The Civil Rights Movement & Black History Month
Explore the Civil Rights Movement and Black History Month with these FREE Educational Resources–all aligned to NY State Academic Standards.
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Elementary School
Underground Railroad Codes
In this unit, students will listen to and sing several African-American spirituals and learn about the Underground Railroad on a website by National Geographic. They will use the internet to complete a web worksheet about code words and phrases in spirituals.
Related NY State Academic Standards: ARTS.M.E.4.1.C, MST5.E.CT3.2, SS.E.1.2B, and more!
Middle School
The Civil Rights Movement
In this lesson plan, students will understand the following:
- Beyond the famous leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, ordinary men and women struggled for their beliefs.
- All the participants—famous and not so famous—deserve to have their stories told.
- Older people have a responsibility to pass on these stories to younger people.
Related NY State Academic Standards: SS.E.1, SS.E.1.1, SS.E.1.2, and more!
High School
“Now This is a Contender, Allow Me to Prove It”
In this lesson plan, students will:
- Learn the proper definition of the word contender as they define the word using a credible dictionary and read excerpts on contenders.
- Share their research as they write a one page proposal supporting the fact that the person that they selected is a contender and should have a United States Postal Stamp in their honor.
- Create a creative postal stamp, using the stamp template that they are given, to commemorate the person that they deem to be a contender!
Related NY State Academic Standards: RL.9-10.11.b, R.CCR.11, ELA.10.R.1.A, and more!
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