Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Urban Ecosystems 5: In Defense Of Cities

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explain that while cities have unattractive features, the density of human life enables energy efficiency, mass transit, recycling, and other benefits which are difficult or impossible in rural areas. This is the fifth in an...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rural-Urban Migration in the 1990's

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Students consider the reasons why people relocate from one area to another.  In this relocation lesson, students read an article that includes research and statistics on which age, education level, etc., of the population moves the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Social Studies, Music, The Blues, Urbanization, and Technology

For Teachers 4th - 9th
Enable students to use the blues to explore urbanization, technology, and their effects on everyday life in the 20th century. Musicians were among the large number of people who, between 1914 and 1945, participated in the Great Migration...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Community

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders draw a picture. For this communities lesson, 2nd graders read the book Communities, and review as they read. Students use construction paper to create a picture of their houses in three different communities including...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's Mongolia Really Like?

For Teachers 3rd - 7th
Students discover the people of Mongolia. In this social studies lesson, students look at the Mongolian nomadic culture by reading a letter written by a member of the Peace Corps. They describe the different types of communities found in...
Lesson Plan
Social Studies Coalition of Delaware

Urban Mouse Rural Mouse

For Teachers K Standards
Explore rural and urban environments over the course of four days. Each day offers a new look into how both environment compare and contrast. Activities include the observation and analyzation of images, a read aloud and grand discussion...
Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Country to City

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed Standards
After reading a series of primary source documents, groups compare the lives of and opportunities available to rural and urban women in the 19th century to rural and urban life in the 21st century. As an exit ticket, individuals craft a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pets Around the World

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Pupils communicate via e-mail with other students to learn about pets, animals of interest , and geography from different parts of the world. Vocabulary focuses on rural, urban, and suburban areas.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Letters from the Road

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Learners examine and differentiate between rural, urban, and suburban communities. They describe their local areas, view and discuss the images on the West Virginia Quarter, and write a friendly letter describing a camping trip.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Special Places in Our Community

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students compare and contrast cities whether they are large or small, rural or urban. They use digital photography to take pictures of the different types of cities.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Urbanization

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the impact of urban change. In this Indiana history lesson, students read excerpts of The World Does Move by Booth Tarkington and then research the noted Web sites about the urbanization of Indianapolis. Students then...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Places We Live

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
With a wonderful bibliography to support this lesson on Illinois, President Lincoln, and rural vs. urban settings, this activity is a motivating experience. The lesson begins with pupils exploring books, such as The Little House by...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Canadian Social Trends

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students use surveys to explore how to design graphs, tables, and diagrams. They discuss articles which can stimulate ideas for research topics, or surveys of their own.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exporing Our Community

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students explore attributes of the community in which they live. They compare rural, urban and suburban communities and attempt to classify their own community. Each group illustrates their assigned area by drawing buildings, trees,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Do Artists Effectively Relate Historic Events?

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Learners explore African American migration. In this black culture and history lesson, students use a map to identify northern and southern states in which African Americans lived in the 1900s. Learners observe and describe objects and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The blues highway: An integration of music with geography

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students analyze the movement of the blues from rural Mississippi to urban Chicago and how place and the environment affected the development of the blues. They define the blues, where it originated and how and why it moved to Chicago....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The World's Fair of 1893: A Tribute to Agriculture and Advertising

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students identify connections between agriculture, advertising, and mail order catalogues during 1890s as expressed at World's Fair of 1893. Students interpret photographic exhibit and discuss how reactions of rural fair visitors...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Be a Building Detective!

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students participate in an in-depth study of a historic building in their community. They conduct a visual survey of the building, complete a worksheet, take a rubbing of the building, and research the history of the building.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Urban and Rural Communities

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students discuss similarities and differences of urban and rural communities.  In this urban and rural communities lesson, students compare urban and rural communities using a Venn Diagram.  Students examine maps of each type...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Alike and Different

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders listen to a book about how farms feed the world. They discuss elements of rural life. They listen to a story about the suburbs and discuss elements specific to a suburban community. They listen to a story about city...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kid City, USA

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
What a model community would look like? Get your kids talking with an activity that allows them to create their own town. After printing out a "fold out village," groups of learners use a variety of resources to help them build an actual...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where Do You Live?

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders study and compare rural, suburban, and urban communities. They play a board game, read books about communities, and complete several other activities regarding the different types of communities. Several extension and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Is Urban Sprawl Causing Us To Lose More Than Ground?

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students map the changes that occur in the land as a result of urban sprawl. They explore the problems that paving and building have on the watershed and the habitats on the Northshore.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Orphan Trains

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students are introduced to the concept of orphan trains. In groups, they research the history of the New York Children's Aid Society and begin to identify the social-trade offs involved on the orphan trains. They examine the geneological...