Even a cumulative review can include main ideas, key events, supporting details, and critical thinking. An excellent 8th grade history review is yours for the taking. It includes topics that range from the thirteen colonies to post Civil...

How do policies aimed to help actually hurt? Native American boarding schools—an attempt at assimilating children of indigenous tribes into white culture—had a shattering effect on those who attended. With primary sources, including...

"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...

The Sand Creek Massacre refers to the killing of hundreds of native peoples at the hands of federal troops. Today, the site is marked as a sacred spot by the National Parks Service. Young people consider the impact of the atrocity and...

What do the War of 1812 and the accidental presidency of John Tyler have in common? Historians ponder the question as they learn about the Battle of Tippecanoe, how it led to the declaration of war with Great Britain in the War of 1812,...

What led Americans to head west in the 1800s? Using an interactive map and journals from those who traveled, pupils explore the stories of those who migrated. In addition, they see how the numbers fluctuated in response to the push-pull...

How can primary sources bring history to life? Scholars create detailed lesson plans on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in American history. The 17th installment of a 22-part program exploring American history examines...

Have you ever seen a movie about the romance of the American West with its buffalo, horses, cowboys, and endless frontier? The 13th installment of a 22-part series on American history presents the myths associated with the American West....

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. 

What would be in your life's scrapbook? Scholars use short video clips, primary and secondary documents, and photos to investigate a 1909 scrapbook. They analyze and uncover what the Rogue Book tells them about the past in Western...

Go West, young man! Scholars use PBS video clips, slide shows, and interactive materials to create a picture of Manifest Destiny in the American West. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, young historians learn about the...

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...

As your young historians study Westward Expansion, practice in-depth primary source analysis with the documents and guidelines presented in this resource. They will examine a lithograph and excerpts from two letters written by a Nebraska...

Examine the mythology of the American West with Arthur Chapman's poem "Out Where the West Begins." Learners read the poem, answer text-dependent questions, and take some notes on a few more questions to prepare for a class discussion.

What a fantastic project idea for discussing not only the history of America's expansion into the West, but for reviewing any major unit of history in your class. Pupils build stamp collections to visually represent themes of the unit,...

Use the well-known KWHL chart as a tool for building up to a research project and oral presentation related to Willa Cather's My Antonia. Starting with a class brainstorm, pupils research and gradually narrow down topics relating to...

Why did people move westward in the United States? Your young historians will examine the experiences of various groups on the American frontier, from a miner working near the Comstock Lode in Nevada, to an Apache chief from the...

How did the United States come to acquire two of its largest states? Your class members will learn about the sequence of events that led to and immediately followed the acquisition of Texas and California, including the Mexican-American...

What a great list of brief research projects for reviewing the era of westward expansion in the United States! Learners are directed to choose and complete three of the projects on the given list, which includes opportunities to design...

In need of informational text and a related quiz regarding the Louisiana Purchase? Here are four pages containing basic information on Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon, Manifest Destiny, and the Louisiana Purchase, plus a 15-question quiz. 

How did we grow into such a large nation? Follow the events, wars, and treaties that led to the acquisition of major states as we expanded into the West. The slides provide maps, dates, and simplistic information to help learners...

Prepare your class for an exam on the age of Jackson. Not Michael Jackson, Andrew Jackson. Pupils' focus will be guided by 40 different prompts that have them looking up vocabulary words, cross-referencing important names and events, and...

Who was Bill Picket? Interested readers work through an informational passage to find out about a famous "bulldogger" from the old West. They answer several reading comprehension questions and use a seven step process to decode new...

Upper elementary learners read about jobs on a cattle drive and the lives of cowboy during U.S. Westward Expansion. They create a "Help Wanted" poster for one of the jobs. After reading primary source accounts of cowboys, they write...