Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Latino Folklore and Culture: Stories of Family, Traditions of Pride

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students define the terms fable and folktale. They write a fable to illustrate a Latino proverb. Students are explained that a folktale is a story passed down through the oral tradition of a particular culture. A fable is a type of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Epic Improvisation

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Folklore in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners define folklore, folk groups, tradition, and oral narrative. They identify traditional elements in Their Eyes Were Watching God Analyze and understand the role of traditional folkways and folk speech in the overall literary...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Inspired Innovation

For Teachers K - 5th
Throughout time, innovators have taken basic ideas and changed them into creative and cutting-edge designs. Kids tackle the topic of innovations in relation to traditional or creative objects. They discuss traditional Navajo pottery then...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

From Sheep to Rug

For Teachers Pre-K - K
Ever wonder where wool comes from? How it is used to make a woven rug? Introduce the Native American craft of rug making to your preschool or kindergarten class with a discussion. Learners examine and discuss images of a Native American...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pack your Parfleche!

For Teachers K - 5th
Imagine you are a Plains Indian, a nomad getting ready to follow a herd of buffalo. Now imagine what you would have to pack for your trip. Little ones examine images of a traditional parfleche (packing box), and then create packing lists...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indian Women in Texas History

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders study Indian women in Texas. In this US history lesson, 4th graders discuss what each Indian woman's contribution was by completing a timeline and table. Students examine the Caddo Women's pottery tradition...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Point of View of Former Slaves

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students examine what life was like for slaves from the point of view of ex-slaves. They use resources from the Federal Writers' Project which took place in the mid- 1930's. They look at the importance of religion, the different status...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry for the Elementary Classroom

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Use Shel Silverstein's poem "Batty" to introduce poetry to young readers. This lesson is not formatted well, but the plan does suggest learners memorize a poem, recite the poem individually, and then recite the poem as a class. Poetry...
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Looking North Of The Greek World: The Slavic Folk Poetry of The Balkans

For Teachers 9th - 11th Standards
Showing how folk poetry keeps alive national heritage is the stated goal of this proposal for a unit on the poetry of the Balkans.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Spirituals

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students review factors that contributed to the development of the spiritual, which reflects the influence of African religious and Christian traditions, and slavery. Students collect spirituals/songs of their heritage from family...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Free Speech Comes At a Price

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students use communicative activity strategy, Go, Ask and Tell, or more traditional whole text comprehension activity to read, discuss and explore issues in article, Free Speech Comes at a Price, by Hugh Mackay.
Lesson Plan
Art Institute of Chicago

African Myths and Stories

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Young historians discover African stories associated with a royal altar tusk from the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria, read myths illustrated on the tusk, and write a story about the life of an oba using figures depicted on the tusk.
Unit Plan
Film Foundation

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: What Is a Movie?

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Watching is not the same as seeing. Transform viewers from passive watchers to active students of film with this 34-page packet, filled with lessons and activities that use Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to examine the technology, the...
Activity
Penguin Books

An Educator's Guide to Jan Brett

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd Standards
Prepare to teach Jan Brett stories by taking a look at this teacher resource, which includes text-based questions, writing assignments, discussion ideas, and vocabulary practice for 18 different stories.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Spring: Giving Thanks to the Herring

For Teachers K - 7th
Learners study the Wampanoag tribe to learn about the importance of the herring to their culture. In this Wampanoag lesson, students read information and complete multiple activities to learn about the role of the herring fish in the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Acting Like a Bunch of Animals: Fables and Human

For Teachers 9th - 11th Standards
The video "The Tales of Aesop" traces for viewers the history of fables and identifies their characteristics. The class then goes to the web site "The Fisherman and the Little Fish" where they examine the classic and a modern version of...