Curated OER
Frighteningly Fabulous Festivals
Students explore the significance of holiday foods, first by researching Halloween-type festivals from around the world, and then by reporting on foods related to different holidays celebrated in their homes.
Curated OER
Coming to America
Fifth graders listen to the song America by Neil Diamond, view pictures of Ellis Island, and role play as processing officers who evaluate, classify and recommend which immigrants can stay in America.
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From America, With Love
Students research the experiences of specific immigrant groups in the United States. Letters are written from imaginary immigrants to relatives in their countries of origin, including historically accurate details.
Curated OER
Celebrating Thanksgiving in the Classroom
A Thanksgiving themed project can be a fun and educational way to celebrate the holiday season.
Curated OER
KINDERGARTEN PEACE UNIT
Students learn the meaning of peace, the value of world peace and the individual commitment it requires through discussion and a variety of hands-on activities
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Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry. New York: Dell 1990
Students recognize courage and heroism of Danish and Swedish people and all others who resisted the Nazis, realize that everyone has the capacity to do good as well as evil, and analyze reasons and motivations that caused certain people...
Alabama Learning Exchange
President's Day for Special Education/Early Elementary
Students investigate how both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington displayed the trait of honesty. They listen to read alouds of class books and poems that address both the lives of these men and the trait of honesty. They use a graphic...
Curated OER
Current Contexts
Young scholars examine how they are affected by world affairs. After reading an article, they examine Otto Frank's attempts to immigrate to America. Using the New York Times, they identify examples of news, advertisements and...
Curated OER
Picture This
Young scholars create a descriptive paragraph conveying ideas utilizing a personal photograph as a prompt for their writing. This concept includes the writers emotions, personal issues, education, art and photography. They share insights...
Curated OER
Bad Brother
Students deal with the historian's dilemma of how to write about people in the past who committed wicked deeds. They analyze a well-known cartoon, "Satan Tempting Booth to the Murder of the President."
Curated OER
"Jazz is About Collaboration": Jim Crow Laws And Segregation
Students explore development of jazz music in the 1930s by forming imaginary jazz bands which tour several cities in Depression-era America. Jazz band members create imaginary identities for themselves, develop publicity for their tour,...
Curated OER
A Wolf by the Ear
Students examine Thomas Jefferson's complex and contradictory relationship with slavery.
Curated OER
How Did the Other Half Live?
Students study the conditions under which immigrants lived. They determine what it means to make it in America. They observe the connection between immigration and unionization and how immigration changed the City of New York. They...
Curated OER
Independence Day
In this Independence Day worksheet, students complete activities such as reading a passage, phrase matching, fill in the blanks, correct words, multiple choice, spelling sequencing, scrambled sentences, asking questions, take a...
Curated OER
Members Only
Students discuss the advantages and disadvantages of private communities and the lives led by their residents. They design ideal planned communities for people featured in other Class Matters articles.
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Navigation
Students explain that globes are the best way to show positions of places, but flat maps are portable and can show great detail. They make a mercator projection of the route Lewis and Clark took on their journey.
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No Lights Tonight
Students explore use of batteries and electrical power on farms in the 1930s.
Curated OER
Pictures of the Past: I Remember When...
Students, after discussing and analyzing the value of reminiscence for people of all ages, write a reminiscence essay on their own lives and then create a story form the perspective of an older person.
Curated OER
Impact of Westward Expansion on Indigenous Populations
Students study the impact of westward expansion on Native American populations. They create a diorama of a Native American scene, write imaginary letters as a pioneer child reflecting on his/her experiences, and create story sticks that...
Curated OER
Colonial Life in Virginia
Fourth graders compare and contrast life in England with plantation life in America. They study the dependencies or mini-industries that could be found on plantations.
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Liberty, Equality, Uniformity?
Students examine the French draft law to ban religious symbols from public schools. They research "secularist" and "pluralist" positions regarding this ban, debate the topic in class, and draft a position paper on the ban.
Curated OER
Finding and Gathering The News
Eighth graders discover what makes an event newsworthy. They research topics by using the five W questions. They examine the difference between facts and opinions and practice interviewing people for stories.
Curated OER
Immigration and Migration: Today and During the Great Depression
Students conduct interviews, analyze primary sources including docuements and images to gain an inderstanding of the causes and effects of he Great Depression and immigration.
Curated OER
Neoclassical Influences
Students study how artists of the Neoclassical period were influenced by major historical events during the Enlightenment. They identify and analyze the Neoclassical style. discuss and identify the historical influences of Neoclassical...