Students use the Internet to research monuments. They design models of appropriate memorials which would honor the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. They complete oral presentations that...

Students create a design for a new coin after researching people who have impacted history. Students must write a persuasive essay about why this person should be memorialized on the dollar coin and present their person to the class.

Students discuss and research an individual or event that has been memorialized on a commemorative coin. They use the information they found to write acrostics, creating stand-up accordion books to display the poems.

Students identify and discuss the images on the back of the South Dakota quarter. They discuss the differences between facts and opinions, and research information about the four presidents memorialized on Mount Rushmore.

Is it possible to tell a true war story? Tim O’Brien says that fiction is for “getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth.” To get at the truth about war, class members examine primary source materials from the...

Fifth graders explore quilting in pioneer families. In this quilting instructional activity, 5th graders review the history of quilts, the role of women, and quilting patterns. They create their own pattern and quilt square.  

Students investigate the important symbols to Native cultures by writing a poem.  In this animal totem lesson, students discuss animal spirits and their relation to the Native American lifestyle. Students write a cinquain poem about...

Young scholars gather information about Columbus' impact on the Americas. They use the information to determine whether or not a fictitious community should continue to recognize Columbus Day.

Students develop a memorial to the slave who endured the Middle Passage. In this slavery memorial lesson, student culminate a unit of study about slavery by creating a memorial for Africans who traveled the Middle Passage to slavery....

Students complete a unit covering various aspects of immigration to the United States through Ellis Island. They plan a fictional trip to America, entering at Ellis Island. and actually visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Traveling exhibit that reminds us of the human cost of the Iraq War. This exhibit memorializes those killed in the war with a field of shoes featuring a pair of boots for each U.S. military casualty. Also includes a memorial to Iraqi...