| Explore Pueblo Pots |
| Lesson looking at imagery on Pueblo pots by examining images and reading short excerpts from Native American folklore. Students create their own pots and explain the symbolism they use. Part of the resource “Pueblo Pots.” |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Explore the Universe |
| Online exhibition exploring how astronomical tools from Galileos telescope in the early 1600s to the latest high techobservatories on Earth and in space have revolutionized our understanding of the universe. |
| Provider: National Air and Space Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Exploring African American Heritage at the Smithsonian |
| A visitor guide and map. |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8, 9–12, All grades |
|
| Exploring Nature |
| Information on SERC's Exploring Nature elementary school field trip. Students explore water and land animals, plants, soil, and water across different ecosystems. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Exploring Perception and Reality in the Story of the Hawaiian Islands |
| Webpage telling the story of the Hawaiian Islands through artifacts, images, audio, and text. Includes a short introductory essay, audio clips related to specific museum artifacts, and an enhanced podcast. In the podcast, two curators discuss immigration, the popularization of Hawaii as a tourist destination, and Hawaii’s agricultural origins. Finally, they encourage students to consider perception and reality in the context of their own communities. Targets grades 6-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Exploring the Sky Homepage |
| Parent's guide designed to teach children about astrology. Focused on the children’s book, Maria’ Comet, about a young girl who longs to study the stars, this module links to hands-on activities and a list of recommended readings for further exploration. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Exploring the Universe with Telescopes |
| Guided tour examining such spacecraft as the Apollo 11 command module and the Skylab Orbital Workshop, as well as the technology and scientific advances that have expanded our horizons. |
| Provider: National Air and Space Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Extraordinary Evidence |
| Lesson plan has students review the online exhibit, Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life, and conduct targeted historical research using artifacts and primary source documents. They examine Lincoln’s life and accomplishments and present the ways in which his life was extraordinary. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Extraterrestrial Life and Our World View at the Turn of the Millennium |
| Website featuring the lecture by astronomer and historian of science Stephen J. Dick, “Extraterrestrial Life and Our World View At the Turn of the Millennium.”.Dr. Dick used as authorities several treasures in the Dibner Library, including the works of Galileo, Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Fontenelle, and Descartes. He imaginatively combined works of these natural philosophers with images recently taken from the Hubble Space Telescope. His speculative discussion with its strong historical underpinnings is bound to attract and retain the attention of astronomers and biologists for generations to come. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Institution Libraries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Eye Contact Teacher’s Guide |
| This teacher's guide offers lesson plans that explore the various mediums of portraiture in the past century. The lessons encourage students to think critically as they view works of art and to make connections between visual and written expression. |
| Provider: National Portrait Gallery |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Eye Contact: Modern American Portrait Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery |
| Online exhibition showcasing masterpieces of 20th-century portraiture from the National Portrait Gallery's drawing collections. Discusses the evolving themes, nature, and relevance of portraiture. |
| Provider: National Portrait Gallery |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Eye from the Sky |
| Lesson introduces aerial perspective through comparison of sketches and measurements done on a neighborhood walk with satellite views from Google earth. Intended to show how both views show the same object on different scales. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| Eying America: The Prints of Robert Cottingham |
| Online exhibition focusing on the background and work of artist Robert Cottingham. Includes a “More To It” section (under “On the Road”) that shows students how artistic decisions affect perception.
|
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Facing East: Portraits from Asia |
| Online exhibit following portraiture from across Asia, from the sculpted head of an Egyptian pharaoh to contemporary photos of Korean students and everything in between. These portraits collected from the Freer Sackler Galleries convey the distinct conceptions of self that emerged in specific artistic, cultural, geographic, and historical circumstances. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Facts About Great Apes and Other Primates |
| Webpage providing a general description of apes, primates, monkeys. Includes maps of natural primate habitats, links to fact sheets on specific primate species, and an explanation of the differences between primates. |
| Provider: National Zoological Park |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| Fad to Fundamental: Airmail in America |
| Website about the history of airmail includes interactive timeline with iconic objects, online game for children, images and descriptions of historic planes, pilot stories, objects, and context of airmail in flight industry. |
| Provider: National Postal Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Faith and Form: Selected Calligraphy and Painting from Japanese Religious Traditions |
| Collectors discuss the religious meaning behind Japanese sculpture, calligraphy, and painting in this interactive. Includes audio interviews as well as a printable essay.. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Family Camping |
| Online exhibit exploring the growing popularity of family camping and auto camping in the 1930s. As more and more Americans enjoyed paid vacations and access to automobiles, many families purchased or made house trailers. This is the twelfth section of the online exhibit America on the Move. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Famous Americans |
| Game in which children are asked to match stamps depicting famous Americans.. |
| Provider: National Postal Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| Fancy Heads, Fancy Tails Outreach Program, Grade 1 |
| Class program for schools in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area, learners discover how some animals are uniquely equipped with special adaptations on their heads and tails. Pre-registration required. |
| Provider: National Zoological Park |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Farley’s Follies |
| Online exhibit discussing the tenure of postmaster General James Farley under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Includes special prints made for the president, artwork submitted for stamps by the president, and descriptions. |
| Provider: National Postal Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants |
| Online exhibition where students learn about the social nature of ants and how they cooperate with each other to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, and defense. Includes photo gallery, web links, and videos. |
| Provider: National Museum of Natural History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Farming in Nature’s Image |
| Uses a case study of a farmer using practices that work with nature. Focuses on profitable agricultural practices that also are beneficial to the environment. Includes option for homework assignment. |
| Provider: National Museum of Natural History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Fashion Forward, Fashion Functional |
| Teacher-created lesson in which students design clothing from non-recyclable materials that would otherwise go to waste.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Fashion in Colors |
| Virtual exhibit tour and commentary explore color as a design element through 300 years of Western clothing, examining the changing perceptions and meanings of color, from eighteenth-century court gowns to couture creations by contemporary masters. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Fast Attacks and Boomers: Submarines in the Cold War |
| Online exhibit reviewing the early history of submarines and their radical transformation after World War II. Learn how submarines were built, how they work, and what they do and the stories of submariners and their families. Includes a Cold War timeline. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Fastest Way to a Full Belly |
| Lesson plan asks students to evaluate the functionality of their school cafeteria and design plausible solutions. They must recognize the demands of the cafeteria space, research viable designs, find the dimensions of the cafeteria, and present their proposed changes. . |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Fauna in the Files: Animals in the NASM Archives |
| Online exhibition featuring photos of animals in, on, and around various aircraft and spacecraft. |
| Provider: National Air and Space Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| FDR and Polio |
| Section of the online exhibit Whatever Happened to Polio? teaching about President Franklin Roosevelt, who contract polio in 1921 at the age of thiry-nine, and his efforts in the fight against polio including the founding of the Warm Springs Foundation and the Birthday Ball fundraises that later became the March of Dimes philanthropy. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Federalism to Jacksonian Democracy |
| Portion of the "Land and Landscape" module focusing on the influence of land ownership and the evolution of American civic ideas as seen through landscape. |
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500–2005 |
| Virtual exhibit offers a journey through the evolution of Western dining from the Renaissance to the present. Addresses the development of utensil forms, innovations in production and materials, etiquette, and flatware as social commentary. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Fifty Years of Human Spaceflight |
| Online exhibition commemorating launches into space by both the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1961. The exhibition is primarily photographs with extended captions featuring the astronauts and cosmonauts, political leaders, equipment and technology, news stories, and popular culture. |
| Provider: National Air and Space Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12, General audience |
|
| Fighting for a New Nation |
| Lesson in which students use the design process to develop a plan for civil solutions that might have averted the Revolutionary War.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Filipino-American Book Resources |
| List of books about different topics regarding Filipino Americans selected by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| Find Grace's Family |
| Lesson has students analyze a primary source document, young Grace Bedell’s letter to Abraham Lincoln, to look for hints about Grace and her family. They will then draw a picture of Grace’s family based on the information they found. Part of the resource “A Letter to Abraham Lincoln.” |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Fire & Ice: Hindenburg and Titanic |
| Online version of an exhibition commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the ship and the seventy-fifth anniversary of the zeppelin's fiery fall. Both luxury vessels carried mail. The stories of the disasters are illustrated with letters and postcards. Includes lesson ideas for teachers. |
| Provider: National Postal Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| First American Art |
| Online exhibit exploring the Native American aesthetic system through examples and discussions of seven principles: idea, integrity, emotion, intimacy, movement, composition, and vocabulary. Focuses primarily on modern art. |
| Provider: National Museum of the American Indian |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| First Kids and First Pets of the White House |
| Downloadable activity page. Students write a “madlib” as they imagine themselves as First Kids. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| First Ladies at the Smithsonian Homepage |
| Online exhibit exploring the stories of the first ladies of the White House. From Martha Washington through Michelle Obama, the Smithsonian’s first ladies collection includes material related to their social and political activities as well as a collection of gowns. The exhibit also features thematic overviews of the many roles of first ladies, a timeline, and behind-the-scenes details on the history of the first ladies exhibitions. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Lady for the Environment Homepage |
| Activities and reading guide designed for parents to help their children learn more about First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, wife of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and her work to protect the environment and bring beauty to every community. Includes reading suggestions and discussion questions for the illustrated biography Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers by Kathi Appelt as well as other activities related to the first lady. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| First Person Account: Clarence Sasser |
| Video of Vietnam veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, Clarence Sasser, recounting his war experience. This video accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibit and is meant for use with the “The Soldiers Experience” lesson plan. Targets grades 2 – 12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Person Account: Eugenia Phillips |
| Video about Eugenia Phillips, a Southern spy, describing her encounter with Union troops trying to incriminate her. This historical recreation accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibit and is meant for use with the “Women's Role in the Civil War” lesson plan. Targets grades 2-12 |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Person Account: Fred Castleberry |
| Video of Fred Castleberry, a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam, telling how a Huey helicopter saved his life after he was wounded in battle. This video is part of the Price of Freedom learning resources. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| First Person Account: George Ballentine |
| Video about George Ballentine, a British volunteer in the United States Army during the Mexican War, telling of the battle at Cerro Gordo. This historical recreation accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibit and is meant for use with the “Conflicting Voices of the Mexican War” lesson plan. Targets grades 2 – 12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Person Account: Hal Moore |
| Video of Hal Moore, the commander of a cavalry regiment, summarizing the role of the Huey helicopter in Vietnam. This video accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibit and is meant for use with the “The Soldiers Experience” lesson plan. Targets grades 2-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Person Account: Jose Maria y Mendivil |
| Video about Jose Maria Tornel y Mendivil, Mexico's secretary of war, who warns that Mexico's loss of Texas may lead to other territorial losses to the United States. This historical recreation accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibit and is meant for use with the “Conflicting Voices of the Mexican War” lesson plan. Targets grades 2-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Person Account: Juan Batista Vigil y Alarid |
| Video about Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid, acting governor of New Mexico, expressing the pain of changing loyalty from Mexico to the United States. This historical recreation accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibit and is meant for use with the “Conflicting Voices of the Mexican War” lesson plan. Targets grades 2-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Person Account: Louis Myers |
| Video about Louis Myers, a Union Soldier from West Virginia, describing his changing perspectives about War. This historical recreation accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibti is meant for use with the “Comparing Confederate and Union Soldiers” lesson plan. Targets grades 2-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Person Account: Lydia Post |
| Video about Lydia Minturn Post, a Long Island patriot, expressing her fear that the American Revolution will fail. In this historical recreation, Lydia discusses the disparities between the British and Colonial forces and the true meaning behind the colonists will to fight. This video accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibit and is meant for use with the “General George Washington, Military leader” lesson plan. Targets grades 2-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Person Account: Spotswood Rice |
| Video about Spotswood Rice, an African American Union soldier, reading a letter which threatens the Southern woman who holds his daughter as a slave. This historical recreation accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibit and is meant for use with the “Comparing Confederate and Union Troops” lesson plan. Targets grades 2-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Person Account: Ulysses S. Grant, American Soldier |
| Video about Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States, looking back on his opposition to the Mexican War as written in his memoirs. This historical recreation accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibit and is meant for use with the “Conflicting Voices of the Mexican War” lesson plan. Targets grades 2-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| First Person Account: William Christie |
| Video about William G. Christie, a Union soldier from Minnesota. In this historical recreation, Christie relates his disgust over prejudice against black soldiers in his unit. This video accompanies The Price of Freedom: Americans at War online exhibit and is meant for use with the “Comparing Confederate and Union Soldiers” lesson plan. Targets grades 2-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| Fishing For a Living 1840-1920 |
| Section of the online exhibit On the Water: Stories from Maritime America focused on the importance of salmon fishing to the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, and the communities that developed around the Atlantic cod, Chesapeake oyster, Columbia River salmon, and whaling industries. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Five Communities Change a Nation |
| Online exhibit on the communities and cases that were involved in the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. Five Communities Change a Nation is the fourth section of the online exhibition entitled Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education. Targets grades 6-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Five Communities Change a Nation- Lesson |
| Lesson plan has students research segregation in five communities across America that gained national attention and came to be the five court cases that made up Brown v. Board of Education. Students will identify, discuss, compare, and contrast the factors in each community that led community members to challenge segregation and then create a radio broadcast highlighting essential information about each case. Targets grades 7-12. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Flora of the Hawaiian Islands |
| Catalogue of flora from the Hawaiian Islands. Image gallery and specimen search searchable by family, genus, species, and common name. Includes bibliography,, additional links, and more. |
| Provider: National Museum of Natural History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Flora of the Marquesas |
| Catalogue of flora from the Marquesas Islands. Image gallery and specimen search searchable by family, genus, species, and common name. Includes background on the Islands, bibliography, a additional links, and more. |
| Provider: National Museum of Natural History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Flora of the Washington-Baltimore Area |
| Catalogue of flora from the Washington DC – Baltimore area. Sections include interesting finds, flora search, gallery of images, links to suggested references, modern and historic maps of the area, checklists for flora in the Washington, DC- Baltimore area, and a kid's page. |
| Provider: National Museum of Natural History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| Flora of the Washington-Baltimore Area Kids Page |
| Learn about the kinds of plants in the Washington, DC- Baltimore area, and how to collect and identify them. Includes virtual activities for children, photo gallery, video of an expert, and a glossary. |
| Provider: National Museum of Natural History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| Fly, Fly Away |
| Teacher-created lesson in which students use everyday materials to design and build a kite--one that is based on their research into kites through history. After testing the kite, they "go back to the drawing board" to improve on it.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Food Mapping |
| Teacher-created lesson in which students analyze the “food system” in their community. They look for solutions to any ecological or social problems inherent in the system.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8 |
|
| For All the World to See |
| Online exhibition explores the role of visual media, such as newspapers, photographs, and film, in shaping the fight for racial equality and justice in the United States. Associated educational resources hone skills of comparing and contrasting, image and object analysis, and making personal connections. |
| Provider: National Museum of African American History and Culture |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Forces of Change |
| Website focuses on change – climate, ecological, and cultural. Examines greenhouse gases in the arctic, El Nino, changes in our atmosphere, and soil sciences. Includes research projects, media library, teacher activities and bookmarks, references, and change in the news. |
| Provider: National Museum of Natural History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Forces of Flight Science Demonstration |
| Science demonstration at the National Air and Space Museum teaching students about the basic scientific principles of air- and space flight through hands-on activities. |
| Provider: National Air and Space Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Fossil Sharks in Panama |
| Website for kids exploring fossils and how scientists understand animals that lived long before human existence. Sections include: interactive on geological time, what is a fossil, fossil teeth, video clips with experts, facts on sharks (interactive maps on their habitats, videos, etc.) Also discusses the Megaladon, “the biggest shark that ever lived,” the history of sharks, and current challenges and threats to shark survival. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Franklin & His Friends |
| Portraits of Benjamin Franklin and other men who shared a passion for science. |
| Provider: National Portrait Gallery |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Frederic Church, Winslow Homer, and Thomas Moran: Tourism and the American Landscape |
| Website of the exhibition explores the promotion of scenic tourism in nineteenth-century America. Includes oil paintings, drawings, and watercolors, artist biographies, and collection organized by landscape geography. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Freedom Songs |
| Lesson in which students listen to freedom songs and then create their own version of one of the songs. Part of the resource, “Students Sit for Civil Rights.” |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Freer and Sackler Galleries Scholarly Publications |
| Webpage with information on the scholarly journals in the field of Asian art published in part by the Freer and Sackler galleries, Ars Orientalis and Artibus Asiae. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Freer and Sackler Podcasts |
| Audio site with Asian music from the Freer and Sackler concert series, Radio Asia from Smithsonian Folkways Records, curatorial conversations about exhibitions, and excerpts from the “Silk Road Storytelling” series. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Freer's Gift |
| “Asian Art Connections” teacher's guide containing information on Charles Lang Freer and his little-known Egyptian art collection. Includes a classroom activity and history about the importance of correctly proportioned images in Egyptian art. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| Frequently Asked Questions about the Hubble Space Telescope |
| Two-sided poster/teaching guide. Features a color image of the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit over Earth and information about the function and operation of the Hubble Space Telescope. The brochure provides an overview of the telescope and striking photographs of planets, stars, and galaxies. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Friction Restriction: Creating a Design Plan to Redesign the Tread of Tennis Sneakers |
| Lesson in which students design a slip-proof shoe while the teacher fulfills science standards for force, mass, and motion.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Frida Kahlo: Notas Sobre una Vida/Notes on a Life |
| Tribute to Frida Kahlo and her enduring influence on American art. Includes photographs and letters selected from several Archives of American Art collections. |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Frieze Friends |
| Lesson plan exploring repeating patterns in the students' communities. Students tour homes, schools, and neighborhoods in search of frieze patterns in architecture, clothing, furnishings, etc., then sketch and present their findings. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Fritz Scholder Study Guide |
| This lesson plan asks students to consider ways in which abstract-expressionist artist Fritz Scholder challenged stereotypes of Native American art, and the ways in which, more generally, the visual elements of a painting can express identity. Students create a self-portrait and recognize elements of abstract expressionism. |
| Provider: National Museum of the American Indian |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8 |
|
| Fritz Scholder: Indian / Not Indian |
| Lesson plan on ways in which abstract-expressionist artist Fritz Scholder challenged stereotypes of Native American art, and the ways in which, more generally, the visual elements of a painting can express identity. In activities, students create a self-portrait and learn to recognize elements of abstract expressionism. |
| Provider: National Museum of the American Indian |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8 |
|
| From Horses to Horsepower: Studebaker Helped Move a Nation |
| Online exhibition tracing the history of the Studebaker company from 1852 to 1966, from wagon production to the automobile industry. Includes a timeline, bibliography and images of wagons, carriages, cars, and factories. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Institution Libraries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| From Impact to Action: Wildlife Experts Share Data, Stories, and Responses from Young People |
| Webinar in which the audience joined a panel of experts from the National Zoo to discuss climate change, wildlife, and what some young people are doing to make a difference. The Zoo team gives an overview of the issue while delving deeply into the specific impact of global warming on one specific population — Arctic polar bears. On a positive note, they discuss the work of youth taking steps to protect wildlife. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| From Segregation to Sit-ins: The Greensboro Woolworth Lunch Counter |
| Object based lesson plans examining the Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter and its importance to the Civil Rights movement. Includes an introduction to doing history with objects, three lesson plans focused on segregation and the Civil Rights movement, and annotated links. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| From Smithson to Smithsonian |
| Online exhibition focusing on James Smithson, the English scientist who bequeathed his fortune to the United States to create the Smithsonian Institution. Traces the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution and its early years. Includes lesson plans. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Institution Libraries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| From Smithson to Smithsonian: The Birth of an Institution |
| Exhibition highlighting the life of James Smithson and the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution. Traces the early years of the Institution’s growth and development. Includes images, primary sources, and lesson plans. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Institution Archives |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| From the Andes to the Arctic: Exploring American Indian Heritage through Music |
| Webpage with examples of archival and contemporary American Indian music. Focuses on the central role of music in culture and the commonalities between Native peoples across the western hemisphere. |
| Provider: Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| From the Internet to Outer Space |
| Lesson using Google Sky to explore the sky, and then share your observations through sketches and figurative language. Intended to show the difficulties astronomers had sharing their observations before photography was invented. Part of the resource “Exploring the Sky.” |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
|
| From Vaquero to Cowboy |
| Students discover the Spanish and Mexican roots of American cowboy culture in this set of four lessons, divided into grades K–2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12. The youngest students look for the Spanish origins of cowboy words (lasso from lazo, for example). Older students do a bit of translation work: they compose a rhyming cowboy ballad based on a Mexican corrido. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| Fuel for Change |
| Teacher-created lesson in which students design a new fuel type, thinking critically about environmental and social impact.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Fun Factory–NOT! |
| Teacher-created lesson in which students identify social problems during the American industrial revolution and write about possible solutions. Includes roleplaying.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Functional Classroom Design |
| Teacher-created lesson in which students design a schoolroom arrangement that meets their needs and the needs of three other classes that use the room.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Functional Homes |
| Lesson in which students observe and reflect on homes built by various life forms. The students try to apply natural designs to human uses. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Galactic Navigation |
| Website that introduces students to celestial mapping by making analogies to the earthly system of longitude and latitude. |
| Provider: Chandra X-Ray Observatory |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12, General audience |
|
| Galaxy Clusters |
| Lithograph comparing an optical image of a galaxy cluster with the image taken by Chandra in X-rays. Includes two educational activities acquainting students with X-ray images and the electro-magnetic spectrum. |
| Provider: Chandra X-Ray Observatory |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Galaxy Clusters |
| The site includes a PDF handout and coloring activity that acquaint students with X-ray images and the electromagnetic spectrum. |
| Provider: Chandra X-Ray Observatory |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Galaxy of Knowledge |
| Gateway to Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ online collection. Collections are divided thematically: American Discovery, Art and Design, Industry and Technology, and Mosaic of Science. Includes lectures, podcasts, digital versions of rare books, bibliographies, online collections, and online exhibits on a wide range of topics. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Institution Libraries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Galaxy of Knowledge |
| Virtual portal to the Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ extensive collections and resources. Features on-line exhibitions, digitized books, and bibliographies. |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Gallery Guide: American Art |
| Website explaining Charles Freer's reasons for collecting nineteenth century American art along with Asian art and the aesthetic philosophy behind these paintings. Follows the aesthete movement headed by artist James Mcneil Whistler. Includes information, selected images and suggested resources. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Gallery Guide: Cave as Canvas |
| Website explores the spread of the Indian tradition of using caves as Buddhist sanctuaries and describes the decorations and murals found in Buddhist cave temples along the ancient Silk Road. Focused on China. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Gallery Guide: Luxury Arts of the Silk Route Empires |
| Website discusses how the silk road fostered a global transfer of goods and culture. Focused on the luxury items that made their way along the trade routes, such as objects made of silver or gold. Images from selected objects in the galleries are included. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Gallery Guide: Understanding South Asian Art |
| Website presenting the basics for understanding the art of Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Includes sculpture and paintings from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Gallery Guide: Visual Poetry |
| Website on the co-evolution and eventual separation of the written word and painting in Iran, Persian poetry and painting with a focus on the Persian painter Riza Abbasi, and portraiture in Iran. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur |
| Online exhibit featuring newly discovered Indian paintings from the royal court collection of Marwar-Jodhpur. These paintings reveal the kingdom's engagement with the changing political landscapes of early modern India. View selected artworks and listen to the audio guide by curator Deborah Diamond. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Gateway to the Arts |
| In this lesson plan, students redesign any dead space in the school building. They use 3-D modeling software as well as traditional methods to create a proposal based on the needs of their peers and their teachers. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Gavin Jantjes, A South African Artist |
| A curriculum resource providing background information on Jantjes as an artist and his inspiration in South African mythology. Includes suggestions for integrated classroom activities to accompany the material. |
| Provider: National Museum of African Art |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Gene Davis: My Sketchbook |
| Children´s workbook providing insight into modern art and instructing readers to create artworks inspired by Gene Davis´s paintings. |
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| General George Washington, Military Leader |
| Lesson plan using artifacts and a historical letter to discuss George Washington's leadership during the War of Independence and the qualities of great leaders. Includes background information, full-color primary sources, and a transcript of a letter about George Washington written by his officers. Targets grades 2-6. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| Geo-Class Mapping My Neighborhood (Classroom Cartographers) |
| Mini-unit of teacher-created lessons in which young students create a map of the school and its surrounding neighborhood.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| Geography from Space |
| Web site containing geography quizzes using satellite imagery. |
| Provider: National Air and Space Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Geometric Mouse |
| Lesson introduces the concept of dreams and explores what dreams are. Being mindful of geometric shapes while looking at objects, children will think about shadow and light and whether shadows are real or pretend. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| George and Martha Washington: Portraits from the Presidential Years. |
| Online exhibit chronicles portraits of George and Martha Washington, enabling us to see him from the perspective of his contemporaries, who regarded him as a man of proven virtues and leadership qualities. |
| Provider: National Portrait Gallery |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| George C. Marshall: A Soldier of Peace |
| Online exhibit presents the life and career of American general and statesman George C. Marshall (1880-1959) through portraits and photos. Marshall is perhaps best known as the foremost author of the Marshall Plan, which provided billions of dollars of aid to war-torn Europe after World War II. |
| Provider: National Portrait Gallery |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| George Catlin and His Indian Gallery: Virtual Exhibition |
| Online exhibition showcasing the work of George Catlin, a lawyer-turned-painter of the 1830s who traveled thousands of miles and recorded the “manners and customs” of 50 Native Americans tribes. |
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| George Washington: A National Treasure -- Interactive Portrait |
| Interactive portrait of George Washington helps you explore and interpret symbolic, biographic, and artistic elements found in the famous painting. Includes an audio introduction and highlighted elements within the painting that provide additional information.
|
| Provider: National Portrait Gallery |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| George Washington: A National Treasure Family Guide |
| This webpage uses Gilbert Stuart’s “Lansdowne portrait” of Washington as an entre into the subject of portraiture. Includes background information and an exploration of symbols in the painting. |
| Provider: National Portrait Gallery |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Get a "Sense" of It |
| Lessons have students use their senses to see, smell, and feel what it would have been like to live on the prairie long ago. They measure out a typical sod house to feel the space one would live in, turn off the lights to experience life without electricity, recreate the smells of the frontier using a jar of sod, pose for an old photograph, and make the type of treat one would enjoy in a sod house. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Get Behind the Wheel |
| Teacher-created lesson in which middle-schoolers design a dashboard for a car that will be marketed to the 16- to 23-year-old set.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Getting to Know Your Client I |
| First of a two-part teacher-created design lesson. Students examine Roman designs--functional and aesthetic--as a prelude to their own design project.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Giant Panda Bibliography |
| Bibliography/introductory guide to the subject of pandas. Books available at most large public libraries or through interlibrary loan. |
| Provider: National Museum of Natural History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Giant Panda Challenge |
| Trivia quiz for kids on the giant pandas at the National Zoo.
|
| Provider: National Zoological Park |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| Giant Panda Coloring Page |
| Drawing of a giant panda for children to print out and color.
|
| Provider: National Zoological Park |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| Giant Panda Crossword Puzzle |
| Computer crossword for children on the giant pandas at the National Zoo.
|
| Provider: National Zoological Park |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| Giant Pandas at the National Smithsonian Zoo |
| Webpage providing information about the pandas at the National Zoo. Includes live camera views, still images, bibliography, panda facts, panda updates, archived videos, and links to children’s sites. |
| Provider: National Zoological Park |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| Giant Pandas for Kids |
| Webpage providing information about giant pandas just for kids. Includes fact sheets, activities, and additional links.
|
| Provider: National Zoological Park |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| Gifts and Blessings: Textile Arts of Madagascar |
| Online exhibition examining the history and significance of cloth in the culture of the peoples of Madagascar. |
| Provider: National Museum of African Art |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Give Me Shelter |
| In this lesson plan, students investigate the meaning and importance of shelter. They gather used materials to construct a shelter of their own invention, one that protects against sun and the elements. In a wrap-up discussion, they compare and contrast the functionality of their designs. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Glimpse of the Past: A Neighborhood Evolves |
| Online exhibition describing the rise, fall, and rebirth of the heart of Penn Quarter, Washington DC, from the perspective of one of the neighborhood’s enduring monuments: the old Patent Office building, which today houses the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum. Includes historic and contemporary photos. |
| Provider: National Portrait Gallery |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Global Legends |
| Online exhibit about legendary gold coins that represent the passionate quest for gold on the American frontier. Shows how the discovery of gold, both in the southeastern United States, and later in the West, had a major effect on American ideas about the creation and use of money. This highly interactive resource allows visitors to rotate and zoom in on objects. A glossary will help visitors understand challenging vocabulary. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Global Volcanism Project |
| Worldwide Holocene volcano and eruption information. Includes searchable database of volcanoes, interactive maps, answers to Frequently Asked Questions, basic definitions, and volcanic activity reports. |
| Provider: National Museum of Natural History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Go Back in Time |
| Interactive game in which players match primary source materials and museum artifacts to the appropriate time period in order to learn about the everyday lives of Americans from different eras of our nation’s history. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Going Global |
| Online exhibit looking at globalization in America. Discover how fast and inexpensive shipping, near-instantaneous communication, the spread of multinational corporations, and the mass migration of people looking for work have fueled America's global sensibility. This is the eighteenth section of the online exhibition America on the Move. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Going Green School Campaign |
| Teacher-created lesson in which young students make an environmental assessment of their school, looking for “green” alternatives.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| Going on a Treasure Hunt |
| Teacher-created lesson that introduces maps to kindergarteners. The children learn about symbols and compass directions as they create a map to help another group find a treasure hidden in the classroom.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| goSmithsonian.com |
| This website is a portal to maps, museum information, and special events and exhibitions. Plan a visit in which you’ll experience the best the Smithsonian has to offer. |
| Provider: Office of Visitor Services |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Got Gas? How Much? |
| Teacher-created lesson in which students demonstrate the biochemical process by allowing baker's yeast to ferment and release carbon dioxide gas. They design a device to capture and measure the gas.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Gouverneur Warren's Expedition |
| Object-based learning activity following Gouverneur Warren on his 1856 expedition into the American frontier. Students will begin by reading a letter that Warren sent to the Smithsonian then identify and match specimens to the locations that they were found on a map of Warren's expeditions. This activity is included in the online exhibit West Point in the Making of America and will provide a better understanding of the connections between science, history, and the work of museums. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Graphic Design in the Mechanical Age |
| The history of modern graphic design. |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Graphs, Poetry, and a Splash of Color |
| Activity encouraging students to explore color as they create graphs, write poetry, and examine varied interior designs. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Great Cats |
| Webpage about the great cats of the National Zoo at this webpage. Includes information on cat conservation and science, fact sheets, tiger and lion cams, a photo gallery, and a kid&@29;s section. |
| Provider: National Zoological Park |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art |
| Online exhibit featuring ceramics, leatherwork, textiles, metalwork, sculpture, and other works of art. Shows how folk artwork reflects the cultures of a diverse Mexican society. Artifacts arranged by medium, with additional information, videos, and images. |
| Provider: National Museum of the American Indian |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Great Women of Our Pasts Homepage |
| Parent's guide designed to teach children about women’s history. Focused on the book, Seven Brave Women, this module includes reading questions, hands-on activities, and recommended reading for additional exploration. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Groovin' to Jazz 12-15 |
| Lesson on how to appreciate authentic jazz recordings by listening to fifteen recordings by jazz greats and reading brief introductions that discuss the relevance of the songs as well as how to listen to them. Targets grades 6-10. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Groovin' to Jazz 8-13 |
| Lesson on how to appreciate authentic jazz recordings by listening to sixteen recordings by jazz greats and reading brief introductions that discuss the relevance of the songs as well as how to listen to them. Targets grades 3-8. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
|
| Groups and Public Programs |
| Information on SERC events and opportunities for children, scout troops, and classrooms. Iincludes an events brochure and information on self-launch kayaking/canoeing. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8, 9–12, General audience |
|
| Grow Your Own Victory Garden! |
| Handout describes World War II Victory Gardens. Students explore practical applications of area and perimeter as they design their own vegetable gardens using plants that were grown during World War II. They research local geography to access climate and soil quality. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Gardens |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Guide to Doing History with Objects |
| Essay explaining how artifacts are a valuable resource for historians by showing typically unseen elements of history. It teaches how to look at artifacts and think about the ways they shape and reflect our history. Part of the resource, “The Object of History.” |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Guidelines for Discussion about 9/11 |
| Teacher's guide from the National September 11 Memorial and Museum offering suggestions on how to prepare and structure conservations about 9/11. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Habitat for the Other 90% |
| Teacher-created lesson in which students design a product or service that meets the needs of people living in a particular natural habitat. They also keep in mind the needs of the habitat.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones): A Royal Persian Manuscript by Jami |
| Online exhibit featuring paintings inspired by the Haft awrang (Seven Thrones) composed by Iranian poet Abdul-Rahman Jami. Provides description of the poems, interpretations of the imagery in the paintings, and some audio guides. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Hair Pipes in Plains Indian Adornment: A Study in Indian and White Ingenuity |
| Website presenting the story of elaborate breastplates of long, light-colored, tubular beads worn by many prominent Plains Indian men. Tells the story of how, when, and where these picturesque ornaments originated and how the custom of wearing them was diffused widely among the Plains Indians and their neighbors has never been told. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Institution Libraries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Hans Namuth: Portraits |
| Website presents the life and photographs of Hans Namuth who dedicated himself to photographing creative personalities, starting with Jackson Pollock.
|
| Provider: National Portrait Gallery |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
| Descriptions of the ongoing research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Sections include our solar system, stars planets and origins, galaxies, cosmology, laboratory astrophysics, and extreme astrophysics. Includes brief research descriptions and additional project links. |
| Provider: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Science Education Department |
| Homepage of the Science Education Department of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, which develops curricula and materials that reflect current scientific and educational philosophy. |
| Provider: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): All grades |
|
| Harvard-Smithsonian Digital Video Library |
| Collection consisting of 350 hours of digital video footage supporting STEM education reform, indexed through a searchable database. Includes source materials for television programs such as A PRIVATE UNIVERSE. |
| Provider: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Headlines of History |
| Lesson plan has students examine a historical newspaper, a piece of historical fiction, and their social studies textbooks for accounts of the civil rights movement, and then define the words equality and discrimination. They will use these definitions to look for instances of equality and discrimination in modern society. Part of the resource “Students Sit for Civil Rights,” this activity will help students develop their research and analysis skills. Targets grades K-4. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Heats Up, Shields Up: An Exploration in Thermal Protection |
| Reserve online for visits to the Learning Lab at Udvar-Hazy Center outside of Washington, D.C. In this program, students learn about thermal protection on spacecraft through investigations and activities. They discuss conduction, convection, and radiation as methods of heat transference. Finally, they work in teams to design a heat shield that protects a spacecraft in a simulated reentry into the earth’s atmosphere. For grades 5-10. |
| Provider: National Air and Space Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Hello, My Name Is . . . Helvetica |
| In this lesson plan, students learn art and geometry vocabulary by considering the shapes of letters in their own names. They physically imitate the shapes of the letters as they practice writing them. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
|
| Hemphill Folk Art Collection |
| Guide using the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection of folk art as a springboard to activities and questions about art and community history. |
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Henry O. Tanner: A Mystical Painter |
| Online exhibition and gallery highlighting the life and work of Henry Ossawa Tanner, an internationally acclaimed artist in the late 1800s. |
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Henry Wood Elliott: American Artist in Alaska |
| One of the first American artists to work in Alaska. Produced images that inspired efforts for seal conservation and document Native American life in Alaska. Includes additional recommended sources. |
| Provider: National Museum of Natural History |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| Hidden Costs: Mapping the Source and Costs of Raw Materials |
| Teacher-created lesson in which students look at production-consumption systems through the lenses of geography, science, and economics. They research the source of materials used in common products and then design an alternative system that helps conserve resources.
|
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| HIDE: Skin as Material and Metaphor |
| Animal hide has a long tradition as a material within Native culture. The artists in the HIDE exhibit use the concept and material of skin as a metaphor for widespread issues of identity, and personal, historical, and environmental trauma and perseverance. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
|
| High School Bag Design |
| In this lesson, students incorporate aesthetics with functionality as they work to create a student backpack. They design five bag options for their classmates’ everyday use, presenting orthographic drawings. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| High-End/Low-End: Exploring Price & Value in Design (9-12) |
| Lesson plan comparing high-end and low-end versions of everyday objects to consider the role that economics plays in design. The lesson includes analysis, small group work, and Internet research. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
|
| Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum: African American Masters |
| Online exhibition featuring sixty-one works by African American artists that reveal a special awareness of “being black,” and the inspiration provided by historical events, political issues, spirituality, music, and folklore. |
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum: Calico & Chintz |
| Online exhibition and image gallery displaying twenty-two rare pieced- and whole-cloth quilts made before 1850 in America from European fabrics. |
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum: Graphic Masters |
| Online exhibition featuring works from the 1860s through the 1990s and celebrating the extraordinary variety and accomplishment of American artists’ works on paper. |
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum: Masters of Their Craft |
| Online exhibition featuring artworks in clay, fiber, glass, metal, and wood that testify to the renaissance in American studio crafts. Includes artists such as Dale Chihuly and Beatrice Wood. |
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
|
| Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum: The Land Through a Lens |
| Online exhibition tracing America’s fascination with the land and the way artists such as Ansel Adams and Timothy O’Sullivan have transformed it into symbols and signature images. |
| Provider: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
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| Highlights: National Air and Space Museum Gallery Guide |
| Short outline of the Museum’s most memorable displays and artifacts, designed to be printed by a visitor prior to an on-site visit. |
| Provider: National Air and Space Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
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| Hirshhorn |
| Homepage of the Hirshhorn museum of contemporary art. Includes information on exhibitions and programs, a collection search and access to podcasts and youth and school program descriptions. |
| Provider: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
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| Hirshhorn Exhibitions |
| Online samplings of dozens of past exhibitions at the Smithsonian's museum of modern and contemporary art. Some pages feature video interviews with the artists. |
| Provider: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
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| Historians Are Detectives |
| Lesson on the differences between primary and secondary sources and the value of primary sources in history. By using primary sources to answer a series of questions, students will see that, much like detectives, historians have to prove that their answers are correct by providing evidence. Part of the online exhibit The Star Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem. Targets grades 3-5. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| History and Culture Books, Catalogs, and Posters from SITES |
| Choose from a selection of books and posters for purchase made in conjunction with SITES traveling exhibitions. Historical and cultural topics range from the American presidency to contemporary China and Latin Jazz. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
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| History in Bloom |
| "On-site program and associated lesson plans. Students make connections with Victorian gardens through geometry, symmetry, and poetry." |
| Provider: Smithsonian Gardens |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| History of Flight |
| Guided tour exploring the development of flight from early balloons and gliders to modern aircraft and spacecraft. |
| Provider: National Air and Space Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| History of Polio Timeline |
| Timeline of the history of polio research, vaccinations, and their effects on society. Part of the online exhibit Whatever Happened to Polio?, this resource examines the history of polio, including the major milestones in scientific, medical and social issues created by the virus. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
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| History of Smithsonian Combined Catalog |
| Online catalog searching across five databases documenting the Smithsonian's history: History of the Smithsonian bibliography , Smithsonian Historical Chronology, Smithsonian Legal Documents, Historic Images of the Smithsonian, and Smithsonian Board of Regents. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Institution Archives |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
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| History of Voting in the United States: Create a Virtual Exhibit |
| Lesson plans examining an 1898 Standard Voting Machine and the democratization of the voting process in the U.S. Includes an introduction to doing history with objects, three lesson plans on the history of voting, and annotated links related to the extension of voting rights to women and African Americans. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
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| History on Stage: A Pop-Up Lesson |
| Lesson that accompanies an exhibition on pop-up books, "Paper Engineering." Students make their own pop-up books on historical subjects. Includes detailed, illustrated instructions. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Institution Libraries |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8 |
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| Hokusai |
| Online exhibit that includes works from throughout the career of the famous Japanese printmaker and draftsman, Hokusai. Includes information on his composition, technique, and subjects. Also has a bibliography. |
| Provider: Freer and Sackler Galleries |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Holiday Times |
| Ella Jenkins performs 26 songs, stories, rhymes, and chants for Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, and St. Patrick’s Day. Jenkins and friends sing and play ukulele, harmonica, guitar, pipe organ, flute, and percussion. $10.00 for audiocassette, $15.00 for CD. |
| Provider: Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| Homespun: The Indian American Heritage Project |
| Main website for the Smithsonian’s Indian American Heritage Project, an initiative to create an exhibit chronicling the story of immigrants from India and their descendants in America. See news, events, videos, related sites, and updates. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): All grades |
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| Hometown History |
| Teacher's guide for use on a field trip to a fort or other historic site. After a reading of The Flag Maker, students will visit a historic fort and use guiding observation questions to connect their experience to the events that inspired the National Anthem at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Adaptable to other historic sites. Part of the resource, “Making the Star-Spangled Banner.” Targets grades 3-5. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
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| Hosay Trinidad |
| Ethnographic film about Shi’ite Muharram rites on the island of Trinidad. Demonstrates the role that performances, religious observances, and rituals play in the presentation of self and other in private and public settings. Video available for rent or purchase. |
| Provider: Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
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| House Detectives: Finding History in Your Home |
| Printable guide on how to conduct research on their home or a local building, describe the research process, and summarize conclusions. Like the 250-year-old house from Ipswich, Massachusetts, that now lives at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, your home has a story to tell and a place in history. This activity is a part of the online exhibit Within these Walls. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Housing Naturally: Habitat as Model |
| Teacher-created lesson in which students create housing designs based on the habitats of animals.
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| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| How (and why) do we count living things? |
| How many species of beetles and trees are in the Amazon rainforest? And why should we care? In this webinar, entomologist C. J. Geraci and colleague Michael Biondi explain the importance of this information and demonstrate a new way of precisely measuring biodiversity — a web-based application for mapping the distribution of beetles and canopy trees in two rainforest plots. They then show how to use basic spatial statistics to examine distribution patterns of species. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
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| How Big is Our Universe? An Exploration through Space and Time |
| Web site detailing some of the discoveries of the size and content of the universe. |
| Provider: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| How can we learn about nature’s most elusive animals? |
| Webinar in whichconservation biologist Joe Kolowski leads us into the Peruvian Amazon, a rich, fertile, and essential part of our planet. He shows how the technique of “camera trapping” helps scientists to understand the creatures that move about the jungle—particularly mammals that may be endangered by oil exploration. Kolowski is working with other scientists to develop a conservation initiative for the area. They are incorporating biodiversity principles and new scientific research in an attempt to minimize the negative effects of oil exploration and development in this area. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| How do we change a stereotype? |
| The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) opened its doors in Washington in 2004. The goal? Nothing less than to change how we see the lives of Native peoples. In this webinar, NMAI curator Paul Chaat Smith leads a discussion on hard lessons and brilliant mistakes from the front lines of Washington’s most controversial museum. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): All grades |
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| How do we grasp the vastness of the universe? |
| The human mind has its limits. The universe may be infinite. How then can students begin to wrap their minds around it? In this webinar, Phil Sadler of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory shows teachers how to bring the cosmos down to size by using the processes of any scientific investigation: selecting a specific problem, collecting data, and building a model. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): All grades |
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| How Does Your Garden Grow |
| This lesson plan engages students in an ongoing garden project, in which they use language arts, math, and science skills. They write letters to local businesses, measure and plot garden dimensions, and monitor plant growth. |
| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| How Does Your Garden Grow? |
| Teacher-created lesson in which first-graders use all five senses to focus on the characteristics of a variety of plants. They then design a garden to delight the senses.
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| Provider: Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
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| How have we imagined other worlds? |
| Space-themed science fiction shares many characteristics with that other great American genre, the western. In the 1930s and 1950s, science fiction franchises like Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Captain Video, and Space Patrol spawned a slew of merchandise similar to that of Roy Rogers, Red Ryder, and Davy Crockett. In this webinar, curator Margaret A. Weitekamp presents space-themed toys from the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in a discussion how these toys encouraged our imaginations and our fascination with the “space frontier.” |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): All grades |
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| How Polio Changed Us |
| Segment of the online exhibit Whatever Happened to Polio? about the legacies of polio and the effort to fight its effects. Through the use of images, artifacts, oral histories, and video clips, learn about the social, scientific and medical issues that derived from the battle against polio, including: the disability rights movement, the philanthropic efforts of the March of Dimes and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the invention and use of new technologies. |
| Provider: National Museum of American History |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
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