Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson 8: After Slavery: Stowe's Vision

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders read Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Point of View: Accounts of Former Slaveholders

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students examine the housing and living conditions of slaves. They discuss the concerns of slaveholders concerning the health and well-being of their slaves. They analyze the importance of religion to the slaves as well.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simulated Underground Railroad Experience

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders travel through a mock Underground Railroad.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Before Rosa Parks: Early Grades Activity

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Learners read excerpts from an autobiographical work and retell scenes from the book. They consider the ways Susie King Taylor's autobiography displays character traits including courage, creativity, compassion and determination.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Conservation: California Quarter Reverse

For Teachers K - 1st
Students examine the California quarter reverse and discuss conservation measures. They discover the concept of conservation by a snack-eating experimen and relate it to John Muir's conservation interests. After evaluating the design...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Let's Make History -- Together

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students examine different pieces of art from different artists. They are to read "About the Art" before viewing. They create their own plasticine tile showing people in action from history.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Debate - Election of 1876

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders examine how Rutherford Hayes should be elected President of United States in order for the Union to continue effective Reconstruction.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Before Rosa Parks: Upper Grades Activity: Frances Watkins Harper

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students analyze the rhetorical strategies Frances Watkins Harper used, such as tone, emotional appeal and descriptive language
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hull of a Ship

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders engage in this introductory unit lesson. A bulletin board for the unit be started, Colonial Notebooks be presented to each student, and a pre-test on colonization be administered.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mr. Bush in Washington

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students study about George Washington Bush and write a biography about him in a small group. To gain a better understanding of him, they listen to a biography on a tape about him. They visit various sites about him to help them examine...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Press Conference With Abraham Lincoln

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders hold a press conference with Abraham Lincoln.
Lesson Plan
Huntington Library

Huntington Library: A House Divided: Slavery and the Civil War [Pdf]

For Teachers 8th
In this lesson, 8th graders look at how slavery contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War, at Abraham Lincoln's efforts to save the Union, and at what impact the Emancipation Proclamation had on the North's view of the war. Includes...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs: Music, Slavery and the Civil War

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This lesson could serve as the basis of a curriculum unit on slavery and/or the Civil War. Spirituals are analyzed, especially their cultural implications.
Lesson Plan
ArtsNow

Arts Now Learning: The Civil War [Pdf]

For Teachers 5th
In this activity, 5th graders explore the concept of cause and effect in the context of the Civil War and work in groups to write and deliver speeches articulating a point of view for one of the War's causes: tariffs, state's rights, or...
Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: What Else Was Happening During the Civil War Era?

For Teachers 5th - 8th
The years leading up to, during, and following the Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877) are most often remembered for the tension between North and South, the question of slavery, President Lincoln, and social and political changes...
Lesson Plan
iCivics

I Civics: Civil War & Reconstruction

For Teachers 9th - 10th
The Civil War and Reconstruction Era brought about the end of slavery and the expansion of civil rights to African Americans through the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Compare the Northern and Southern states, discover the concepts of...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: A War to End Slavery: Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Children at War [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that takes students through an investigation of two key battles of the Civil War--Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Students determine why these battles...
Lesson Plan
Center For Civic Education

Center for Civic Education: Abraham Lincoln and Executive Power

For Students 9th - 10th
This instructional activity traces the rise of Abraham Lincoln from his humble beginnings to the presidency of the United States. You will examine Lincoln's ideas and decisions regarding slavery and the use of the presidential power to...
Lesson Plan
White House Historical Association

White House Historical Association: Thence Forward, and Forever Free

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Informational text and lesson plan for grades 9-12 tracing Abraham Lincoln's battle against slavery from the time he was in the Illinois State Legislature through his presidency and writing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Slavery in the United States: Primary Sources

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
This lesson introduces students to primary sources- what they are, their great variety, and how they can be analyzed. The lesson begins with an activity that helps students understand the historical record. Students then learn techniques...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: The Reconstruction Amendments

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this interactive lesson, students will understand and explain the key provisions of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, commonly referred to as the Reconstruction Amendments.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: History of Us: Fatal Contradiction: Missouri Compromise [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that examines the goal of the Missouri Compromise. A good lesson for comparing and contrasting life in the North and South in the run-up to the...
Lesson Plan
Other

Bringing History Home: Segregation History

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
This 3rd grade unit introduces children to the history of segregation, from the end of the Civil War in 1865 through the 1940s. Its content bridges the period between slavery and the peak of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: A War to End Slavery: John Wilkes Booth and Assassination of Lincoln

For Teachers 6th - 8th
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that examines the factors that led John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Lincoln. Also involves comparing and contrasting Lincoln's and Andrew...