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About LEARN NC
LEARN NC, a program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School of Education,
finds the most innovative and successful practices in K–12 education and makes them available to the teachers
and students of North Carolina — and the world.
NC ECHO Lesson Plans
Lesson plans developed through workshops with NC ECHO (North Carolina Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) and its partner organizations.
Records 1–20 of 121 displayed: go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
- 1869: A report on schools in North Carolina
- In this lesson, students use a guided reading to look at a report on the status of education in North Carolina in 1869, and discuss the reasons given then for why the Governor and Legislature should support educating North Carolina's children. They are provided an opportunity to compare and contrast the 1869 document against their own ideas about the civic duty to attend school through age sixteen, and its relative value to the state and the country.
- Author: Victoria Schaefer
- Format: lesson plan (grade 10)
- The African American Experience in NC after Reconstruction
- The documents included in this lesson come from The North Carolina Experience collection of Documenting the American South and specifically focus on African Americans and race relations in the early 20th century. The lesson juxtaposes accounts that relate to both the positive improvements of black society and arguments against advancement. Combined, these primary sources and the accompanying lesson plan could be used as a Document Based Question (DBQ) in an advanced US history or African American history course.
- Author: Meghan Mcglinn
- Format: lesson plan (grades 11–12)
- African Masks (Pre-Visit)
- This lesson will observe and describe several masks from different parts of Africa housed in the Smithsonian Institute (National Museum of African Art) Washington, D.C. Students will use the internet to view the Smithsonian's virtual exhibits. There are two lessons to follow this pre-visit. In the first, the students will explore African masks at the Ackland Art museum in Chapel Hill. In a culminating activity the students will make their own masks with some personal materials brought from home. (Post-visit activity)
- Author: Debra Johnson-Morse
- Format: lesson plan (grade 2)
- And justice for all: the Trail of Tears, Mexican deportation, and Japanese internment
- Many textbooks mention the Trail of Tears, but fail to mention that this early displacement of an ethnic minority is only the one of many legally-sanctioned forced relocations. This lesson will address the displacement of American Indians through the Trail of Tears, the forced deportation of Mexican Americans during the Great Depression, and the internment of Japanese American citizens during WWII.
- Author: Patricia Camp
- Format: lesson plan (grades 8, 11–12)
- Asian action I: Character details
- Students will use drawing and writing to study characters in Asian art, focusing on the potential stories hinted at by the many details depicted in the art examples. This lesson draws on the richly detailed and expressive human and animal characters depicted in the arts of Asia. Is there a reason why Durga has so many arms? What about Ganesha and that elephant head?
- Author: Brian Fricks
- Format: lesson plan (grades K–2)
- Blackbeard: The Most Feared Pirate of the Atlantic
- Students will acquire information about Blackbeard through primary resources and apply their knowledge to create a newspaper article concerning his life.
- Author: Carol Holden and Tanya Klanert
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Bouncing bubbles
- Students will listen to Bubbles Bubbles by Mercer Mayer and a bubble poem before exploring the joys of bubble blowing. Students will observe bubbles, discuss their observations and create illustrations and stories to share.
- Author: Karen Rice
- Format: lesson plan (grade K)
- Change in a Democratic Society, Lesson 1 of 3
- This lesson will demonstrate how art can imitate society. Students will learn about democracy in America through an examination of and a Paideia seminar on "The Sword of Damocles," an oil painting by British painter Richard Westall. This lesson should be used after a study of colonial times in America and through the American Revolution.
- Author: Sharyn West
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8)
- Changes in a Democratic Society, Lesson 2 of 3
- This lesson is the post seminar activity to the Changes in a Democratic Society, Lesson 1 of 3. Students will participate in tiered assignments reflecting on the Westall painting, "The Sword of Damocles," and the prior day's Paideia seminar on that painting.
- Author: Sharyn West
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8)
- Changes in a Democratic Society, Lesson 3 of 3
- This lesson is a follow-up lesson to the Changes in a Democratic Society, Lessons 1 and 2 of 3. Students will reflect upon and respond to a sculpture by Auguste Rodin, "Monument for the Defense of Paris." Permission has been granted by Ackland Art Museum to use the following sculptures: "Monument for the Defense of Paris" (Auguste Rodin) and "Wisdom Supporting Liberty" (Aime-Jules Dalou).
- Author: Karen Wagoner
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8)
- Cherokee Relocation
- Using primary sources from the Documenting the American South collection, students will investigate the boundaries of the Cherokee lands set for North Carolina after the Revolutionary War.
- Author: Donna Hernandez
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8)
- Child Labor in Cotton Mills of the Early 20th Century
- This lesson will provide students with a look into mill life and child labor in the South in the early 20th century, as part of the story of American industrialization. Students will examine a poster from a mill village as a focus and review activity and students will read a document calling for an end to child labor in Southern cotton mills, especially focusing on ending the employment of females under 14 years of age.
- Author: John Schaefer and Victoria Schaefer
- Format: lesson plan (grades 11–12)
- A Comprehensive Study of North Carolina Indian Tribes
- Students will apply their research skills of gathering and validating information to study the eight state recognized American Indian tribes of North Carolina in order to create an Honors U.S. History Project. Students then will create a comprehensive study of those tribes to be compiled into a notebook to be copied and shared with the eighth grade teachers of North Carolina History in our county.
- Author: Wanda Taylor
- Format: lesson plan (grades 11–12)
- Confederate Currency: An Inflation Simulation
- Using primary sources from the Documenting the American South collection, this lesson provides a brief simulation of inflation during the Civil War while introducing students to issues faced on the home front.
- Author: Lewis Nelson
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8)
- Confirming and visualizing Lewis Dot Structures
- With this activity, students can calculate and visualize the atomic and molecular structures of bonds and lone pairs in the molecule methanol (methyl alcohol, CH3OH).
- Author: Bob Gotwals
- Format: lesson plan (grades 9–12)
- Critical Inquiry of Propaganda Posters from World War I
- Students will examine posters from World War I to determine the use of propaganda. The posters reflect economics, patriotism, environmental issues, recruitment, fear, and investment. The primary sources, found in Documenting the American South (UNC-CH Libraries), provides a wide array of posters.
- Author: Paulette Scott
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8)
- Describing Japanese screens and scrolls through images
- The second part of a larger unit on talking and writing about, as well as creating, Japanese screen and scroll paintings. The purpose of this unit plan is to introduce descriptive aspects of art criticism, while teaching the art and culture of Japan. Students create illustrations of classmates' descriptions of Japanese screens or scrolls.
- Author: Michelle Harrell
- Format: lesson plan (grades 9–12)
- Describing Japanese screens and scrolls through words
- The first part of a unit on talking and writing about, as well as creating, Japanese screen and scroll paintings. The purpose of this unit plan is to introduce descriptive aspects of art criticism, while teaching appreciation for the art and culture of Japan. Students use observation and descriptive writing to discover richly detailed Japanese screen and scroll paintings so that another student can illustrate it in the next lesson.
- Author: Michelle Harrell
- Format: lesson plan (grades 9–12)
- Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier
- Students read the account of a private from Charlotte who served in the Civil War and grew tired of only hearing about the war from the perspectives of officers. After reading his experiences as a “man behind the gun” students will write their own point-of-view piece. They also have the opportunity to read other diary accounts from the war available through Documenting the American South.
- Author: Meghan Mcglinn
- Format: lesson plan (grade 8)
- Do Not Touch!
- This lesson focuses on the reason for the "hands off" policy in art museums.
- Author: Darlene Ryan1
- Format: lesson plan (grade 7)