Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

This Land is Whose Land?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Whose land is it, anyway? Young scholars debate the question using primary sources from a case where Maryland indigenous people petitioned for land rights after they lost their original tribal lands. An included chart helps organize...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Primary Sources: Diaz and Cortes

For Students 8th - 9th
Provided are two descriptions, both from famous Spanish explorers. Pupils read each passage and then answer 2 inference questions based on how they think each description shows what Cortes and Diaz felt about the Aztecs. Show images of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Signature History

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Learners review the meaning and application of primary and secondary sources in research. They determine how researchers locate primary source documents before looking at signatures as a validating factor on many primary sources....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Holes

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students distinguish between primary and secondary sources when researching on the Internet and evaluating historical records. They recognize important features of a primary source such as the type of document, who created it, what is...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Family History

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders identify primary source items in the study of their families. They relate the importance of primary source materials in understanding history and events of the past.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Labor Unions and Working Conditions:United We Stand

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine primary documents about the establishment of labor unions. In this organized labor lesson, students research the working conditions that contributed to the growth of the labor union movement. Students make classroom...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

African Americans in Aviation: The 1940s- A Decade of Change

For Teachers 5th - 12th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Three Bad Little Pigs

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine and interpret conflicting primary sources.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Learning From Document - Public Laws

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars research primary sources about the Bracero worker program. In this primary source lesson, students investigate two public laws along with other documents to determine if the Bracero worker program was implemented properly....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Anti-Slavery and Reform-Related Sources

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders use primary sources to explore events witnessed by ordinary people.  In this primary documents lesson, 5th graders  answer critical thinking questions based on their documents.  Students recognize the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Historical Events of the Civil War

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders research the Civil War through the use of primary documents. In this historical events of the Civil War instructional activity, 5th graders write about the information gotten from the primary document. Students answer...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indian Removal: Does History Always Reflect progress?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners explore the idea that progress for some might not mean progress for all. In this Native American lesson, students recognize different viewpoints about historical events through the study of primary documents. Learners decipher...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adapting Documents for the Classroom: Equity and Access

For Teachers 2nd - 12th
Students examine primary sources to gain historical perspectives. In this historical analysis lesson, students analyze documents that their instructors have adapted to make more user-friendly. Example adapted primary documents are included.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lewis and Clark in Columbia River Country

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this research skills lesson, students research the death of Meriwether Lewis using forensic evidence presented in primary...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"I Hear America Singing": Controversy and Music in the Mexican War

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders examine the Mexican War and its outcome through music. In this primary source analysis lesson, 8th graders analyze the lyrics of selected songs to consider the 2 perspectives regarding U.S. involvement in the war. Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Minerva Mosaic of the Library of Congress: Taking a Closer Look

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students take a closer look at the Minerva Mosaic. In this primary source analysis lesson, students use the provided analysis worksheets to study the Minerva image in the Library of Congress and all that it symbolizes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Forced to Flee: Famine and Plague

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers examine facts about the Irish Potato Famine and explore primary resources, such as newspaper articles, photographs, songs, and poems, related to the famine. Once research is complete, they create a small collage of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Trouble in the Fields: Mexican Migrant Workers

For Teachers 5th - 8th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Twentieth Century Entertainment: When Work is Done

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students determine how Americans enjoy leisure time. For this 20th century America lesson, students research primary sources to study how Americans gained leisure time during the century and what they did with it.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Suffragists and Their Tactics

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners research the fight for voting rights. In this women's history lesson, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of the strategies employed by the suffragists to gain voting rights.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Immigration in America

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Young scholars use primary sources to study immigration. In this immigration lesson, students analyze photographs, posters, letters, and documents from Ellis Island. Young scholars complete analysis worksheets as they evaluate the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Civil War: On the Homefront

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders examine the role of Indiana soldiers in the Civil War. In this American Civil War lesson, 8th graders listen to a lecture about the involvement of Indiana soldiers in the war and then analyze letters written home by the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Waldseemüller’s Map: World 1507

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students take a closer look at historical maps. In this primary source analysis lesson, students examine the first world map produced by Martin Waldseemuller. Students complete the included map analysis worksheet and then write letters...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Soldiers' experiences with medicine and hospitals in the Civil War

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore medicine and hospitals during Civil War using primary sources.

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