For Teachers

To encourage use of Ohio Memory and Chronicling America, and other digital collections in the classroom, classroom activities, lesson plans and resource collections for educators and students have been developed.

Classroom Activities

And Now, The News! Exhibiting Inclusion at the 1939 World's Fair
  • Objective: In this activity, students will examine newspaper clippings from the Dayton Forum, an African-American newspaper available on Chronicling America, to explore the first African-American exhibit held at a World’s Fair in the United States. They will consider what role they had in creating the exhibit, what their intentions were, and what their participation at the World’s Fair can tell us about American race relations on the eve of World War II. This lesson plan may also serve as a jumping off point for National History Day and the 2021 contest theme of Communication in History: The Key to Understanding.
  • Audience: Grades 9-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 21. High School English Language Arts RH.6-12.6; RH.6-12-9; RI 7.1-8.1. High School Social and Emotional Learning Standards: B2; C1. 2.d; C3. 1.d; E1.
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing classroom activities.
  • Credit: This resource was created by staff of the Ohio History Connection for the National Digital Newspaper Program in Ohio, 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.
The Atomic Age: Support and Opposition to Atomic Weapons and Energy
  • Objective: In this activity, students will be introduced to the topic of the Atomic Age. During the period from 1945-1962, people all across the United States debated the topic of atomic energy and weapons. Many people supported their use, while others questioned their efficacy. Much of this debate played out in newspaper columns and editorial letters. In this Document Based Question activity, students will read excerpts from newspaper articles printed during this time period. Students will analyze these excerpts and use them as evidence in a final essay that argues for or against the use of atomic energy and/or weapons.
  • Audience: Grades 8-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History AMH.9-12.1; AMH.8-12.2; AMH.9-12.3; AMH.9-12.22; AMH.9-12.23; AMH.9-12.25; AMH.9-12.27. High School English Language Arts WHST.9-10.1; WHST.11-12.1.
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing classroom activities.
  • Credit: This resource was created by staff of the Ohio History Connection for the National Digital Newspaper Program in Ohio, 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.
Conservation in the First World War
  • Objective: This interactive classroom activity engages students with food conservation during the World War I by using primary source material from the World War I in Ohio Collection on Ohio Memory. This packet includes three activities using war posters, a newspaper bulletin, and rationing calendar with supplemental materials.
  • Audience: Grades 9-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 4, 15. High School Modern World History 4.
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing classroom activities.
  • Credit: 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: Personal Accounts of World War I
  • Objective: These interactive classroom activities teach students how to analyze primary sources by engaging them with diaries and scrapbooks 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. The A Soldier’s Experience activity connects students to the daily life of a soldier and two personal, first-hand accounts. Students can investigate the biases of public media and the dissemination of wartime news in the World War I from an American in Paris activity.
  • Audience: Grades 6-12
  • Standards Alignment: Literacy in History/Social Studies. Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. High School American History 1, 3, 14. High School Modern World History 1, 3, 13.
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing A Soldier’s Experience classroom activity.
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing World War I from an American in Paris activity.
  • Credit: 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.
Picture This: World War I on the Front Lines & the American Home Front
  • Objective: Learn more about World War I by doing what historians do—analyzing visual media! Students will learn how to examine and interpret visual materials produced during World War I, and will better understand the importance of visual culture as a primary source and a means of recording history. This recorded program, uses World War I era photographs, posters, and cartoons to practice the skills required to analyze and interpret images. Teachers can show the recorded program to the class to start the activity, and continue the lesson with students by using the program packet, which includes additional images, descriptions, and supplemental questions to engage students with the content and develop analytical skills. The program packet includes a teacher’s guide, student photograph analysis worksheet, teacher’s image guide, and student image worksheet and answer key.
  • Audience: Grades 7-12
  • Standards Alignment: Grades 7-8 Historical Thinking and Skills. High School American History 1, 3. High School Modern World History 1, 2.
  • Contents: Click to view recorded program on YouTube.
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing program packet.
  • Credit: 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.
Technology of the First World War
  • Objective: This interactive classroom activity engages students with technologies developed during World War I by using primary source material in the World War I in Ohio Collection on Ohio Memory. This packet includes four activities using soldier letters and newsletters.
  • Audience: Grades 9-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 8, 14. High School Modern World History 3, 8, 12. High School Contemporary World Issues 14, 15.
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing classroom activities.
  • Credit: 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.
To Strike or Not to Strike: A Worker's Choice During World War II
  • Objective:You can learn a lot about a time period from newspapers published at that time — anxieties, sources of entertainment, local and national events and more. A variety of publishers produced newspapers, each with their own point of view. This activity focuses on articles from newspapers published by labor unions during World War II in the 1940s.
  • Audience: Grades 9-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 21. High School American Government 14. High School Economics and Financial Literacy 7. Social and Emotional Learning Standards C1. 2.d; C4. 3.d; D3. 1.d.
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing classroom activities.
  • Credit: This resource was created by staff of the Ohio History Connection for the National Digital Newspaper Program in Ohio, 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.

Lesson Plans

The 1920s Ku Klux Klan from an Immigrant Perspective
External and Internal Perceptions of U.S. Immigrants
Research Skills: Finding and Evaluating Civil War Era Newspaper Articles

World War I

African American Soldiers Labor for Victory: African American World War I Troops
  • Objective: Introduce students to the role and contributions of African American World War I soldiers.
  • Audience: Grades 6-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 2, 4, 13, 15, 17
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing lesson plan, extension activity and additional resources.
  • Credit: 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.
Camp Sherman and the Mound City Earthworks: A Unique Story of Preservation
  • Objective: Introduce students to Camp Sherman, the Mound City Earthworks, and the challenges of preservation.
  • Audience: Grades 9-12; Grade 4 (Gifted)
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 1, 4, 18; Fourth Grade Social Studies 2, 3
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing lesson plan, extension activity and additional resources.
  • Credit: 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.
Captain Robert S. Marx: Decorated World War I Soldier & Founder of the Disabled American Veterans
  • Objective: Introduce students to veterans’ organizations and their connections to World War I.
  • Audience: Grades 6-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 1, 2, 4, 15, 16
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing lesson plan, extension activity and additional resources.
  • Credit: 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.
The German-American Experience During World War I
Ohio Companies Participate in World War I: ARMCO and Jeffrey Manufacturing "Go to War"
  • Objective: Illustrate connections between Ohio’s industrialization and World War I, including immigration and the role of corporations in the war effort.
  • Audience: Grades 6-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 2, 8, 10, 14
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing lesson plan, extension activity and additional resources.
  • Credit: 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.
Searching for Homer Lawson: African American World War I Combat Troops
  • Objective: Introduce students to the role and contributions of African American World War I soldiers.
  • Audience: Grades 6-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 1, 2, 4, 15, 17
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing lesson plan, extension activity and additional resources.
  • Credit: 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.
World War I Technology Impacts Ohio: United States Army Signal Corps
  • Objective: Illustrate connections between technology, Ohio, and World War I; the role of African Americans serving in the Signal Corps; and the growth and development of aviation.
  • Audience: Grades 6-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 2, 8, 10, 14, 15
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing lesson plan, extension activities and additional resources.
  • Credit: 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.

Resource Guides

"The First Modern War": Technology in World War I
  • Objective: This resource guide helps teachers to use World War I source material from the World War I in Ohio Collection on Ohio Memory in the classroom. The material included in this resource guide engages students with technologies developed during World War I that shaped the world after the war’s end.
  • Audience: Grades 9-12
  • Standards Alignment: High School American History 8, 14. High School Modern World History 3, 8, 12. Contemporary World Issues 14, 15.
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing resource guide and additional resources.
  • Credit: 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.
From Training to the Trenches: The World War I Soldier Experience
  • Objective: This resource guide helps teachers to use World War I source material from the World War I in Ohio Collection on Ohio Memory in the classroom. The material included in this resource guide engages students with the soldier experience from enlistment and training to service overseas.
  • Audience: Grades 6-12
  • Standards Alignment: Literacy in History/Social Studies. Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. High School American History 1, 3, 14. High School Modern World History 1, 3, 13.
  • Contents: Click to download PDF containing resource guide and additional resources.
  • Credit: 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.
'Will you have a part in Victory?': World War I and the American Home Front