Ken

This video segment from Wide Angle features Ken, a third grade student in Japan.

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Abraham Lincoln: A Good Man? or A Good Man!

In this lesson, students use video from American Masters: Bill T. Jones: A Good Man along with primary sources to investigate the life of Lincoln and write a one page argument essay on whether Lincoln was "a good man."

Agony of Defeat

Students are asked to explain how forces and motion affect the skier in the film.

American Stories: Teens and Immigration

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students explore the experience of four teen immigrants to the United States.

Analyzing and Comparing Perspectives on Issues - Gorillas

Students compare and contrast their perspectives on raising gorillas in captivity with their peers and with scientists. They summarize their perspectives and the perspectives of others.

Analyzing an Issue From Three Perspectives - Smoking in Public Places

Students note various perspectives on the debate about smoking in public places in NYC and create an interview to research the perspectives of peers and community members. They write a report to present their findings and opinion on the issue.

Baseball and Social Change: The Story of Roberto Clemente

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students explore how a culture changes as new groups of people enter it, focusing on the experiences of baseball player Roberto Clemente and the influence of Latino culture in the United States.

Bees

In this video segment from WILD TV, learn about bees and the different techniques for handling them.  

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Building the Erie Canal

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students look at how the construction of the Erie Canal brought about major changes within United States, particularly in New York City, upstate New York, and the Midwest.

Building the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn about the pyramids of ancient Egypt, the pyramids' role in Egyptian society, and historians' theories about how the Egyptians were able to build these massive structures.

Bullying

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students think about the impact of bullying on individuals' rights in a democratic society.

Cancer - A New Treatment

In this segment from Curious, Mark Davis is motivated to develop a new, less debilitating treatment for his wife's cancer.

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Cats - Yesterday and Today

In this video segment from Nature, discover the various roles the cat has played in our history.

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A Character's Perspective - Colonial House

Students watch a video segment that shows the reactions of colonists and native people when they encounter one another for the first time during a colony settlement reenactment. Students then select a character and write a letter from that character’s point of view that describes the meeting.

Character Change: The Diary of Anne Frank

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students examine how Anne Frank's character changed while she was in hiding from the Nazis in World War II.

Character Conflict: Language Immersion

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students explore conflict as a plot device through the story of Moises, a fictional young immigrant to the United States.

Character Development: Cancer - A New Treatment

Students will answer questions about what motivated chemical engineer Mark Davis to search for a better treatment for his wife's cancer. They then complete a journal entry in which they compare his motivations and goals to those they’ve established for themselves.

Character Motivation - Sapelo Island Culture

Students write a poem (using simile and flashback) about the culture of Sapelo Island. They read their poems for an audience.

City Horses Part II

In this video segment from Wild TV, riders discuss the benefits of coming to the Cedar Lane Stables in New York City.

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Collecting and Organizing Facts From Multiple Sources - Flowering Plants

Students take notes on two videos about flowering plants and organize the information to write a cohesive essay about the topic.

The Columbian Exchange

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students explore the movement of plants, animals, and diseases that characterized the Columbian Exchange and learn how it changed the world.

Conflict Over Western Lands

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students explore how the differing worldviews of white settlers and Native Americans led to conflicts over land when Americans surged westward in the 1860s.

Connections Between Texts - Maya Lin and Jane Jacobs

Students write and perform a Readers’ Theater script in which two characters, Maya Lin and Jane Jacobs, talk to each other about their ideas about architecture and life.

Connections to Personal Experiences - Bees? Yikes!

Students make connections between a video about bees and their own personal experiences through a poem written for two voices.

Continental Drift: What's the Big Idea?

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn how the theory that explains the position of Earth's continents was established and later modified, and gain important insights into how science and the scientific community operate.

Designing a Poster to Communicate Information: Yellowstone National Park

While watching a short video segment about Yellowstone National Park, students take notes they later use to create an interesting and infomative poster.

A Different Kind of Fuel

In this segment from Curious, learn about creating energy from solar rays to meet the growing energy needs of the world.

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The Dogon and the Dama

n this video segment from Africa, learn about the Dama, a rare event and rite of passage for the Dogon in Mali.

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Domesticated Pigeons

This video segment from WILD TV features a man who raises pigeons as a hobby.

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Drawing Conclusions - Miss Navajo

Students watch a video documenting the Navajo language portion of the Miss Navajo Nation beauty contest, determine the main responsibilities of the winner of Miss Navajo Nation and complete graphic organizers to write paragraphs that highlight these details and explain their inferences.

Energy Transfer in a Roller Coaster

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students examine energy forms in moving objects and discover how changes from one form to another move cars through a roller coaster ride.

Fact and Opinion: Parents, Teens, and Texting

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students explore the debate between parents and teens over texting and interpret facts to form and support their opinions.

The Facts About Concussions

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students explore brain injuries called concussions: what they are, how they occur, the challenges in diagnosing them, and ways to protect yourself from them.

Florida's Everglades: The River of Grass

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn about the unique environment of southern Florida's Everglades and gain insights into the interrelatedness of living things, nonliving things, and climate.

Following Directions - Ndakinna Wilderness Project

Students create a diagram with captions and a drawing to communicate information about camouflaging.

Forces of Gravity and Air Resistance

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn how the forces of gravity and air resistance affect the motion of falling objects.

Forming an Opinion with Organizational Elements - Cats, Yesterday and Today

Students use a graphic organizer to list facts about the role of cats throughout history. They then write a paragraph stating an informed opinion about cats' most important role.

From Slavery to Freedom in Colonial Times

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students examine the life of Venture Smith, an African man enslaved in America, to learn about the experiences of enslaved and free African Americans in the New England colonies.

Gorillas

Learn about the lives of gorillas born in captivity in this video segment from Nature.

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How Different Authors Treat Similar Themes - Elephants of Africa

Students take notes of the details of two different documentaries on similar themes. They use their notes to write a script and devise storyboards for their own documentary about elephants.

Identifying Cultural Influences - City Horses

Students determine how culture influences a group of people’s involvement with horses and write a story in response to the video.

Identifying Important and Unimportant Details - An Ornithologist's Job

Students distinguish between important and unimportant details and, acting as news reporters, write an article about the job of an ornithologist.

Identifying Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives - Dogs That Changed the World

Students identify social, cultural, and historical perspectives regarding the importance of dogs in the past and present. They write and illustrate list poems that incorporate each perspective.

Identifying the Social and Cultural Context of a Period - The New Negro and the Harlem Renaissance

Students write an essay summarizing the social and cultural changes in African American life and attitudes during the Harlem Renaissance.

The Importance of Setting to a Story - Pesky Critters

Students take notes on a video segment and write an essay detailing how setting (time, place and environment) influence a story.

Kids Care

In this video segment from Zoom, students in the Kids Care Club prepare “Bags of Love” for mothers and children.

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Making Predictions - The Injured Otter

Students watch a video segment that shows a young injured otter’s attempts to locate his missing family. Then they predict what happens next and then write a narrative account of these events from three possible points of view: the injured otter, the filmmaker or an animal behaviorist.

Migrant Mother: Documenting American Life in the 1930s Through Photography

In this lesson students are introduced to Dorothea Lange and learn how she used documentary photography to illustrate the social and economic conditions facing Americans during the Great Depression.

Nanavi 2006

This Wide Angle video segment features Nanavi, a 12-year old girl who struggles to stay in school.

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Ndakinna Wilderness Project

In this video segment from WILD TV, a guide describes how to camouflage a person’s body to avoid being detected in the wilderness.

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