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...

After studying the reasons settlers entered the New World, primary learners try to persuade others to enter this new land. Class members present their arguments in a variety of ways including posters, writings, and charts. Richly...

Fourth graders recognize and can describe the settlers of Early America. In this American colonies lesson, 4th graders research using primary and secondary sources, Native Americans, Europeans, and African Americans role in the...

Students embark on a journey through colonial times.  For this early settlement lesson, students come to understand what life was like for the settlers in the early colonies. Students research and create projects illustrating their...

Learners practice graphing and other math skills to track number of honeybee colonies present in United States since 1978, discuss major crops that are dependent on insect pollinators, and examine reasons for decline of United States...

Class members read a series of primary and secondary source materials to examine the effects of Queen Anne's War, also know as the War of Spanish Succession, on the Pocumtucks and other Native Americans in the area of Deerfield, MA.

Students examine the emergence of the United States and Mexico as independent nations. They compare the colonial history of the two countries and discover the emergence of social classes.

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,...

Fifth graders research the Jamestown settlement and examine life in the colonies from 1607-1610. They explore websites, develop a timeline, select two settlers to research, and write three letters written from the point of view of their...

Students use a globe. In this geography and early settlements lesson, students learn about the settlement of missions and haciendas in New Mexico. Students locate Mexico City and San Francisco on the globe and determine the distance...

Students explore the differences between American Spanish speaking countries and the United States. Students explore the history and culture of Spanish speaking countries. They examine Latino influences. Students create a presentation...

What brought settlers from Europe to North America? By exploring primary sources, such as posters seeking recruits for the new lands, class members take a deeper look at these motivations. To finish, they present their findings to...

Eighth graders locate on a map the 3 geographic locations of the seven Arkansas Posts and explain the reason for each location move. They compare and contrast the reasons people move in today's world with the reasons the inhabitants of...

Fourth graders complete a variety of activities as they study the Spanish colonization of California, including the relationships among missionaries and Indians and their interactions with soldiers and people in the pueblos and ranchos.

Fourth graders create their classroom rules.  In this Mayflower Compact lesson plan, 4th graders listen to the Plymouth story and learn about the Mayflower Compact.  Students analyze the Mayflower Compact and create a class...

Students use the Internet, encyclopedias, and other library resources to discover basic facts about the Battle of New Orleans and the 1768 revolt by French colonists in Spanish Louisiana. They examine two websites that give information...

Fifth graders study how the potato famine affected the Irish population. They speculate on how the Irish were viewed by the English and the new Americans. They examine why the Irish immigrated to the new colonies. and evaluate how new...

The Massacre of Tlatelolco is the focus of a discussion-based lesson. Civil-minded learners consider the nature of student movements that have ended in violence based on over-reaction and government oppression. They discuss the social...

What does it mean to "be of good character"? What are the qualities that define such a person? The 1825 Colonization Law of Coahuila y Texas required that all new immigrants into Mexican Texas present documentation that they were of...

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 lesson that...

Sea explorers and scientists have found that because of temperatures being two to three degrees Celsius at the bottom of the ocean, most animals are lethargic in order to conserve energy. In this web quest, pairs of learners read about...

To better understand the role women played in early 17th century US history, class members examine the National Women's History Museum's online exhibit, Building the New World: the Women of Jamestown Settlement. After studying the 11...

Students analyze the significance of Jamestown in the broader picture of colonization and analyze a historical document to determine the effects of previous explorations on the expectations of the Jamestown colonizers

Examine paper money from the American revolution! Historians study the paper bills and discuss the history of money. How has money changed over the times? Activities are included.