Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Evaluating Eyewitness Reports

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students consider the advantages and disadvantages of eyewitness accounts as records of history. They research several accounts of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and then compare and contrast each version to arrive at a final picture.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fire Safety

For Teachers K - 6th
After studying the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, teach your students some fire safety tips and techniques with this important PowerPoint. Not only does this presentation include tips, but it has facts about fire that are important to know...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Chicago Fire Survivors

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students examine documents describing the experiences of survivors of the Great Chicago Fire, and write condolence letters.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Chicago Fire Survivors

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students research the Great Chicago Fire and create a reader's theater presentation that describes the experiences of survivors.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson 24: The Great Chicago Fire Survivors

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students, in groups, explore the Great Chicago Fire. They decide which moment from the fire is significant and create a story corner.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Chicago Fire Survivors

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students compare and contrast the experiences of two survivors of the Great Fire of Chicago using a Venn Diagram.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson 18: The Great Chicago Fire: City of Wood

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students research the causes of the Great Fire of Chicago and draw conclusion as to the most probable cause and preventative actions that could have minimized the damage.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Chicago Fire: Did Mrs. O'Leary's Cow Really Cause It?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students research the Great Chicago Fire and its myths on how it started. They use their critical thinking skills to determine what really happened. They write an essay supporting their opinion on the fire.
Lesson Plan
3
3
Curated OER

Jim Murphy, The Great Fire - Grade 6

For Teachers 6th Standards
The Great Fire by Jim Murphy provides the text for a study of the Chicago fire of 1871. The plan is designed as a close reading activity so that all learners have the same background information require for writing. Richly detailed, the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Chicago Fire: The O'Leary Hearing

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Young scholars dramatized the O'Leary hearing regarding the Chicago fire using the transcript from the original hearings as a script.
PPT
Curated OER

America's Great Disasters

For Teachers 8th - 11th
The most famous American disasters - natural and otherwise - of the late 19th and early 20th century are the focus of this presentation. Detailing the 1865 sinking of the USS Saldana, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, and the Influenza...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where the Buffalo Roam

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders explore what life in the Chicago area was like hundreds of years ago. They discuss how settlers impacted the environment, and why there are no longer herds of buffalo in the Chicago area today. They read an article and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bovine Oversteps Boundaries

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders read a newspaper account of "Grady the Silo Cow" and complete news-writing activities. In this news-writing lesson, 7th graders read the newspaper account about the cow. Students examine newspapers and work in groups to...
Website
Other

Chicago Historical Society: The Great Chicago Fire

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource provides information, and accounts about the Great Chicago Fire.
Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Chicago Fire [Pdf]

For Teachers 5th
"Chicago Fire" is a one page, nonfictional, reading passage about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 including information about the fire and the changes made as Chicago was rebuilt. It is followed by constructed-response questions which...
Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Chicago Fire [Pdf]

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
"Chicago Fire" is a one page, nonfiction passage about the great Chicago Fire of 1871, which burned the city constructed of wood, and its rebuilding using brick. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to...
Website
Other

Chicago Historical Society: Great Chicago Fire and the Web of Memory

For Students 9th - 10th
This online exhibition provides chronological information, eye witness accounts, primary source documents, photographs, and a mix of other resources that chronicle both the event itself and the ways in which it has been remembered over...
Primary
Other

The Great Chicago Fire

For Students 9th - 10th
Read a letter by Horace White of the Chicago Tribune to a fellow editor in Cincinnati in which he describes first-hand during the days of the Chicago Fire of 1871.
Website
Other

Chicago Historical Society

For Students 9th - 10th
A rich source of historical information on Chicago. Search through entries, historical sources, maps, and special features.
Handout
Other

The Great Peshtigo Fire Page

For Students 9th - 10th
Forgotten in the fame of the Chicago Fire, Peshtigo suffered even more in the toll of dead, injured, and total destruction.
Primary
Other

Chicago Historical Society: Letter of William H. Carter on Chicago Fire

For Students 9th - 10th
A letter written by an eye-witness of the Great Fire of 1871, it gives details about how the fire spread quickly and efforts to fight the fire.
Article
University of Houston

University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: No. 1266: Chicago Fire

For Students 9th - 10th
A new look at an old fire. How did it really start? Site presents some modern questions. This is a transcript of an accompanying radio broadcast.
Website
Other

Chicagology.com: The Great Fire of 1871

For Students 9th - 10th
Comprehensive site about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Includes historical information on the start of the fire, the spread of the fire, the destruction and damage caused by the fire, and the fire's aftermath. Also includes picture...
Primary
University of Michigan

Making of America: The Lost City!

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the University of Michigan provides the full text of "The Lost City!" published a bare year after the Chicago fire; includes illustrations and accounts of the fire.