Students explore the life of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. They discuss the events surrounding his death and the significance of the federal holiday honoring Dr. King. As a class, they read about Dr. King's work for...

Sixth graders explore the United States Constitution. In this social studies instructional activity, learners discover how a bill is made into law, study the election process, and identify specific elements of the Bill of Rights.

While short, this resource could be used as a template for individual reports about a state flag. This presentation focuses on the Acadian flag of Louisiana. It could be used in conjunction with a discussion of a state report and...

Sixth graders discuss key features from American history. In this flag and pledge lesson, 6th graders research the history of the United States flag and the principles of the Pledge of Allegiance prior to class. Students discuss their...

Students examine how countries relate to te Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Working in pairs, they create definitions of human rights and explain why the Declarqation is important. Groups of students uncover examples of human...

Students evaluate the Kennedy Administration's involvement in the civil rights movement. In this Civil rights lesson, students read and take notes from speeches connected to the historic March on Washington from the National Archives in...

Learners create a narrative image that depicts a formal shape of a state. They review the state facts of whatever state they chose. They draw a person and then add text in the shape of the state they chose.

Young scholars compare and contrast the United States and Alaska Constitution. After reading each preamble, they identify the reasons for each constitution to be drafted and discuss what they reveal about citizens responsiblity in...

Students contrast the Taliban and the Constitution. They read through "What the Taliban Banned" and identify "rights." They determine if rights in the United States are in danger and if the Taliban violate the first ten amendments to...

"Promises Denied," the second instructional activity in a unit that asks learners to consider the responsibilities individuals have to uphold human rights, looks at documents that illustrate the difficulty the US has had trying to live...

What is the purpose of immigration legislation? How has this legislation evolved over the years? What are the factors that caused these changes? Class members research immigration legislation to determine whose rights the laws are...

Stay or go? As part of a study of immigration and human rights, class members listen to the stories of several immigrants and must decide if the story was their own if they would stay in the United States as an undocumented...

Middle schoolers study one aspect of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States; the battle over desegregating the public schools. They study the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas by producing a newspaper,...

Who does what? To develop an understanding of the balance of power between the US federal and state governments, class members research responsibilities in terms of legal systems, security issues, economic activities, lawmaking, and...

The transition between rebellion to reunification was not smooth after the Civil War. Young historians compare primary and secondary source documents in a study of the Reconstruction era in Virginia, noting the rights that were not...

An activity focused on tolerance encourages class members to consider how they might respond when they or someone else is the target of oppression and discrimination. After researching how some key figures responded to the...

How did early Americans ensure expansion while also securing the rights of citizens? Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, two of our early leaders, considered the problem of faction to be the "mortal disease" that created unstable...

Young geographers follow Dr. Martin Luther King's journey during the civil rights movement by identifying major events on a map of the eastern United States, such as his birth in Atlanta, Georgia and his famous...

The Hopewell people of the central Ohio Valley used right triangles in the construction of earthworks. Pupils use the Pythagorean Theorem to determine missing dimensions of right triangles used by the Hopewell people. The assessment task...

Challenge the class with inscribed circles in triangles. The assessment task requests class members use their knowledge of circles and right triangles to prove two triangles are congruent. They go on to utilize their knowledge of...

Here, young historians compare their early lives to that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s. They listen to a read aloud of a story by Dr. King's sister, and then write in the provided reflective journal template. Lastly, they share their...

To gain a deeper understanding of the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, class members read stories written from the point of view of an emigrant, map the individual's journey, and note the human rights affected by each stage of the...

John Brown is considered by many to be a martyr for abolition and civil rights. The resource covers an important event in West Virginian history, the raid by John Brown, as a standalone that discusses Brown's last words and his reaction...

The US Constitution dictates which members of society have the right to vote. After reading about amendments extending voting rights, your class answers these questions on the 15th, 14th, and 23rd amendments. Use as a quiz or to guide...