Back to School: Building Community for Connection and Learning
These back-to-school activities and teacher resources will help you lay a foundation for a reflective and caring community at the start of the school year.
![Students move around the classroom in conversation with each other. One student looks directly into the camera with a smile on their face.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/LA_ClassroomImage_2018_FH287148.jpg?h=a141e9ea&itok=lbbZPe6H)
The Reconstruction Era Primary Sources
Enrich your teaching on the Reconstruction era with these primary source documents and images.
![Portraits superimposed on an image of the American flag](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_2022_FH2174814.png?h=8e4088dc&itok=zv81hdEs)
Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age
Help students become informed and effective civic participants in today's digital landscape. This unit is designed to develop students' critical thinking, news literacy, civic engagement, and social-emotional skills and competencies.
![Peaceful protestor speaks to police officer in Ferguson.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/2016_PoliceOfficerinFerguson_FH231304.jpg?h=f3a37c6e&itok=IhwjQkzh)
The Reconstruction Era 3-Week Unit
Teach a 3-week study of the Reconstruction era guided by the essential question "What can we learn from the history of Reconstruction as we work to strengthen democracy today?"
![Portrait of a family](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/service-pnp-ppmsc-00000-00057v_0.jpg?h=fba49d59&itok=n7irMmx4)
Dismantling Democracy
Students examine the steps the Nazis took to replace democracy with dictatorship and draw conclusions about the values and institutions that make democracy possible.
![Germans look on as the Reichstag building burns on February 27, 1933.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_1933_ReichstagFire_%20FH229429.jpg?h=40d6a7d7&itok=PBcAxqXk)
World War: Choices and Consequences
Investigate how World War I heightened divisions between “we” and “they” among people and nations and left behind fertile ground for Nazi Germany in the following decades.
![Painting title Gassed by John Singer Sargent. Shows World War I soldiers with bandaged eyes being led by other soldiers. Many dead and injured soldiers laying at the base of the painting.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Ch3_Image05_Medium_res.jpg?h=fe25bc16&itok=_3yOA5E-)
Do You Take the Oath?
Students consider the choices and reasoning of individual Germans who stayed quiet or spoke up during the first few years of Nazi rule.
![German military recruits swear allegiance to Adolf Hitler.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_SwearingAllegianceToHitler_FH229433.jpg?h=827069f2&itok=8JL6O5JQ)
European Jewish Life before World War II
Students analyze images and film that convey the richness of Jewish life across Europe at the time of the Nazis’ ascension to power.
![Shabbtai (Shepske) Sonenson takes one of the shtetl's Hebrew teachers for a ride on his new motorcycle.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_1941_ShabbtaiSonensonOnMotorcycle_FH2115443.jpg?h=d392e916&itok=DmuRlDw6)
Exploring Identity
Students identify the social and cultural factors that help shape our identities by analyzing firsthand reflections and creating personal identity charts.
![Hands raised in the air by group of people](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_GroupBelonging_FH229369.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=O6H7UmzG)
The Weimar Republic: The Fragility of Democracy
Explore the efforts to build a democracy in Germany in the 1920s, and examine the misunderstandings, myths, and fears that often undercut those efforts.
![In addition to his depictions of World War I, Otto Dix was also known for his ruthless criticism of German society during the Weimar years.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Ch04_Image05_Medium_res.jpg?h=92903f94&itok=hFi7XgsO)
The Holocaust: Bearing Witness
Students are introduced to the enormity of the crimes committed during the Holocaust and look closely at stories of a few individuals who were targeted by Nazi brutality.
![A crowd of women and children, some with Stars of David patches on their clothing.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Ch09_Image02.jpg?h=991b0af6&itok=WRPl5J8e)