World War 2 Service Plaque Project on the Navajo Code Talkers, Tuskegee Airmen, Women, & Nisei Troops

This creative, fun activity for World and American History classes has students reading short, one page stories of minority groups that helped during World War II. These include one page each on:

1. The Navajo Code Talkers
2. The Tuskegee Airmen
3. Rosie the Riveter
4. The American Nisei Soldiers

Each page is simple and engaging for middle and high school age students, and is based on state and Common Core Standards for history. Students then use the information they read to create commemorative plaques that honor that group for their service. 

To differentiate in your classes, higher level students can read and complete all four. Lower-level readers can be placed in groups of 4, with each student reading a different story, completing a plaque, and then sharing his/her plaque with the others. English language learners or special education students can be placed in groups with all the same story to create a plaque together, and then present theirs to the rest of the class. 

As a final activity or for homework, there are 10 review questions in which students identify characteristics of each of the four minority groups. 

This is a fun activity for students to learn about some of the groups whose amazing bravery and contributions helped American through World War II. 

You can download this great World War 2 activity for your classes here. Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Complete Project Based Learning Packet for US History

This awesome packet for bringing Project Based Learning (PBL) in your US History classes will be  life-changing! PBL brings real world experiences into the classroom to make lessons more meaningful and engaging for students. It gives them choice in their learning while also delving deeper into a topic US History that matters to them.

This packet gives you everything you need to use project based learning for any unit in American History and includes 99 (yes, 99!) suggested topics for projects plus 25 ideas for real world projects. Your students will have the power of choice to investigate an authentic question in US History.

All of the following are included in this packet:

• 99 suggested topics for study throughout US History

• 25 suggested PBL project ideas based on Real World careers with descriptions of each plus tips on how to turn the career into a project

• Detailed teacher instructions on how to implement the projects, including ideas for differentiation 

• Student introduction pages that break down the project into 6 steps

• A project planning worksheet to help students through the project

• Rubrics for the project and for peer evaluation 

• A self-reflection worksheet for after the project

You'll immediately have everything you need to make learning come alive for students through Project Based Learning. Once you begin, you'll see that these are class-changing projects that you and the students will love!

You can download this Complete PBL Packet for US History here on TpT!

Also! This resource can be used for every unit in my subscription package to a complete US History curriculum. This provides you multiple engaging resources to use for every day of the school year. Not only will you get the Project Based Learning projects, but PowerPoints, interactive notebooks, Google Drive digital learning resources, review games, tests, and more! You can join and start downloading now!

Inventions of the Industrial Revolution Infomercial Group Project

This new fantastic cooperative learning project on major inventions and inventors of the Industrial Revolution will have your students engaged, having fun, and learning!

Included is a directions page on how to present a 1 minute infomercial to the class along with 7 one-page readings on different inventions of the industrial period. In groups students read about their assigned inventor/invention and plan their "infomercial".

As each group presents, other students fill out the included graphic organizer on the 7 inventions and inventors. An answer key for this is included along with a rubric for the infomercial presentation.

My students love this project and always come up with some hilarious pitches for these inventions that they remember the rest of the year! When I used it earlier this year, the students got so into it, we ended up needing a second class period to present all the "infomercials" because the students went into such great detail! It was an amazing couple of class periods!

You can download this lesson for your classes by clicking here!

Thanks for looking!

Historical Superhero Project

This amazing project can be implemented into any unit as a fun way for students to demonstrate their learning! Let your students show off their creativity in creating a superhero or supervillain out of a historical figure you have learned about.

My students have turned Harriet Tubman into "Moses the Great" and Henry Ford into the evil "Model-T Pain". Each superhero and villain must include abilities, weaknesses, and an origin story based off of things your students learned about these people.

Included in this download are a template for the project, official example and rubric, and 3 exemplary student examples. This makes for a great final project, review activity, or ongoing assignment. My students put a lot of thought and creativity into this and loved presenting their figure to the class!

Definitely a wonderful project for your students to demonstrate their learning!

You can download this lesson for your students by clicking here!