American Battlefield Trust
Southern Secession and Abraham Lincoln’s Presidential Election
President Abraham Lincoln: a true humanitarian or a savvy politician? The lesson focuses on Abraham Lincoln's presidency and the secession of the southern states. Academics interpret how Lincoln's presidential platform promoting African...
Curated OER
The War Lesson Plan
Students view video clips of the film "The War". Several classroom activities are included and address major themes found in the film. The lessons incorporate video clips from the film as well as additional resources provided.
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African Americans and the Military of World War II
Fifth graders view a news reel of African Americans in World War II. In this World War II lesson plan, 5th graders discuss the newspaper clippings they get to view and hypothesize about why the African Americans use military news clips....
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An "Unconstitutional" Act? The Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
Students explore the implications of habeas corpus. In this Civil War lesson, students analyze the writ of habeas corpus by Lincoln during the war. Students examine primary sources from Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney. Students design...
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Veterans Day Newspaper
Young scholars examine the reasons for and origins of the Veterans Day holiday. They define key vocabulary terms, read and discuss the article "The Origins of Veterans Day," conduct research and complete a worksheet, and create a class...
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Civil Disobedience Action Plan
Pupils investigate incidences of civil disobedience. In this civil disobedience lesson, students watch a video and read a newspaper article on civil disobedience. Then, in groups, they search a current newspaper for examples of civil...
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Creating an Ethnic Student Newspaper
Learners examine the role of the Black Press. In this African American history lesson, students watch segments of a video titled, " Too Long to Have Others Spoken for Us." Learners respond to discussion questions regarding each of the...
American Battlefield Trust
Emancipation 1861 to 1863
Academics read newspaper articles from 1861 to 1863 regarding Emancipation and answer questions to understand how public opinion changed over time and why. The activity provides scholars with good historical context and the vocabulary...
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A Union Soldier's View of the Battle of Raymond
Students use a primary resource to collect information about a Civil War battle. They identify similarities and differences between historical wars and modern wars.
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America's Wars
High schoolers classify information regarding American involvement in wars. In this classification instructional activity, students examine the causes of the war in which the United States has been involved, and classify them as mainly...
National First Ladies' Library
Blunders on All Sides: The Battle of Bunker Hill
High schoolers investigate the concepts surrounding the historical battle of Bunker Hill while conducting online research using a variety of resources. The information is used in order to create a newspaper article telling about the...
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Famous African Americans,
Studying African American history? Explore and discuss famous African Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman, and more. Simple bulleted facts detail the heroic deeds of these individuals. Use...
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Book: The Original United States of America
Students, after reading Chapter One in the book, "The American Colonies' Sense of Who They Were," analyze the actions of the colonists as well as compare the similarities between the protests of the colonists and protests of today. They...
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Civil War Medicine
Eighth graders design and create a poster, advertising for recruitment of doctors and nurses to serve in the war. Students create a historical newspaper front page, from the time period, which details the awarding of the Medal of Honor...
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War in the News
Students consider the portrayal of war in the news. In this lesson on Journalistic perspectives, students will work in groups to critically examine news articles written during war times throughout history.
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Reporting from the Front Lines
Students examine the battle of Gettysburg as they write news articles. In this Battle of Gettysburg instructional activity, students become familiar with the job of the news reporter as they report on the events of the Battle of...
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U.S. History Worksheet #75
Get the facts straight when it comes to the Reconstruction Era! For this United States history worksheet, learners utilize a word bank of 10 terms or phrases to answer 10 fill in the blank questions about the nation following the Civil...
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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...
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Commemoration of the Gettysburg Battlefield
Students use a multimedia project, The Valley of the Shadow: Two American Communities in the Civil War, to create a presentation about the significance of the Gettysburg Address. They work on expert teams to explore the interactive...
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Double V Campaign: Victory at Home and Victory Abroad
Students write a persuasive essay as if they were an African American in World War II and decide if they would contribute war bonds or not. In this World War II lesson plan, students study the segregation of World War II and the unity...
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Do Suspected Enemies Have Rights?
Students investigate the history of Japanese immigration. They complete an online Webquest, explore various websites, answer discussion questions, and locate and read newspaper articles about enemy compatants.
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Our First Families
Students complete a variety of activities in which the Washington Post Newspaper is used to reinforce concepts pertaining to the history of the Washington, D.C. area.
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A Colony is Born : Lesson 2 - Sez Who?
Second graders increase their baseline knowledge of primary and secondary sources and the likenesses and differences of them with regard to a selected historical event.
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Sportswriting
Students complete a variety of activities (using the Washington Post Newspaper) that reinforce concepts involved in sports writing.