| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Prehistoric Climate Change (and Why It Matters Today) |
| If you're looking for a science activity to help introduce environmental issues, or if you're looking for fun and challenging real-world math problems, take a look at the lesson plan in this issue of Smithsonian in Your Classroom. Students do the work of a team of paleontologists studying a time of rapid global warming 55 million years ago. By examining fossils of leaves from various tree species, and by incorporating the findings into a mathematical formula, they are able to tell average annual temperatures during this prehistoric time. The lesson culminates in a discussion of climate change in our own time. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Art to Zoo: Tomorrow’s Forecast: Oceans and Weather (1995) |
| Online issue discussing the influence of oceans on Earth’s weather. Contains maps and an experiment on the differing heat capacities of water and air. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8 |
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| From Carbons to Computers: The Changing American Office |
| Focusing on the history of the office, the lesson plans enrich students� understanding of trade and commerce, economics, and the Industrial Revolution. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: How Things Fly |
| Students draw upon their own experiences to understand the basic physics of flight. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8 |
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| Art to Zoo: Life in the “Promised Land”: African-American Migrants in Northern Cities, 1916-1940 (1990) |
| Online issue introducing educators and students to the experience of African Americans who migrated to the urban centers of the North. Includes story of two African American migrants. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8 |
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| Artifact & Analysis: A Teachers Guide to Interpreting Objects and Writing History |
| A 56-page teachers guide that presents a strategy for incorporating historical artifacts and documents into the teaching of U.S. history. Designed as a companion to the Advanced Placement Program U.S. History course. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 9–12 |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Introduction to the Nature Journal |
| This Smithsonian in Your Classroom is the third in a three-part series that brings together writing and other disciplines. In the lessons here, students exercise the observation skills that are essential to writing, visual art, and science. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Portraits, Visual and Written |
| Lessons introduce students to the lives and works of Louisa May Alcott and Samuel Clemens through portraits as well as their writings. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Mr. President: Profile of Our Nations Leaders |
| Includes brief biographies, vital stats, and National Portrait Gallery paintings of all presidents from Washington to Clinton. A site for research, homework help, or just browsing. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12, General audience |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Making Friends with Franklin |
| Science and language arts lesson plans are based on the writings and scientific work of Benjamin Franklin. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Podcasting with Your Students |
| This lesson plan follows the steps of an elementary class that used field trips as the basis for a podcast. Includes technical advice on creating a podcast. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: What Is Currency? Lessons from Historic Africa |
| In lesson plans, students gain a basic understanding of money and economics by exploring the currency system of the Akan people of Ghana in West Africa. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Art to Zoo: Dinosaurs Were Real! (1976) |
| Online issue that helps educators capitalize on their students' interests in dinosaurs by presenting dinosaurs as real animals. Also features photo introduction to the Smithsonian. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
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| Art to Zoo: Africa Behind and Beyond the Headlines (1980) |
| Online issue introducing students to the interplay between environment and the traditional cultures of sub-Saharan Africa. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Ocean Predator Activity Page |
| Children play a maze game and solve a rhyming word puzzle as they get to know three creatures who have reigned at the top of the ocean’s food chain. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Every Picture Tells a Story |
| A lesson plan that focuses on four important steps in the development of photography in the nineteenth century. Students use deductive skills to place photographs in a historical context. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: The Music in Poetry |
| The lessons in this issue introduce students to the rhythms of poetry. The focus in on two poetic forms that originated as forms of song: the BALLAD stanza, found throughout British and American literature, and the BLUES stanzas of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. The exercises take poetry off the page and put it into terms of movement, physical space, and, finally, music. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8, 9–12 |
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| A Family Visit to the Smithsonian |
| Interactive site featuring one family's week-long experience visiting museums and exhibits. Shows their journal activity and suggestions for making the most of a visit to Washington, D.C. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): General audience |
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| American Indian Heritage Teaching Resources |
| A catalog of Web links to American Indian educational sites around the Smithsonian. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Apollo 11: Walking on the Moon Activity Sheet |
| Downloadable PDF activity sheet about the moon landing, including word and number games, art exercises, and fun quizzes. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
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| Art to Zoo: “Blacks in the Westward Movement,” “What Can You Do with a Portrait?” and “Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass” (1976) |
| Premier issue of Art to Zoo, containing three sections: experiences of African Americans in westward expansion, the use of portrait art in the classroom, and the lawn as a simple habitat for plants and animals. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| Art to Zoo: Small Worlds: Stamps as Storytellers (1980) |
| This issue of Art to Zoo, in magazine format, includes an article titled “Small World: Stamps as Storytellers” and student pages on making gravestone rubbings and paper model airplanes. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination |
| Lesson plans introduce students to the role of bees in the production of many of our foods. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8 |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Abraham Lincoln: The Face of a War |
| The lessons in this issue use Smithsonian portraits of Lincoln to introduce a study of the Civil War. The portraits include the famous “cracked-plate” photograph, two plaster “life masks,” and an eyewitness drawing of Lincoln’s arrival in the enemy capital of Richmond, Virginia. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Tale of a Whale (and Why It Can Be Told) |
| In a multistep lesson, students do the work of scientists who study the endangered North Atlantic right whale. They examine photos to identify an individual whale and use a record of sighting to track its movements. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Teaching with Collections |
| In lessons from the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, students build elementary math skills by organizing collections of buttons and seashells. The seashell lesson can serve as an introduction to the Linnaean classification system. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3, 4–8 |
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| Collecting Their Thoughts: Conversing with an Object |
| Students make connections to museum objects that might otherwise seem strange or intimidating. Writing exercises include dialogues with the objects. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Stories of the Wrights Flight |
| Lesson plan includes firsthand accounts of the Wright brothers first flights on December 17, 1903, which students compare to a secondary source, a newspaper story that appeared the next day. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8, 9–12 |
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| Art to Zoo: Winning the Vote: How Americans Elect Their President |
| Online issue with activities to introduce students to the office of the presidency and the process of electing the president. Includes lessons on political campaigns, political parties, and the Electoral College. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): 4–8 |
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| Art to Zoo: A Mouse Like a House? A Pocket Elephant?: How Size Shapes Animals, and What the Limits Are (1987) |
| Online issue that engages students in a discussion of animal size and the importance of size in an animal’s life. Includes information and activities to explore animal size differences, with a focus on metabolism and body temperature. |
| Provider: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies |
| State Standards: View state standards for this resource |
| Grade(s): PreK–3 |
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