Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Birth of Democracy

For Students 9th - 10th
Features a look at democracy in ancient Greece. Discover how it worked and how Athenians prevented corruption.
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: The Fall of the Roman Empire

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains some of the reasons the Roman Empire collapsed, how Roman cities and towns fell into ruins, and how barbarian groups took over with there being no strong Roman militia to keep lawlessness in check.
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: The Cuban Missile Crisis

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the events that led up to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the steps John F. Kennedy took to avert a nuclear war.
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: The New Deal

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses Franklin D. Roosevelt's First and Second New Deals and the different programs that got people back to work and put food on their tables. Looks at the successes and failures of these programs and the criticisms leveled at...
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Red Scare America

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the events that took place during the McCarthy Era and actions of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Ordinary Americans feared being identified as a Communist sympathizer and libraries removed books from their shelves...
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: The Crash of '29

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes what led to the stock market crash of 1929, what initiatives President Herbert Hoover took to try to recover from it, and what the results were.
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Containing Communism

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes how the Soviets under Stalin managed to infiltrate Eastern European countries and establish Communist governments, dividing the continent into East and West with a symbolic Iron Curtain separating the two. America scrambled to...
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: The Voyages of Zheng He

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the Chinese explorer, Zheng He, who lived from 1371 to 1433. He commanded massive fleets and made seven voyages, traveling to East Africa, India, and Arabia, making stops in other regions along the way. He even brought a...
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Ancient Mesopotamia: Epic of Gilgamesh

For Students 9th - 10th
Tells the story of the Epic of Gilgamesh which is an epic poem from Ancient Mesopotamia and is seen as a great work of literature.
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: The London Blitz

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the events leading up to the onslaught of bombing against London, England, and what it was like for those who experienced it. Germany's attention only shifted when it began invading the USSR.
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Geography: Places: Amazing Amazon

For Students 4th - 8th
Describes the rich flora and fauna of the Amazon rainforest and the characteristics of the different layers of vegetation from the forest floor up to the canopy.
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The History Cat

The History Cat: Geography: People: A Tale of Two Koreas

For Students 4th - 8th
Compares what life is like in North Korea to life in South Korea.
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The History Cat

The History Cat: Geography: Environment: The Incredible Shrinking Sea

For Students 4th - 8th
Describes the economic policies of the Soviet Union that turned the Aral Sea, once the world's largest body of fresh water, into two smaller seas and desert. Includes a video. [10:29]
Activity
The History Cat

The History Cat: Roanoke: The Mystery of the Lost Colony [Pdf]

For Students 4th - 8th
Read about the lost colony of Roanoke, examine the evidence, and devise theories as to what may have happened to the colonists in 1590.
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Rise and Fall of the Incan Empire

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the achievements and sophistication of the Incan Empire prior to being conquered by the Spaniards under Francisco Pizarro. Pizarro had their emperor, Atahualpa, executed after keeping him captive for months while the Inca gave...
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The History Cat

The History Cat: The Industrial Revolution

For Students 9th - 10th
Summarizes the events of the Industrial Revolution in Britain by highlighting what happened in the cotton industry and the mining industry.
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The History Cat

The History Cat: War on the Great Plains: The Last Indian Wars

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn how the 30-year Indian Wars started and about the battles that were fought over those years. Describes the emergence and growth of the Ghost Dance movement that was initially envisioned by a Paiute medicine man named Wovoka. White...
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Us History: Louisiana Purchase

For Students 9th - 10th
Covers two topics related to the growth of the new United States - the Louisiana Purchase and the settling of the Great Plains. How the Louisiana Purchase came about as a result of a decision by Napoleon is explained. The Great Plains...
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Us History: Election of 1860: Lincoln Elected

For Students 9th - 10th
Looks at the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and the divisions between North and South that resulted. Shortly after the election, a group of Southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. The animosity between...
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Us History: The American Cowboy

For Students 9th - 10th
Looks at the origins of American cowboy culture, at the lives of cowboys and at the responsibilities they had, such as herding cattle to market.
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The History Cat

The History Cat: Us History: The Buffalo Soldiers

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the history of the Buffalo Soldiers, African Americans who served in four Calvary peacetime units in the 19th and 20th centuries. Highlights the experiences of Emanuel Stance, a freed slave who joined the military in 1866.
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The History Cat

The History Cat: The Donner Expedition

For Students 9th - 10th
Tells the story of the well-known Donner family who attempted to pass over the mountains to California in the winter of 1846-47, but became trapped by heavy snowfall. Many people in the party perished from starvation and cold, and there...
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Life on an Indian Reservation

For Students 9th - 10th
Summarizes the experiences of native peoples who were sent to live on reservations as settlers moved onto their homelands, and their distrust towards the white people who cheated them and ignored the negotiated treaties.
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: Carlisle Indian School

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains how Indian boarding schools came to be established, often with good intentions initially, and how native students were expected to dress and behave like white people, and were even punished for using their native language or...