Curated OER
Antonyms 3: level 12
More fun with opposites! Challenge your high schoolers to shake off their torpor and identify the antonyms for ten words. After completing the exercise, provide test takers with the answers and explanation sheets which detail why one...
California Shakespeare Theater
Hamlet Teacher's Guide
Even those experienced teachers of Hamlet can find much to like in a guide that offers many fresh ideas for activities. Class members may take on the role of FBI profilers that investigate Claudius and Hamlet as murderers, or designers...
Library of Virginia
Antebellum Freedom
From indentured servitude to involuntary race-based servitude, slavery has taken many forms in American history. Class members examine three manumission petitions that reveal how the rights of African Americans and African American...
PBS
African American History: Climbing the Wall
Imagine the challenge of trying to trace your family genealogy if no records were kept of births and deaths. Where would you look for information? What types of documents could provide you with the information you seek? History...
Federal Judicial Center
Amistad and Dred Scott—a Comparative Activity
What do slaves fighting for their freedom on board a ship and a slave fighting for his freedom in a courtroom have in common? Budding historians investigate the two different cases of the Amistad slave revolt and the Dred Scott argument....
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
What Was Everyday Life like in Colonial Virginia?
What was everyday life like in Colonial Virginia? To find the answer cooperative groups work collaboratively to read an informational handout and complete a graphic organizer. The speaker of the group then shares their new-found...
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
Why Did Some Colonial Virginians Continue to Support the King?
Not all colonials supported the American Revolution. A resource from the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown ask young historians to investigate the reasons why some colonial Virginians were loyalist and continued to support King...
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
Making a Patriot Inquiry: Are Independence, Freedom, and Liberty the Same Thing?
As part of a study of the American Revolution, class members engage in an inquiry-based lesson that has them watch a scene from the play Slave Spy, examine multiple primary source documents, and then discuss the similarities and...
Curated OER
Criminal or Hero
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...
Curated OER
African Americans in the Civil War
Students examine the contributions of African American soldiers during the Civil War. In pairs, they complete Civil War timeline worksheets. They use character cards to assume the identities of African Americans and determine whether or...
Curated OER
Benjamin Franklin: Goods and Services in Colonial America
Fifth graders examine the impact of Benjamin Franklin's ideas on the goods and services available in Colonial America as well as analyze the importance of Franklin to modern society. While listening to "How Ben Franklin Stole the...
Curated OER
The Living Museum: George Washington, the Slave Owner
Eighth graders bring early America to life. In this George Washington lesson, 8th graders listen to a lecture about the first president, explore the relationships he had with his slaves, and research the backgrounds of some of his...
Curated OER
What This Cruel War Was Over: Slavery and the Civil War
Can't travel to Richmond for your Civil War unit? This plan creates an authentic experience, using primary sources and the essential question: Over What Was the Civil War Fought? Historians examine the Appomattox Marker, the site of Gen....
Curated OER
Harriet Tubman Warns "Kill the Snake Before It Kills You"
Harriet Tubman developed a rich extended metaphor for slavery and the imperative for Lincoln to abolish it in this dictated letter from 1862. Young historians read the original document and interpret Tubman's allegory with a pair of...
Curated OER
The Age of Early European Explorations & Conquests
Your students' world will literally take shape in this presentation, which chronicles the growing edges of the (flat) earth during European Exploration of New Worlds. Dias, da Gama, Magellean, and Columbus are key players in this game of...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
America in Space: German Voices from Huntsville, Alabama
Project Paperclip, the Redstone Arsenal, and the Huntsville Space Center are all featured in a resource that investigates the contributions of Dr. Werner von Brawn and other German scientists to the US space program. Working individually...
Digital History
Compensation for Slavery
Should Americans provide compensation to those whose ancestors suffered from slavery? Read and analyze the arguments of two modern-day journalists on the topic. Then, have a discussion on both the merits of the arguments as well as what...
Curated OER
Hero Myth Creative Writing Assignment
Send your pupils on a hero's journey! Individuals must compose a story that includes six key elements of the hero's journey. In order to determine the basics of the content of their stories, class members use the included grid to circle...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Slaves and Indentured Servants
In theory, at least, indentured servitude and slavery were two different practices in the American colonies. Class groups conduct a close reading of two primary source documents, one written by a slave and one by an indentured servant,...
American Chemical Society
Norbert Rillieux, Thermodynamics and Chemical Engineering
The man who invented the earliest examples of chemical engineering was an American-born, French-educated, free man of color before the Civil War, and went on to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. There is something of interest for almost...
K12 Reader
Reading Comprehension: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Introduce your high schoolers to one of the most important pieces of American literature with a reading comprehension lesson. As class members read a short passage from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, they learn about the...
K12 Reader
Underground Railroad: On to Freedom
The Underground Railroad is the focus of a coloring worksheet, which provides background information about the volunteers who aided escaping slaves.
National Woman's History Museum
Progressive Era Women
The National Women's History Museum provides this interactive resource that permits users to explore women who played key roles during the Progressive Era in the quest for workers' rights, the Settlement House Movement, the Suffrage...
NPR
This Isn't Right: A History of Women in Industry
Women were in the workplace long before Rosie the Riveter pushed up her sleeve. Learn about the working options available to women during the Industrial Revolution, the Progressive Era, and the Great Depression with a instructional...