Curated OER
What They Left Behind: Early Multi-National Influences in the United States
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,...
Curated OER
Lives of Native Americans and Settlers
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...
Curated OER
Myth-Conceptions
Students examine the myths and misconceptions surrounding early European colonists in the New World. They analyze images, artwork, and media relating to the early colonists and discuss their accuracy.
Curated OER
The Land of Milk and Honey: Reasons for Migration
Fourth graders analyze migration patterns. In this colonial North Carolina lesson, 4th graders listen to their instructor present a lecture regarding the details of immigrants from Switzerland who settled North Carolina. Students write...
Curated OER
The Industrial Age in America: Robber Barons and Captains of Industry
Students define terms "robber baron" and "captain of industry," list positive and negative actions of one or more captains of industry/robber barons, and take and support stand as to whether particular financier/industrialist is or is...
University of Florida
Sailing to St. Augustine
Using a Florida map from 1597, young explorers consider the physical characteristics they would need in a site for a new colony and the resources they would need to survive. After selecting a site, class members research to discover the...
Common Core Sheets
Placing Events on a Timeline
Put important events in chronological order with a lesson about timelines. With a variety of topics stemming from world history, the packet of worksheets provides analytical activity for learners to decide where certain events fall...
Curated OER
Early Native Americans
Fourth graders locate on a globe where the land bridge was. They describe the progression of nomadic people into North America.
Curated OER
Settling Nroth America: Improvisation and Playwriting
Students map the classroom by marking the movement of the first Americans' migration from Alaska down into North America. To improve their skills in map-reading and sense of direction, students identify physical features of the map and...
Curated OER
The Discovery of the Americas: A Play About Early Explorers
Students perform a play about the early explorers to America.
Curated OER
American Revolution and Constitution Take Home Assessment
In this early American history instructional activity, students create posters that feature the branches of government as established by the U.S. Constitution. Students also research founding ideals of the nation and use Venn diagrams to...
Curated OER
The Voices of Slavery
Fourth graders recognize and can describe the settlers of Early America. In this American colonies lesson plan, 4th graders research using primary and secondary sources, Native Americans, Europeans, and African Americans role in the...
Curated OER
The Ancient World
Students explore the concept of migration. In this ancient civilizations instructional activity, students watch "The Ancient World" and research life in the Fertile Crescent. Students then write letters from the perspective of people...
Curated OER
Charles Lawrence's Expulsion Orders or Acadians in 1755
An interesting, but sparse, PowerPoint on early North American history awaits your class. The presentation is only two slides. It is a copy of a letter written by Charles Lawrence to Major Hanfield commanding him to clearing the country...
Curated OER
Differences in Location Lesson Plan: Treatment of Early African Americans
Students reach The Domestic Slave Trade, then examine the differences between the people enslaved in North America as opposed to those in Brazil.
Annenberg Foundation
Spirit of Nationalism
What were the virtues and values that helped form America? Pupils watch and discuss a video, read biographies of early Americans, chart the differences between early American religious movements, write journals and letters, draw, and...
Curated OER
Time Marches On
Students discover the times of Colonial America by creating a timeline. In this U.S. History lesson, students research a teacher-directed website about African Americans in early colonial times. Students utilize their information to...
Curated OER
A Colony is Born : Lesson 4 - What Went Wrong?
Fifth graders compare and contrast two early colonies and make a T chart. They list examples of worked well and what did not, and significant historical events. They use higher order thinking skills by deducing how different scenarios...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Slavery and the American Founding: The "Inconsistency Not to Be Excused"
High schoolers examine slavery in the revolutionary and colonial eras of the United States. In this slavery lesson, students investigate the presence of slavery in early America, the language of the Constitution, and the intent of the...
Curated OER
The Colonization of the United States
Bring the Age of Exploration into the 21st century with this ancestry activity! Learners get a chance to explore the complex genealogy of the Spanish settlers through watching two video clips (approximately five minutes each) featuring...
Curated OER
The Fear of Exploration Because of... Sea Monsters
Eighth graders examine the underestimated cause as to why exploration into the western hemisphere was not common before the 1400's. They reconstruct the causes/effects of exploration to North America.
Curated OER
Mapmakers' Perspective
Students examine several maps and consider mapmakers' perspective in early depictions of North America.They determine how the spherical shape of the earth makes any north-south and east-west orientation a matter of perspective. For...
Curated OER
The Power of Maps & Native American Cultures
Sixth graders discover where and how five Native American cultures lived in North America in what is currently the United States. They examine their way of life and the regions they inhabited. Additionally, 6th graders will understand...
US Citizenship and Immigration Services
Thanksgiving 2—The Pilgrim Story and My Immigrant Story
The tradition of the First Thanksgiving is really a story of immigration. Connect the feelings and customs of the early Pilgrims to the experiences of the immigrants in your class with an introduction to the 13 colonies, the Mayflower,...