifact chosen relates to Chicago and the United States. Students create their own postage...
Curated OER
Life Story of an Artifact
Young scholars write about an artifact that they are studying. For this artifacts lesson plan, students analyze details of the artifact and answer short answer questions about it.
Curated OER
How to "Read" an Artifact
Students discuss the types of information they can get from artifacts. In groups, they practice "reading" artifacts and determining their usage. They use inferences to test against official information about certain pieces. They also...
Curated OER
Treasure Chest
Students explore Chicago in the fur-trading era. In this Chicago lesson, students discover what life what like during this time. Students read an historical fiction story about life in the fur-trade era. Students view replicas of...
Curated OER
Traveler's Trunk
Students analyze and interpret artifacts from the 1920s and explore the Great Migration. In this 1920s history instructional activity, students review background information about the Great Migration and use artifacts to study history of...
Curated OER
"L" Stands for Elevated
Learners play a trivia game to learn more about the Chicago public transportation system. In this transportation lesson plan, students also create an "L" car, and write advertising slogans for Chicago's elevated trains.
Curated OER
Transportation Through Time
Students write a short story illustrating the past and imaging the future in transportation. In this transportation lesson plan, students explore artifacts that have to do with transportation in the past in Chicago.
Curated OER
Chronology: Visual Timeline
Young scholars begin their timelines with the first narrative that they read and add to the timeline as they go. They create a list of history topics and themes that are important to the story. Students add these as sub-headings to the...
Curated OER
The Museum Idea
Students evaluate and record the various types of museum careers. In this The Museum Idea lesson plan, students create a bicentennial time capsule, design a Museum of me, and make a classroom mini museum. In addition students visit a...
Curated OER
Life in Ancient Mesopotamia
Students reconstruct and make drawings of vessels in the same manner as an archaeologist. In this archaeologist lesson plan, students each get a piece of a broken pot and they have to work together to put it back together. Once it is...
Curated OER
Celebrating Modernism at the A Century of Progress World's Fair
Students examine aesthetic movement known as modernism, discover why organizers chose modernism as World Fair's design pattern, interpret photographs of modernist fair buildings and identify artifacts that reflect modernist ideas, and...
Curated OER
Scrapbook
Young scholars read a book and use the internet to find images to accompany it. After choosing one of the artifacts, they complete a full analysis worksheet and write a journal entry about how the artifact was used. To end the lesson,...
Curated OER
Underwater Excavation
Students calculate artifact size and ship capacity based on the excavation of an ancient Roman shipwreck.
Curated OER
Traveler's in Time
Students analyze artifacts to become familiar with the Great Migration. In this migration lesson plan, students read an article and answer comprehension questions. Students role play a migration scenario using an artifact to help...
Art Institute of Chicago
African Myths and Stories
Young historians discover African stories associated with a royal altar tusk from the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria, read myths illustrated on the tusk, and write a story about the life of an oba using figures depicted on the tusk.
Curated OER
The Golden Spike
Students investigate modern transportation in the 19th century by examining artifacts. In this U.S. history lesson, students read the story Joseph's Railroad Dreams, and discuss the Golden Spike used in the first transcontinental...
Curated OER
Tall Tales: Reconstructing A Personal Tell
Sixth graders discover the ways archaeologists examine artifacts and where they are found. After being introduced to new vocabulary, they use artifacts from their own lives and discover what could be told about their life from them. ...
University of Chicago
Ancient Egyptians and Death
What archaeological evidence remains of ancient Egyptian burial and mortuary practices, and what can this information tell us about ancient Egyptian society?
Curated OER
Working on the Railroad
Young scholars plan a trip on the railroad. In this railroad creation and implementation lesson, students listen to the song "Working on the Railroad", make a map of where the track was laid and discuss the geographical...
Curated OER
The Art of Construction
Students research the architecture. in this architecture lesson, students examine buildings from the point of view of the architect or builder. They draw their own building and have a classmate build it.
Curated OER
Home Sweet Home
Students complete activities with the books Color Me Dark, The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, and The Great Migration North. In this literature/History lesson, student read the story and discuss the plot. They analyze photographs taken...