Curated OER
Patriots, Traitors, and Spies
Fifth graders determine how Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold influenced the American Revolution. In this American Revolution lesson, 5th graders research primary and secondary sources to find three character traits of Benedict Arnold and...
Curated OER
Confino Primary Source Activity Lesson Plan
Students examine methods of accounting for historical events. In this local history lesson, students use primary sources to explore the story of a tenement house family in New York. Students discuss the sources they encounter as they...
Curated OER
Using Primary Sources to Discover Reconstruction
Fifth graders discover how reconstruction had an impact on racial issues in the United States. For this Reconstruction lesson, 5th graders are introduced to primary vs. secondary resources and then rotate through stations to view...
Smithsonian Institution
The Suffragist: Educator's Guide for Classroom Video
Class members take on the role of historical investigators to determine why it took 40 years for women in the United States to get the right to vote. Sleuths view videos and analyze primary sources and images to gather evidence to answer...
Curated OER
Learning from Primary Source Documents One Day at a Time
Young scholars differentiate between primary and secondary research sources before making a visual representation of their research into the colonist of Fort St. Louis. They write inquiry questions to guide their research.
Curated OER
A Colony is Born : Lesson 5 - Dear Mem
Discover colonies! Young historians will listen to a primary source journal entry read aloud with a backdrop of wave sounds. They discuss the entry, add historical facts to a chart and personal insights to another. Then they listen to...
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
Making a Patriot Inquiry: Are Independence, Freedom, and Liberty the Same Thing?
As part of a study of the American Revolution, class members engage in an inquiry-based lesson that has them watch a scene from the play Slave Spy, examine multiple primary source documents, and then discuss the similarities and...
Miama-Dade County Public Schools
Patriot Day September 11, 2011
While many of our learners may recognize the date of September 11, 2001 in the United States, most will not be able to personally recall what transpired. On Patriot Day, introduce your young learners to the events, aftermath, and...
Curated OER
Lesson 6: Examining Events from Different Perspectives Friend or Foe?
Fifth graders sequence events of European exploration and colonization by creating timelines. They define the differences between primary and secondary sources. They discuss claims to Texas land in the 17th Century.
Curated OER
African Americans in Aviation: The 1940s- A Decade of Change
Students investigate African Americans in aviation. In this primary resources lesson, students examine primary resources to research the history of African American in aviation. Students answer two research questions and write an essay...
Curated OER
Piecing Together the Story of Glenn Cunningham: A Kansas Champion
Students use primary and secondary sources to conduct research about Glenn Cunningham. In this Glenn Cunningham lesson plan, students tell why he was a hero, and tell facts from what they learned.
Curated OER
Trouble in the Fields: Mexican Migrant Workers
Students become curators and museum reviewers for an online gallery using a selected group of primary sources on Mexican migrant workers. They share and reflect on their own and each other's ideas though participation in an on-line...
Curated OER
The Aerial Age
Students infer America's attitude towards aviation in the early 1900s. For this The Aerial Age lesson, students analyze early 1900s literature, music, advertisements, and popular culture in reference to aviation. Students represent their...
Curated OER
Gold Mountain
Students read primary and secondary sources to find jobs as a Chinese immigrant. In groups they create a chart listing jobs for Chinese and write a letter about employment and living conditions to a Chinese friend.
Channel Islands Film
First Contact: Lesson Plan 4 - Grades 5-6
After watching Treasure in the Sea, a documentary about Channel Islands National Park and the video First Contact, about the voyage of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to the Channel islands, groups research and then compare the experiences of...
Curated OER
Let's Dig Deeper!
Students investigate rocks and how they are formed and the uses man has for rocks. The topic is narrowed, researched, and documented by three sources. The results are presented to classmates for evaluation.
Curated OER
A Journey Through Time!
Students use primary and secondary sources to conduct genealogical research on the challenges faced by those who immigrated to Canada.
Curated OER
Giving Voice to History
Students examine the plight of Japanese Americans during World War II. In this World War II instructional activity, students participate in a mock evocation simulation, research primary and secondary documents about internment camps, and...
Curated OER
Magic Eye
Students discuss the history of tobacco bag stringing. In this primary documents history lesson, students closely examine photographs of families who worked stringing tobacco bags. This lesson includes discussion questions and a...
Curated OER
How to incorporate local history into your Arkansas History class
Fifth graders explore their local history through research and then providing reenactments about the history.
Curated OER
People and Places
Fifth graders investigate how the geography of the land effected the human experience of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They research using primary and secondary sources, design a map.
Curated OER
Slavery In America During the Civil War
Pupils continue their examination of the Civil War. In groups, they use the internet and print sources to research the life of a slave. For each slave researched, they copy quotes and other information from primary and secondary...
Curated OER
Creative Writing/Historical Journals
Learners research primary and secondary sources to find information about their ancestors. They write a series of journal entries, from the perspective of one of their ancestors, on what life was like in that given time period.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Women's Suffrage: 140 Years of Struggle
Students create PowerPoint presentations about women's suffrage. In this women's rights instructional activity, students use primary documents to study the women's suffrage movement. In pairs, students create a PowerPoint presentation...