Fully adaptable, this lesson can be used to to highlight African American leaders, famous women, veterans, or any other group of individuals who have acted heroically and have positively influenced our nation!

Social studies, reading comprehension, and writing come together in this high-engagement lesson about Native American legends!

Students will use a combination of graphic organizers in this lesson plan to learn about famous African American poets and their poetry. They will work in groups to research a famous poet, and choose one of their poems to analyze. Then, they'll share their findings with the class.

In this lesson plan, students will discuss characteristics of a hero and how to get information from texts to understand why a person is considered a hero. Partner discussions will help students have a deeper understanding.

Spirituals have a long history in the United States, and often serve to strengthen and motivate people. Students will compare three types of spirituals from different time periods and share their understanding with their peers.

Learn how the languages of people indigenous to North America have contributed American English. Each student will research a word derived from an indigenous language and design a page for a class book featuring up to 30 indigenous words.

Engage students in analysis by examining archetypes in fairy tales. Teach students to identify heroes and villains in fairy tales, examine patterns, and create their own fairy tales to express their knowledge of archetypes.

In this lesson, ask students to compare and contrast two important African-American historical figures. Students will write an informational paragraph on the similarities and differences between W.E.B. Du Bois and George Washington Carver.

Let's play jeopardy! In this interdisciplinary lesson, students learn about American rivers, create game questions about the rivers, and then play the game.

Motivate your students to learn about significant figures in US history by giving them the opportunity to create a fake social media page based on facts.

Mae Jemison was the first African American female astronaut to enter space! Use this lesson plan to help your students get to know this prominent scientist, and determine what makes her an influencial person.

Mae Jemison was the first African American female astronaut to enter space! Use the Who Is Mae Jemison? lesson plan to get to know this prominent scientist and entrepreneur. Students will read about Mae and then answer questions about her.

Life is about balance, and that applies to government too! Use this civics lesson with your students to teach them about the system of checks and balances, and why these are an important part of American government.

Use this lesson to teach your students about the lives of 10 important leaders during the suffrage movement. Children will read a picture book that highlights 10 leaders who strove to win the right to vote for American women. Children will then work in groups to research and learn more about these inspiring women who dreamed big and never gave up. Finally, students will share their findings with the rest of the class.

Students will use their understanding of plot, theme, and comparing and contrasting in this lesson that teaches about an award-winning African American author, Jacqueline Woodson. Students will read some of her fiction books and compare and contrast the stories. They'll also discuss what they think makes Jacqueline Woodson an award-winning author.

Settlers began arriving to build homes for themselves in America in the early bits of the 17th century. In this lesson, your students will learn a little about what it took to leave home and become a settler.

Use this lesson to show your students that dreams can become reality with dedication and determination. This lesson will teach them about a man who made his dream come true by standing firm in front of the most challenging obstacles.

Students will show off their patriotism as they put their research and oral advocacy skills to the test in this history lesson.

In this lesson, students will use an informational text passage to ask and answer questions. Using biographies, your students will learn about two famous figures in history.

Students put their knowledge of animal adaptations to the test when they create a new creature with its own unique set of adaptations!

Did you know that comparative tasks improve comprehension and help students develop higher order thinking skills? In this lesson, students will compare nonfiction texts on the same topic using Venn diagrams and performance!

Can your students capture the details that lead to the central idea in a text? In this lesson, students will work collaboratively to connect the details with the central ideas.

This lesson plan teaches kids about W.E.B. Du Bois through video and a short informational text. Students will compare/contrast their findings and create a poster in small groups showing what they learned.

Students will analyze census data from Sojourner Truth and Walt Disney using past tense verbs and sentence frames. It can be used on its own or as support to the lesson Researching the Past Using Primary Sources.

In this lesson, Significance of "Let Freedom Ring" in MLK, Jr.'s Speech, students will be able to understand the allusion Martin Luther King, Jr. makes to the song "My Country 'Tis of Thee." Have students discuss allusions in this speech.

Frederick Douglass was an influential black man in U.S. history. In this lesson, the historical context is set for students so that they can conduct their own research on Frederick Douglass, using a graphic organizer and multiple sources, before writing an informational essay on him. Ideal for fourth and fifth grade students, this lesson plan not only gives students practice in research and essay-writing skills, it also has them exploring a fascinating part of our country's history.

This lesson walks students through the first few steps of crafting a personal narrative. Writers will start by going through a process to select an idea to write about, then begin to craft a hook that invites readers into their story.

Teaching figurative language is as easy as pie with this lesson. Give students a chance to explore different kinds of figurative language as they develop their own comic strip.

Spelling is sensational with common suffixes! With this lesson, your students will learn how to navigate various suffixes and use them as they create and spell new words.

Graphs bring data to life and help us draw conclusions about the information. In this lesson, students will engage with three different kinds of graphs by asking and answering interpretive questions.