Lesson Plans
Primary Sources and Me
In this lesson geared towards kindergartners, students analyze primary sources to understand what primary sources are and how they help to tell the story of each unique member of a community.
Presidential Portraits
Students learn about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln through the lens of both primary and secondary sources, investigating different types of primary sources, considering how portraits are created to convey information, and imagining their own presidential potential.
American Memory & Me Birthday Project
Students learn about primary sources then analyze both secondary and primary sources to investigate historical events that happened on their birthdays, helping them to recognize that each person is part of and contributes to the ongoing American memory. After, students create news sheets that summarize key points of a seminal historical event or person in American history, celebrate their births, and describe the legacies they would like to imprint on the American memory.