American Institute of Physics
African American Inventors in History
A two-part lesson plan introduces young historians to the work of famous African American inventors. Groups first research and develop a presentation of an inventor that includes biographical information and information about one of...
Curated OER
Organizers for Students
Young scholars . In this organization lesson, students have a general discussion about sports cards and make a chart to answer the questions. Young scholars read the baseball card story from USA Today. Students watch a web video about...
Curated OER
Circus Lesson
Students take part in group entertainment activities. In this circus lesson plan, students discuss their own memories of a circus and conduct several activities such as juggling scarves and creating balloon animals. Students discuss why...
Curated OER
The Roots of Prohibition: Examining the Effort to Prohibit Alcohol in America
Five segements from Ken Burns' documentary series Prohibition, easily accessed on the PBS website, are at the center of a terrific short unit on the roots of America's ambivalent relationship with alcohol. Engage your secondary...
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Analyzing the Inaugural Address
Get high school historians to step outside their own shoes by responding to JFK's inaugural address from the perspective of a civil rights activist, a soviet diplomat, or a Cuban exile. After a class discussion about the address,...
Curated OER
Learning About Safety with Clifford
Students explore discussing stories with their children. They read and discuss Clifford's Sports Day and identify connections between the book and their daily lives. They simulate discussing the book with their children and note...
Curated OER
Homes of Yesterday and Today
Students explore homes as shelters while they built writing and technology skills. In this homes of yesterday and today lesson, students produce books using digital photography. Students develop vocabulary while researching how homes are...
Curated OER
A Classical Maya News Report
Students research the culture of the Mayans. In this early civilizations instructional activity, students research selected Maya city-states including Tikal, Clakmul, Piedras Niegras, and Uaxactun. Students use their research...
Curated OER
Benjamin Franklin: Colonial Printer and Journalist
Fifth graders explore how important print media is to everyone's daily life. Students use present daily newspapers and they are to reproduce weather forecasts.
Curated OER
Clifford's Big Idea: Be Responsible
Learners become aware of how important it is to be responsible at home and school through meaningful reading and language experiences. In this Clifford Gets a Job lesson plan, students author their own booklet regarding responsibility at...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy
Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...
Judicial Branch of California
Articles of Confederation…Well, They Were Trying!
Different currencies, multiple armies, unreliable protection from thieves: class members experience these challenges playing a game that demonstrates life under the Articles of Confederation. After playing the game—which takes them on a...
Curated OER
Inventions 2: The Impact
Tomorrow's engineers visit an intriguing website about inventions that have changed the way we live. Biographies of child inventors on the suggested website aren't easy to find, so make sure to find some stories to share in place of...
Curated OER
Inventions-The Impact
Students research inventions and the impact it has on society. In this technology lesson, students read a timeline of significant inventions throughout history and identify ways the inventions impacted society. Students develop their own...
Learning to Give
Deliver Gratitude Day
Gratitude is the focus of a discussion that sets the stage for pupils to take part in a service-learning project in which they deliver notes of kindness by way of social media or mail. A reflection closes the learning experience.
Curated OER
Lesson on Superlatives
Middle schoolers practice basic Internet navigation skills, find and summarize information on a Web site, and explore tenement life in the 19th and early 20th Century.
Curated OER
The Colonization of the United States
Bring the Age of Exploration into the 21st century with this ancestry activity! Learners get a chance to explore the complex genealogy of the Spanish settlers through watching two video clips (approximately five minutes each) featuring...
Curated OER
Keep Your Eye On the Prize
High schoolers learn about citizens who were actively involved in the civil rights movement, and the strategies they used to overcome the Jim Crow laws that were so prevalent in the 1960s. They investigate the voting amendments of the US...
Curated OER
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
Second graders participate in guided reading and writing experience in this set of five lessons. They complete a picture walk of Michael Rosen's, We're Going on a Bear Hunt before listening to the story and retelling it. Working with a...
Curated OER
Birthday Presents: How to Give and Receive
Students discuss giving and receiving presents at a birthday party. In this social skills lesson, students practice using manners when giving and receiving gifts. This lesson also has other interdisciplinary activities that can be used...
Curated OER
The Study of the Spanish-Speaking People of Texas: Overcoming Adversity
Students examine the photographs of Russell Lee and identify the obstacles faced by Mexican-Americans in Texas during the early and mid-20th century. They discuss the ways they overcame these obstacles and relate it to obstacles in...
Curated OER
Activity Plan 5-6: Art History 101
Learners learn to appreciate art. In this early childhood lesson plan, students read about different artists and imitate their style to develop creative thinking, and language and literacy skills.
Curated OER
Recycled Treasures
Students develop creative-thinking skills that they will use repeatedly throughout their life. In this early childhood art lesson, students develop creative-thinking, social-development, and language skills, and an awareness of the...
Curated OER
Ethnographic Film: Representations of the Other in Media
Young scholars examine how film represents different cultures. They think critically about these representations and how they affect people who are watching them.