This activity is adapted from lessons in the Barat Education Foundation Our American Voice® program. This civics program for 4-8 graders features a spiral curriculum and emphasizes critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills as students learn the fundamentals of American democracy and work to create positive change in their communities. Overview Using Cesar Chavez as an…
Most school children in the United States recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. But what does the pledge really mean? By pairing primary sources with the text, students will deepen their understanding of a citizen’s commitment to country. After, instruct students to create and decorate their own pledge to family, heritage, culture, class, or…
The title of this print is “Grandma’s Toilet”. Zoom into this artwork and use details from the image to figure out what toilet meant in this time (1893) and context. After, look up different definitions of toilet. What can you infer, or figure out, about the relationship between the young girl and the older woman? Use…
Background The “Corps of Discovery” expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in the years 1804-1806 was instrumental in opening up western North America to settlement. After this defining exploration, fur companies further investigated westward routes. Financed by John J. Astor’s Pacific Fur Company, an 1812 expedition led by Robert Stuart began on the west coast…
Find out some intriguing ways to connect to one of the most beloved stories of all times with various primary sources. The Immigrant Experience: Down the Rabbit Hole Library of Congress Relocating to a new country can be a disorienting experience. Immigrants often find themselves in a strange new world where the rules have changed,…
This lesson uses the Predict and Infer strategy; both the lesson and the strategy were created by elementary teacher and adjunct university instructor Kimberly Heckart, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Focus Question What did women do to get the right to vote? Content Goal Students build background knowledge of what it was like to be a suffragist and discover how women persistently fought…
This is a guest post from elementary teacher and adjunct university instructor Kimberly Heckart, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Example Lesson Literature Links: Predicting & Inferring about Woman Suffrage
Primary sources engage all students—elementary, middle and high school. Below are some worksheets to help elementary students, in particular, to analyze primary source images and texts. These worksheets were created in collaboration with master teacher Kimberly Heckart, who teaches third grade at Prairie Ridge Elementary in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Elementary Social Studies Methods at the University…
This is a guest post from Tom Bober (a.k.a. @CaptainLibrary), an elementary librarian at RM Captain Elementary in Clayton, Missouri and frequent contributor to the TPS Teachers Network. Earlier this school year I wrote about an activity in which third grade students analyzed primary sources from the Library of Congress, specifically the notes, diagrams, and…
Describe how this illustration makes you feel. What details in the drawing contribute to this feeling? Write a description of this scene or write a poem to accompany the illustration. Now read the poem that this drawing illustrated. Describe how this poem compares with what you wrote. What other observations, reflections or questions does this source…
For elementary & middle school students Read this newspaper article, then make a list of the countries mentioned that celebrate April Fool’s Day and information about how they celebrate the day. Explain which story you found funniest or most interesting. Create an April Fool’s Day poem using information from the article and your own experiences. For elementary & middle school students Read this newspaper article, then…
Use these geographical conversation cards to learn about the geographical history of the United States as well as learn state facts. Lesson prep 1. Print out and cut up state cards and the Question and Answer cards. 2. Separate these into 5 groups of state cards and their accompanying Q&A cards. Because there are missing cards…