Unit Plan
New York City Department of Education

Colonial America and The American Revolution

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
How did the founding of the American colonies lead to a revolution? Use the essential question and sample activities to guide learners through a series of history lessons. Additionally, the packet includes effective strategies to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Comparison of American Colonies

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Learners explore the lifestyles of the American colonies. They conduct various activities according to their grade level including jigsaw research and creating a poster. Lesson includes primary source readings related to the topic.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Empire in the Balance

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders investigate the role of New York state during the American Revolution. In small groups, they research a particular region within colonial America, analyze primary source documents, complete Document Analysis Sheets, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Settlement Exploration: Then and Now

For Teachers 6th - 8th
NASA has crafted an imaginative and memorable series of lessons, "NASA and Jamestown Education Module." This lesson is one of the five components. In it, middle schoolers connect history and science by comparing the settlement of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore daily life and its influences in the late 1700s for two families in different colonies- Delaware and Massachusetts by becoming historical detectives. After gathering information from artifacts to make inferences about...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native Americans 1700s-1800s

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders investigate and explain major Native American groups, events, individuals and conflicts from the 1700s through the 1800s in the early American colonies and the United States.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lives of Native Americans and Settlers

For Teachers 3rd - 11th
Students assess the effect of contact between the Native Americans and Europeans after 1492. They explore the lives of the early European colonists and the Native Americans living along the East Coast of North America. Lesson contains...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Triangular Trade

For Teachers 5th - 7th
This lesson has it all, primary source documents, an interactive trade game, clear teacher background information, and sailing to the West Indies chance cards. You will play, trade, and live out the experiences of early colonists in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

America Established Because of Protest

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Young scholars explore events and causes that led to American Revolution and examine popular pro-Patriot renderings and texts of these issues created both at that time and in later years. Students then prepare and deliver oral...
Unit Plan
National Constitution Center

Fourth of July (Grades 3-5)

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Bring history to life for your young scholars with a Fourth of July lesson series. After a class reading of the Declaration of Independence, students translate this pivotal document into layman's terms before working in small...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

British Colonization-Settling the Thirteen Colonies (1607-1733)

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students study the thirteen colonies: geography, economics, politics, and religious groups. They explore early colonial life, and create a travel brochure, travel guide of the 13 Colonies, and word search.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The American Revolution

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students study the American Revolution using Google Earth and United Streaming online resources. In this American Revolution lesson, students complete a KWL chart with information they know about the American Revolution. Students then...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Causes of the American Revolution

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students answer the question of: How did England impose its political and economic control over the colonies? They create a comic strip depicting the event of the Boston Massacre. Students complete a Wordstoming activity to anticipate...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The American Revolution: Causes

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate taxation of the American colonist by the British which led to the revolution. In this American Revolution lesson, students analyze a poem called Revolution Tea, and then work in small groups to present an oral...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

We The People: A History

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students play a game about taxation where they have tax collectors that simulate the feelings and reasons that led to the American Revolution. In this taxation lesson plan, students learn about why the people in the colonies were so...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Practical Experiment In Colonization

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Role-play and simulation exercises are fantastic ways to help learners understand the reality behind many social and historical events. Pretending they are colonists, upper graders choose a location, create a history, establish laws, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Know Your 13 Colonies

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders study the thirteen colonies.  In this American History lesson, 7th graders analyze the historical origins and economic development of each colony.  Students create an original flag for a colony that reflects the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

BEGINNER LEVEL LESSON PLAN

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students are be able to analyze primary sources (photographs) for evidence of Native American culture and construct a cultural symbol. They are explained what the stars and stripes stand for on the American flag. Students work as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Civilization

For Teachers 1st
First graders research and examine various events during the American Revolution. They locate the thirteen colonies on a map, create Boston Tea Party boats, and construct Paul Revere paper lanterns.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Colonial Living: A Look at the Arts, Crafts, History, and Literature of Early Americans

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders examine the different aspects of life in Colonial America. At home, they make traditional colonial recipes to share with the class. In groups, they read a book about the purpose and act of quilting and create their own...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Colonial Research Fun

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students review the characteristics of the thirteen colonies. In groups, they use the internet to research one of the colonies more in depth and answer questions about it. They develop a newspaper or travel brochure to share the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Surrender at Yorktown

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders examine the start of the American Revolution. In this American History lesson plan, 8th graders analyze primary sources. Students prepare a narration of events leading up to the revolution. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ant City

For Teachers K - 1st
Students develop an ant colony that adults and children can visit. Students create different areas including places where tourists can view live ants, play ant games, research facts about ants, and create ant art. Students serve as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Taxation Without Representation

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders empathize with how colonists felt when they were taxed without representation. They use a metaphor of students and a school principal to describe the strained relationship that developed between the colonies and Britain.