How can I get my students even more engaged during our trip to Philadelphia?

Philadelphia is the perfect place to explore science, American history, and art in more depth.

Many of the sites that you will visit in Philadelphia have developed lesson plans aligning with national standards. Provide a deeper appreciation for the places you will visit by exploring a focus topic in the classroom prior to the trip.

Philadelphia Lesson   Plans

National Constitution Center, Lesson Plan Topics Include: 

  1. Getting to Know the Founding Fathers
  2. The Founders’ Library: Thinking as a Founding Father
  3. To Sign or Not to Sign: The Ultimate Constitution Day Lesson Plan
  4. The Declaration, The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights
  5. Separation of Powers
  6. Investigating the Departments of the Executive Branch
  7. Bill of Rights
  8. First Amendment – Overview
  9. First Amendment – Speech
  10. What Can I Say in School? An Examination of Students’ Freedom of Speech
  11. First Amendment – Freedom of the Press
  12. First Amendment – Establishment Clause
  13. First Amendment – Assembly and Petition
  14. Perseverance and the First Amendment
  15. Respecting Freedom of Speech
  16. Interactive Constitution: Second Amendment
  17. Fourth Amendment – Search and Seizure
  18. Interactive Constitution: Eighth Amendment
  19. Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War
  20. Breaking Barriers
  21. The History of Memorial Day
  22. The History of Flag Day
  23. Rule of Law: High School Level
  24. War Making: Executive and Legislative Powers
  25. Art of the American Soldier: Stories from the Soldiers
  26. Landmark Court Case: Scott v. Sandford
  27. We the School
  28. The Constitution Happened Here
  29. AP US Government and Politics Lessons from College Board
  30. Living News Classroom Teaching Materials
  31. Living News Classroom Tool Kit

National Constitution Center, Activities Include:

  1. I Have a Dream Mobiles
  2. Amendment Cootie Catchers
  3. American Flag Pinwheels
  4. Ben Franklin Kites
  5. Bill of Rights Bingo
  6. Brown vs. Board of Education Word Puzzle
  7. Cipher Wheel
  8. Constitution Word Puzzle
  9. Design Your Own Dollar Bill
  10. Founding Fathers Word Puzzle
  11. Preamble Scramble

Eastern State Penitentiary,  Lesson Plan Topics Include: 

  1. Lesson Plan 1: 1820-1900
  2. Lesson Plan 2: 1890-1930
  3. Living at Eastern State Penitentiary
  4. Post-Visit Activities

The Franklin Institute Educator Exhibition Guides, Topics Include: 

  1. Your Brain
  2. SportsZone
  3. Amazing Machines

Independence Seaport Museum Lesson Plans, Topics Include:

  1. River Alive

The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Lesson Plans, Topics Include:

  1. Healing Black Soldiers
  2. Trying to Cure Cowardice
  3. “Please Don’t Cut Off my Leg?”
  4. Bodies Broken by Bullets
  5. Recruiting Healthy Bodies
  6. Evacuating the Wounded
  7. Navigating the Medical World of Men
  8. Creating a Healthy Camp
  9. Sick Call
  10. Preserving the Horse Power of the Army

Philadelphia Museum of Art Lesson Plans, Topics Include:

Mathematics Lesson Plans

  1. 100 Patch Geometric Quilts
  2. Art and the Golden Rectangle
  3. Common Core Math And Islamic Art
  4. The Measure of a Person: Formulating Human Proportions
  5. Symmetry and Balance in Art and Math
  6. Thinking Tools for Innovators: Part 1 – Observing
  7. Thinking Tools for Innovators: Part 2 – Imagining
  8. Thinking Tools for Innovators: Part 3 – Abstracting
  9. Thinking Tools for Innovators: Part 4 – Recognizing Patterns
  10. Thinking Tools for Innovators: Part 5 – Forming Patterns

Science Lesson Plans

  1. Do we control Nature, or does Nature control us?
  2. Is there art in nature? What is the nature of art?
  3. Medical Science on Canvas – The Gross Clinic
  4. Picturing America Lesson 3 – For the Birds
  5. Podcasting: Writing Your Way Into Art

Social Studies Lesson Plans

  1. All Aboard! Railroad Transportation – Locomotive Briar Cliff
  2. Learning from Primary Sources
  3. Moving from an Agricultural to an Industrial World
  4. Picturing America Lesson 1 – The Power of Women: Art with a Social Agenda
  5. Picturing America Lesson 4 – Exploring Identity
  6. Picturing America Lesson 5 – Franklin: The Man, the Myth, the Legend
  7. Picturing America Lesson 6 – African American Journeys
  8. Picturing America Lesson 9 – The Artist’s Vision: Abstraction and the American West
  9. The Power of Women: Art with a Social Agenda
  10. Thinking about Form and Function in Renaissance Armor
  11. What do Primary Sources Tell us About Lifestyles? (U.S. History)

Language Arts Lesson Plans

  1. An Exercise in Reverie: Finding Meaning in Art
  2. Artful Thinking: Beginning/Middle/End and Perceive/Know/Care About
  3. Brainstorming to Connect Thinking Skills with Abstract Art
  4. Descriptive Writing
  5. Details, Details: How Choices Reveal Character, Setting, Tone, and Theme. (Analyzing and Interpreting, Making Inferences)
  6. Line, Color, Space, Light, and Shape: What do they do? What do they Evoke?
  7. Ekphrasis: the Meeting of Poetry and Art
  8. Exploring Contrasting Story Elements Through Tapestry and Poetry
  9. Introducing Sculpture: Art You Can Walk Around (Usually)
  10. Picturing America Lesson 2 – The Power of Symbolism
  11. Picturing America Lesson 7 – Seeing History through the Eyes of the Artist
  12. Picturing America Lesson 8 – Conflict: Man Versus Nature
  13. Reading Art As Informational Text With Common Core
  14. Stepping Into A Painting
  15. Symbols: Communicating Beyond Language
  16. Teaching Critical Thinking Through Landscape
  17. Thinking Tools for Innovators: Part 6 – Working with Analogies
  18. Thinking Tools for Innovators: Part 7— Physical Movement and Understanding
  19. Walking Into a Landscape

Independence National Historic Park Lesson Plans, Topics Include: 

  1. Philadelphia and San Francisco in 1776: The National Park Sites Where History Unfolded! Grade 5
  2. Declaration of Independence OR U.S. Constitution
  3. Independence Hall: International Symbol of Freedom
  4. Benjamin Franklin and Slavery: A Document-Based Question
  5. “Here Comes the Sun” Constitution Activity for High School
  6. “Here Comes the Sun” Constitution Activity for Grades 5-8
  7. Ben Franklin: What a Character!
  8. Benjamin Franklin: Man of Many Talents
  9. The Liberty Bell as a Symbol for Civil rights, grades 4-8
  10. The Liberty Bell as a Modern Symbol, grades K-2
  11. The Liberty Bell as a Modern Symbol, grades 3-5
  12. The Liberty Bell: From Obscurity to Icon


Science History Institute Museum & Library, Topics Include:

  1. Conflicts in Chemistry: The Case of Plastics
  2. Conflicts in Chemistry: The Case of Rare Earth Elements

Philadelphia Congregations Early Records

Ready to plan your school trip? Click the button below to get started!’

Request More Information