Smithsonian Institution
Lexington and Concord: Historical Interpretation
Learners view and analyze three different images related to the Battle of Lexington and Concord. They also answer a variety of questions in a graphic organizer to help keep the information straight.
Bill of Rights Institute
Preserving the Bill of Rights
Consider how America's founding fathers and their experiences contributed to the rights we all enjoy today. A collection of reading, writing, and collaborative exercises prompt high schoolers to think about the ways their current lives...
Curated OER
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Freedom
Welcome to America, the land of liberty and freedom. Examine the ways in which the terms liberty and freedom have been used in the United States. After researching and analyzing quotations from the past and present, students create an...
K20 LEARN
The Bank Of Justice: Civil Rights In The US
To launch a study of racial segregation and integration, young historians first watch a news video about a prom in Georgia that was first integrated in 2013. They then compare the goals in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to King's "I Have a...
Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers
Justice for All - Educating Youth for Social Responsibility: Grades 6-8
Teach middle schoolers how to develop healthy relationships with activities and lessons designed to create a kind and inclusive
classroom. Pupils create guidelines to develop a safe and civil learning environment. They learn how to...
DocsTeach
To Sign or Not to Sign
To sign or not to sign, that is the question. Scholars review the Declaration of Independence and discuss the Framers' decisions for signing the document. The activity uses primary text, a worksheet, and group discussion to help...
Facing History and Ourselves
Defining Democracy
For democracies, it is both the best and the worst of times. As part of a study of the challenges facing democracies, young political scientists seek first to define democracy, and then to consider the relationship between democracy and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Day for the Constitution
The "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day" law requires schools receiving any federal funding to provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution. The lesson plans, materials, videos, questions, and activities...
PBS
The Supreme Court: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
While World War II changed the international order, it also led to a fundamental shift in the concept of civil rights within the United States. Using a video and discussion questions, class members consider the effects the war had to the...
Judicial Learning Center
The Bill of Rights and Civil Liberties
Why is the Bill of Rights so important to American's civil liberties? An important resource helps scholars find these answers and more by reading through state and federal constitutions to discover their own civil liberties. The activity...
PBS
The Supreme Court: Liberty of Contract
How did the Supreme Court apply the Fourteenth Amendment to cases involving working people? Learn all about labor rights in a resource that focuses on the liberty of contract and protections for workers. Scholars complete handouts that...
US Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Day
Teaching class members all about the importance and meaning behind Veterans Day with an informative resource. Pupils complete a classroom activity guide and individual research to learn more about the brave men and women who defend the...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 15
The Haitian Revolution takes center stage as class members analyze a passage from Sugar Changed the World and consider how the authors select, present, and organize events to show how the tensions between the concerns for freedom and...
Pacific University Oregon
Civil Rights: US History
To gain an understanding of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, class members investigate the Jim Crow Laws, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution, and the 1898 Supreme Court case,...
Curated OER
Liberty for All: Voices from the Revolution
Did the Declaration of Independence really intend to grant liberty for all? Get your class thinking about historical perspective with documents relaying the experiences of women, white men, and African-Americans during the Revolutionary...
Curated OER
Bill of Rights: Rights and Responsibilities
Students explore the meaning of freedom. In this U.S. History lesson, students research the Declaration of Independence and how it relates to American freedom by completing activities and a mock trial.
Curated OER
Visions of Liberty
Students explore the concept of Lady Liberty. In this Statue of Liberty lesson, students discover what she stands for and why she looks the way she does. Students also discover how copper oxidizes and changes color.
Curated OER
What is Government?
Learners explore values that unite Americans. For this government lesson, students recall the symbols of America and discuss how to create a "Classroom Constitution." Learners form rules and write their own Constitution.
Curated OER
Statue of Liberty: Liberty Enlightening the World
Students explore reasons that people immigrate to the United States. In this Statue of Liberty instructional activity, students read a handout regarding immigration, analyze the poem, "The New Colossus," and complete the provided...
Curated OER
Judges in the Classroom Lesson Plan Classifying Rights From Various Constitutions
Fourth graders compare the constitutions of five Pacific Rim countries. In this constitution comparison lesson plan, 4th graders work with a visiting judge to find similarities and differences in the constitutions of five countries. They...
Curated OER
Delaware
In this Delaware worksheet, students respond to 7 questions that are related to the state of Delaware. First, they identify and name the state's capital and when it became a state. Then, students identify and name the state's motto,...
Curated OER
Give Me Liberty
Students define the term "liberty." They explore the concept of liberty in our nation's history and how it is reflected throughout our rich culture. Students connect the office of the presidency to our nations' development and its place...
Curated OER
Liberty Defined
Fourth graders express their views of liberty through creative writing. They view video segments about the history of the Statue of Liberty.
Curated OER
Patrick Henry: Voice of Liberty
Students watch a video on Patrick Henry, complete a vocabulary list and discuss the video following provided questions.