Classroom Activities
Activity Ideas for Grades K-3
- Introduce students to biographies of women in U.S. history. Read a story to the class about a significant 20th century American woman. Have student develop a diorama, make a mask, puppet or costume for one woman who is especially interesting and present it to the class. Arrange for a parent or volunteer to tell American women's stories throughout the school. As a language arts exercise, the student can ask the storyteller about the woman, transcribing her responses for class reports.
- Observe the birthdays of our foremothers throughout the years as we do our forefathers. Make special bulletin boards, art projects, films, stories, or decorate cakes to represent the life work of the birthday woman to add to the impact and sense of her importance.
- Have students design a quilt square using construction paper, representing an important event or accomplishment of an important woman. Invite other classes to do panels and hang them together as a colorful display.
- Create a special dinner party honoring women from history. Have each student decorate a paper plate and placemat in a way that represents a woman from history. Complete each setting with plastic utensils and a plastic cup.
Activity Ideas for Grades 4-6
- Invite a woman in a nontraditional job to talk to your class. In advance, have the students prepare interview questions to ask her about the training her job required, what got her interested in this work, what she especially likes about the work, what the drawbacks are, and what her future plans are for her working life. A guessing game to determine just what her work is in the first place could be fun.
- As we learn about the lives of women around us we can gain a greater understanding of these women and of the society around us, too. Brainstorm a list of questions your students would like to ask an aunt, their mother, or a good, female adult friend about her life. After the students state their questions, organize the list into topics and copy the questions for each student. Rehearse as a group how to conduct an interview and record answers correctly. Have each student write a biography about the woman they interview. Use their interviews to discuss the similarities and differences of the women's experiences.
- Create a Women's Hall of Fame, focusing on your own community or the entire the country or world. Have students look through the newspapers and magazines to find captioned photos about women's accomplishments and activities. Collect the photos for several weeks or months so there will be lots to choose from. Have students vote on their favorites, write captions for each, arrange them for display, and induct the women into your Hall of Fame.
- Develop a women's history timeline on a bulletin board. As students learn about women of the 20th century, have them note dates important in those women's lives. What was happening for women as a whole during those years? Note those dated events too. Copy photos of the women, the covers of books they wrote, places or items associated with their lives as illustrations.
- After reading biographies of women, stage a parade and program for the entire school. Help students develop simple costumes to represent their women and placards to carry stating their name, life dates and symbols of their accomplishments. The parade ends in the auditorium with each student introducing their Famous Woman.
Activity ideas for Grades 7-9
- List the things that should be put into a time capsule to tell people of the future about women's lives right now. What tools do women use for the work they do at home? What artifacts could represent women's paid employment opportunities? What would be considered typical clothing? Common sports involvements? Movies and television programs starring women? What changes do your students predict will come about for women in these areas during their own lifetimes?
- After reading biographies or histories about women in the US, have students write news releases for radio/television to report the facts. Don't forget to include a snappy headline or lead-in for the story, too.
- After students conduct the research, have them report to the class about their findings on women and work in other specific time periods.
Topics to consider: - The varied jobs done by women in the early colonies (include Native Americans, Europeans, African-Americans, and Hispanics).
- Immigrant women in the 19th century- where were they from, why did they come here, what did they do, what were the conditions of their lives?
- The lives of the Native American women of a tribe near your community.
- The work of migrant women, before and now.
- Mexican women of "The West", before and after Europeans arrived.
- Women workers in the textile and garment industries, from the 1850s to the present.
- Women's roles during the major war periods and after.
- Organize a poster design contest. Display the entries in a public area of the school site.
Topic ideas: - "Missing Persons" posters—individuals or groups of women whose contributions are often slighted in the telling of US history.
- "Women: Then and Now"—featuring the social, economic, political, and family changes in women's lives.
- "Did You Know...?"—introducing students' discoveries of interesting historic facts.
Activity Ideas for Grades 10-12
- Have students carefully examine the history text used in their schools, listing each women either mentioned in the index or illustrated by photo or drawing. How many women are represented? Why were these particular women included? Are women of different ethnicities portrayed? Contrast the findings with the textbook's treatment of men. Write to the publisher about these findings. Include recommendations of specific women to add to future editions and ask for their response.
- Brainstorm a list of questions your students would like to ask an aunt, their mother, or a good, female adult friend about her life. Help them organize their list into topics and develop an appropriate questionnaire. Guide the discussion toward including questions related to the impact of historic events on the woman's life, moves made by her family, family expectations for females and males, and attitudes about women's public lives. Discuss oral history interviewing strategies to avoid close-ended questions and different forms of biographies for reporting their findings. Use the stories to discuss the similarities and differences of the women's life experiences.
- Numerous bumper strip/button slogans have been associated with the women's movement. What have these messages meant? Who might agree or disagree with each? Are the issues represented new ones or have some had a long history?
Questions or comments? Please .