Lesson Plans

424 Result(s)
Grade Range
9-12
Carl Sandburg's "Chicago": Bringing a Great City Alive

In this lesson students examine primary source documents including photographs, film, maps, and essays to learn about Chicago at the turn of the 20th century and Carl Sandburg's famous poem. After examining the poem's use of personification and apostrophe, students write their own pieces about beloved places with Sandburg's poem as a model.

Grade Range
6-8
The Boston Tea Party: Costume Optional?

By exploring historical accounts of events surrounding the Boston Tea Party, students learn about the sources and methods that historians use to reconstruct what happened in the past.

Grade Range
9-12
Mapping Colonial New England: Looking at the Landscape of New England

The lesson focuses on two 17th-century maps of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to trace how the Puritans took possession of the region, built towns, and established families on the land. Students will learn how these New England settlers interacted with the Native Americans, and how to gain information about those relationships from primary sources such as maps.

Grade Range
K-5
Lesson 3: Hopi Traditional Dance and Song

An exploration of the symbolism and imagery of corn and environment as manifested in Hopi song and traditional dances. Students analyze examples of historical and contemporary Hopi song and examine images of Hopi dance in order to expand cultural awareness.

Grade Range
9-12
William Penn's Peaceable Kingdom

By juxtaposing the different promotional tracts of William Penn and David Pastorius, students will understand the ethnic diversity of Pennsylvania along with the “pull” factors of migration in the 17th century English colonies.

Grade Range
6-12
“Peaches” by Adrienne Su

This lesson plan is the sixth in the “Incredible Bridges: Poets Creating Community” series. It provides an audio recording of the poet, Adrienne Su, reading the poem “Peaches.” The companion lesson contains a sequence of activities for use with secondary students before, during, and after reading to help them enter and experience the poem.

Grade Range
6-8
On This Day With Lewis and Clark

Looking at historic maps of the West, students can begin to appreciate the immensity and mystery of the mission Lewis and Clark accepted.