Engaging Students with Primary Sources
(View Complete Item Description)Smithsonian Guide with explanations of different types of primary sources and how to use them in the classroom.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
All resources in Wisconsin Observance Days
Looking for Lincoln Through His Words: Lesson Plan
(View Complete Item Description)In this lesson, students explore how Abraham Lincoln used the power of words in speeches, letters and other documents. In the Introductory Activity, students watch a segment from the PBS film Looking for Lincoln featuring Lincoln quotes and try to identify the origin of each quotation. In the first Learning Activity, students closely examine Lincoln’s use of words in the Gettysburg Address and learn that a short speech can be powerful. In the second Learning Activity, students discuss different reasons for writing letters and review some of Abraham Lincoln’s letters. In the Culminating Activity, students write their own speeches or letters and then present them to the class.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Comparing and Contrasting Inaugural Addresses
(View Complete Item Description)Four Presidents called Illinois home – Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama. Each presided over the country at a unique time in U.S. history, and this can be seen in the messages they communicated to the nation in their inaugural addresses. All four were reelected to a second term in office. Analysis of each president’s 1st and 2nd inaugural addresses provides an opportunity to compare and contrast the priorities, goals and intentions he outlined, as well as how the nation may have been changing at that time.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Looking for Lincoln Throughout His Life
(View Complete Item Description)In this interdisciplinary lesson, students gather different facts about Lincoln through a variety of hands-on activities. In the Introductory Activity, students match vocabulary words with pictures to piece together a timeline of Abraham Lincoln’s life. In the Learning Activities, students gather various facts about the life of Lincoln. Students learn about Abraham Lincoln’s work as a lawyer on the prairie and also gain insight into Lincoln through objects and artifacts of his life. Students then select classroom objects that best tell a story about them and/or their class. In the Culminating Activity, students reflect upon the life of Lincoln, revisit the timeline of Lincoln’s life and create their own personal timelines.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Abraham Lincoln: Man versus Legend
(View Complete Item Description)In this lesson, students interrogate their own assumptions about Abraham Lincoln in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of who Lincoln was. They investigate primary source documents in order to analyze the elements of Lincoln's life that have become legend and those that have been forgotten by history.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Educator Resources for American Creed
(View Complete Item Description)Support your students to embrace the larger questions featured in American Creed that ask: What ideals unite us as a nation? Where does a nation’s identity come from? These lesson plans bring together teaching strategies, videos, and activities that will help you explore themes such as common ideals and national identity.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Celebrate Arbor Day
(View Complete Item Description)Lesson plans and ideas for recognizing people that work in the forestry and environmental fields .
Material Type: Activity/Lab
StopBullying.gov Video Series
(View Complete Item Description)This series of videos is appropriate for K-5 students. Students are asked to determine the different types of bullying and determine appropriate responses by those involved in the situation. Younger students may need help with the reading portions.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
4 Lesson Plans on Cyberbullying
(View Complete Item Description)Lessons on this topic teach students about the effects of digital drama, cyberbullying, and hate speech on both themselves and their larger communities. Students explore how individual actions -- negative and positive, intentional and unintentional -- can affect their peers and others. They're encouraged to take the active role of upstander and build positive, supportive online communities, and they will learn how to cultivate empathy, compassion, and courage to combat negative interactions online. Even though young kids aren't online yet, early lessons on cyberbullying can easily connect to the social and emotional skill-building that happens during early elementary school. By focusing on empathy and compassion, conversations about cyberbullying can give young kids a foundation for future positive online experiences. For older kids, teachers can help students reflect on their own behavior and build strategies for how to respond when they witness cyberbullying. Introduce cyberbullying in your classroom with one of these four essential lessons, each of which can be modified for use in slightly older or younger grades:
Material Type: Activity/Lab
GENERAL PULASKI MEMORIAL DAY
(View Complete Item Description)Short reading describing the importance General Pulaski played the importance in the American Revolution and the importance of his legacy.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Casimir Pulaski Activity Packet
(View Complete Item Description)Activity packet created by Chicago Public Schools that includes a biography, summary of why the day is important to Polish Americans, and different ideas for commentating the day.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
What Was Columbus Thinking?
(View Complete Item Description)Most students recognize the name Christopher Columbus. They may be aware that his voyages ushered in the first period of sustained contact between Europeans and the Americas and its people. They may not know, however, why Columbus traveled to the New World or what happened to the native people he encountered. In this lesson, students read excerpts from Columbus's letters and journals, as well as recent considerations of his achievements. Students reflect on the motivations behind Columbus's explorations, his reactions to what he found and the consequences, intended and unintended, of his endeavor.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Why Do We (Still) Celebrate Columbus Day?
(View Complete Item Description)In this lesson, students will address misconceptions they likely have about Christopher Columbus and the colonization of what is now the United States. Students will watch a video to dispel some of the myths associated with Columbus and gain a better understanding of how Columbus Day became a national holiday. Students will then read interviews with Indigenous youth and identify the reasons that celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day matters to them. This lesson can be taught on Columbus Day or leading up to it.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Teaching About Columbus Day Mythbusters
(View Complete Item Description)This blog post exploring the true facts of Columbus’s journey, the history of Columbus Day, and different sources for information.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Curriculum for Empowerment (Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park)
(View Complete Item Description)The National Park Service has created a K-12 curriculum that focuses on scaffolded lessons that focus on Martin Luther King’s advocacy, the March on Washington and other leaders of the Civil Rights movement.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
PBS News Hour Martin Luther King Jr. Day Classroom Resources
(View Complete Item Description)Use the following NewsHour Classroom resources to examine King’s impact on civil rights and his ongoing legacy. Lessons include a deep dive anayisis of the “I have a dream” speech and the impact of Dr, King’s work on current evens
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Martin Luther King Jr.
(View Complete Item Description)In this lesson, students will watch a video about Dr. King that emphasizes his commitment to nonviolence. They will then examine and analyze a 1956 flyer and a 1966 photograph that illustrate King’s approach to maintaining nonviolence. The lesson culminates with a comparison to other leaders who have been consistently nonviolent in spite of great personal risk.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Martin Luther King Jr Day
(View Complete Item Description)Enhance your classroom experience on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day with these teacher-tested lessons from the nationally recognized We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution curriculum. These materials will help inform your students about the national struggle for civil rights and equal protection under the law.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Why do we have some days off from school?
(View Complete Item Description)In this lesson students will learn the difference between civic and religious holidays and why some areas have these as days off from school.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Gaylord Nelson: A Vision for the Earth | Wisconsin Biographies
(View Complete Item Description)From outdoor adventures in Clear Lake, to representing his community and his state in government, this down-to-earth visionary always kept his eyes on the environment to make a better world for us all. Resources available for exploring this story include: - A short animated video with captions and transcripts in English and Spanish - A short biography book accessible as a slide deck, with per-page audio for listening along, and maps of key locations in the story - Questions that can be used for conversation, reflection, and connection with the story - A historical image gallery full of primary and secondary sources to explore - A guide for activating the media with learners that includes story stats, extension activity ideas, and standards supported This story is part of Wisconsin Biographies, a collection of educational media resources for grades 3-6. Explore the full collection at pbswisconsineducation.org/biographies/about.
Material Type: Other