Curated OER
Lincoln's Spot Resolutions
Learners take a closer look at historical relations between the United States and Mexico. For this Texas annexation lesson, students examine primary documents authored by Zachary Taylor, James Polk, and Abraham Lincoln to consider why...
Curated OER
The Changing Role of Women
Eleventh graders examine the evolution of women's rights in America. As they analyze primary documents and discuss historical events, learners determine how Abigail Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lady Bird Johnson, Margaret Sanger, and James...
Smithsonian Institution
Conflicting Voices of the Mexican War
Americans wanted to fulfill Manifest Destiny, and this pattern continued with the Mexican War. The resource specifically teaches about the Mexican War through a variety of exercises including a research project, group work, brainstorming...
Curated OER
The U. S. at War
Learners examine reasons for going to war. In this foreign policy lesson, students analyze the reasons the U.S. entered the the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the...
Curated OER
Westward Expansion and the War with Mexico
Students evaluate primary sources to develop their own opinions about Westward Expansion. In this Manifest Destiny lesson, students examine and respond to questions about Gast's painting titled American Progress Students research how...
Curated OER
Why a President? Why not a King?
Students research how and why a country elects to have an executive branch of the government. They study the office of the Presidency of the US.
Curated OER
Raising the Mormon Battalion
Ninth graders simulate (role play) some of the original emotional responses to this request for soldiers. They list and evaluate reasons for and against creating the Mormon Battalion. They justify their own decision under such...
Curated OER
Getting There: "Do You Want To Go To California?"
Students, in groups, participate in a variety of activities regarding the rise of Anglo-American immigration in the 1840s and its impact upon California. They discuss immigration from the West and the East as it influenced the culture of...
Curated OER
Baltimoreans in the California Gold Rush
Eleventh graders explore the reasons for migration to California during the Gold Rush. In this American History activity, 11th graders read letters about the opportunities and obstacles people faced. Students create a map of migration...
Curated OER
Presidential Election 2004: Five Presidents' Calls for War
Students examine five president's reasons for entering into a war. Using the text, they answer questions and discuss their answers with the class. They also examine President Bush's reasons for going to war in Iraq and how that...
Curated OER
Using Primary Sources: Letters from the Presidents
Students research the life of a president by reading personal letters on the American Presidents web site, and explore the ways that the character and personality of the president affected the ways they handled historical events.
Curated OER
Paths to the Presidency
Seventh graders investigate a timeline of the career paths that US presidents took before they became the president. They how these career choices prepared these men for the presidency.
Curated OER
Poetry and the American Presidents
Fifth graders choose a poetry activity in order to focus their research about American presidents.
Curated OER
President Notebook
Students make presidential notebooks which they add to throughout the year. They arrange information about each president into an informational chapter.