One of our big projects this year has been revising and enhancing ODNP lesson plans to align with Oregon Common Core State Standards. Thanks to the excellent work of Erin Choi, recent graduate from the University of Oregon’s UOTeach Master’s Program, these new lesson plans are now available for use in K-12 classrooms! Erin began her work as a graduate student and student teacher in October 2014, focusing on topics in Oregon history and American history, incorporating primary source content from newspapers found in the ODNP’s Historic Oregon Newspapers online and the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America website, and aligning lesson plans with Common Core standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and Social Sciences.

The new lesson plans are targeted at Grade 4 ELA standards and Grade 4 Social Sciences standards for Oregon History topics, and Grades 6-8 ELA standards and Grades 6-8 Social Sciences standards for American History. However, all of the lesson plans can be adapted to any grade level, allowing K-12 educators to either utilize the plans as they come, or insert relevant articles and activity ideas into their existing lessons.

Check out our new K-12 Resources page for links to applicable Oregon Common Core State Standards and ODNP lesson plans, as well as additional resources from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Library of Congress, and the University of Illinois.

List of ODNP K-12 Lesson Plans:

• Abigail Scott Duniway and Women’s Suffrage
• Advertising through the Ages
• Beaver Myth
• Bounty of the Sea: Salmon in Oregon
• Douglas Fir Tree: Figurative Language
• Intro to Speleology: Three Great Caves of Oregon
• John McLoughlin: Context Clues
• Oregon’s First People: Native American Barter and Exchange
• Oregon’s First Resource Industry: Fur Trade and Beaver Ecology in the Beaver State
• Playing with Comics
• Lewis and Clark: The Voyage of Discovery
• The Oregon Trail and Pioneer History
• Constitutional Convention, Part 1: Role Play
• Constitutional Convention, Part 2: Who Really Won?
• Constitutional Convention, Part 3: Reading the Federalist Papers
• Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act, Part 1
• Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act, Part 2
• Lincoln and the Slaves
• Reconstruction
• Coming to America, Coming to Oregon
• Public Opinion and News Reporting
• Timber! Oregon’s Economy and Environment
• Willamette Meteorite

The lesson plans were designed for commenting by K-12 educators – please feel free to add comments to each, as well as any additional relevant resources or newspaper links that others might find useful.

Special thanks to:

• David Parker, graduate student in the UOTeach program, for initial research on American History topics
• Jason Stone, former ODNP Project Manager, for developing initial ODNP lesson plans in 2010
• Gina Murrell, ODNP Project Coordinator, for editing and proof-reading