Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 2: Early American Civilizations
Fifth graders explore early American civilizations in a four-week ELA unit. Every lesson offers an opportunity to read and discuss a selected passage followed by word work that covers vocabulary, grammar, and morphology. Learners write...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Early American Civilizations Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
Bridge subjects ancient history and English language arts together with a unit all about the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations. Eleven lessons begin with a read-aloud followed by a whole-class discussion in preparation for practice by...
New York City Department of Education
Geography and Early Peoples of the Western Hemisphere
Young historians discover the early people of the western hemisphere. The unit explores how the land changed, how it was used and homes of early Americans such as Incas, Mayans, Inuits, Aztecs, and Pueblos. Individuals also examine these...
Curated OER
Globe Skills Lesson 1 Some Early American Cultures
Young scholars apply their knowledge of geography. In this geography skills lesson, students read brief selections regarding early Americans. Young scholars respond to the questions included in the self-guided map skills lesson.
Curated OER
Native Americans and Natural Resources
North American Indian civilizations had already been in place for over 10,000 years before the arrival of European settlers. Introduce your young historians to Indian tribes that lived in the Chesapeake region in the early seventeenth...
Partnership for Educating Colorado Students
Mayan Mathematics and Architecture
Take young scholars on a trip through history with this unit on the mathematics and architecture of the Mayan civilization. Starting with a introduction to their base twenty number system and the symbols they used, this eight-lesson unit...
Curated OER
Early Humans
Eighth graders work together in groups to examine the earliest civilizations. After reading two stories, they compare and contrast the facts with those stories with other ones they have read. They discuss the different hypothesis on...
Curated OER
Native American Living Museum
Seventh graders complete a unit of lessons on Native Americans. They analyze Native American cultures, create a Native American artifact for a Living Museum, and develop a tour of the museum using a digital camera and a Powerpoint...
Curated OER
Colonial America: Causes Of The American Revolution
Students examine the causes of the American Revolution. In this colonial America lesson, students read handouts regarding the sequence of events that led to the commencement of the war. Students complete the provided worksheets and...
Curated OER
Mesoamerica
Students demonstrate knowledge of early Middle American civilizations. They study Mesoamerican i religions, governments, and achievements. They identify geographies of North and South America.
Curated OER
Meso-America
Students will identify and locate Central and South America and their countries and features, as well as Meso-American civilizations. Students will compare civilizations and discuss voyages of relevant explorers.
Curated OER
Foundations of American Government
Fourth graders explore the origins of American government.
Curated OER
Poverty Point Earthworks: Louisiana's Ancient Inhabitants
Students research the prehistoric earthworks site at Poverty Point, Louisiana. They compare the Louisiana artifacts and structure to the remains and knowledge of other ancient cultures. They present their research to the class.
Curated OER
Early Explorers
Fifth graders examine how the environment and climate affected Pre-Colombian settlements. For this civilization lesson, 5th graders view pictures of different Native American tribes in different places and discuss how different groups...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Volume 1 - A History of the United States: Precolonial to the 1800s
Volume One of the 299-page Core Knowledge History of the United States covers events from the Precolonial Period to the 1800s.
Curated OER
Corn in Ancient America
Middle schoolers explore the importance of corn to the survival of early civilizations of the Americas. Through research and discussion activities, they read and describe how corn was used as food and currency in early civilizations. ...
Curated OER
Music in West Africa
Learners explore power and the symbols of power in West African music. They discuss the music of West Africa and compare it to African American music of today. In addition, they investigate musical instruments of Africa, identify the...
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 2 - Grades 4-6
Class members will dig this activity that has them trying their hand at recovering artifacts. Groups are assigned a section of a sandbox, carefully uncover the artifacts in their section, and then develop theories about who might have...
Curated OER
American Civilization - The Ice Age
First graders discuss the Ice Age land bridge over the Bering Straits and how it affected the population of the Americas. They construct a clay model of the land bridge and research common animals of the time.
Curated OER
ARTIFACT to ART to GLYPHS
Students study the development of early Latin American civilizations in unit one. The second part of the unit is based on early image-making attempts from the Cro-Magnon to the Peruvian Incas. Students create their own weavings using a...
Curated OER
Talking Rocks
Artists imitate the symbols used by tribes of the Southwest or use their own word pictures that communicate something about themselves. This lesson is a perfect blend of visual art and social studies. Students create a beautiful piece of...
Curated OER
Ghana Artifacts
Students study to artifacts from Ghana and discuss how these aid in understanding the civilization.
Curated OER
American Literature: An Oblique Introduction
Eleventh graders research journals and periodicals of different accounts of Columbus and Latin America. They examine indigenous civilizations and design their own curriculum based on the information they have gathered.
Curated OER
Imperialism in China
If you are completing a unit on the European impact on China, this short activity may be useful. It requires an excerpt from Chinese Civilization: A sourcebook, by Ebrey, that gives Liang Qichaos's account of his visit to America. After...