Skip to Main Content

Multicultural Education Resources: Lesson Plans and Teaching Activities

Professional resources related to multicultural education in Grades Pre-K-12.

Lesson Plans and Teaching Activities

Addressing the December Dilemma in Schools
Tanenbaum and Teaching Tolerance presented a joint webinar about how schools can respectfully work with the various religious traditions represented in their community. This links to the webinar (registration required) and a follow-up packet that focuses on how to promote inclusion in lessons and activities throughout the year.
Grades: PreK - 12
Charlottesville Roundup: Lessons to Use in Your Classroom Today
After the violence in Charlottesville, VA in August 2017, Teaching Tolerance, Facing History and Ourselves, the Anti-Defamation League and other anti-bias organization joined together to produce a webinar and other classroom resources to assist teachers in fighting discrimination.
Grades: K - 12
Circle of Stories
This documentary series from PBS focuses on the rich oral history tradition of Native American cultures. This website includes several lesson plans that correspond with the series, and can be incorporated into the subject areas such as language arts, theater, history, social studies, multicultural studies, technology, and life science.
Grades: 6 - 12
Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education
Developed by Teaching Tolerance (A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center) this downloadable PDF provides strategies for anti-bias education that supports relationship building and social-emotional learning. Includes Standards for Anti-Bias Education K-12.
Grades: K - 12
Election 2016 Resources
Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, compiled this list of resources for Countering Bias, Civic Activities, Getting Along, How To (handle the Presidential Election) and Election Sites.
Grades: K - 12
GLOBE Program
GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) is a hands-on, inquiry-based science program. Many resources are provided to help teachers participate in the many GLOBE data collection projects. The website can be translated to French, Spanish, German and Russian.
Grades: K - 12
iEARN, International Education and Resource Network
Using the theme, Learning with the world, not just about it, iEARN helps teachers and students from over 140 countries work together. Use the Project Collaboration Centre link to identify projects, find project partners, or join a teacher or youth forum. Search Impact for testimonials about projects. Available in over 80 languages.
Grades: K - 12
Learning for Justice
A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center the Teaching Tolerance website provides resources and support for reducing prejudice and encouraging respect for differences in schools. Resources include free video kits, an online magazine, a blog of news items, sample lesson plans and teaching activities.
Grades: PreK - 12
National Geographic Education
Covering a variety of subject areas National Geographic Education tries to inspire the spirit of adventure. Videos, games, lesson plans, unit plans and other learning activities are searchable by grade level and subject area.
Grades: K - 12
National Museum of the American Indian: Online Collections Search
This webpage from the National Museum of the American Indian includes a sample of the museum's object and historic photo collections. The webpage notes that "Records for many objects include their original catalog cards, which often date to the early 1900's. These cards may include tribal names and terminology considered unacceptable or offensive today, but they have been included to illustrate the information that originally accompanied the objects."
Grades: 6 - 12
Native Knowledge 360
Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) provides educators and students with new perspectives on Native American history and cultures by incorporating Native narratives. Searchable by academic subject, nation, region, grade level and format of resources NK360° provides lesson plans that speak to the past as well as Native peoples and cultures today. This project of the National Museum of the American Indian links all lessons to the Common Core and the Standards of the National Council for the Social Studies.
Grades: PreK - 12
Native Knowledge 360
A project of the National Museum of the American Indian (part of the Smithsonian) this website provides resources that teach about Native American history and cultures from the Native American perspective. Lesson plans and units of study can be searched by subject, grade level, geographic region and/or tribal nation. It provides insight into that past as well as the life of Native peoples today.
Grades: PreK - 12
Read to Feed: Heifer International
Using the "teach a man to fish" philosophy Heifer International has been working to end hunger and poverty since 1944. Available in both English and Spanish "Read to Feed" is a collection of lesson plans that focus primarily on the environment and world cultures while also integrating language arts, mathematics and the arts. The Global Study Guides are written for middle school through high school.
Grades: PreK - 12
Smithsonian Folkways
This resource from Smithsonian Folkways, the nonprofit recording label of the Smithsonian, provides educators with music-based lesson plans for cultures around the world. The website is divided by region. The lesson plans can be downloaded as PDF's.
Grades: K - 12
Teaching Thanksgiving in a Socially Responsible Way
This article from Teaching Tolerance identifies resources that teach about Thanksgiving in a fashion that is respectful of the Native American perspective.
Grades: K - 12
Welcoming Schools
A project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Welcoming Schools provides resources to help schools provide a welcoming environment for all types of families, discourage gender stereotyping, and prevent bullying and name calling. Resources include lesson plans, links to other websites and resources, bibliographies, and handouts.
Grades: K - 6
What Schools Need to Know about Islamophobia
Colorin Colorado, a website dedicated to supporting English language learners, has compiled a list of resources about Islamophobia in its many forms. It includes articles, lesson plans, teaching activities, booklists, author interviews and more.
Grades: PreK - 12