Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Families and Communities

For Teachers 1st
Here is a week-long lesson on the roles of family members designed for first graders. In it, learners share stories of their families, listen to books about families read to them by their teacher, complete homework assignments and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago - Chicago Blues

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Watching Great Performances’ Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago launches an investigation into and discussion of how the electric guitar and guitarists have changed the sound of the blues over time. An engaging way to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Photojournalism: A Record of War

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore who has photographed war and why. They examine Mathew Brady's process for photgraphing the Civil War. Students investigate how photographic equipment has changed and improved through time. They analyze primary source war...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Industrial Revolution

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders analyze the impact (costs/benefits) of the Industrial Revolution on various groups of people in society (gender, children, socio-economic class, etc.). They then evaluate the impact of industrialization on the environment.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Garden Grid

For Teachers 2nd - 6th Standards
Basically, your class reads about different garden plants from an included handout and seed packets that you provide, and then uses a grid to plan out where to place the plants. They can practice counting with the seeds, grouping,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Somewhere Under the Rainbow--The Romantic Period in British Literature

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students create 2-3 poems, a children's story, or a two or three dimensional piece of art.  In this Romantic Period lesson plan, students discuss the historical background of the Romantic Period and relevant literary...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Civil War Photojournalism: A Record of War

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students view photographs of the Civil War. In this photojournalism lesson, students look at Mathew Brady's photographs of the Civil War. They discover the evolution of photographic equipment and analyze Civil War photographs. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Coming to America

For Teachers 2nd - 12th
Students read one book together about the immigrant experience. Teacher asks students to identify some of the themes around immigration contained in the book (example: prejudice).
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Participating in Democracy

For Teachers 8th - 9th
Students analyze film clips in class. In this democracy lesson, students identify the differences between civil liberties, democracy and freedom. Students view a video regarding Japanese internment and answer study questions as well as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Soulfully Remembered

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students study about the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead to explore another culture's attitude towards death. They create collages reflecting the interests of and memories about someone who has passed away.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Heard the Owl Call My Name

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders read I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven. They share interpretations and conclusions in either oral or written form. They deliver a speech that conveys information using clear and concise language.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indian Mathematical Achievements

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars explore how Indian culture and religion prompted Indian advancements in math and science. In this Indian culture lesson, students read "India's Work in Math" and conduct research regarding Indian mathematicians.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Utilizing Art, Literature and Film to Teach Black History

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders are introduced to different aspects of African-American history through literature, art, and films. As a class, they are read a story about the Underground Railroad, identify the main characters and put the events into...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Great Gatsby

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders investigate the concept of the American Dream. They use the novel "The Great Gatsby" as an example from literature. Students brainstorm in order to define the American Dream.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Leaders of the Protestant Reformation

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine role of Protestant Reformation in forming of numerous religions and religious ideas, identify key figures of Protestant Reformation, their religious ideas, and accomplishments, and discuss how religious ideas formed...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students read the novel "Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr. They Reaearch Japanese Culture and design a presentation based on information from the Sadako Peace Club link.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Digital Black and White Photography

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students take black and white photographs. in this photography lesson, students discuss photographers and the effects they use. They take their own photograph and manipulate it in PowerPoint. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lunar Field Trip

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Learners take a virtual tour on Google Moon of what human life would be like on the moon. In this moon lesson plan, students also compose web diagrams, make charts, make a time line, investigate problems, and more.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Anne Frank: Citizenship Laws

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students study early civilizations and the contributions they made to the foundations of human culture. They discuss why citizenship is valuable and the Constitutional Amendments that are associated with it.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

For Better or Worse: Cultural Exchange

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students participate in a cultural exchange program with a Native American school in Winnebago, Nebraska. They conduct research on a variety of Native American tribes, prepare a presentation that represents the culture of their school...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Need vs. Wants in Creating Sustainable Communities

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders create a T chart of their needs and wants. In this environmental science lesson, 9th graders brainstorm ideas on how to create a sustainable community. They decide what they would give up and keep to make the community...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Teaching the Compare and Contrast Essay Through Modeling

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
Contains plans for three lessons that teach students how to write comparison contrast essays after modeling the form to them. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as...
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: Compare/contrast Essay [Pdf]

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
This PDF lesson focuses on writing a comparison/contrast essay, which is a great format for helping students think deeply about two ideas or concepts with multiple similarities and differences. This type of essay has four-parts -1) an...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Examining Plot Conflict Through a Comparison/contrast Essay

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Contains plans for six lessons that ask students to examine types of conflict (character vs. character, character vs. self, character vs. nature, and character vs. society) before writing essays that compare and contrast two conflicts....