Incorporating Women's History Month Into Your Classroom

Incorporating Women’s History Month into our classrooms is a great way to recognize the accomplishments and dignity of great women in history! Celebrating these women along with women in our own families and communities leads to higher self-esteem in girls and greater respect among boys. The following is a list of notable women in history to encourage classroom discussion and further research.

Women born before 1800

• ·       Joan of Arc – Peasant girl who led the French army. She was later burned at the stake for her crimes against the English.

• ·       Pocahontas – She helped establish peace between the Natives and the English colonists.

• ·       Catherine the Great – She was the empress of Russia and helped to establish Russia as a great European super power.

• ·       Sacagawea – She traveled along with Lewis and Clark as a guide and interpreter.

Women born in the first half of the 1800s

• ·       Harriet Beecher Stowe – She played an important role in the movement to end slavery.

• ·       Susan B. Anthony – She was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement to get women the right to vote.

• ·       Florence Nightingale – She was a pioneer in modern nursing.

• ·       Harriet Tubman – She was a former slave who helped others escape to freedom from slavery.

• ·       Clara Barton – She founded the American Red Cross and served as a nurse during the Civil War.

• ·       Emily Dickinson – Famous poet who wrote over 2,000 poems.

Women born in the later 1800s

• ·       Annie Oakley – Famous sharpshooter who traveled with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

• ·       Marie Curie – Chemist and physicist who worked with radioactivity and became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

• ·       Heler Keller – She was blind and deaf and fought for the rights of people with handicaps.

• ·       Eleanor Roosevelt – Wife of Franklin Roosevelt who fought for civil rights and women’s rights

• ·       Amelia Earhart – Famous aviator who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She mysteriously disappeared while trying to fly around the world.

 Women born in the 1900s 

•  Mother Teresa – Roman Catholic nun known around the world for her charitable acts.

• Rosa Parks – Civil rights leader whose arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

• Anne Frank – Jewish girl who wrote about her experiences during the Nazi invasion.

•  Sandra Day O’ Connor – She was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court.

• Jane Goodall – She is famous for her studies with chimpanzees.

How to study these famous women in history?

• ·       The education site Ducksters.com is a great resource that allows students to research.

• ·       You may want to do this as a class by hooking up your laptop to a projector.

• ·       I strongly suggest allowing students to choose who they would like to research. They will be much more engaged if they’re allowed to choose who they’ve selected.

• ·       Research can be done individually or in groups.

• ·       Looking of a FREE reading passage? Women's History Month FREEBIE 
  
• Don't overlook women in your community. Students can brainstorm women they know in their families and community and conduct interviews.