History Lesson Plans

Second graders explore historical careers of the past. They research both fiction and nonfiction books to examine the historical significance of the career. In groups, pupils use multimedia methods to create a presentation on daily jobs. Students create a living history museum and role play a career from the past. Using a Venn Diagram, 2nd graders compare and contrasts jobs of the past with jobs of today.

Students choose three activities that demonstrate their knowledge of North Carolina history. In this North Carolina history lesson, students choose three activities from a Tic-Tac-Toe sheet to complete. They research information, write a paragraph, and/or complete creative projects. They work with Native American history, pirates, folktales, and historical timelines.

Ninth graders explore the history of the African Methodist Church in the United States. In this African American history lesson, 9th graders discover why the church was founded and research its history and noteworthy members. Students read some primary source archives and discuss historic preservation.

Students make connections between local history and national history. In this primary source research lesson, students research information about a Toronto home using the provided handout. 

Students write a rap or hip-hop lyric about the life of a famous Black American. They explore famous Black Americans in history and explore how the rap form compares to other forms of poetic expression.

Students explore the story behind the song "Battle of New Orleans" and explain how a historical event was explained in song. They reserach other songs with historical content and write their own set of lyrics to teach about an event in history.

Students explore the history of the oil industry. In this history of oil instructional activity, students reseach the history and current state of the oil industry. Students then determine whether they support the move of the oil industry into Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Students research the Gullah people and their impact on South Carolina. In this South Carolina history lesson, students study, locate, and color the region of Africa the Gullah people came from. Students listen to Gullah music and watch Gullah stories on video. Students study sweet grass baskets and fish nets. Students write their own folktale and make peanut butter beane cookies.

Students use a CALLIOPE magazine to learn about inventions and discoveries in China. In this history of firsts lesson, students research inventions and discoveries from China before making a an illustrated time line with the information. They read a CALLIOPE magazine page by page and answer associated comprehension questions.

Students share historical facts during the morning news program. In this past events lesson, students look at the current date and find things that happened on that day in history. Students discuss if those events changed or shaped the world as we know it now.