National Constitution Center
Fourth of July (Grades 3-5)
Bring history to life for your young scholars with a Fourth of July lesson series. After a class reading of the Declaration of Independence, students translate this pivotal document into layman's terms before working in small...
Curated OER
Run Your Own Boarding House
Students become familiar with the historical and sociological aspects of the boarding house phenomenon in America. As students work in groups, they read and analyze documents that will help them gain a deeper understanding. To...
Curated OER
Building Your Business
Twelfth graders make decisions in a group, lead a business group, and document progress in a journal. They compete against other peer business groups, relate business decisions to stock prices, and assess goals of software.
Curated OER
Living History: Documenting Our Senior Citizens Lives
Students investigate stereotypes by researching the elderly. In this senior citizen lesson, students interview elders in a rest home and video tape their experience. Students present their videos to their interview subjects after...
Curated OER
Introducing Microsoft Word
Students introduced to word processing by having them open a new document and use at least three to five commands within the program. Word processing commands are reinforced and practiced to gain more knowledge about entering and...
Curated OER
Taking Up Arms and the Challenge of Slavery in the Revolutionary Era
Students examine a series of documents which discuss the contradiction in the Americans' rhetoric about slavery. They act as members of designated Committees of Correspondence in the five different colonies, communicating their...
Curated OER
Bring No Poor Articles with You
Students compare their travel needs to homesteaders from the late 1800's in this multi-instructional activity unit. Students analyze a historic document, explain modes of transportation of the homesteaders, and articulate the personal...
Curated OER
Sense of Place: No River Too Wide-Bridges
Fifth graders discover the history of their hometown Des Moines River. In this U.S. Geography lesson students speak with Iowans that tell stories of the settlers and early villages near the Des Moines River. Students document...
PBS
Constitution Day
Travel back to 1787 as young scholars investigate the creation of the US Constitution. After first working in small groups to create sets of classroom rules, learners go on to read a summary of the Constitution and watch a short video...
Curated OER
Accounting Jeopardy -- Journalizing
Ninth graders play the Accounting Jeopardy Game to review the journalizing process. They analyze business transactions from source documents and journal about transactions using various journal formats. They use the Jeopardy template to...
PHET
John Travoltage
Did you get to play with electric currents or were you grounded? An electrifying simulation shows how building up a charge of electricity creates a static shock once grounded. Pupils rub John's foot across the carpet and view the buildup...
Curated OER
Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Students explore the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt through the use of historical documents. They examine the complexity of the creation of international documents. Students explore the Human Rights Declaration.
Curated OER
iChat Debate: Does Holden Caulfied Deserve Our Compassion?
Students prepare for and hold a classroom debate via typed text on a literary topic. Two groups conduct an iChat debate using iChat AV software to document the debate as it happens. Pupils conduct a post-debate analysis of the debate...
Curated OER
Roles of the President
Students read a document which explains the roles and responsibilities of the President of the United States. In groups, they tour the George Bush Presidential Museum and participate in a Presidential scavenger hunt. Once back in the...
Curated OER
A Picture is Worth a Million Words
Students practice composing digital photographs by documenting activities in their lives. In this photography lesson, students utilize digital cameras to create beautiful art from things they find around the campus or at their...
Curated OER
The Underground Railroad and The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
Students discover racism and slavery by completing a role playing activity. In this U.S. history lesson, students analyze documents from the Civil War era and describe the Fugitive Slave Law. Students view a video on YouTube about the...
Curated OER
I Got a Lava Livin' to Do in Pompeii
Scholars imagine themselves as citizens of Pompeii in 79 AD. First they are assigned a job (or place in society like a child or slave). Then they record their daily activities for the weeks leading up to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in...
Curated OER
The Constitution of the United States of America
Students study about the Constitution by becoming the teacher themselves. They discuss the important documents leading up to the Constitution, the convention, articles, and amendments as part of their presentation.
Curated OER
Mitchell Road Investigation
Seventh graders discover the impact of man on the environment by analyzing plant and animal data. In this ecology lesson, 7th graders investigate a nearby road which many cars pass on and examine the impact of the road on the...
ARKive
Biodiversity and Evolution – Darwin’s Finches
Teens experience natural selection firsthand (or first beak) in an activity that has them act as finches foraging for food. Using different household items to act as different beak styles, your little finches will collect as much...
Curated OER
Balloons: Math with the Montgolfier Balloon
Young scholars discover the history of hot air balloons by watching one ascent. In this physics lesson, students utilize a Montgolfier Hot Air Balloon from an earlier lesson and record the temperature, rate of ascent and the...
Curated OER
Book Club Order
Students complete a simulated book order form for their class. In this book club lesson, students budget and plan an order form for their fellow students, discussing why they chose specific books.
Curated OER
Private & Public
Some disabled students have a difficulty understanding what is and what is not publicly appropriate behavior. Help them build healthy social skills by defining public and private behaviors, labeling public and private places, and...
Curated OER
Relationships, Day 5: Acquaintances & Strangers
It is important for special needs young scholars to know the differences between acquaintances and strangers. They define the world helper, acquaintance, and stranger then discuss a scenario based case study.They talk about touch and no...