Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Designing for the Future

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students analyze the architecture of the United Architects and Ken Yeang. In this architecture analysis lesson, students explore architecture design for its sustainability, safety, and purpose. Students write an article about one of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Environment: John Muir Day

For Teachers 1st - 12th
Students observe John Muir Day by visiting Websites containing fact sheets, excepted writings, as well as songs, pictures, and educational sources. They use April 21 as a day to reflect on Muir's accomplishment and environmental legacy....
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: America in Class: America in the 1920s: New York City Subway Posters

For Students 9th - 10th
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards - historical documents, literary texts, and works of art - thematically organized with notes and discussion...
Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Poetry 180: My Daughters in New York

For Students 9th - 10th
This seven-stanza poem expresses what a father imagines life would be like if his daughter moved to New York City.
Website
NPR: National Public Radio

Npr: The Streets of New York

For Students 9th - 10th
A slideshow of photographs of New York City from the period just before and just after World War II when the city was a magnet for talented photographers who were looking for new ways to capture the life of the city's streets. A...
Article
DOGO Media

Dogo News: Nyc Subway Cars Transform Into Condominiums for Fish

For Students 5th - 8th
Read about the disposal of New York City subway cars into the Atlanic Ocean, and how these cars are then used by the marine life. Includes video.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Big Birds, Big City

For Teachers 5th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read about falcons that are now living in New York City. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in comparing and contrasting.
Website
Other

New York Discovery and Settlement

For Students 9th - 10th
Gain an understanding of the settlement of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.
Interactive
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Ven Conmigo! La Ciudad De Nueva York, Cultura, Capitulo 9

For Students 9th - 10th
Spanish content; this interactive Spanish exercise tests vocabulary and comprehension on the topic of New York city.
Graphic
New York Times

New York Times: Animated Manhattan

For Students 9th - 10th
The computer animated film "Madagascar" is set in Central Park of New York city. Watch as animation masters are able to recreate a life-like view of Manhattan.
Website
Other

Nyc 100: Immigrant Stories and Information

For Students 9th - 10th
Read immigration stories of families enduring the hardships to start a new life in America. The site contains stories as well as links to immigrant resources.
Website
Other

History of Central Park, New York

For Students 9th - 10th
Use this site to learn the history of famous Central Park. Discover how it was built, the people that visit it, and the park today.
Unit Plan
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: People: Assimilation and the Crucible of the City: Street Life in New York

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Excerpt from Horatio Alger's well-known novel, "Ragged Dick, Or, Street Life in New York," that describes the values and attitudes needed to make it in the capitalistic, urban America of the late-nineteenth century.
Article
A&E Television

History.com: The Life of Lou Gehrig

For Students 9th - 10th
Find out more about the legendary first baseman. Born Henry Louis Gehrig in New York City on June 19, 1903, the future sports icon was the son of German immigrants.
Primary
Other

On the Lower East Side: Observations of Life in Lower Manhattan

For Students 9th - 10th
Links to contemporary essays about life on the Lower East Side of New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These essays cover a range of topics and are well worth exploring to find out what problems writers were exposing...
Activity
Other

Nyc Transportation Alternatives: Bicycle Blueprint

For Students 9th - 10th
This site details "a plan to bring bicycling into the mainstream in New York City." Offers maps and detailed information on improving big city other-than-auto transportation choices.
Website
Other

New York Public Library: Small Town America

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides pictures to help you understand the way of life during the turn of the twentieth century. Enter the collection and click on "Browse" for a drop down menu of collections of photographs of "street scenes in cities,...
Unit Plan
University of Minnesota

U Mn: Immigrants & Cities: Mapping Ethnic Enclaves in Early 20th Century Us

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This resource couples a visual and descriptive map of urban ethnic enclaves with an oral interview by an immigrant growing up in New York City. Its goal is to provide different ways of "mapping" or understanding life for immigrants...
Interactive
New York Times

New York Times: Carnival in the Dominican Republic

For Students 9th - 10th
Captioned photos and music provide a taste of what life is like in the Dominican city of La Vega when Carnival comes to town.
Unit Plan
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: People: Assimilation and the Crucible of the City: The American Metropolis

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A photograph of State Street in Chicago and George Bellows' painting of Lower Manhattan, both depicting the vigorous, gritty, energetic urban life in the early-twentieth century.
Graphic
Curated OER

A View on Cities: New York: Ny Life Insurance Company Tower

For Students 9th - 10th
NY Life Insurance Company Tower (New York)
Unit Plan
The History Cat

The History Cat: History Trekker: Ellis Island: An Immigrant Story

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the difficult life of Jews in Russia under Czar Alexander III, one where they faced discrimination and Jewish communities were attacked when pogroms took place. Follow along as a Russian Jew travels to America and is processed...
Website
Other

Skyscraper Museum

For Students 9th - 10th
The Skyscraper Museum is dedicated to the tallest buildings in the world, most of which are in New York City, the museum's home. Learn about both how and why skyscrapers reach greater and greater heights.
Handout
City University of New York

Brooklyn College: Exploring Life @ Bi Odot Edu: Signs of Life: Complexity

For Students 9th - 10th
A nice introduction to the idea that living things are highly organized at several different levels. Great as an introduction to biological complexity.