Lesson Plan
Teacher Vision

The Wampanoag Indians: A Thanksgiving Lesson

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Spark some lively conversation about American holiday traditions and debunk accepted notions about the first Thanksgiving at the same time. After reviewing the mainstream version of the Thanksgiving story with your class, offer some...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Homestead Act of 1862

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students, in groups, study the Homestead Act. Each group studies a region of the country in the 1840s: the North, the South, and the West. Ask each group to research and write their region's position on the homestead issue.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Great North

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students use maps to locate the Arctic Circle, the North Pole and Northern Europe. They draw and label countries within the Arctic Cirlce and identify the groups of people who live there. They also watch and answer questions about the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Police Action": The Korean War, 1950-1953

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers investigate facts about the war in Korea in the 1950's and attempt to classify American foreign policy as a triumph or a failure. Why the U.S. became involved and the unpopularity of the war in America forms the focus of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Witch Hunt or Red Menace? Anticommunism in Postwar America, 1945-1954

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate what constitutes an "un-American" activity and why Soviet espionage was such an important issue in the 1940's and 1950's. Joseph McCarthy's impact on American anticommunism is examined in this lesson plan. There are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What They Left Behind: Early Multi-National Influences in the United States

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students research the impact of European voyages of discovery and colonial influence on different aspects of American culture. They access a number of online sources and reference maps to trace the influences of England, France, Holland,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Book: Crossing the Seas

For Teachers 4th - 6th
As learners read each chapter of Eric Schwartz's Crossing the Seas, they analyze the actions of United States in Venezuela, Hawaii, Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the intent of the Monroe Doctrine. They then compare...
Lesson Plan
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University of California

The Civil War: Strategies and Battles

For Students 7th Standards
Was it the War against Northern Aggression or the War to Unify the Union? Scholars investigate the key battles and strategies of the American Civil War to determine just why the North was victorious in the end.
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Digital Forsyth

Civil Rights and Active Citizenship

For Teachers 8th Standards
As part of a study of the American Civil Rights movement, class members search the Internet to find important facts, people, events, and pictures that they use to create a timeline of events between 1955 and 1970. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What They Left Behind: Early Multi-National Influences in the United States

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine how the European voyages of discovery influence American culture even today. They map eighteenth century Europe's impact on the United States.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Losing Ground

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students examine how effects of farming practices in the early 20th Century contributed to severe soil erosion of a large portion of the North American grasslands.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Railroads and Settlement of the Great Plains

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Enhance your American literature unit with this resource, in which readers access the Nebraska Studies website and read about "Railroads and Settlement." They search for a photograph of some aspect of the railroad from the Prairie...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Criminal or Hero

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars investigate slavery in America circa the American Revolution. They will examine point- of view and perspective as they research a variety of informational resources. While this is designed to be used with the PBS video...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Anishinabe - Ojibwe - Chippewa: Culture of an Indian Nation

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate the American Indian tribe of the Chippewa. They identify the different names of the Anishinabe/Ojibwe/Chippewa nation, conduct a research project, explore various websites, and present their group research projects.
Lesson Plan
Teaching for Change

A Documents-Based Lesson on the Voting Rights Act

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How did the Voting Rights Act affect the daily lives of American citizens? A document-based lesson developed by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating committee (SNCC) presents a case study of the impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on...
Lesson Plan
Tennessee State Library & Archives

Vietnam War

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A picture can speak 1000 words. Scholars research the Vietnam War through the lens of a camera. Examining photos from the collection of Christopher D. Ammons allows open interpretation of life during one of America's darkest conflicts....
Lesson Plan
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Judicial Branch of California

Our Government Today…What A System!

For Teachers 5th Standards
A group of citizens in North Canada has decided to leave their country, and they are asking for help in setting up an American-style democracy. Using a carefully structured activity, pupils lay out the principles in the American...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Running for Freedom: The FUgitive Slave law and the Coming of the Civil War

For Teachers 8th - 10th
In order to understand the complicated nature of slave laws during the Civil War, learners compare and contrast an abolitionist poster and a runaway slave ad. They use an attached worksheet to consider each primary source document, then...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Whose (Is)land is This?": topics in Immigration and The Tempest

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Class members compare the ways the subject of immigration is treated in The Tempest, Act I, scene ii, Act II, scene i and Act III, scene ii with patterns in American history. After tracing their own family’s journey, a series of...
Lesson Plan
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Theodore Roosevelt Association

Roosevelt's Legacy: Conservation

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
The legacy of Theodore Roosevelt carries through modern American politics, economics, foreign policy, and society. But his proudest and most profound efforts were in the world of conservation, and in preserving the natural beauty of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marine Sanctuaries

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students delve into diverse marine ecosystems and the problems they face. They discover students the national marine sanctuaries found in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and off the coast of American Samoa.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wildlife

For Teachers 5th - 7th
First, biology pupils research land and marine habitats along the route of skipper Rich Wilson's Great American II. Then, using colored paper clips scattered across a colored paper background, they play the predator-prey game to...
Lesson Plan
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University of California

The Civil War: The Road to War

For Teachers 8th Standards
The United States Civil War resulted in the highest mortality rate for Americans since the nation's inception. Delve deeper into the causes for the drastic separation of states with a history lesson plan that features analysis charts,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Site Robbers

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders interview a Native American and write a newspaper article or letter that expresses concern about robbing archaeological sites.

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