Classroom Resources

In this passage, students learn about Katherine G. Johnson. Katherine G. Johnson is probably most known for her work on the orbital mission of John Glenn. He was set to be the first American to orbit around the Earth. But he did not trust all of the electronic machines that would control the path of his spaceship. These machines would sometimes malfunction. Glenn asked the engineers for Katherine G. Johnson’s help. He trusted her to check every single mathematical equation. She checked the numbers, and Glenn’s mission was a success! Now, there is a movie called Hidden Figures that tells the true story of how she and two other brilliant African American women made sure this mission was a triumph.

A vocabulary activity and question set are included with the passage. 

In this reading passage, students learn about President Barack Obama and his beliefs in unity: "But I have asserted a firm conviction—a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people—that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact, we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union."

A vocabulary activity and question set is included. 

In this reading passage, students learn about John F. Kennedy's reasons behind the "Space Race".  "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." (from John F. Kennedy's Rice Stadium Moon Speech - September 12, 1962).

In this reading passage, students learn about the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were a series of four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by the militant Islamic extremist network al-Qaeda against the United States. Nearly 3,000 people died on that day. Every year on the anniversary of September 11, remembrance ceremonies are held at the crash sites. On the 10th anniversary, two new memorials to honor those who were lost were opened.

In this reading passage, students learn about the Vietnam Conflict. In 1975, North Vietnamese troops rolled into Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, ending decades of conflict.

A vocabulary activity and question set are included with the reading passage. 

In this learning activity, students will learn about John Brown's raid. John Brown was an American abolitionist who had an extreme take on opposing slavery. He believed the only way to end slavery was through armed fighting. 

Students will move to a variety of music and prompt from the book My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. One group of students will move while another group is the audience.  They will reflect on how the colors represent emotions and identify movements to match the emotions.  

Students will improvise axial (non-locomotor) movements using individual parts of the body, upper body, lower body, and entire body.  They will move safely while performing locomotor movements such as walking, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, sliding, or galloping.  They will move using different types of energy such as percussive and sustained.    

This activity includes four dance options, including exploring levels, pathways, space, and locomotor movement.  Students will create different shapes while exploring high, middle, and low levels.  They will identify and move through different pathways such as straight, curved, and zigzag.  They will practice moving safely through general space and kinesphere (self-space).  They will explore the eight basic locomotor movements - walking, running, hopping, skipping, jumping, galloping, leaping, and sliding.

Students will read the memory of a traumatic childhood incident of William Minner near his hometown of Spiro, Oklahoma. In this reading passage, students read a story about the separation of water fountains during segregation. A video, vocabulary support, and comprehension questions are included for this activity. 

In this passage, students read about events that led up to the United States' entry into World War II. World War II, which had been raging in Europe since 1939, hit home for many Americans when the Japanese launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. This activity includes a vocabulary activity and comprehension questions. 

In this learning activity, students learn about the midnight ride of Paul Revere. The reading passage tells of the news of the Battle of Lexington and the students learn about the famous words “The British are coming! The British are coming!” 

In this reading passage, students learn about the Boston Tea Party. In the early 1700s, the British government made a special deal with the East India Company, an English organization doing trade in the East Indies. They granted the East India Company a monopoly on tea by agreeing that no other company was allowed to sell tea in Britain or its colonies. This was a great deal for the East India Company since it meant that the company could charge whatever it wanted for its products. It already costs a lot to get a crate of tea from India to England, and government taxes made the cost of tea even higher.

This learning activity allows students to learn a silly sentence to help them remember the names of the continents. 

Students will identify and demonstrate the Laban Movement Efforts: thrust, float, slash, glide, wring, dab, press, flick.  They will use props to show the difference in the energy needed for each effort.  They will demonstrate the eight different efforts to a variety of music.  

In this reading passage, students learn about map elements including legend, symbols, keys, and grids. Maps help people understand the world. A world map shows where places are on Earth. That map helps us see how close or far one country is from another. A road map includes streets and highways. It helps travelers figure out how to get where they want to go.

Students will review the Laban Movement Efforts: thrust, float, slash, glide, wring, dab, press, flick.  They will create shapes moving through a high, medium, and low levels.  Without touching, one student will create a shape while their partner creates another shape in the first student's negative space.    

In this reading passage, students learn about the Taíno people of Puerto Rico. The original people of Puerto Rico are called the Taíno. Long ago, they were fascinated by teeny frogs called coquí. The Taíno told many stories to explain why the coquí sings so loudly.

A vocabulary activity and question set are included with the reading passage. 

In this reading passage, students learn about the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty was built in the 1880s. Since that time, millions of immigrants have come to the United States. An immigrant is someone who comes to live in a foreign country. Immigrants have come from all over the world.

A vocabulary activity is included with the reading passage. 

In this reading passage, students will learn about making a schedule. Making a schedule can be very helpful. A schedule is a list of times when certain things will happen. A schedule can help you do things on time.

A vocabulary activity is included with the reading passage. 

In this reading passage, students will read about the way people dressed in the past. Long ago, the United States was new. The early Americans made their own clothes. They had to sew them by hand.

A vocabulary activity and question set are included with the reading passage. 

In this reading passage, students learn about good citizens. Good citizens at school help other people. They follow the class rules. Good citizens do their school jobs. They talk nicely to one another. They do their best to answer the teacher’s questions. They work together with other students. 

A vocabulary activity and question set are included with the reading passage. 

This classroom resource offers a series of lessons from LeslieAnne Bird uses the free site, Incredibox, to help students create their own compositions. It culminates in a DJ Party performance. She provides links to a set of Youtube videos by The Little Kids Rock that makes the process easy. This series of lessons work best with classes that have 1:1 devices.

In this classroom resource, Megan Stilla introduces a free virtual keyboard on the Musicca website. A PDF learning sheet is included for the teacher or students to use as a guide. A link to a version of "Lean On Me" on Youtube is also provided. The PDF guide includes chord notes, guitar, ukulele, and bass guitar notes to be used as an extension.

The information provided is about how to identify notes on the piano. It includes music samples and virtual keyboards. The topic covers natural notes, middle C, octaves, half steps, and whole steps. 

This video is a 20-minute lesson on how to write a chorus for a song. Ms. Ashley from the Lincoln Center demonstrates the characteristics of writing a good chorus and guides students as they create their own chorus using 3 principles: a theme, lines that rhyme, and a catchy melody.

In this lesson, students explore the causes of the Palmer Raids by comparing seven historical sources, including newspaper articles, writings from A. Mitchell Palmer and Emma Goldman, photographs from the front page of a newspaper, and a video released by the Ford Motor Company.

The website includes lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, primary source documents, and student graphic organizers. Teachers will need to create a free account to access the materials. 

In this lesson, students will examine sources from a period known as Prohibition when the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages was outlawed nationwide to answer the question: What were arguments for prohibition? Students will read sections of the 18th Amendment, then analyze four other primary documents about Prohibition to answer the essential question. Students will then write a structured paragraph that answers the Central Historical Question.

The website includes lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, primary source documents, and student graphic organizers. Teachers will need to create a free account to access the materials. 

In this lesson, students deliberate the origins of the Chicago race riots by exploring five documents that reflect different social, cultural, and economic causes. Students will look at two separate history book accounts of the event and learn to identify bias in sources. Students will then analyze three documents from the time period to determine other factors that may have contributed to the riots. 

The website includes lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, primary source documents, and student graphic organizers. Teachers will need to create a free account to access the materials. 

Students will explore straight and curved lines by using their bodies to write letters of the alphabet. They will write their own name using different body parts--head, hand, hip, foot, etc. Working in groups, students will create a dance that has a beginning, middle, and end. They will explore different levels while moving.  

Students will use curved and straight lines, locomotor and non-locomotor movements, and different levels while moving to music. They will use simple choreography to recall patterns with their bodies and where they will move in space. They will draw a dance map of the movements they performed.  

Students will improvise movements to a variety of genres and speeds of music. They will adjust movements to match the tempo. They will perform hip hop moves such as bounce to the beat, step clap, attitude, raise the roof, walk and jump, bops, clean it, butterfly, twister, and fall back. They will move safely while performing their favorite hip hop moves while listening to music.  

Students will perform hip-hop moves while playing freeze tag. They will review previously learned hip-hop moves and perform them with a variety of music. They will perform new hip-hop moves such as the robot, punch it, and pop-boom-boo-ha-yo-cha. Working in groups, students will choreograph a dance and share it with the class.  

Students will pretend to surf, using low, medium, and high levels. They will identify pathways that surfers use such as straight, curved, and zigzag. They will choose one level and one pathway to move to disco music. They will perform the following disco moves: Roll, Disco Duck, and Hustle. They will perform these movements to disco music.  

Students will mirror each other while practicing levels and a variety of tempos. They will review previously learned disco steps. They will perform four new disco moves such as John Travolta, Hips and Rolls, Out In, and The One That I Want. Students will choreograph and perform a dance using four of the disco moves.