Curated OER
Historical Fiction: A Wealth of Interpretations
Students read a book from the Dear America series and contrast different points of view. They respond to the book either by participating in a literature circle or completing a journal entry. They compare and contrast two books or a...
Briscoe Center for American History
Mary Maverick and Texas History - Part 2
To conclude their investigation of the life of Mary Maverick and to demonstrate their ability to analyze primary source documents, groups use the SOAPS questioning method to examine Maverick's account of events in early Texas history.
Briscoe Center for American History
Applying the SOAPS Method of Analyzing Historical Documents
Young historians use the SOAPS (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject) method of questioning to determine the historical value of primary source documents. The third in a series of five lessons that model for learners how...
Curated OER
Children of War
Take a closer look at the impact of war in this language arts and social studies activity. Middle schoolers use primary sources to conduct research as they relate to the effects of war on children. They compare and contrast the effects...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Kate Chopin's The Awakening: Local Color in the Late 19th Century
Kate Chopin's The Awakening introduces readers not only to the lush Louisiana setting of Grand isle but also to the nuances of Creole culture. the second lesson in a three-part series examines how Chopin's use of literary realism and...
Middle Tennessee State University
A House Divided: The Civil War Home Front in Tennessee
To broaden their understanding of both the short term and long terms effects of the Civil War, class groups examine primary source materials and then assume the role of a family member and draft a letter to a soldier describing life at...
Discovery Education
Clutter Cutter
Challenge young learners to cut the clutter with this fun engineering project. As employees of a home and office supply company, young engineers are asked to develop devices that organize everyday items. After participating in a...
Curated OER
Garden In a Glove
Students investigate the concept of seeds and how they can germinate. They obtain seeds and isolate them in a rubber glove before transplanting them into the ground. The lesson includes a graphic organizer for observations or information.
Curated OER
Immigration Unit
Third graders develop an appreciate for the various cultures that are present in their local community. Through reading and research, they explain how various culture came to live in their area. At the conclusion of the unit, 3rd...
Curated OER
Child Labor
Students examine how how groups and institutions work to meet individual needs and promote the common good, and identify examples of where they fail to do so. They describe how workers with specialized jobs and the ways in which they...
Curated OER
Eating Healthy
Students review healthy eating habits, and demonstrate reading comprehension skills, including reading strategies, inference, literal meaning, and critical analysis.
Curated OER
Has the Wall Truly Tumbled Down?
Students examine the events behind the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the continued struggles to truly unify the former East Germany and West Germany.
Curated OER
Terrible Things
Students reflect on the Holocaust in two lessons. Using prior knowledge, they investigate and make decisions dealing with human behavior before beginning their studies on the Holocaust. After examining different aspects of the event,...
Curated OER
Center Stage—Focus on the Mentally and/or Physically Challenged
Students discover the skills needed to work with the mentally and physically challenged. In this service learning lesson, students create a set of guidelines for working with the mentally and physically challenged.
Curated OER
A Tough Act to Re-enact
Students discover the significance of various historical events. Using the information they find, groups re-enact these events, stressing their importance to history and our lives today.
Curated OER
It Comes In Waves
Students investigate the behavior and different origins of tsunami waves, and they then research and chart the path of certain tsunamis from recent history using the Internet, maps and firsthand accounts.
Curated OER
Pestilence and Plague
Students investigate various disease epidemics that have devastated the world population at different points in history and examine the diseases' effects on the countries they impacted.
Curated OER
Not So Strange
Students examine aspects of culture that may seem strange and prepare skits illustrating how a person may want to behave in these situations without being offensive.
Curated OER
The Immigration Experience
Students research the reasons people immigrated to the United States. In this United States history lesson, students explore the causes and effects of immigrating. Students engage in a role-playing scenario , watch a video, and explore a...
Curated OER
Creating a Writer's Notebook
Writer's notebooks are a way to unleash the "author" in all your students.
Curated OER
Tel-ing It Like It Is?
Pupils explore how television has changed over the last fifty years, focusing on how world events and societal trends affect (and are affected by) television.
Curated OER
Sampling Snoops
Students practice formulating a hypothesis and designing an experiment to test the hypothesis. They identify several sampling techniques they can use to test their hypotheses.
Curated OER
Fun with Anagrams!
Learners complete a worksheet. In this anagrams lesson, students are introduced to anagrams and look at examples. Learners complete a worksheet where they answer questions with anagrams.
Curated OER
Famous Americans
Young scholars create a wax museum of famous Americans. In this research skills instructional activity, students read biographies of selected Americans and conduct additional research. Young scholars dress as the famous...