Activities & Lesson Plans

Captain Robert S. Marx (WWI)

How much do you know about Veterans’ organizations and their connections with WWI? You will learn a lot from these images and readings!

This lesson plan was written by Paul LaRue. A retired thirty-year high school social studies teacher, Paul has received numerous state and national teaching awards. He serves as a member of the Ohio World War I Centennial Committee.

Collect and Connect

Understand how individuals and communities experienced the events in history by recording oral histories! Learn how to conduct an interview and connect to the people around you.

Conservation in the First World War

These war posters and newspapers clippings will show you the importance of food conservation in war times.

This resource was created by staff of the Ohio History Connection for Little Stories of the Great War: Ohioans in World War I, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Resources are provided for free and are available for non-commercial use and reuse with attribution to the Ohio History Connection.

Crafting Through the Ages: Quilting

Join our curator Becky to see how quilting has changed over time and what intricate designs were created. After viewing the video, check out the activity A Patchwork History to learn more about how historians use quilts to learn about the past, and get creative with quilt coloring and design!

Crafting with Geometry

Learn about geometrical symmetry and how quilters use it to create intricate and interesting designs! Put your skills to the test and design and color quilts using translational, reflective and rotational symmetry!

Deciphering the Past Through Photographs

This activity, featured on our blog, guides students through interpreting and analyzing historical photographs to answer the question “What was school like in the early 1900s?”. Students will answer questions about the photographs, then view them on Ohio Memory to see if they were right! Students will put their new skills to the test by analyzing old photos that they can find at home in scrapbooks or yearbooks (or that shoebox that is somewhere up in the attic…). After finding those old photos, families should check out this blog post about preserving your family’s past!

Diaries as Historic Documents- A Soldier’s Experience

Using diaries and scrapbooks to learn about historical events is interesting and fun. Learn how to analyze these primary sources composed by men and women abroad during World War I, all of which are freely available in their entirety in the World War I in Ohio Collection on Ohio Memory. A Soldier’s Experience activity connects students to the daily life of a soldier and two personal, first-hand accounts!

This resource was created by staff of the Ohio History Connection for Little Stories of the Great War: Ohioans in World War I, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Resources are provided for free and are available for non-commercial use and reuse with attribution to the Ohio History Connection.

Diaries as Historic Documents- WWI in Paris

Using diaries and scrapbooks to learn about historical events is interesting and fun. Learn how to analyze these primary sources composed by men and women abroad during World War I, all of which are freely available in their entirety in the World War I in Ohio Collection on Ohio Memory. An American in Paris activity will allow you to investigate the biases of public media and the dissemination or wartime news!

This resource was created by staff of the Ohio History Connection for Little Stories of the Great War: Ohioans in World War I, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Resources are provided for free and are available for non-commercial use and reuse with attribution to the Ohio History Connection.

External and Internal Perceptions of U.S. Immigrants- Lesson 1

Check out Chronicling America

and find out how to search this website to find evidence of the past, detect biases in newspaper articles and place current immigration issues in a historical context. In this activity you will access Polish-American newspapers and find out how they reacted to President William McKinley’s assassination!

This resource was created by the Ohio History Connection for the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership of the National Endowment for the Humanities and Library of Congress. They are provided for free and are available for non-commercial use and reuse with attribution to the Ohio History Connection.

External and Internal Perceptions of U.S. Immigrants- Lesson 2

Check out Chronicling America

and find out how to search this website to find evidence of the past, detect biases in newspaper articles and place current immigration issues in a historical context. In this activity you will access Polish-American newspapers to better understand the immigrant experience in the 19^th-20^th centuries!

This resource was created by the Ohio History Connection for the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership of the National Endowment for the Humanities and Library of Congress. They are provided for free and are available for non-commercial use and reuse with attribution to the Ohio History Connection.