Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
What Was Everyday Life like in Colonial Virginia?
What was everyday life like in Colonial Virginia? To find the answer cooperative groups work collaboratively to read an informational handout and complete a graphic organizer. The speaker of the group then shares their new-found...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama Farm Life in the Great Depression
The Great Depression not only impacted city folk and factory workers, it also had a profound effect on farmers. Young historians examine primary source materials that document the struggles of Alabama farmers during this time and then...
Curated OER
Life on Plymouth Plantation
Third graders research life of Plymouth Plantation and write letters about life there home. In this Plymouth life lesson, 3rd graders complete a webquest as they gather information about the journey to America on the Mayflower and the...
Curated OER
Paper or Plastic: Exploring Renewable Resources.
Students discuss, develop, invent, and implement a plan for making informed personal economic decisions about renewable resources.
Curated OER
Celebrate Colonial Maryland
Students research colonial Maryland. In this colonial Maryland lesson, students participate in a WebQuest to investigate how families led their lives long ago. Students compare family and city life from long ago and today. Students...
Curated OER
Harvest Happenings
Pupils explore the history of agriculture and develop a personal connection to agriculture. Students investigate how farming practices have evolved through the years and create poetry relating to harvest.
Curated OER
It's A Jungle in Here!
Fifth graders research rainforest destruction. In this geography and ecology lesson, 5th graders work as a group to research the effects of logging, farming, and mining on the rainforest. Students gather and display data and information...
Curated OER
Granary Door Dogon, Mali
Young scholars explore a creation myth. In this visual arts instructional activity, students discuss the Dogon creation myth and the design and make refrigerator magnets in the style of Dogan granary doors. The design of the magnets...
Curated OER
Where Do You Live?
Second graders study and compare rural, suburban, and urban communities. They play a board game, read books about communities, and complete several other activities regarding the different types of communities. Several extension and...
Curated OER
Scavenger Hunt! Exploring the Prairie
Students participate in an online scavenger hunt activity, researching the type of housing pioneers built to match the natural environment. They design and create a poster exhibit or Web page presenting information about pioneer housing.
Curated OER
Farm Life During the Great Depression
Fifth graders examine the plight of farmers during the Great Depression. In this Nebraska history lesson, 5th graders discuss the era prior to reading the novel Out of the Dust by Karen Heese.
Curated OER
The Art of Growing Things
Students discuss how the Pilgrims brought seeds, from England, into the new settlements and explore the history of seed nurseries. After observing packets of seeds and their contents, students list information found on the packets and...
Curated OER
Sadorus Lesson Plan: The American Farm as Portrayed by Artists
Young scholars describe how artists painted American farms in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They identify idealized, nostalgic, and realistic views of farming through discussion, bringing into play their own knowledge of farms...
Curated OER
Inventory of Ebenezer Wells (1730-1783), Nephew of Ebenezer Wells (1691-1758)
Students understand that farming was still the backbone of the economy at the beginning of this period. Students compare inventories from the first turn (1680-1720) and the second turn (1780-1820).
Curated OER
What's In A Name? How Did Surnames Come to Be?
Learners examine how in the early years of the Middle Ages, most people in Europe lived in small farming villages. Everyone knew his neighbors, and there was little need for last names.
Curated OER
Oral History: Interviewing Elders
Sixth graders examine oral history traditions. They interview family members about their childhoods and compare them to their own. Students use the collected information to make posters, letters, essays, or poems about their research.
Curated OER
Building the Terrarium
Pupils draw a layout of their proposed terrarium. In this social studies lesson, students discuss how Mayans farm to produce food for the family. They compare their farming method with modern farming practices.
Curated OER
Student Handout 6D: Trail of the Tomato: Group D: Labor Contractors
A research project that concludes with a visual and written presentation. This is all about the tomato and how it relates to the lives of migrant workers, labor contractors, and industrial agriculture. This is a group project that is...
Curated OER
Trading Off
Students explore how the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has impacted the people and economies of North America and Mexico.
Curated OER
Travel Tips! A Guide for Smoother Field Trips
Suggestions for making your next field trip successful, rather than stressful.
Curated OER
How Did Different People Live in Ancient Egyptian Times
What was life like for ancient Egyptians? Well, that depends on a person's job or title. Find out what life was like for pharaohs, priests, scribes, peasants, nobles, and craftsmen in Ancient Egypt. Each slide contains an image and a...
Curated OER
Radio Program Disc 1, Track 6
High schoolers place the Ohio river in its historical and geographical context. They listen to the radio stories, and are asked what postive and negative influences does the Ohio River have on nearby communities>
Smithsonian Institution
Art to Zoo: Life in the Promised Land: African-American Migrants in Northern Cities, 1916-1940
This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...
Curated OER
The Origin of Humans
Where did human beings come from? How did they settle into communities and civilizations? Your class will find the answers in this fascinating presentation, which takes the viewer through the stages of mankind, from the primitive...