Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Grapes of Wrath: Scrapbooks and Artifacts

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary sources. In this Great Depression instructional activity, students read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and use ethnographic...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Depression in North Carolina: Experiences of the People

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore the Great Depression. In this research skills lesson, students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary sources. Students write their own WPA interviews after they have examined...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Labor Unions and Working Conditions:United We Stand

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners examine primary documents about the establishment of labor unions. For this organized labor lesson, students research the working conditions that contributed to the growth of the labor union movement. Learners make classroom...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Local History: Mapping My Spot

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students explore maps to discover historical information about their local area.  In this mapping and history lesson, students use panoramic maps of their own town/city to interpret historical information.  Students also place...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ninteenth Century Women: Struggle and Triumph

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine the role of women in US society during the 19th century and how this role evolved and changed in time. They then write a persuasive letter that domonstrates their comprehensin of the subject.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Oral History and Social History

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine the Great Depression. In this oral and social histories instructional activity, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of the America in the 1930's.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Out of the Dust: Visions of Dust Bowl History Lesson Overview

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars complete activities with the book Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. In this literature lesson, students read this story and view the Dust Bowl history from the eyes of a child. They discover the Great Depression and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Twentieth Century Entertainment: When Work is Done

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students determine how Americans enjoy leisure time. In this 20th century America lesson, students research primary sources to study how Americans gained leisure time during the century and what they did with it.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Women in the Civil War: Ladies, Contraband and Spies

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this American Civil War  lesson, students research diaries, letters, and photographs of women involved in the war.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Lives in Two Centuries:What Is an American?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students decide what it means to be an American. In this historical perspectives lesson plan, students read Crevecoeur's "Letter from an American Farmer," and interviews with everyday Americans from the Works Progress Administration....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Billy the Kid: Perspectives on an Outlaw

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students examine the life of Billy the Kid. In this Westward Expansion lesson plan, students use Internet and print sources to research the contributions of gunfighters to the settlement of the American West.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Immigration and Migration: Today and During the Great Depression

For Teachers 6th - 12th
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.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Around the World in 1896

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers work in groups to plan, take and document a trip using an Internet Database of primary sources "Around the Wolrd in the 1890's." This enables students to break old western perspectives of other nations as they analyze...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Declaration of Independence: From Rough Draft to Proclamation

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students discover the purpose of the Declaration of Independence. In this colonial America lesson, students compare the original draft by Thomas Jefferson to the final draft of the Declaration of Independence.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Thomas Jefferson's Library: Making the Case for a National Library

For Teachers 7th - 11th
Students examine a letter written by Thomas Jefferson. In this instructional activity on the Thomas Jefferson Library, students discover a methodology for creative writing by examining Jefferson's letter to congress explaining why they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

French Canadian Immigrants in New England

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this immigration instructional activity, students conduct research related to the movement of French Canadians to England....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Immigrant Experience: Down the Rabbit Hole

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students relate the immigrant experience to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In this immigration experience lesson, students read Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and relate it to the immigrant experience...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Immigration: Our Changing Voices

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students identify how immigration affects the family and or community. In this Immigration lesson, students examine traditional migration and how immigration has changed over time. Students will consider their own families and history...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Immigration History Firsthand

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. For this immigration lesson, students conduct research regarding Ellis Island and the American immigrant experience. Students use...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Japanese American Internment

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students create a presentation based on the primary sources they have researched about the Japanese Americans that were held in internment camps during World War II. In this Japanese Americans lesson plan, students read different points...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Drake's West Indian Voyage 1588-1589

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate several maps detailing Sir Francis Drake's voyages.  In this geography lesson, students practice reading maps and locating the precise locations of where Sir Francis Drake visited.  Students create an...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Waldseemuller's Map: World 1507

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Learners investigate the 1507 word map. In this world geography lesson, students examine the details of each section of the map and then draw conclusions about how the people of 1507 understood the world. Learners are evalated on...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Transportation Transformed America

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders focus on the role of transportation. In this transportation lesson, 11th graders look at the lives of Americans at the turn of the centuries. They compare and contrast 2000 to 1900. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Huexotzinco Codex

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students will analyze a set of pictograph documents created by native peoples of Puebla, Mexico in 1531. In this historical inquiry lesson, students take on the role of historians and study the documents. Students construct a scenario to...