Library of Congress
Stars, Stripes and Symbols of America: Comparing Our Flag, Past and Present
Your young historians will compare and contrast the details of the American flag today with an an image of the nation's flag from the post-Civil War era, and identify the flag's importance as a national symbol through analysis worksheets...
Curated OER
Making a Mental Map
Students discuss maps and explore the concept of the mental maps they use to navigate their everyday routines including the importance of landmarks. They draw a map of how they travel from home to school.
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Exposes in Different Eras: The Work of Dorothea Dix and Burton Blatt
Students discover that Dorothea Dix was the first to make the pubic aware of the terrible living conditions of people with mental illness in the 1800's. They evaluate the influence of citizen action on public policy.
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A Sense of Place
Students read "Fish Tale: Falling For a Live One" from The New York Times and discuss the methods and techniques the writer uses to create a strong mental image. Students pick a place in their community they wish to write about and...
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Mental Map Postcard
Pupils visit an outdoor setting and make a mental map of what they observe. They return to the classroom and create a postcard with specified elements such as a description of the land and the ecosystem. Students illustrate the postcard.
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Native Lands: Indians in Georgia
Students research what Native Americans looked like in order to dispel common stereotypes. In this Native American history lesson, students begin by drawing their mental picture of an Indian, then they research North American Indians to...
Curated OER
A Walk Around the School: Mapping Places Near and Far
After reading Pat Hutchins’ Rosie’s Walk, have your young cartographers create a map of Rosie’s walk. Then lead them on a walk around the school. When you return class members sequence the walk by making a list of how the class got from...
Curated OER
Prairie Activity: Imagist Prairie Poems
Students write an imagist prairie poem. They explore various websites, view images of prairies, read examples of poems, and write an original poem that creates a mental image in the mind of the listener through the use of descriptive...
Curated OER
Design an Island
Students explore islands. They create a two- or three-dimensional map of an island. They explain how the topography of an area influences the location of water sources, ecosystems, and human settlements. Lesson includes adaptations for...
Library of Congress
Industrial Revolution
Could you live without your phone? What about cars, steel, or clothing? Class groups collaborate to produce presentations that argue that either the telephone, the gramophone, the automobile, the textile industry, or the steel industry...
Curated OER
Describe My City
Learners explore the functions of cities by creating a visual image of their own neighborhood. Students diagram, list, and label the major businesses and cultural areas of the neighborhood where they grew up, then write a letter to a...
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Teenage Boys: Perspectives on the Adolescent Male's Development in an Urban Setting
Students examine the effects of an urban setting on the development of male adolescence. After watching a film, they identify the problems in the relationship of the characters. They discuss the impact of becoming a teenage father and...
Curated OER
Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes
Students analyze poems by Tennyson and Noyes. They identify examples of alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, metaphor, and simile. Students create examples of alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, metaphor, and simile.
Curated OER
Nervous Conditions
Students read Nervous Conditions and explore freedom and oppression. They discuss types of oppression and list examples of discrimination. They create collages or timelines about the novel. They research present day Zimbabwe and make a...
Curated OER
Life Inside Castle Walls
Learners compare their life-style with the Middle Ages, create their own castles and end with a feast. They explore life in the Middle Ages, use their information and creativity to design a castle & a personal coat of arms; students...
Curated OER
I Have to Change!? The Role of the Adolescent in the Family
Sixth graders examine the changes occuring during adolescents using children's literature. As a class, they brainstorm a list of the various roles they play in their family. In groups, they use excerpts of plays from Shakespeare to...
Curated OER
The Human Face of Flagstaff
Students make a brochure for Flagstaff, Arizona. In this geography instructional activity, students look at a map of Arizona and the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce sheet to find natural and human features of the city. They create a...
Curated OER
The Relative Location of Relatives
Students map the distribution of their family members within the town, state, country, or world using their own personal knowledge and information from interviews. They create a mental map of family members, and develop a sketch map...
Curated OER
Advertise With Geography...it's Free And It's Easy!!
Students establish awareness of how landforms/landmarks produce a visual image of a region and demonstrate how advertisers use the "positive geographical image" to sell their product by creating their own advertisements.
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Storytelling and Culture
Students examine the cultural tradition of storytelling. In this storytelling instructional activity, students explore stories from 3 different cultures and evaluate the roles that storytelling plays in each of the cultures to pass on...
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Small European Countries
Middle schoolers examine the advantages and disadvantages of being a very small European country in today's world. They locate each country on a map using the coordinates, discuss the governments of each country, and develop a list of...
Curated OER
A Contouring We Go
Students examine the built environment and infrastructures of their community by constructing contour equipment, using the equipment, and comparing their results to current topographical maps of the same area
Curated OER
The Defeat of the ERA
Eleventh graders take a closer look at the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). In this women's rights lesson, 11th graders read the Equal Rights Amendment as well as the "Feminine Mystique" and selections by Gloria Steinam and Phyllis...
Curated OER
Taking a Trip Through the Regions
Students identify the location and characteristics of different regions throughout the world. Using this information, they compare and contrast the regions and discover how they change over time. They use the internet to research a place...