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This classroom resource is a video from A Kid Explains History available on the YouTube channel. In this video, Quinn explains the history of Jim Crow Laws, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement. With his precocious personality and kid-friendly terminology, Quinn is able to explain history in easy-to-understand terms. This video can be used to introduce the Civil Rights Movement and/or essential persons involved in the Civil Rights Movement. 

Grade(s)

4, 6, 11

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Malcolm X gives a riveting speech in which he reminds his community that, before all else, they are Black. He encourages solidarity among his audience and inspires them to take control away from the white man.

Grade(s)

4, 11

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In International Pizza Delivery, users must deliver pizzas to all corners of the world using their latitude and longitude skills. The object is to deliver as many pizzas as possible in three minutes. For each successful delivery, the user earns the flag of the nation to which the pizza was delivered. These flags may be printed out at the end of the game.

Grade(s)

3

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this activity, students will begin to explore the primary reasons and causes for the Civil War. Students will begin to identify the differences between the Northern and Southern states, which ended with the Union and the Confederate States of America. Students will also comprehend why the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 led to the succession of Alabama and other Southern states. 

This resource was created in partnership with Dothan City Schools. 

Grade(s)

4

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

In this learning activity, students will analyze a famous letter written by Grace Badell to President Abraham Lincoln. Using hints about Grace's family from the letter, students will draw pictures of her family.

Grade(s)

3, 5

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about the War of 1812. The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and its former colonial overlord England. John will take you through the causes of the war, tell you a little bit about the fighting itself, and get into just why the US Army couldn't manage to make any progress invading Canada. The upshot: no territory changed hands, and most of the other bones of contention were solved prior to the actual war. Although nothing much changed for the US and England, the Native Americans were the big losers. Tecumseh was killed, and the Indian tribes lost a lot of territories. 

Grade(s)

10

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Traditionally, geography is studied as two interconnected parts: physical geography and human geography. For the first half of this series, we will be focusing on physical geography, which is all about recognizing the characteristics of the environment and the processes that create, modify, and destroy those environments. But remember, human-environment interactions are fundamental to studying geography so we won't be ignoring human impact, it just won't be the primary lens we're using to view the world. Today, we'll explore erosional gullies in Madagascar as we discuss the world's dynamic landscape, the Great Barrier Reef as we introduce the four major earth system (the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere), and we'll finish with a deep dive into Iceland as we introduce the major realms of physical geography. (These are geographer specializations that you may have heard about like topography, geomorphology, pedology, hydrology, climatology, oceanography, meteorology, and biogeography.)

Grade(s)

7

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

The rights protected by the First Amendment are important. However, there are limits to these rights. Who decides these limits? The Supreme Court does. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. It makes decisions about what is or is not allowed, based on the Constitution. Sometimes, the Court’s decisions create limits on certain rights. In 1983, a group of high school students tested these limits. They thought their school principal had denied their right to freedom of expression.

Note: You will need to create a free account to access this resource.

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Students will view a photograph of the historic marker placed in Mobile to commemorate the arrival of five ships containing enslaved Africans to that location. They will read the information on the marker to understand why it was placed and to gather details about the ships, such as their names, arrival dates, places of origin, number of captives on board, and number of deaths that occurred during the Middle Passage. Students will utilize this information to recognize Mobile as a center of the slave trade. They will collaborate locally to add the dates and a summary of the information to an online digital timeline.

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Digital Literacy and Computer Science
Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

In this lesson, students will embark on a virtual field trip to the Statue of Liberty. This exciting tour will enable students to make observations related to the statue's iconic history. These observations will allow students to gain an appreciation of the size of the statue, what the statue represents, and how it is an important symbol to our country.

Grade(s)

3

Subject Area

Digital Literacy and Computer Science
Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

This is a hands-on learning activity where students learn the meaning of imagery by examining images on two Pueblo pots and reading short excerpts from Native American folklore. They will design their own pots by creating symbols and explaining the meaning of the symbols.

Grade(s)

2

Subject Area

Social Studies
Arts Education

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about Imperialism. In the late 19th century, the great powers of Europe were running around the world obtaining colonial possessions, especially in Africa and Asia. The United States, which as a young country, was especially susceptible to peer pressure, followed along and snapped up some colonies of its own. The US saw that Spain's hold on its empire was weak, and like some kind of expansionist predator, it jumped into the Cuban War for Independence and turned it into the Spanish-Cuban-Phillipino-American War, which usually just gets called the Spanish-American War.

**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.

Grade(s)

11

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Join host John Green to learn about World War I and the confusion surrounding its beginning. You'll learn about Franz Ferdinand, Gavrilo Pincep, the Black Hand, and why the Serbian nationalists wanted to kill the Archduke. While there's no good answer as to who exactly started the war, this episode of Crash Course will sort through the dates and confusion with lively discussion as always.

**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.

Grade(s)

9, 11

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

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.

Grade(s)

6

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Learn about speakeasies and stock trading in Manhattan before the market crashed, with this primary source from American Experience: "The Crash of 1929."

Grade(s)

9, 12

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

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!” 

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Students will explore two NCSS Notable Trade Books and a newspaper advertisement to develop an understanding of what life was like for slaves in the nineteenth century.  Students will use their understanding to write a narrative story about being a slave in the nineteenth century. Students will use the website MyStorybook to create and publish their stories.

This lesson was created in partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Grade(s)

4

Subject Area

Digital Literacy and Computer Science
English Language Arts
Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

In this interactive game from MrNussbaum.com, students will drag and drop the names of early settlements and European patrons into the correct country (Spain, France, or England) box.  This game could be used as an assessment after a lesson on European exploration.

Grade(s)

5

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, Dawn and Quin learn that they have to write a report on early Alabama history over the weekend. They then find out that Clarence and Roto may be able to help them.

Grade(s)

4

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

The attack on Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) on December 7th, 1941 changed the course of history and triggered the involvement of the United States in World War II. The attack destroyed much of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet and killed nearly 2,500 Americans. This segment of Iowa Public Television's Iowa’s WWll Stories features historical film clips as well as interviews with survivors of the attack.

Grade(s)

6

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Students will analyze visual art from Jacob Lawrence's The Migration Series using the digital resource and make connections to The Great Migration of the 1920s. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

6

Subject Area

Arts Education
Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Pictures of Alabama State Capitols are provided in this lesson to give students the opportunity to research information that could help them to give their point of view. It will be up to the students to provide further information about the pictures. This will start a conversation about the best location for a capital city and its capitol building.

This lesson was created as part of the Alabama Bicentennial Commission’s Curriculum Development Project.

Grade(s)

3, 4

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

In this interactive game from iCivics, students try out their persuasive abilities by arguing a real Supreme Court case. The other lawyer plays their competition. Whoever uses the strongest arguments wins! Landmark cases in the game include:

• Bond v. United States
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Gideon v. Wainwright
• Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
• In Re Gault
• Miranda v. Arizona
• New Jersey v. T.L.O.

• Snyder v. Phelps
• Texas v. Johnson

This game can be played during a lesson on landmark Supreme Court cases for reinforcement or after as an assessment.

You will need to create a free account in order to access some of the content on this site.

Grade(s)

12

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this interactive geography activity from PBSLearningMedia, students join Buster Baxter, a character from the ARTHUR television show, on a trip to Egypt. Students learn about Cairo, ancient Egypt, the pyramids, the Nile River, and relevant vocabulary terms as they travel with Buster and meet new friends. Afterward, students write about what they’ve learned in the form of a postcard to one of the Egyptian children they encountered in the videos.

Grade(s)

3

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

John Green teaches you about the fall of the Roman Empire, which happened considerably later than you may have been told. While the Western Roman Empire fell to barbarians in 476 CE, the Byzantines in Constantinople continued the Eastern Empire nicely, calling themselves Romans for a further 1000 years. Find out what Justinian and the rest of the Byzantine emperors were up to over there, and how the Roman Empire dragged out its famous Decline well into medieval times. In addition to all this, you'll learn about ancient sports riots and hipster barbarians, too.

**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.

Grade(s)

8

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Students will watch a video on the history of the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama. After watching the video and discussing the lifestyle of the citizens of Gee's Bend, the students will create a classroom quilt that reflects their personalities and lifestyles. The class will have to use factor pairs to decide the best way to assemble the quilt. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

4

Subject Area

Arts Education
Mathematics
Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Imagine if the world as you know it never changed. Students will embark on a journey back in time and research what life in Alabama looked like in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Students will compare and contrast the information they research with their present-day lives. Students will then identify how technological advancements changed life for Alabamians and reflect on how they feel their life would be today if things never changed. Students will create an Adobe Express digital story to communicate their researched information and personal reflections.

This resource was created as a result of the Alabama Technology in Motion Partnership.

Grade(s)

4

Subject Area

Social Studies
Digital Literacy and Computer Science

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

This video from Khan Academy tells the story of Alexander the Great and his rule over Greece during the Hellenistic Period.  The video is 5 minutes 59 seconds in length.  

Grade(s)

8

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students are welcomed to StinkLand! They learn from Flea that financial irresponsibility can get you stuck at the worst possible time! 

Grade(s)

1, 9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Social Studies
Mathematics

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

John Green teaches you about the war that was supposed to end all wars. Instead, it solved nothing and set the stage for the world to be back at war just a couple of decades later. As an added bonus, World War I changed the way people look at the world, and normalized cynicism and irony. John will teach you how the assassination of an Austrian Archduke kicked off a new kind of war that involved more nations and more people than any war that came before. New technology like machine guns, airplanes, tanks, and poison gas made the killing more efficient than ever. Trench warfare and modern weapons led to battles in which tens of thousands of soldiers were killed in a day, with no ground gained for either side. World War I washed away the last vestiges of 19th century Romanticism and paved the way for the 20th-century modernism that we all know and find to be cold and off-putting. While there may not be much upside to WWI, at least it inspired George M. Cohan to write the awesome song, "Over There."

**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.

Grade(s)

9

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

This activity allows students to analyze photographs and political cartoons from the early 20th century during the Women's Suffrage Movement. Students will participate in a gallery walk around the classroom and put a modern twist on their comments about the photos by creating a #hashtag statement.

This activity was created as a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

Grade(s)

6

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

This World War I collection includes several photographs of liberty bonds, postcards, an aviator's brochure, sheet music, and a jigsaw activity. These artifacts will help students describe the military and civilian roles in the United States during WWI. Be sure to click "Read More" at the top of the collection to view the activity that can be used with this collection.

Grade(s)

6

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

This informational material from Khan Academy gives an overview of muckrakers. Muckrakers were journalists and novelists of the Progressive Era who sought to expose corruption in big business and government. The work of muckrakers influenced the passage of key legislation that strengthened protections for workers and consumers. Some of the most famous muckrakers were women, including Ida Tarbell and Ida B. Wells. This article can be used to introduce muckrakers or as an assessment.  The article includes questions at the end. 

Grade(s)

11

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, Brett trains puppies to be seeing-eye dogs. He volunteers as a puppy walker for the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind. He is working with a puppy named Arty for one year. His job is to socialize Arty and teach him to follow commands. At the end of the year, Brett has to bring Arty back for more training so he will be ready to work with a person who has a visual imparity. Brett knows his work is for a very good cause. When it’s time to give up the puppy, he isn’t too disappointed.

Grade(s)

1

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

In this episode of Crash Course Psychology, Hank walks us through the troubling world of Eating and Body Dysmorphic disorders. There's a lot going on here and, even though we still have a lot of dots to connect, a lot we can learn to help ourselves and each other.

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Subject Area

Social Studies

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource
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