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Unit Plan
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Core Knowledge Foundation

Westward Expansion Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology

For Teachers 2nd Standards
The westward expansion is the focus of a read-aloud anthology. Pupils will listen to and discuss stories about going West, an adventure on the Erie Canal, the Trail of Tears, the Oregon Trail, the Pony Express, and the transcontinental...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Manifest Destiny: U.S. Territorial Expansion

For Teachers 8th
A close examination of John Gast's painting "American Progress" launches a study of the concept of Manifest Destiny used to justify United States' policy of westward expansion. Young historians read statements from persons with different...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Impact of the U.S. Expansion on Indigenous People and Stereotypes About Native American People

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
The 2004 U.S. bicentennial sparks a discussion about its meaning and importance to United States history. Readings, maps, tables, and reflective writing prompt small groups to explore the westward expansion, Lewis and Clark, and how...
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Printables
San Antonio Independent School District

The Not So Big Book of Westward Expansion

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
From the thirteen colonies to the Mexican cession, your learners will track the territorial acquisitions made by the United States during eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with this printable booklet.
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Whose Manifest Destiny? Westward Expansion

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Your land is my land! Young historians investigate the concept of Manifest Destiny used by the United States government to justify western expansion. Jigsaw groups read primary source documents to gain an understanding of the movement...
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Activity
HISTORY Channel

Westward Expansion of the United States

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
How did early American pioneers decide what to take with them on their journeys, and what was their traveling experience like? Here you'll find a collection of activities to help you explore Westward Expansion with your young learners.
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Extranjeros and Expansion

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A three-part lesson gives light to the Unites States expansion from the view of Texans, New Mexicans, and Californians. Through videos and written activities, scholars work collaboratively to research specific individuals and their...
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Unit Plan
National Woman's History Museum

The Path to Women’s Suffrage

For Teachers 7th
The Path to Women's Suffrage unit focuses on how Western Expansion was instrumental in gaining women the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment. Young historians analyze maps, examine primary source documents, and create a...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

Lewis and Clark's Expedition to the Complex West

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Lewis and Clark's famous expedition is a prime example of the United States' westward expansion. Aspiring historians examine maps from Lewis and Clark's journey, as well as discuss their interactions with Native American tribes. The...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Contested Territories

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
United States expansion into Western territories impacted much more than just lines on a map. The seventh installment of a 22-part series about America's history puts scholars into the lives of those making the journey westward as well...
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Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Great Plains Homesteaders

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
"Westward, ho!" may have been their cry in spite of the hardships. Using a series of photographs by Solomon D. Butcher of those who ventured west, class members consider what life was like in the 1800s for those who embarked on the...
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Conflict in Alabama in the 1830s: Native Americans, Settlers, and Government

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
To better understand the Indian Removal Act of 1830, class members examine primary source documents including letters written by Alabama governors and the Cherokee chiefs. The lesson is part of a unit on the expansion of the United...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Viewing History from Multiple Perspectives

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Celebration or protest song? The full text of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" opens a study of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Louisiana Purchase, and Western Expansion from various perspectives. Middle schoolers examine...
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Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Transforming the West: Did the Reality Match the Expectations for Kansas Homesteaders?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
They expected good soil and hearty crops ... but they found buffalo chips and grasshopper plagues. Using an advertisement encouraging famers to go west, budding historians examine primary sources including letters, photographs, and...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

Analyzing a Photograph of a Treaty Council

For Teachers 7th - 12th
A photo catches a moment in time that provides a glimpse into the past. An interesting resource focuses on historical analysis using an image from a treaty council with Native Americans. Budding historians complete an online worksheet...
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eBook
Core Knowledge Foundation

Volume 1 - A History of the United States: Precolonial to the 1800s

For Students 7th - 8th Standards
Volume One of the 299-page Core Knowledge History of the United States covers events from the Precolonial Period to the 1800s.
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Unit Plan
Core Knowledge Foundation

A History of the United States

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
This 262-page Core Knowledge teacher guide presents an overview of the two-volume History of the United States program designed for middle schoolers. The guide includes information about the learning strategies used, a pacing guide, the...
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Lesson Plan
Huntington Library

The Corps of Discovery: The Lewis and Clark Expedition

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Don't miss this fantastic comprehensive lesson plan on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, packed with instructional guidance, worksheets, map work, informational texts, and secondary source materials.
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Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

The Alaska Purchase: Debating the Sale from Russian and U.S. Perspectives

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Seward's Folly or brilliant strategic move? Class members investigate primary source documents from each country to determine the rationales behind the sale and purchase of Alaska, and then stage a debate.
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Settlement of Frontier Alabama

For Teachers 4th
What comes to mind when the class imagines settlers traveling out West? The lesson teaches pupils about the western frontier of Alabama and what life was like for people traveling West—in wagons with few possessions. Scholars write,...
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Lesson Plan
Carolina K-12

Manifest Destiny and the Lewis and Clark Expedition

For Teachers 8th Standards
Beginning with a thorough presentation on the concept of Manifest Destiny and background information on the Louisiana Purchase, your young historians will then consider the demands of the Lewis and Clark expedition and compose journal...
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Unit Plan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

American Stories: Extra Support Lessons (Theme 2)

For Teachers 4th
Here's a packet designed especially for those kids who need extra support with the basic concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on American stories.
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Myth of the West: Lonely But Free I’ll Be Found

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Tumbling tumbleweeds! Scholars work with video clips, primary and secondary documents, and song lyrics to uncover life in the Old West. They examine song's lyrics to uncover myths told in the 1930s about life in the Wild West. 
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Myth of the West: Kit Carson to the Rescue

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
There's nothing like the Wild Wild West! Scholars investigate the American Frontier through the eyes of Kit Carson. To complete the first installment of a three-part series, they use presentations, a short video, and primary and...

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