Students work in small groups to create a word web or other graphic organizer that explores one or more of the following words: rivalry, peace, trust, suspicion, or impulse. They discuss the pros and cons of "healthy competition."

The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's life and message is just as important today as it was in his lifetime. Introduce elementary learners to the movement for civil rights with a timeline of Dr. King's life, as well as...

What makes a society civil? High school freshmen search for examples of justice, kindness, peace, and tolerance in news media and brainstorm how they can promote these attributes in their schools, communities, and world. The well-rounded...

After reading a series of primary source documents detailing the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, class members craft newspaper columns assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each man's vision, and present their...

Informational text about the Civil Rights Movement challenges young historians to prove their reading comprehension skills with six multiple choice questions. After answers are submitted a new screen displays a score,...

For many people, Barack Obama's presidency was the next step in Martin Luther King, Jr's dream of America's future. Explore the dreams of Americans past and present, as well as the young Americans in your class, with a set of activities...

Through an engaging, interactive experience analyzing primary sources, invite your young historians to take a closer look at the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.

"Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us." As part of a series of worksheets that provide readers with an opportunity to develop their primary source comprehension skills, kids examine an excerpt from...

What is peace and what does it mean to our society? To understand why peace is celebrated and what character traits or concepts relate to the action of peace, learners engage in a discussion, story time, and a craft project. The lesson...

Here's a worksheet designed to help learners develop their skill reading primary source documents. The questions, based on an excerpt from Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address, encourages close reading and analysis.

Proficient reading of informational text, especially primary source documents, requires practice. This message from Thomas Jefferson about the Louisiana Purchase offers readers a chance to develop these comprehension skills.

With new leadership comes new hope! After years of violence, the people of Colombia elect a new president ... could this mean an end to conflict? Civics scholars take part in a large group role-playing exercise designed to illustrate the...

Inform your class about foreign policy during the Reagan administration. The resource includes a reading passage that gives an overview of foreign policy decisions made during the Reagan administration and nine questions for pupils to...

When you look at me, what do you see? Young learners answer this question by creating a portrait that reflects the identity of one of their peers. First, class members create interview questions. Then, they interview classmates to...

Why did Stephen Douglas support the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854? Why did Abraham Lincoln oppose it? Young historians examine how the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 affected the political balance between free and slave states and explore how...

Students, in pairs, explore how to set up and use a "Peace Place," which is a special place to go to center themselves when they are upset or angry.

Here are five quick lessons you can use to introduce your class to religions from around the world. They view and perform a Native American dance, watch a video on Judaism, compare the difference between Catholics and Protestants, watch...

Provide your class with a context and series of events that has led to the conflict in the Middle East. They read 4 separate passages and answer 1 critical thinking question for each. Four more questions are posed at the bottom of the...

Research the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Rosa Parks. Set up different centers and have learners rotate through the activities aimed at researching Rosa Parks. They read The Bus Ride that Changed History: The Story of Rosa Parks, write a...

Students explore Chief Cornplanter and his importance as the leader of the Seneca tribe.  In this Chief Cornplanter lesson plan, students examine how the Seneca land was taken over by the right of eminent domain.  Students...

In this Martin Luther King worksheet, students read 10 clues pertaining to the civil rights leader. Students fit their answers from the word bank into a crossword puzzle.

In this ancient Greece worksheet, learners read a factual story giving the basic history of the Minoans and Mycenaeans. Students answer 8 questions.

Students create a family tree. In this genealogy lesson, students research their family history and create a pictorial representation of their family tree. Students use the computer to design the layout and scan pictures.  

Your young historians will be intrigued to read and analyze Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, which discusses the president's take on the causes of the Civil War and connections between the North and the South.