Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stories of Freedom and Justice: Learning Resources

For Teachers Pre-K - 12th
Students are introduce to the topic of nonviolence and civil rights by watching a video. In this stories of freedom lesson, students examine the Supreme Court's role in interpreting the U.S. Constitution. Students analyze how conflict...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Prairie Grove Battlefield

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students examine the battle of Prairie Grove and Arkansas's role in the Civil War. They discover the realities of war on the soldiers and civilians. They analyze historical documents for content.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rivers Bridge State Historic Site

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students use maps, readings, illustrations and photos to analyze the Civil War Rivers Bridge battlefield and describe how geography affected the outcome of the battle. They explore and explain the causes for the battle's heavy human...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Young scholars use maps, readings and photographs to locate prisoner of war camps in the North during the Civil War. They identify the camp's population sizes and mortality rates and how the camps' uses have changed over time.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers i

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Young scholars explore the challenges involved in carrying out a program to care for the needs of Civil War veterans an to mark their graves after their deaths. The biography of a veteran from the community is researched and written in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cubing Strategy

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders interview each other in the role of civil war personalities. In this Civil War lesson plan, 5th graders create a script and video of an interview with classmates who are portraying characters from the Civil War. Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

John Wanamaker and his "New Kind of Store"

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers study John Wanamaker's department store and its attractions to 19th century consumers.  In this Civil War instructional activity students compare the different styles of shopping pre department stores and evaluate...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tension Over Slavery

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders research the events that lead to the US Civil War. They use the Jigsaw technique to report the findings of their research.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Step Back in Time

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders study the Civil War, discuss the life and policy decisions of Abraham Lincoln and the concepts/issues that developed to create North vs. South. This lesson is meant to be used before visiting Ford's Theatre.
Lesson Plan
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Facing History and Ourselves

A Contested History

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Memories of and interpretations of history change—that's the key takeaway from a lesson that has young historians compare the story of the Reconstruction Era as told by the historians of the Dunning School to the view of scholars today...
Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Chasing Lincoln's Killer: A Novel Study

For Teachers 7th - 12th
James Swanson's novel, Chasing Lincoln's Killer, provides an engaging unit of study for all readers.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mississippi Trial, 1955: Pre-reading Strategy

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Pink and Say, a picture book by Patricia Polacco, and an anticipation guide, set the stage for a reading of Mississippi Trial, 1955, Chris Crowe's novel based on the true story of the murder of Emmett Till. Instructional routines, the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learn about the events that helped shape the United States of America. Elementary schoolers explore the Civil War with six different activities. Each activity has a different focus: literature connections, primary sources, vocabulary,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Runaway Slaves, An American Experience

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders explore, analyze and study how one's personal experiences impact one's perspective and actions. They interpret ideas and events of slavery from the different perspectives of an abolitionist, slave owner, United States...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Brightly Colored Past

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners read A Brightly Colored Past, choose three things they found out about Middletown's African-American history that they didn't know before, and create slide using Kid Pix Studio Deluxe to be incorporated into classwide slide show.
Lesson Plan
Carolina K-12

Group Project: Freedom Parade

For Students 5th Standards
Parades are a great way to celebrate. Get young historians into the festivities by asking them to create an informational float for a Freedom Parade. Picking a topic from the provided list or suggesting one of their own, class members...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Japanese-American Relocation

For Teachers 11th
Consider the causes and effects that led to the internment and relocation of Japanese Americans during WWII. Learners read the story "Baseball Saved Us" and selected chapters from Farewell to Manzanar. Then, they view a slide-show, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Breaking Barriers

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate racism in the 20th century by exploring U.S. History. In this Civil Rights lesson, students review the history of slavery, the Civil War and the fight for equality in the mid 1900's. Students complete Civil Rights...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jim Crow Laws and The American South

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Young scholars explore how Jim Crow laws affected the lives of people living in the south during pre and post-Civil Rights. Using a various research methods, students research various aspects of the Jim Crow south and complete a graphic...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introducing Vocabulary

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders create a timeline of events. In this vocabulary lesson, 11th graders work in groups to create a timeline of major events that occurred during the Civil Rights era. Students present to class then create a larger class...
Lesson Plan
Tennessee State Museum

Deciphering the Document: Unlocking the Meaning of the Emancipation Proclamation

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Help your learners truly understand the Emancipation Proclamation by asking them the put it into their own words. After reading the document out loud to the class, and briefly discussing the legal language, split your class into small...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Meet Hannah the Weaver

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Young scholars analyze primary and secondary sources to explore slavery and emancipation, and write letter or diary entry from point of view of slave Hannah Harris or plantation owner Robert Carter. Students then dramatize their creative...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The African Grove Theater

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Learners study the African Grove Theater in New York. In this African American history lesson, students examine the evolution of race relations in the United States as they research the theater and its history.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making a Report to President Washington

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students gain an understanding of some of the challenges the U.S. faced at its birth. They are asked to compose a report on the state of the nation in 1790 (addressed to President George Washington), which includes a narrative, maps and...