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History Pops Out

History Pops Out

Students will create a book that makes history pop out before their eyes.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Craft Materials
  • Tape

Steps

  • Step 1

    Have students choose a topic from history to research that pertains to your curriculum, for example migration, innovation, civil rights, or independence. They will work as triads to depict the subject in a pop-up book. The entire class might be focused on one topic or each triad team could select the same one from the brainstormed list.

  • Step 2

    To create the pop-up book have each team of students choose some facts from their research to illustrate. Each of the team members will use two inner panels of a folded piece of paper and one team member will illustrate the cover as well as the interior panels. They should plan which images will pop out and practice cutting the center fold so whatever is taped onto that piece will pop out. Another way to add pop out dimension is to cut illustrations from separate pieces of paper and tape a craft item to it to elevate the illustration from the base panel.

  • Step 3

    Students might embellish the book by adding craft materials such as cotton balls for clouds, scraps of fabric, or other items.

  • Step 4

    Have the three students in each triad connect their pages with tape. When every team is done have students present their work to the class and talk about the historical information they depicted.

Standards

SS: Time, Continuity, and Change: Read, reconstruct, and interpret the past. Imagine the future. Place oneself in various times and spaces and reflect on change.

SS: People, Places, and Environments: Understand various perspectives and examine changes in relationships between peoples, places, and environments.

Adaptations

Have students use the technique they learned for their book to make a pop-up card for someone special in their life.

Did you know that Andy Warhol created a pop-up book? Have students investigate "Andy Warhol's Index (Book)" which contains a pop-up castle, a paper accordion (that used to make noise), a can of tomato paste, and other images.