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CURRICULAR RESOURCES
Innovative lesson plans, activities, resources, and online exhibits feature archival materials to fit your classroom needs.
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- Grade: 6, 7, 8
- Curricular Standards: Massachusetts Framework - History and Social Science
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Showing 1 - 18 of 32 Results
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John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address inspired children and adults to see the importance of civic action and public service. The letter included in this activity, written by a third-grade student, is one of thousands housed at the Kennedy Presidential Library.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 3, 4, 5, 6
Time: 1-2 hours, 2-3 hours
This program introduces students to the importance of voting and the struggle for voting rights, past and present. Students examine primary source material -- documents, photographs, and video -- to learn about racial discrimination in voting during the Kennedy years and strategies that public officials, activists, and everyday citizens used to address it. The program also explores voting rights today and actions students can take to protect this “most powerful and precious right” for everyone.
Guided Programs
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour
This interactive picture book about cellist Pablo Casals's historic performance portrays the importance of the arts in the Kennedy White House, and the power of music to strengthen commitments to peace and freedom.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: The Arts, Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour
Students examine a Jacob Lawrence painting to explore the experiences of participants in the civil rights struggle during the 1950s and 1960s.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: The Arts, US History
Grade: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 0-1 hour
Kennedy challenged every American to contribute in some way to the public good. After analyzing the "ask what you can do" quote, students draw and write about their own contributions to their families and communities.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts
Grade: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Time: 1-2 hours
Students consider the impact of poll taxes as a barrier to voting by examining four primary sources.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Time: 1-2 hours
Students learn about gender discrimination in space exploration by analyzing a letter to President Kennedy from a female aviator training to be an astronaut.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours
Students can create their own campaign buttons to support a candidate or a cause of their choice.
Hands-On History Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour
By examining photographs of less well-known civil rights activists and learning how they used the tools of democracy to fight for justice and equality, students discover what led President Kennedy to deliver his Televised Address to the Nation on Civil Rights. In a final activity, students reflect on a local, national, or international issue of concern and identify a civic action they can take to help address it.
Guided Programs
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 3, 4, 5, 6
Time: 1-2 hours
Students conduct historical research on individual and collective efforts to achieve gender equality in the United States by reading and discussing a nonfiction picture book, analyzing an historical photograph, and researching and taking action on the current gender pay gap.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours
Students read, listen to, and summarize excerpts of President Kennedy's June 11, 1963 speech on civil rights. They reflect on its resonance today and create images of a better future.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours
Students learn about ancient symbols and ornamental and architectural elements to identify some symbols of American democracy in the White House as an introduction to the origins of common symbolic representations of the United States and its values.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: English Language Arts, US History, World History
Grade: 5, 6, 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour, 1-2 hours
Adapted from the longer lesson plan, "What if Laws are Unjust?", this activity asks students to consider young people’s rationales for participating in civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, and the risks and rewards of their inclusion.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 7, 8, 9, 10
Time: 1-2 hours
What makes a president an effective leader? This interactive program invites students to explore the challenges John F. Kennedy faced as the nation's leader during a tumultuous time in United States history. Through an analysis of objects, photographs, and documents from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, students will consider how the thirty-fifth president tackled complex issues such as civil rights, space exploration, and Cold War tensions.
Guided Programs
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 6, 7, 8
Time: 1-2 hours
Students use materials related to the 1960 presidential election to explore the elements of a successful political campaign.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Time: 1-2 hours
Adapted from the longer lesson plan "What if Laws are Unjust?", this activity asks students to analyze Dr. King’s discussion of when laws are unjust from his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, US History
Grade: 7, 8
Time: 0-1 hour
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts, US History
Grade: 4, 5, 6
Time: 1-2 hours
Using primary source materials, students investigate the use of metaphor in presidential oratory and apply it to a piece of persuasive writing on a current national or global issue.
Lesson Plans & Activities
Subject: Civics and US Government, English Language Arts
Grade: 7, 8
Time: 1-2 hours