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This learning activity provides a reading passage about Earth Day, vocabulary support, and comprehension questions. The reading level is 2nd grade, so it is best to read the text aloud to the class instead of independent reading. This passage from ReadWorks will help students understand the meaning of Earth Day and why it is celebrated each year. Each year, Earth Day is celebrated in April. On Earth Day, millions of people will think of ways to stop pollution. They will talk about recycling and planting trees. People will look for ways to save energy and water.

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In this activity, students will read and respond to a quote by a woman who was forced to move into a Japanese Internment camp during World War II. Students will decide what they would take with them if they had to go into an internment camp.

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about the Great Depression. So, everybody knows that the Great Depression started with the stock market crash in 1929, right? Not exactly. The Depression happened after the stock market crash but wasn't caused by the crash. John will teach you about how the Depression started, what Herbert Hoover tried to do to fix it, and why those efforts failed.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

Learn how one man is helping experts understand extremism with this video and educational resources from PBS NewsHour from August 29, 2016.

In 2012, American-born Jesse Morton was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for his role in running a pro-jihadist website that inspired a number of terrorist plots, according to the FBI. Now, just four years later, Morton is free and has been hired as a terrorism analyst at a George Washington University think tank. At around the time of his arrest and while he was in prison, Morton began to have serious doubts about the path of violent extremism he had taken. While he says it is not an excuse, Morton’s childhood was tumultuous and wrought with abuse, which caused Morton to reject American culture and search for a new identity. Morton became radicalized and converted to an extremist form of Islam. He became extremely political and lived a dual life while attending Columbia University’s prestigious School of International and Public Affairs. Morton’s decision to go undercover and assist in counterterrorism efforts while in prison changed his path profoundly. “If I am willing to sacrifice in the past so much to promote such a disgusting ideology, then I think that, if I’m sincere in my reform, I should be as equally dedicated and equally passionate about trying to repair some of the damage that I have done,” Morton said. Top counterterrorism analysts in Washington soon sought him out for advice on how to identify suspected terrorists.

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. 

This is an interactive online activity from MrNussbaum.com. Similar to mad lib, students add parts of speech to create a hilarious story about the explorer, Christopher Columbus.

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, the kids discuss how much they learned on their adventure and their new-found excitement for Alabama history.

Examine how a split over tactics that divided the women’s suffrage movement—with a militant faction led by Alice Paul and a moderate group led by Carrie Chapman Catt—ended up intensifying the pressure on President Woodrow Wilson to reverse course and support the federal amendment granting women the right to vote, in these videos adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | The Vote.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

In this interactive game from iCivics, students work as legislators trying to meet the needs of their constituents by deciding what bills to sponsor in Congress. Students will be able to understand that a legislator's job is to represent constituents, simulate the relationship between a legislator and a diverse constituency, and evaluate hypothetical legislation for impact on various socio-economic groups. This game can be played when teaching a lesson on the legislative branch for reinforcement or after as an assessment.

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In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn about map borders and complete an interesting hands-on activity. This video is part of Activity Starters, which is an animated video series. In each episode, an animated character introduces a concept and an activity. 

John Green teaches you, at long last, about the most exceptional bunch of empire-building nomads in the history of the world, the Mongols! How did the Mongols go from being a relatively small band of herders who occasionally engaged in some light hunting-gathering to being one of the most formidable fighting forces in the world? It turns out Genghis Khan was a pretty big part of it, but you probably already knew that. The more interesting questions might be, what kind of rulers were they, and what effect did their empire have on the world we know today? Find out, as John FINALLY teaches you about the Mongols.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

This is a collection of lessons that can be used to help students understand Kwanzaa. Students watch a brief documentary and view images related to the holiday as an introduction to Kwanzaa. Students compare and contrast images of Kwanzaa with images of Christmas and Hanukkah. Students are also asked to view an image and use that image to describe Kwanzaa to someone unfamiliar with the holiday. Be sure to click "Read More" at the top of the collection to view the lesson that can be used with this collection.

This informational material from Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government is geared for ages 4 through 8. This Learning Adventure tells the story of the Liberty Bell and can be used when teaching or introducing a lesson about U.S. symbols. Students can read the information in a whole group or individually. The Learning Adventure also contains a link to the National Park Service site with additional resources. 

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students watch Megan and the twins meet rap superstar Kevin, who tries to pay for candy with street credit?

Craig Benzine teaches you about federalism or the idea that in the United States, power is divided between the national government and the 50 state governments. Craig will teach you about how federalism has evolved over the history of the U.S., what powers are given to the federal government, and what stuff the states control on their own.

This is a reading guide/lesson plan with step-by-step instructions to accompany the book Feivel's Flying Horses by Heidi Smith Hyde and illustrated by Johanna Van Der Sterre. Feivel's Flying Horses tells the story of a Jewish woodcarver who moved from the Old Country and carved carousel horses to earn money to bring his family from Europe to America. The story is a historical fiction story of immigrants coming to America. The reading guide is recommended for kindergarten through 4th grade.  

This is an article from Khan Academy which provides an overview of the start of the Cold War. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman pledged that the United States would help any nation resist communism in order to prevent its spread. His policy of containment is known as the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine demonstrated that the United States would not return to isolationism after World War II, but rather take an active role in world affairs. To help rebuild after the war, the United States pledged $13 billion of aid to Europe in the Marshall Plan. This article can be used when teaching about the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan and as an assessment.  Students can answer the questions at the end of the article.

In this lesson from iCivics, students learn what keeps the government from having too much power. The lesson outlines five basic limits on government. Students analyze the true story of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, in which many of those limits disappeared, and they evaluate fictional cases of governments with limits missing. The concepts in this lesson prepare students to understand why the U.S. Constitution is structured the way it is.

What puts the “science” in social science? Today we’ll explore positivist sociology and how sociologists use empirical evidence to explore questions about the social world. We’ll also introduce two alternatives: interpretative sociology and critical sociology.

In this activity, students will be able to identify Benjamin Franklin and his inventions. Students experiment with static electricity and create a "magic picture".  

This video from Khan Academy provides an overview of the landmark Supreme Court case that established strongly implied powers for the federal government, McCulloch v. Maryland. This video can be played to introduce a lesson on landmark Supreme Court cases.  The video is 7 minutes 48 seconds in length.

In this video, students learn about the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was made to protect Americans from too many restrictions and regulations in addition to assuring our well-being under our government. For the past 200 years, it's done a pretty good job, but on occasion, it is seen as too protective or not protective enough. Our video examines some of the things the bill provides for, and also raises a point that is not often taught.

In this YouTube video, students will be introduced to George Washington Carver, an Alabamian who made contributions in the fields of science in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. George Washington Carver sure was one brilliant guy! He overcame many of the obstacles that he faced to develop many inventions, including hundreds of uses for peanuts.

This video from the Daily Dose provides a 3-minute micro-learning film on the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which was caused by internal division, corruption, tax evasion, labor shortages, religion, and invasions from more powerful invading forces.

In this learning activity, students will learn about the terrorist attacks on September 11th and the uniforms the firefighters wore. They will compare the firefighters with the firefighters from their own community. Students are then asked to think about how uniforms help other people complete their jobs and what kind of outfit they might need to complete their own job. The learning activity includes links to several resources including online stories about September 11th attacks, pictures, and activities for students to complete.

This classroom resource is a book from Epic! This book introduces early readers to goods and services, what makes them different, and examples of each. The age range is 5-7 years old and AR reading level is 2.7. The book includes a glossary and two learning activities.