Briscoe Center for American History
Mary Maverick and Texas History - Part 1
What's the difference between a diary and a memoir? Young historians explore the ramifications of this question as they learn how to use primary source materials to gain an understanding of life on the Texas frontier.
Student Achievement Partners
Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken" and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston's "Farewell to Manzanar"
Passages from Unbroken and Farewell to Manzanar provide the context for a study of the historical themes of experiencing war, resilience during war, and understanding the lasting trauma of war. Appendices include extension activities,...
Curated OER
Tooling Around Arizona: Reading Arizona Maps
Students study geography. In this Arizona maps lesson plan, students develop their map reading skills. They have class discussions and work independently with various copies of Arizona maps to practice those skills. This lesson plan...
Curated OER
Life Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly
Third graders access prior knowledge of the monarch butterfly and discuss what they would like to know. In this Monarch Butterfly lesson,students read Monarch Butterfly and discuss the life cycle of the butterfly. Students gather...
Curated OER
Louisiana Regional Foodways
Students strengthen their research techniques in locating, selecting, and synthesizing information from a variety of texts, media, references and internet resources to study regional food way traditions in Louisiana. They assess the...
Curated OER
Volatile Volcanoes
Students explore volcanoes. In this cross curricula lesson, students use the Internet to investigate volcanoes. The series of six lesson guides the students in their search for information, thus building research skills. After all six...
Curated OER
A Colony is Born : Lesson 4 - What Went Wrong?
Fifth graders compare and contrast two early colonies and make a T chart. They list examples of worked well and what did not, and significant historical events. They use higher order thinking skills by deducing how different scenarios...
Curated OER
Technologies of the Civil War
Fifth graders discover new and interesting technologies of the Civil War. In this Civil War portfolio of lessons, 5th graders analyze primary resources, develop new vocabulary, investigate websites, and create a time line of new...
Curated OER
Glastonbury Festival
Students read about the Glastonbury Festival and then have to plan their own summer festival. In this festival lesson plan, students fill out worksheets and create a presentation for their festival.
Curated OER
Le Grand Voyage
Eighth graders work in collaborative groups to research a country of their choosing. Groups use the internet to their country and plan a trip to that location. Students complete a multi-media presentation of their country, following a...
Curated OER
Freedom and You
Students research the American Revolution. In this Revolutionary War lesson, students research facts about the American Revolution, write an expository essay, and peer edit for good content. The paper is suggested to be written after...
Curated OER
Modeling Mitosis and Meiosis
Students construct and manipulate models of mitosis and meiosis and compare/contrast them. They create the models using index cards and yarn, interpret diagrams and photographs, and summarize written descriptions.
Curated OER
What's Behind that Mask?
Students use a "spider web" graphic organizer to record information about different types of masks they are familiar with. They write a paragraph about masks. Students read about Native American cultures and compare/contrast the...
Curated OER
Winter Holidays Around the World
How much do you know about the holidays around the world? Second graders put their knowledge to the test with a 14-day lesson about global celebrations. They read informational text, employ KWL charts, and compare and contrast the many...
Curated OER
Living With An Indian Tribe
Third graders research and compare differences between Navaho, Cheyenne and Kwakiutl Indian tribes, determine with which tribe they would choose to live, taking factors such as location and available resources into consideration, and...
Curated OER
Immigration Research Project
Students formulate guiding questions to use as an aid for research and then use the guiding questions worksheet to help gather information necessary for meeting all criteria for completing the project. They then work together to collect...
Curated OER
Read Aloud- Literary Elements- Prediction
First graders read two stories. In this literary elements lesson, 1st graders read The Hat by Jan Brett, notice patterns of prediction, identify the setting, problem and solution and compare the story to the book The Mitten.
Curated OER
Map Your State: Regions of Arizona
Fourth graders define vocabulary and locate physical features on maps. In this mapping lesson plan, 4th graders explore regions of Arizona through landforms found on topographic maps. Students research the history and culture of the...
Curated OER
Wolf Fact Cards
Students write a non-chronological report about wolves. They read and discuss wolf fact cards in small groups, complete a KWL chart, observe the teacher model the steps of writing a report, and conduct research and write an original...
Curated OER
Temas contraversiales del mundo hispanohablante:Controversial Themes of the Hispanic World
Eleventh graders brainstorm controversial themes of Spanish-speaking countries. They read articles written in Spanish. They discuss the articles, practicing their Spanish speaking skills. Students conduct research and design a...
Curated OER
Electrifying Franklin
Fourth graders research and present information about Benjamin Franklin's life and accomplishments. In this lesson on Benjamin Franklin, 4th graders review idioms and sayings written by Franklin then compare and contrast his various...
Curated OER
Breezy Energy
Third graders view photos of machines that measure wind energy and chart what they observe in the pictures and the questions they have about the pictures. In this wind energy lesson, 3rd graders make a pinwheel. Students show the...
Curated OER
Laurence Yep's, Dragonwings
Learners discuss vocabulary words and compare definitions. They read chapters 6-9 of the novel, Dragonwings, and discuss point of view, and complete a plot diagram. Then they review the four types of conflict and identify the conflicts...
Curated OER
Lon Chaney: Three Faces of Lon Chaney
Students watch the Lon Chaney episode of American Masters, read chapters from three original books on which Chaney's films were based, and use a reading strategy called Reader's Theater to adapt each chapter into a script. After...