Briscoe Center for American History
Identifying Primary Source Documents
Who is Mary Maverick and why is she important? the focus of this, the second in a series of five lessons that are designed to introduce middle schoolers to how historians use primary source documents to understand the past, is on how to...
Curated OER
Annotated Time Line
Students write biographies and timelines of famous people. They research a famous historical figure and his associated events. They write a two-page biography of the figure and create a timeline detailing the events of his life. They...
Curated OER
Middle Ages Timeline
Students research a historical figure from the Middle Ages. In this Middle Ages lesson, students present important events of their characters life and of the time. Students write a time card for each significant event. Students must...
Curated OER
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Young scholars work in groups to imagine, research and simulate a dinner party involving an author, a fictional character, and a significant historical figure as dinner guests. The activity uses Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and...
Curated OER
Social Studies Strategies: Attribute Graph
In this exploring an attribute graph worksheet, students read information and observe an attribute graph about Cinderella, and complete a bar graph about the attributes of a historical figure or climax of events. Students complete one...
Curated OER
History According to Shakespeare
Learners read Shakespeare's, Julius Caesar while identifying a number of literary elements including simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole. As a response activity, they simulate a mock trial, and finally, compare and contrast...
Laura Candler
Bio Poems Made Easy
A creative way bring autobiographical writing to your poetry unit or back-to-school curriculum, this lesson plan guides you through a bio poem activity. Kids use the graphic organizer to describe themselves using adjectives, things they...
Scholastic
The Flight of Amelia Earhart Teaching Guide
Amelia Earhart's accomplishments and strength of character extend beyond her status as one of the first female aviators in America. Elementary and middle schoolers learn about Earhart's early life and the historical context surrounding...
Curated OER
Reading the Play
Students read the play "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare. In groups, they identify the instances of similes, metaphors and personification. They use the Internet to compare and contrast the events in the play with historical facts....
Curated OER
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: A Compare and Contrast Lesson Plan
Two great men, one time period, and one purpose; it sounds like a movie trailer, but it's not. It's a very good comparative analysis lesson focused on Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Learners will research and read informational...
Curated OER
I Have a Metaphor
Learners locate the literary devices used in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. For this figurative language lesson plan, young scholars first distinguish between similes, metaphors, analogies, personification, etc....
East Lyme Public Schools
To Declare or Not to Declare Independence?
Class members adopt the persona of real figures in American history, Patriots and Loyalists, research these individuals to determine their stance, and then debate the question of whether or not to declare independence from England.
Curated OER
"I am determined to prove a villain" Richard III, Shakespeare, and the Creation of Villains
Students create a list of historical and fictional figures to identify their villainous behaviors and qualities. For this Shakespeare lesson, students discuss historical and fictional villains and their common characteristics. Students...
Curated OER
Biography
Students choose a historical figure in which they research their life. They are to write their biography. They should take the written version and transform it into a video which tells the person's life. They share their presentations...
Curated OER
Step into the Painting: Social Studies, Literature, and Art
Travel back in American history to the era of slavery and abolition. After reading about the Underground Railroad, young historians examine a painting depicting the event, and write a narrative from the point of view of a person in the...
Curated OER
That's the Spirit
Is, as Walt Whitman contends, America’s “almost maniacal appetite for wealth,” the heart of the American dream? Class members grapple with this question as they read David Brooks’ article “The Commercial Republic,” and quotes that...
National Park Service
A Tale of Two Men
Theodore Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores were both born in 1858, and both came to the Dakota territory in 1883, but they influenced the developing country of America in different ways. Elementary and middle schoolers apply written and...
Museum of Disability
A Picture Book of Louis Braille
Teach kids about the beginnings of the Braille writing system with a lesson about Louis Braille. A series of discussion questions guide young readers though A Picture Book of Louis Braille by David A. Adler, and once they finish the...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Writing Prompts for Middle School
Scratching your head when it comes to engaging writing prompts? Check out a list of prompts designed for middle school classes, which includes topics for persuasive writing, expository writing, how-to essays, personal narratives, and...
Curated OER
What is a Memorial
Students explore how we remember and honor people in special ways. In this memorial lesson, students read poems and discuss their emotions. Students view pictures taken at memorial services and discuss what some symbols have come to...
Curated OER
Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words
First graders write simple sentences based on historical figures they find in pictures. In this simple sentences lesson plan, 1st graders search for pictures in Microsoft Word and write simple sentences about them. These pictures and...
Curated OER
History: Fact of Fiction?
Students find a historial novel online and distinguish between fiction and nonfiction books. They research three historical events related to their novel and write a letter to a figure from their novel's time period.
Curated OER
Arkansas Photographs as Research Tools
Middle and high schoolers look at historical photos and written materials, and they develop questions which they use to interview an elder in their community. Learners are divided into groups and given sets of historical family photos...
Curriculum Corner
7th Grade ELA Common Core Checklists
Track your class's progress on all of the ELA Common Core standards with these handy charts. Along the left side, each seventh grade identifier is listed along with the full text of the standard. As you teach, reteach, assess, and...