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Nelson mandela day activities

Nelson Mandela Day Activities for 2024: Champion for Peace and Freedom

Teach elementary school students about the legacy of Nelson Mandela, a champion for peace and freedom, with these 2024 Mandela Day activities.

Shaped Staff

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Forgotten Stories of the Oregon Trail: Capturing the Details

Students will learn how to describe objects in great detail, by reading about a woman pioneer who captured in writing the unfamiliar things she saw along the Oregon Trail.

Shaped Staff

Wisconsin v yoder lesson plan

Teaching Supreme Court Cases: Wisconsin v. Yoder Lesson Plan

Download this Wisconsin v. Yoder lesson plan to have students answer the question: Do parents have the right to remove their children from school if attending goes against their religious beliefs?

Shaped Staff

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Forgotten Stories of the Oregon Trail: Native American Oral History

Download a free Social Studies lesson plan and student activity about Native American Oral History on the Oregon Trail.

Shaped Staff

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In the News: Protesters Rally for Social Justice (Social Studies Activity, Grades 3-5)

Have students read this article about recent activism for racial justice and take it a step further by completing the projects and activities that follow.

Shaped Staff

Freewrite blog

What’s on Your Mind? A Flexible SEL Freewrite

Help students in Grades 3–12 tap into what they're feeling with an informal writing activity.

Janna Sakson
Shaped Contributor

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Forgotten Stories of the Oregon Trail: Writing History

Students will learn from reading diary entries written on the Oregon Trail how such writings preserve history and bring the past to life.

Glenn Greenberg
Shaped Contributor

Wwii lesson plan

Teaching World History: World War II Lesson Plan and Activities

Down these World War II lesson plans and activities to teach your students about the war in history that claimed at least 50 million lives worldwide.

Shaped Staff

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Forgotten Stories of the Oregon Trail: Lesson Plans and Activities

Students will read stories about people's experiences on the Oregon Trail and work on related activities that will help them build their skills in math, science, ELA, and other subject areas.

Glenn Greenberg
Shaped Contributor

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Teaching Supreme Court Cases: Prayer in Schools and the First Amendment

Download this free Wallace v. Jaffree lesson plan to teach students about an important Supreme Court case regarding prayer in schools and the First Amendment.

Shaped Staff

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Podcast: Displaced Katrina Student Comes Home to Teach with Chris Dier on Teachers in America

Meet Chris Dier, a teacher of World History and AP Human Geography at Chalmette High School in St. Bernard’s Parish, Louisiana, who is the 2020 Louisiana Teacher of the Year. Chris’s focus is to provide an equitable and multicultural education for all.

Ali Habashi
Former Shaped Editor

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Teaching Supreme Court Cases: Miller v. Alabama Lesson Plan

Start a discussion with your students about the Eighth Amendment with this Miller v. Alabama lesson plan.

Shaped Staff

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Teaching World History: World War I Lesson Plan and Activities

Teach students about the legacy of the Great War with these World War I lesson plans and activities.

Shaped Staff

Due process lesson plan

Teaching Supreme Court Cases: Goss v. Lopez Due Process Lesson Plan

Download this Goss v. Lopez due process lesson plan to teach students about the 1975 Supreme Court case regarding the role of the Fourteenth Amendment in student suspensions.

Shaped Staff

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Podcast: Becoming a History Teacher with Debra Reynolds on Teachers in America

Meet Ms. Debra Reynolds, a world history teacher at Wicomico Middle School. She talks about building relationships with her students from day one, and how she finds time for her hobbies (like skydiving and antiquing)!

Onalee Smith
Shaped Contributor

Black History Month

5 Teaching Tools to Honor Black History Month in the Classroom

These tools can be used throughout the year—but especially during Black History Month—to promote lifelong learning.

Geraldine Stevens
Social Studies Content Expert

College Application

Teaching Supreme Court Cases: Affirmative Action in Higher Education

Affirmative action in higher education gained national attention during the 1978 Supreme Court case University of California Regents v. Bakke.

Shaped Staff