K12 Reader
Bartering for Basics
A passage about bartering practiced by early Native American tribes provides the text for a reading comprehension worksheet that asks kids to use information from the article to answer a series of comprehension questions.
Curated OER
Novice Drivers
Students explore the concept of social trade-offs in the context of graduated driver licensing. They discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the graduate licensing program.They create a list of factors that contribute to traffic accidents...
Curated OER
Pocumtucks in Deerfield
As part of a study of colonial and Native American history, class members focus on the beliefs and land use of the Pocumtucks, who settled near Deerfield, Massachusetts. Students examine their beliefs about land use and ownership, the...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
The War of 1812: America’s First Declared War
Free Trade and Sailor's Rights! Pupils dive into America's first declared war, the War of 1812. They analyze the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison through diary entries and historical reasoning. To conclude the lesson, they use their...
Curated OER
Ann Arbor Growth & Immigration
Third graders describe some of the factors that brought early settlers to Ann Arbor. They read Narrative-A Trip from Utica, New York, to Ingham County, Michigan in 1838. As an added challenge, 3rd graders can use maps to track Silas...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 3: Britain, Napoleon, and the American Embargo, 1803–1808
While the French were once the allies of Americans, the Napoleonic Wars saw the United States almost drawn into a war with its one-time friend. Wars in Europe threatened to draw in the early republic. A primary source-based activity...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Slaves and Indentured Servants
In theory, at least, indentured servitude and slavery were two different practices in the American colonies. Class groups conduct a close reading of two primary source documents, one written by a slave and one by an indentured servant,...
K12 Reader
Comparative Adjectives: Words That End in Y
What do messy, dreamy, and lucky have in common? They are all adjectives that trade their -y for -ier in the comparative form! Learners practice the vowel shift with twenty adjectives, all of which end in -y.
Curated OER
Summer Body Activity: As Big as Me!
Learners explore things that are their size, literally. In this early childhood lesson plan, students use their bodies for measuring and comparing sizes as they work in pairs to complete the activity.
K12 Reader
Colonization: for Gold, God, and Glory
Colonization, cartography, and circumnavigation. After reading a short article about early explorations, kids use the information provided to answer a series of comprehension questions.
It's About Time
Monitoring Active Volcanoes
The fastest growing volcano in recorded history grew more than 150 meters in less than a week and to more than 424 meters in less than a decade. How do we safely monitor active volcanoes? Young scientists design an instrument to measure...
State Bar of Texas
Gibbons v. Ogden
Have you ever played the game Monopoly? Do you know what it takes to win the game correctly? Scholars research the nature of outlawing monopolies in the United States while controlling trade. They investigate the court case Gibbons v....
Anne Frank House
Who Was Anne Frank?
Set the stage for a study of The Diary of a Young Girl with a resource that includes background information about Anne Frank's early years, the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands, her Secret Annex hiding place, and her capture and...
Curated OER
Cultural Exchange (Salem)
Students view the photo of the The Tea Trade Painting and discuss what they see. They will then discuss what went into the beginning of a major sea voyage. Next they explore routes traveled by the New England traders. They study sailing...
Curated OER
Review
Eighth graders review and assess their knowledge on the big picture of exploration and the origins of early America. They piece together all the pieces of the puzzle from the past two weeks of study on trade, technology, exploration and...
Curated OER
Jobs and Immigration
Students discuss colonial America and the jobs and trades that immigrants had to have to have a society that flourished. In this immigration jobs lesson plan, students also discuss the role of women in these times.
Curated OER
Images of Slavery
Students analyze the ways slavery shaped social and economic life in the South after 1800, methods of passive and active resistance to slavery; escaped slaves and the Underground Railroad, and the ending of the Atlantic slave trade.
Curated OER
A Nation of Nations Lesson Plan: Charting African Ethnicities in America
Students read a portion of the narrative, The Transatlantic Slave Trade, to explain the ethnic origins of enslaved Africans brought to the US. They create charts and bar graphs comparing ethnicities in the lowlands and tidewater regions.
Curated OER
Hafta Do NAFTA?
Young scholars examine the benefits and problems of U.S. participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement. In two groups, students represent the campaign team for a presidential candidate, one for and one against NAFTA, and...
Curated OER
Slavery: How did the Abolition Acts Affect the Slave Trade?
Students investigate the abolition of slavery by examining historical documents. In this U.S. history lesson, students view photographs of East African residents who were forced into slavery. Students write about the information they...
Curated OER
Empires of Early Africa
Ninth graders examine the Nile's role in the birth and growth of Egyptian civilization. In this World History instructional activity, 9th graders explore how archaeologists have learned about life in Ancient cities. Students present a...
Curated OER
Mercado Trading at the Marketplace
Students comprehend that Mexico is a country. They identify two types of regions in Mexico. Students comprehend that many people in Mexico speak Spanish. They use three Spainsh words. Studnents begin to relate simple words with...
Curated OER
Knife River: Early Village Life on the Plains
Students discover the complex culture and trading economy of the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes in North Dakota during the 18th century, as seen by anthropologists and artists.
Curated OER
An Early American Culture
Students identify the locations of the Hopewell culture. In this map skills instructional activity, students use a globe to mark several locations of the Hopewell culture.