New York City Department of Education
Grade K Literacy in Social Studies: Thinking About Families
Family is a wonderful subject for little learners to get excited about. Family is also the theme for a social studies unit that uses literacy standards throughout. The guide outlines approximately three weeks of instruction and breaks...
Community Social Studies Unit
Lesson 1 - Community Social Studies Unit
Some problems are so big it takes an entire community to solve them. So was the case in the children's book Humphrey the Lost Whale: A True Story by Wendy Tokuda and Richard Hall. This primary grade lesson uses a class read-aloud of this...
K12 Reader
Reading Comprehension: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Introduce your high schoolers to one of the most important pieces of American literature with a reading comprehension lesson. As class members read a short passage from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, they learn about the...
Curated OER
Guided Reading: Cold and Hot
Explore the text, Cold and Hot, with comprehension strategies for young readers. First, give them a purpose for reading: find out what the boy wore outside in the snow! Then have them use one-to-one matching and picture clues to...
PBS
Think Like a Historian: A Viewing Guide
Calling all junior detectives! Scholars use the tools of investigation to determine the causes and impacts of the American Civil War. Using viewing guides, videos, group research, and written resources, they discover what it takes to...
Odell Education
Reading Closely For Textual Details: Grade 8
Only a thorough understanding of history can save us from repeating it. Practice close reading skills with an eighth grade unit that focuses on 19th century America, including European immigration into Ellis Island and Frederick...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Early American Civilizations Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
Bridge subjects ancient history and English language arts together with a unit all about the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations. Eleven lessons begin with a read-aloud followed by a whole-class discussion in preparation for practice by...
US Department of Education
A Close Reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides the text for a series of close reading exercises that model for instructors how carefully crafted guiding questions can help readers think critically about what they read, thus developing...
Broadway GPS
The Lion King—The Broadway Musical Study Guide
Musicals have been adapted from stage plays, novels, and movies. With The Lion King, Disney transforms its animated film into show-stopping, live-action musical theatre. The guide Disney provides to accompany a study of the award-winning...
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to the Works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Middle school years can be tough. An educator's guide for the works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt introduces readers to two texts that discuss the struggles pre-teens face during middle school. Chapter-by-chapter questions and activities for two...
Lee & Low Books
First Come the Zebra Teacher’s Guide
Accompany a reading of First Come the Zebra written and illustrated by Lynne Barasch with a teacher's guide equipped with before reading, vocabulary, and after reading activities. Additional social studies, science, music, art, math, and...
Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to Sue Monk Kidd's: The Secret Life of Bees
A 12-page teacher's guide to Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees provides the discussion questions and activities that lead readers to understand not only Lily's fears, but her reasons behind them.
Teaching Tolerance
Jim Crow as a Form of Racialized Social Control
Just because slavery was illegal doesn't mean it went away ... Jim Crow Laws took its place. An eye-opening lesson focuses on how Jim Crow Laws were used as a form of racial social control against African Americans in the United States....
Core Knowledge Foundation
Early World Civilizations Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
Ancient world civilizations are the focus of a read-aloud anthology. First graders explore the early world of Mesopotamia, Babylon, the sphinx, and pyramids, get to know people of the Nile, Hatshepsut, and Tutankhamun, and examine world...
Curated OER
A Close Reading of Learned Hand's "I Am an American Day"
Judge Learned Hand's "Spirit of Liberty" speech delivered during the July, 1944 "I Am an American Day" celebration is the subject of a close reading activity that models for learners how to approach a dense, difficult text.
Achieve The Core
Linda R. Monk, Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution - Grade 8
“We the people . . .” Thus begins the Preamble to the Constitution. Using a close reading approach, class members examine an excerpt from Linda Monk’s article that traces how the interpretation of these words has evolved. Some of your...
McGraw Hill
Study Guide for Bridge to Terabithia
Bridge to Terabithia is a story about friendship that brings magic into ordinary life. Study guides may not be magical, but the guided questions, graphic organizers, extension activities, vocabulary, and discussion questions help...
Santillana USA
Celebra Kwanzaa
¡Celebramos Kwanzaa! Celebrate Kwanzaa through the fictional story Celebra Kwanzaa con Botitas y sus gatitos to delightfully explain the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Dual language learners participate in reading and vocabulary activities...
Reading Through History
Tulsa Race Riots
How did the 1921 riots in Tulsa start? Pupils read information about the riots that occurred in Tulsa. Following the reading, they answer multiple-choice questions and guided reading questions to help them along the way.
Council for Economic Education
Christopher Columbus, Entrepreneur? Queen Isabella, Venture Capitalist?
What did it take to embark on a journey to unknown lands? Perhaps ambition, but also money! Christopher Columbus had to approach more than one European monarch for financing before he could sail the ocean blue. A read-along play and...
EngageNY
Shared Reading: Learning About Colonial Trades
Trading in Colonial America is the focus of a lesson plan that boosts reading skills. As a class, scholars examine the informational text for crucial details, use their newfound knowledge to share information with their peers, and write...
Curated OER
Using Social Studies in Five Shared Reading Lessons: Geography
After several short 15-minute mini-lessons, your learners will gain an understanding of the characteristics of a non-fiction text. Using the book Map It by Elspeth Leacock, your class will become acquainted with non-fiction terms such as...
Curated OER
Educator's Guide: Holes
You'll be a star at your next grade level meeting with an educational unit on Louis Sachar's Holes. Based on both the novel and film, the lessons include applications to language arts with character studies and movie reviews; social...
Reading Vine
Confucius: The Most Famous Teacher in China
Introduce young philosophers to the wisdom of China's most famous thinkers with a short bio. The reading comprehension passage includes an answer key.