Curated OER
Writing Exercise: The Encounter and Columbian Exchange
Examine the effects and interrelationships that came about because of the Columbian Exchange. Learners answer three short essay questions to improve their expository writing skills and understanding of early globalization.
Scholastic
The First Thanksgiving Feast for Grades 6–8
It's time for the feast! Young historians complete their study of the First Thanksgiving by completing an online activity, watching a slideshow, and examining a First Thanksgiving timeline. After answering text-dependent questions to...
Curated OER
Cultural Impact of Jim Crow Laws and the Civil Rights Movement
Students examine the Jim Crow laws and how they impacted the lives of both African Americans and white Americans. They discuss the Civil Rights Movement and how their lives may have been different had it not occurred.
Groups...
Curated OER
A Piece of Bread
Learners prepare food. In this African American community lesson, students read a story and discuss how philanthropy was portrayed. Learners write about a time they had the opportunity to share or give. Students decide ways they can be...
Curated OER
Folk Traditions in the Blues
Click here to download a PDF of this lesson. (2.8 MB) Overview This lesson will enable teachers to use the blues to explore selected topics in African American folklore. Students will learn about some of the African American cultural...
Curated OER
American Music Styles: European Roots and African Influences - Lesson 3
Students describe some of the characteristics of country and blues music. They see how country music rose to a nationally known music style. They write a two-paragraph essay on what they think country music be like in the next 100 years.
Curated OER
American Indians, European Settlers, and Colonial Arkansas
Students identify the interdependence among various ethnic groups in early Arkansas history. They illustrate timelines and visit historic sites. They make maps of the site and give class presentations.
Rutgers University
African-Americans in WWII
Using transcripts of interviews of African-Americans who served in WWII, class members work in pairs to understand their experience. Prior to the group work, the teacher provides background on WWII and the African-American experience....
Curated OER
Centennial: Home Sweet Home
Fourth graders examine the various types of homes made by Native Americans. In groups, they compare and contrast their homes to those of the Native Americans and discuss how homes reflect one's culture. To end the activity, they read...
Curated OER
Why Are Your "Good Dishes" Called China?
Students link monopoly as a result of geography and technology. They recognize technology as a determinant of economic success. Students recognize cultural diffusion based upon societal wants and needs. They compare and contrast methods...
Curated OER
Is Coming to the United States of America Good For the Immigrant?
Students evaluate impact of American politics, economy, culture, and environment on the immigrant, gather first person data, and use it to develop a persuasive presentation.
Curated OER
Pocumtucks In Deerfield
Students read a story about the Pocumtucks' religious beliefs. Using the text, they discover their concept of land ownership and how they migrated within their territory in different seasons. They use primary and secondary sources to...
National Endowment for the Humanities
American Literary Humor: Mark Twain, George Harris, and Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne as a humorist? Really? The three lessons in this series focus on the the storytelling style, conventions, and literary techniques employed by Hawthorne, George Washington Harris, and Mark Twain.
Curated OER
A Historical and Educational Perspective on American Sign Language
Using Sign Language to Communicate with Your Special-Needs Students in the Classroom
Curated OER
Practical Experiment in Colonization
Students examine the effects that cultural background and specific historical events have upon the development of a colony. They research the colonies to design their own.
Curated OER
Writing Women: The Yellow Wallpaper
High schoolers examine the historical, social, cultural and economic context of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Students determine the place of the middle class woman and her role in society.
Curated OER
Courtship and Marriage
Students research the concept of courtship and marriage as it pertains to early New England and explore the values and culture that shaped our history. In this courtship and marriage lesson, students examine primary source documents that...
Curated OER
The New England Fishing Industry:Sea Changes in a Community
Explore New England's economic and cultural past and possible issues New Englanders will face in the future. Middle and high schoolers research the fishing industry and the need for regulation. They analyze the topography of New England...
Curated OER
Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
Students study the effect of history on fictional or dramatic works of art by reading, Arthur Miller's, The Crucible. They examine the ties between a nation's history and culture with the literature it produces.
Curated OER
Like Comparing Bison and Fish
Fourth graders study the development of North American Indian cultures by looking at how geography impacted their development. They write a five paragraph essay comparing the Plains Indians and the Clatsop Indians.
Curated OER
A New World and the Emergence of a New Race
Young scholars study specific terms and concepts about the discovery of America. They improve their history knowledge about some Latin American regions and their map and geography skills of the New World. They describe what is meant...
Curated OER
Early Native Americans
Young scholars create a scrapbook illustrating the culture of Native Americans that settled in the Kickapoo Valley. Working in groups, students choose a topic related to the Kickapoo Valley Indians. Using traditional and technological...
Curated OER
American Indians
Fourth graders explore the American Indians and the music from their culture. They discuss the music of American Indians and compare that music with the music that we listen to today. Students create rainstick and perform their own...
Curated OER
Native American Project
Students explore the influences that geography has on a Native American tribe's culture and lifestyle. They examine how the first encounters with Europeans affected that tribe.