Classroom Resources > Resource Type
Many people celebrate the Fourth of July as the birthday of the United States, but the actual events on that day involved only a half dozen people. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved and signed by the officers of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Most of the other members signed during a ceremony on August 2.
Is the Fourth of July the day the U.S. declared its independence? Explore all the dates during the summer of 1776 that are associated with the Declaration of Independence:
- July 2: Declaration of Independence Resolution adopted by the Continental Congress
- July 4: Declaration of Independence signed by the officers of the Continental Congress
- July 8: First public reading of the Declaration of Independence
- August 2: Declaration of Independence signed by 50 of the 56 men who signed the document
Explore texts that include the stories surrounding the Declaration of Independence. Possibilities include reference books, encyclopedias, and specific texts, examples of which appear in the Independence Day Book List. With your students, consider why there are so many different dates and why we celebrate the nation's birthday on July 4.
This page features the Declaration of Independence along with information about its writing and preservation, a timeline of its creation, and information on the signers.
As on online companion to the television series Liberty! The American Revolution, originally broadcast on PBS, this webpage focuses on the events of July 4, 1776. Be sure to explore the site for lesser-known facts. For instance, did you know that Congress designated a woman as the first official printer of the Declaration?
On July 8, 1776, the Liberty Bell was rung in Philadelphia to announce the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. This National Park Service site includes facts about the Liberty Bell and its historic significance during the American Revolution.
In 1925, from July 10 to July 21, John Scopes was on trial for teaching the idea of evolution in his public school classroom in Dayton, Tennessee. The court case, dubbed the "Trial of the Century," featured two of the most famous attorneys in the United States-Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan.
The Scopes Trial focused on the evolution of mammals, but the word evolution can refer to other objects and processes, such as tools, computers, and automobiles. Have your students brainstorm a list of objects and processes that have changed over time. Then, individually or in small groups, invite students to choose and focus on one item from the list. Allow them to use the interactive Timeline tool to sketch out the changes, or evolution, of the items that they have chosen. View more tips to learn more about the tool. After considering the changes that have occurred for the items, have students examine the significance of the changes. In their opinions, have the changes affected the world for the better or for worse? Students can then share their information and opinions with the whole class.
Conclude the project by posting all of the timelines on your classroom wall, creating a giant timeline of the evolution of the items your students have investigated. Invite students to look for patterns as well as to connect the timelines to historical events that occurred during the same time period. For a more structured activity, try the resources in the ReadWriteThink lesson Timelines and Texts: Motivating Students to Read Nonfiction.
This website, developed by PBS, features detailed information about the Scopes, or “Monkey” Trial, including images from the famous courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee.
Part of the University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law collection Famous Trials in American History, this site highlights documents related to the Scopes Trial.
This article, featured in the National Geographic Magazine, tells about life in Dayton, Tennessee 75 years after the Scopes Trial took place there.
This NPR resource offers a timeline of events surrounding the Scopes trial, as well as audio of an All Things Considered feature on the subject.
Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817. Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, which chronicles the two years that he lived in a small hut near the edge of Walden Pond.
Take your class on a nature walk near your school, or have them focus on a natural setting nearby. As students walk or view the setting, ask them to take note of the details of the surroundings and make a mental "snapshot" of the location in their minds.
Once they return to class, have students write their notes during a focused writing session, making sure to capture the details of the setting. After the initial writing session, students can revise and polish their writing and create a class booklet of the nature walk, using the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.
This biography of Thoreau, published by the Academy of American Poets, links to a collection of online texts including Walden.
After reading passages from Walden with your students, have them compare Thoreau's description of the pond with the photographs on this website.
This entry on Thoreau includes a complete biography with links to related materials and readings. The site provides extensive information about Thoreau, including links about his work as a surveyor and pencil maker.
Students can keep a record of their own nature observations in a field journal, as described in this resource from the American Museum of Natural History. A number of diverse example pages, including drawings, charts, and narrative observations from the field journals of actual scientists, are included.
John Newbery, an 18th-century English children's book publisher and seller, was born on July 19, 1713. The American Library Association's Newbery Medal, awarded to the most distinguished children's fiction book each year, honors Newbery's work.
Your class can publish books and other documents just like Newbery. Have each student choose a book that is special-it could be a favorite book or a book that reminds him or her of something special-then write a short story about why the book was chosen and why it deserves special mention.
Using the Stapleless Book Planning Sheet, students can plan the pages of their own stories before entering the information in the Stapleless Book tool. For longer projects, students can use the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.
The American Library Association awards the Newbery Medal annually. This site includes information about the award, the application process, and a complete list of the distinguished books.
This section of author Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord's site includes instructions for such projects as making accordion books, index card books, wish scrolls, and stick and elastic band books.
The Newbery Video, Part I written by Mona Kerby and funded by the International Reading Association highlights favorite Newbery Award books and authors. Authors include: Lloyd Alexander, Sharon Creech, Sid Fleischman, Karen Hesse, Lois Lowry, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Katherine Paterson, and Jerry Spinelli. Part 2 of the video continues the discussions with authors and includes student projects and commentary.
On July 7, 1983, Samantha Smith, a U.S. schoolgirl, flew to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Premier Yuri Andropov, all because of a letter that she wrote. Smith wrote a letter to Andropov asking, "Why do you want to conquer the whole world, or at least our country?" The Soviet leader replied to her letter, and Samantha ultimately visited the nation, becoming a good-will ambassador.
Have your students write their own letters that make things happen. Students can write individual letters, or work in small groups or as a full group. Letter writing can be a culminating project after you've completed a unit of study on a particular topic. For instance, if you've just completed a unit on animals, students might write letters to the local zoo, praising them for the ways that they care for animals or making suggestions for changes. After exploring freedom of speech in a censorship unit, students might write letters to the editor of the local newspaper explaining their feelings about specific books that are (or aren't) included in the library.
In addition to the resources available in the Letter Generator and on the Letter Generator page, there are resources available from Gallaudet University that demonstrate how to write advocacy letters. The American Civil Liberties Union provides tips on writing letters to the editor and letters to elected officials, which can be useful for projects where students are looking at issues of civil rights, freedom of speech, and student rights.
This site includes information about Samantha Smith, her famous letter to Andropov, her subsequent work as a goodwill ambassador, and the continuing work of the foundation devoted to her memory.
Students can find tips from Arthur on letter and e-mail writing, which can serve as a resource for independent letter writing.
The FIRE Student Network recognizes the importance of advancing civil liberties in schools. Visit the site for resources on the topic.
View the Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting site for resources that help identify and respond to inaccurate or unfair news coverage.
Circle this date on your calendar! Picture book author Laura Joffe Numeroff was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1953. Her books, such as If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Moose a Muffin, rely on circular plot structure to tell their stories.
Because of their circular plot structure, Numeroff's books are natural resources for classroom activities on cause and effect and making predictions. Using one of Numeroff's books as a model, students can use the circle plot structure as a culminating project for nearly any unit of study. For instance, consider such project titles as the following:
- If You Tax Our Tea, for a unit on colonial America
- If You Recycle an Aluminum Can, for a unit on the process of recycling
- If You Visit a Rainforest, for a unit on the plants and animals in a rainforest
The online Circle Plot Diagram can help students gather their ideas, and then they can publish their work with the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.
Find a biography and full bibliography on this site.
This PBS website uses documentary film, photography, artwork, and music to honor and explore Native American storytelling, including the importance of circles and cycles in Native American stories.
This page offers links for teachers to resources related to Laura Numeroff and her books. Included are links to biographical information about Numeroff, as well as lesson plans and activities for several of her books.
American writer William Carlos Williams was born in Rutherford, New Jersey, in 1883. As a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, Williams met and became friends with Ezra Pound and Hilda Doolittle (who used the pseudonym H.D.), and these friendships affected his work as a writer. Over the course of his life, Williams wrote poetry, novels, short stories, essays, and plays.
Williams' poems are often used in the classroom as models for poetry writing. In addition to the resources in the lesson plans below, explore the student poems at Plum Good Poetry, from Barry Lane's Discover Writing website.
Celebrate Williams' birthday by asking your students to write imitation poems of their own. Choose a poem and make copies for students or write the poem on the board. With students, take the opportunity to review grammatical structures as you work through the way that the poem is written. Pay attention to sentences, phrases, and parts of speech. With the structure of the poem identified, ask students to write original imitations, using the same sort of sentences, phrases, and parts of speech that Williams did. Publish your finished work with the ReadWriteThink Printing Press or Stapleless Book.
For more on imitation poems, you may wish to use the ReadWriteThink lesson Literary Parodies: Exploring a Writer's Style through Imitation.
The Academy of American Poets page for Williams includes biographical information and the text of many of Williams' poems. The site includes an audio recording of the poet reading his poem "To Elsie."
This collection of resources from the Modern American Poetry website includes biographical information, photos, critical information, and poems.
In this Prairie Home Companion episode, private eye Guy Noir investigates a poetic catastrophe with the help of the Poet Laureate of the United States, Billy Collins, who shares parodies of Williams' "This Is Just to Say." Both transcript and audio versions of the show are available.
The University of Pennsylvania offers this collection of sound recordings of Williams reading his poetry at several events between 1942 and 1962.
In June 1829, the British Parliament established Greater London's Metropolitan Police, popularly known as "bobbies." Scotland Yard, the site of their first headquarters, opened on September 29, 1829, and eventually became the official name of the force.
Visit Scotland Yard's Crime Prevention Page and check out pages with advice on such topics as driving, mobile phones, and personal safety. Explore the resources on the Scotland Yard site and ask students to compare the advice given to London's citizens to the advice and tips available from your local police department. Ask students to hypothesize the reasons for the differences that they see-are the differences due to the different laws in the different countries, or something else?
After learning about Scotland Yard, encourage students to read fiction, such as the books listed in the text section below, in which Scotland Yard is featured. Students can use the interactive Mystery Cube to analyze the mystery book they read or to plan their own mystery story. More tips are available for the Mystery Cube.
In the history section of the Scotland Yard site, students can read about the establishment of one of the world's most well-known police departments.
This collection of stories from Scotland Yard includes details on famous cases. Be sure to review the collection to find stories that are appropriate for your students.
Part of the Crime, Punishment and Protest through Time collection, this question-and-answer style site provides details on such topics as why citizens originally opposed the founding of Scotland Yard.
LeVar Burton was born in 1957 in West Germany, while his father was in the military. He hosted 155 episodes of Reading Rainbow since its premiere in 1983 until 2006. Burton's first television appearance, though, was as Kunta Kinte, in the miniseries Roots (1977), based on the novel by Alex Haley.
Burton also appeared as a member of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation television series; portrayed Martin Luther King, Jr., in the film Ali; and produced and hosted the documentary The Science of Peace.
Choose complementary Reading Rainbow selections to explore a topic using fiction and nonfiction.
For example, Ruth Heller's Chickens Aren't the Only Ones and Patricia Polacco's Rechenka's Eggs both explore the subject of animals that lay eggs. On the topic of dinosaurs, you'll find William Joyce's Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo and Aliki's Digging up Dinosaurs. After reading both books, your students can compare the selections using the interactive Venn Diagram.
Have students work individually or in small groups to write a poem, song, article, journal entry, or comic strip about the same topic. When all the pieces are completed, compile them in a book or create a bulletin board display.
The home of Reading Rainbow, with the mission to instill the love of reading & learning in children.
PBS offers a variety of resources for parents to promote literacy in young children. Resources are offered in both Spanish and English.
LeVar Burton to Educators: ‘I See You’
An interview on literacy with LeVar Burton
Since 1985, March has been filled with sound as music in our schools is celebrated around the nation. Sponsored by the National Association for Music Education, the event focuses the nation's attention on the need for and benefits of quality music education programs. Schools and community groups celebrate with creative activities and events, based on a designated theme. This year's theme is "Music Inspires"
American film and theater have many examples of musical works that have been adapted from a novel or other non-musical version. Explore the effects of music on a story by examining one example with your class.
- First, brainstorm a list of such works, which could include examples such as A Christmas Carol, Les Misérables, and numerous Disney films.
- Next, after reading a story, novel, or play (or viewing a non-musical version on film), have students view the musical version.
- Then, have students discuss the differences they observed between the two versions of the story. Were the characters, setting, and main events the same? In the musical version, what role did song lyrics play in telling the story? Do both versions seem equally dramatic (or funny, or sad, etc.)? Which version do students prefer? Why?
- Finally, have students select a text that you've read in class. They should imagine that they are a songwriter working on a musical adaptation of the story. They can work alone or in groups to write lyrics to one song. They can use the tune to a song they know or compose their own music. Students should be able to explain how this song would help tell the story and which character or characters sing the song. Students can perform their songs for the class or use the interactive CD/DVD Cover Creator to design a cover for the soundtrack. More tips are available for use with this tool.
This site, from NAfME, offers information about the history of Music in Our Schools Month, as well as suggested activities, and advocacy information.
The Kennedy Center's ARTSEDGE provides tools to develop interdisciplinary curricula that integrate the arts with other subjects. Their site offers free standards-based lessons and other student and professional development materials, including Perfect Pitch, an exploration of the orchestra.
This site from the National Arts Centre offers media-rich resources for kids and their teachers and parents related to music and orchestra, including an instrument lab and music library.