Unit Plan
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program

The Backpack Travel Journals

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Satire in Fiction

For Teachers 12th
Twelfth graders identify satire in various fictional texts.  In this language arts lesson plan, 12th graders will learn to define satire, parody, and caricature. Students will identify different forms of satire in historical...
Lesson Plan
TCI

Picking Rusty Gold: Why Do People Buy and Sell Antiques?

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Your historical sleuths will work to research the in-depth history of chosen artifacts and will use their research to design a fictional advertisement for an early 20th century item.
Lesson Plan

Building Background Knowledge: Learning About the Historical and Geographical Setting of Esperanza Rising

For Teachers 5th Standards
Set up your class to read Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, through a class read-aloud and exploration of the setting. The detailed lesson plan outlines each step. First, class members read over the first few pages and focus on the...
Worksheet
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Great Schools

A Questionnaire: What Do You Like to Read?

For Students 5th Standards
What do your fifth graders know about types of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry? Find out as they fill out this questionnaire that requires them to list authors and texts that exemplify each genre. Not only will you be able to assess what...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Learning to Ask Questions

For Teachers 1st
First graders analyze historical materials and create questions about Dwight D. Eisenhower.  In this question writing lesson, 1st graders ask and answer questions about the life of Eisenhower. Students write about photographs they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students research how early colonists lived. They investigate late 17th century colonist's lives from Massachusetts and Delaware. Using their research, students write historical fiction in the form of friendly letters between the two...
Lesson Plan
Alberta Learning

Creating Authentic Diaries

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "What is history but a fable agreed upon?" A series of lessons encourages learners to look beyond the basic fable agreed upon related to events in history and consider multiple accounts of the event....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

During Reading Strategies

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
"How important is freedom to you and your family?" The guiding question becomes much more powerful after your class reads and responds to a passage from a historical novel. While reading the passage, they complete a graphic organizer...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Look Through My Antonia's Eyes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Thoroughly delve into My Antonia by Willa Cather with a plethora of activities. Engage scholars with videos and web sites in this week-long unit that explains the historical context and creates pioneers in the field of research. An...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Voices from the Past: History and Literature

For Teachers 10th - 11th Standards
Art can enhance the understanding of history. That's the big idea in a lesson that has young scholars read Randall Jarrell's poem "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" and an excerpt from John Hersey's Hiroshima, which provide a...
Lesson Plan
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EngageNY

Researching and Note-Taking: Becoming an Expert on a Colonial Trade

For Teachers 4th Standards
Fourth graders work in small groups to become experts on different colonial trades in the eighth instructional activity of this unit. Working toward the long-term goal of writing a piece of historical fiction, young scholars read...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Second Visit To Old Sturbridge Village-The Story Tour

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students conduct research on 1830s families and early New England culture. They conduct research on the Old Sturbridge Village website, participate in an online chat with a costumed interpreter, and continue to develop possible plots to...
Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Still Teaching Lessons To This Generation

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Discuss Laurence Yep's novella, Hiroshima, to inspire future historical fiction writers.
Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Decision Making: Who Was Right?

For Teachers 3rd - 4th Standards
Help your class explore the question "Is it ever right to disobey a law?" With a strong base of knowledge about the Civil War, anti-slavery movement, and Underground Railroad, your class explores civil disobedience in Marshall, Michigan...
Activity
Orlando Shakes

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Study Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Can science ever go too far? Learners explore this topic with the Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde study guide. They read about the connection between scientific experimentation in fiction and real life and then compare a scene from the novella...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Extranjeros and Expansion

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A three-part lesson gives light to the Unites States expansion from the view of Texans, New Mexicans, and Californians. Through videos and written activities, scholars work collaboratively to research specific individuals and their...
Lesson Plan
Civil War Trust

Civil War Newspaper

For Teachers 8th Standards
One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Midnight Ride of Paul Revere: Fact, Fiction, and Artistic License

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners examine The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. In this visual arts instructional activity, students study the historical significance of the event as they examine the Grant Wood painting and primary sources regarding the event.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rudyard Kipling's "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi": Mixing Fact and Fiction

For Students 3rd - 9th Standards
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," from The Jungle Book, offers young readers a chance to examine how Rudyard Kipling uses setting and personification to bring to life the brave mongoose who battles cobras to protect his family. Class members...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Historical Heroes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers determine whether the ends truly justify the means by examining the behavior of historical and fictional heroes. They view and discuss film versions of Gangs of New York and Les Miserables. Then they break into small...
Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Midnight Magic Discussion Guide

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
This discussion guide accompanies the fiction book Midnight Magic written by Avi, enforces story elements, inferences, and theme/plot. Have the class work on it over time, it will engage even your reluctant readers. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing American Diaries

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Young scholars examine the concept of historical perspective in writing. They read the diary of Sally Wister, a young Patriot from Philadelphia during the Revolutionary Era. Additionally, they must include different points of view in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study the effect of history on fictional or dramatic works of art by reading, Arthur Miller's, The Crucible. They examine the ties between a nation's history and culture with the literature it produces.

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