7 Free Lesson Plans to Teach Black History All Year Long
by Briana Kelly
Black History Month may be ending, but the importance of teaching it isn’t. We think celebrating Black History should happen all year long, not just one month! African American history is a huge part of American history. Everyone benefits from knowing about the struggles and contributions of Black leaders throughout history.
Classkick is always striving to help teachers, and one of our company-wide core values is Work Toward Justice. That’s why we created this curated collection of 7 incredible new, FREE lessons for Black History Month and beyond! Teach an inspiring reading, music, ELA, or social studies lesson — with only a few seconds of prep time. Best of all, Classkick lessons work equally well in both the physical classroom and the online classroom.
To help you pick the best lessons for your classroom, Classkick Customer Implementation Specialist Bri Kelly shares more about each one. As always, you can copy these lesson plans to your Classkick account with a single click to modify them as much as you want. Now, join Bri for a closer look at these free assignments:
Meet Black authors and activists and scientists (oh my!)
Influential Black Americans (Grade Level: Primary or Elementary)
Introduce your classroom to influential Black Americans throughout history and the impact of their contributions. They’ll also have a chance to appreciate the power of names by using Classkick’s audio tool to practice the names of each Black History Month star. At the end of the assignment, we left space for students to reflect on Black leaders within their community. Inspire pride and greatness in the whole class with this uplifting free lesson!
Special thanks to The Tutu Teacher for creating the PDF this free social studies lesson is based on!
TIP: the voice recording tool is a great way to store examples of students saying their names, especially during your first few weeks together.
Teach features of nonfiction texts with Martin Luther King, Jr.
MLK Nonfiction Text Features (Upper Elementary Grade Level)
Martin Luther King, Jr. may be the most famous leader of the Civil Rights Movement. But how much do your students really know about him? This pre-differentiated lesson plan will help your students learn more about Dr. King’s legacy and impact, both on African American history and the world as we know it. Students will learn more about MLK Jr. through nonfiction texts, photos, and captions. Teachers can check for understanding by having the class create their own captions for photos and timelines.
We love this lesson because it shows how easy Classkick makes differentiation, scaffolding, and personalized learning. Struggling students can drag manipulatives off hints to scaffold themselves. Early finishers and curious minds can extend their learning with videos about MLK Jr. at the end of the assignment.
TIP: Create “hint boxes” to allow students to self-scaffold throughout assignments.
Dive into history and find out what Juneteenth is all about
Juneteenth Article + Questions (Grade Level: Middle or High School)
Less than a year ago, Juneteenth finally became recognized as a federal holiday. This assignment provides middle and high schoolers with the context and details behind this exciting and important day. Throughout this interactive lesson, secondary students will learn why and how Juneteenth became a day to celebrate freedom for formerly enslaved Black Americans. Use Classkick’s multiple choice feature to check for understanding, then edit everyone’s slide at once to clarify any points of confusion.
TIP: Auto-grade formative assessments instantly by assigning points to each multiple choice question.
Make a new friend and attend a story time about Black inventors
Have You Thanked An Inventor Today? (Grade Level: Primary or Elementary)
Take your class to a virtual story time with this exciting lesson! Join a young friend on an adventure to learn more about different inventions that he uses throughout the day, all of which were invented by African Americans. Multiple choice questions ensure comprehension, and voice prompts give students a chance to verbally discuss their favorite inventions. And just to make sure this is the best story time ever, we included a fun word search to wrap up the lesson!
TIP: Links outside of YouTube + Vimeo videos will open in a new tab.
Monitor reading progress with Jackie Robinson, the first Black baseball player
Jackie Robinson Reading Journal (Grade level: Upper Elementary)
This assignment is perfect for upper elementary students — especially those who LOVE sports but aren’t so sure about reading. Students can build reading fluency with Classkick’s recording tool as they read about one of the greatest baseball players of all time. This is a great way to effortlessly gather running records and reading fluency data while your class enjoys an engaging text. We didn’t forget about comprehension, though. This lesson also provides plenty of opportunities for students to practice writing about what they’ve learned, including sentence summaries and favorite facts.
TIP: Consider recording your own read-aloud and then having students create their own for either the same text or a different one, depending on reading ability and scaffolding needs.
Engage students with music by Black artists
Just Like Music (An Ode to Black Musical Artists) (Middle + Early High School)
Black artists have influenced music for decades. Some of the ways may even surprise teachers! Whether you teach music or not, strike the right chord with your classroom with this relaxing lesson on Black musicians.
This assignment highlights some of the most popular Black musical artists in recent history. Students in grades 6–10 will have the opportunity to share what Black History means to them while learning about the true roots of African American music. After using manipulatives and line tools to link musicians, songs, genres, and definitions, everyone will reflect on their favorite Black artists and the influence their music has had on students’ lives.
TIP: Tap into students’ creativity and have them write their own song. Copy student work to a portfolio when they’re done!
Teach SEL and ELA with Nina Simone
Nina Simone Poem Analysis (Middle School)
This assignment supports both SEL and ELA standards while introducing middle-schoolers to the power of poetry. Use this lesson to create a space for students to evaluate how they feel after reading the lyrics to I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free, as performed by Nina Simone herself. Open-ended questions help students find the beauty of subjective analysis of poetry and lyrics. Next, dig deep into critical thinking skills with a big discussion question: what does it truly mean to be free?
TIP: take this lesson to the top of Bloom’s taxonomy by having students create their own poetry. Enable workshopping with Classkick’s Peer Helpers feature, which keeps each poet anonymous. You can even turn on anonymity for the whole class and share your screen with students to show everyone’s amazing work!
BONUS TIP: Incorporate speaking standards by having students use the recording tool while reading their poems aloud at home.
Teachers, do you plan on teaching Black History beyond February? If so, which of these free lessons do you think will engage students the most? Be sure to tell us which ones are your favorite (and why) so we can keep making more. And don’t forget to follow our blog and social media accounts — we’re already working on our next curated collection of free lesson plans for you! (Because who doesn’t want a free lesson plan?)
