Curated OER
Family Traditions, Customs and Beliefs
Students discuss African childhood, explore family traditions, customs, and beliefs, examine African recipes, discuss differences or similarities in food preparation between the U.S. and Africa, and prepare a dish with adult supervision.
Diane Venzera
Kwanzaa Celebration: Celebrating Family, Community, and Culture
Kwanzaa is the focus of a three-part lesson that celebrates the history and traditions of the holiday. Before lighting the Kinara, scholars listen to a read-aloud of Seven Candles of Kwanzaa by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Learners express...
Curated OER
Crayon Box-Family Diversity
Young scholars explore diversity in families. In this social studies lesson, students read the book The Crayon Box That Talked and brainstorm traditions they have with their family. Young scholars create crayon templates with a sentence...
John F. Kennedy Center
Comparing Cultural Holidays
A lesson examines the holidays, Día de los Muertos and Halloween. After an exciting clip from the movie Coco, class members review vocabulary and discuss what they know about Halloween. The conversation leads into the history of Día de...
Curated OER
Tracing Our Own Family Pilgrimages
The Pilgrims may have arrived in North America by way of the Mayflower, but chances are, your class members' ancestors came to the United States in another way. Guide them through an exploration of their own heritage, countries of...
Curated OER
Comparing Cultural Holidays
Students discover facts about the Mexican holiday, Day of the Dead. For this compare and contrast lesson, students explore Halloween and the Day of the Dead. Students create an alter to memorialize a family member or friend that has...
Curated OER
Families
First graders complete a unit on families and family structures. They create a family tree for their own family, construct a family mobile, sort and discuss photos of families from around the world, create a banner of ways to say "I...
Curated OER
The Family: Louisiana Family Folklore
Students explore and identify family treasures and research the history to each one. They also organize a variety of artifacts into various categories and research traditional Louisiana artifacts online. Each student draws inferences...
Curated OER
Comparing Cultural Holidays
Third graders explore art that reflects their cultural background. For this writing and research lesson students compare and contrast the Halloween with El Dia de los Muertos. Students study the visual art of these holidays. Then...
Curated OER
Torn from Each Other's Arms
Students consider how the institution of family suffered under slavery. In this slavery lesson, students watch segments of "Slavery and the Making of America". Students examine the structure of the Driggus family and discuss how slavery...
Curated OER
Passover
Fifth graders examine the history of the Passover holiday and the Seder traditions. They read and discuss a handout, answer discussion questions, read the book "Matzoh Mouse," identify the fourteen steps of the Seder, and take a quiz.
Smithsonian Institution
Dia de los Muertos: Honoring our Ancestors Through Community Celebration
Oral storytelling has been an important part of every culture. The time-honored practice uses stories as a conduit for a culture's values and customs from one generation to the next. Keep the tradition going with a family interview...
National Woman's History Museum
Defying British Rule: Women's Contributions to The American Revolution
Primary and secondary sources are the focus of a instructional activity that showcases the important role women played during the American Revolution. Pairs review sources and discuss their findings. A close-reading of an informational...
Curated OER
Celebrate With Silhouettes
Students explore history of silhouettes, and help create keepsake silhouettes, frame them, or use them to make a special Mother's Day card.
Education World
You Are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving
Learners examine the facts and myths that surround the "First Thanksgiving" (the harvest celebration of 1621) at Plimoth Colony. They study the role that historians play in the collection and dissemination of history and use their...
Curated OER
Linking Kwanzaa to Technology and History
Seventh graders use the Internet to research the holiday of Kwanzaa. Using the information, they create a brochure to promote the holiday to others. They email the information to a friend to end the lesson.
Curated OER
Exploring Countries and Cultures
Fifth graders choose a country associated with a family member and research its location, government, language, economy, history, holidays, foods, sports, and famous people. They write to inform using this data and draw a map identifying...
Curated OER
National Turkey Off to Disneyland
Students share their holiday traditions, then read about an American Thanksgiving custom. In this current events lesson plan, the teacher introduces the news article with a discussion and vocabulary activity, the students participate in...
Teacher Created Resources
Thanksgiving Coupon Book
Students create a Thanksgiving coupon book. In this holiday lesson, students review the history of Thanksgiving and create coupon books to give to someone who they are thankful for.
National Woman's History Museum
Ida B. Wells: Suffragist and Anti-Lynching Activist
Suffragette, investigative journalist, and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells is the focus of a lesson that has young historians study the work of this amazing woman. Scholars watch a video biography of Wells, read the text of her speech...
Teaching Tolerance
Thanksgiving Mourning
Two primary sources, a speech, and an article provide tweens and teens with different perspectives of the American Thanksgiving holiday. After analyzing Wamsutta James' suppressed speech and Jacqueline Keeler's article, class members use...
Smithsonian Institution
Dia de los Muertos: Celebrating and Remembering
Help scholars understand the history, geography, traditions, and art of Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Find background information for your reference as well as a detailed cross-curricular lesson plan. Learners compare...
Curated OER
"Wedding Celebrations Around The World"
Ninth graders research the cultural implications of wedding celebrations around the world. They study wedding celebrations before creating world map on which they place an appropriately attired wedding couple on the country they studied....
Curated OER
The Story of Kwanzaa
Celebrate Kwanzaa with a game of Kalah, also known as Mankala or Owara. Using an egg carton and a set of beans, players take all of the beans out of one of his or her cups and move to the right, dropping one bean into each of the next...