Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Researching Famous People

For Teachers 4th
Student take notes, on a graphic organizer, about the life of a famous person. They create a trading card about their famous person including a portrait and important facts.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Views of the American West: True or False?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers explain that a landscape painting may or may not accurately represent a specific place. They identify techniques that create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Frederick Douglass

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students identify three important aspects of slave life and describe important events in the life of Frederick Douglass. They identify at least two contributions made by Frederick Douglas.
PPT
Curated OER

Sunken Millions for People in our Past

For Teachers 5th
This multiple choice review covers famous historical figures from all walks of life.  each slide has a scoring set up in the corner which assumes two teams and allows for hints and lifelines etc. but it is not clear how to use this...
Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Presidential Candidate Firsts

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Hilary Clinton may have been the first woman to run for president on a major party ticket, but she was only one example of an historic candidacy. Class members use video clips curated from C-SPAN to examine historical firsts in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Letters from the Japanese American Internment

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students make deductions about life in an internment camp by reading and comparing letters written to Clara Breed. Along the way, they consider the advantages of looking at a historical event from the multiple points of view of...
PPT
Curated OER

World War I - America on the Homefront: The Poster War

For Teachers 10th - 12th
American propaganda shaped the perspective of many citizens during WWI. Here is an amazing presentation full of dozens of war-time poster examples and facts about what those posters were promoting. This would be a great discussion...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"ART ZOO 'Blacks in the Westward Movement', 'What Can You Do with a Portrait', and 'Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass'"

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students study black history, examine portraits and portrait making and create their own portraits, and  investigate their natural environment. This humanities lesson provides a text that can be used to teach lessons in black...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Revolutionary Money

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Examine paper money from the American revolution! Historians study the paper bills and discuss the history of money. How has money changed over the times? Activities are included. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Money Talks

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Students move from fact finding to interpretation as they examine paper money from the time of the American Revolution. In the final exercise, they use the issue dates of the bills to construct a chronology of political changes during...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gwendolyn Brooks

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students write a poem. In this writing lesson, students learn about Gwendolyn Brooks, a famous poet. Students discuss shape poetry and how it is written. Students choose an object from nature and write their own shape poem.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Climate and Cultures of Africa

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students gain an understanding of the relationship between climate and culture in the sub- Saharan Africa. Students will complete short exercises pertaining to the various cultures of Africa and the climate in which they live....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

JAPAN, IMAGES A PEOPLE

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students interpret Japanese and American paintings; evaluate paintings as sources of cultural and historical information
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Westward Movement

For Teachers Pre-K - 8th
Students study the westward movement through examining stamps. For this westward movement lesson plan, students draw conclusions, determine cause and effect relationships and examine the westward movement of the United States by...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

India: Where Remarkable Differences Are Ordinary

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Students research India and Indian culture. In this Indian research lesson plan, students research and report on the lives of Indian children. The report will be in the form of a mock interview between a journalist and an Indian child....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Baga Drum

For Teachers K - 6th
Students examine a Baga Drum in order to explore the history of the Baga people of West Africa. In this art history lesson plan, students recognize figures used in Baga Drum design that represent aspects of Baga culture. They also design...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pictures Telling Stories

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Learners see the importance of primary sources in the study of history, but also the limitations of relying only on primary sources of taking the money, as it were, at face value.
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Watching Crystals Grow

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Amazing science can sometimes happen right before your eyes! The class gets cozy as they watch crystals grow. They use Epsom salts, rocks, and food coloring to create crystals. They'll observe the entire process, documenting every step...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils analyze historic rulings that played roles in the Civil Rights Movement. In this civil right lesson plan, students research Internet and print sources regarding Plessy v. Ferguson, Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Defining moments from the past with lessons for a post-9/11 world...

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine extension ideas concerning 9/11, Defining Moments. They analyze a variety of Supreme Court cases, the U.S. Constitution, Mass Media Interpretations, Racism, Immigrant groups and U.S. geography. Many questions are asked...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students describe the complementary relationships between pollinators and the plants they pollinate, identify adaptations that flowers have developed to "encourage" pollination, and create and draw their own "designer" flowers.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mineral Scavenger Hunt

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students complete a scavenger hunt worksheet as they find examples in their classroom, at home, etc., of minerals. Excellent worksheet!
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Create a Classroom Exhibit: Rocks and Minerals

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students bring in rocks and minerals from home. They observe them and describe them carefully, completing a worksheet. Finally, a classroom exhibit is created.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plants and Animals, Partners in Pollination

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students participate in multiple hands-on activities to explore reproduction and pollination. In groups, using a cotton swab and powder, students simulate being pollinators and plants. They name the parts of the flowers and the function...