National Woman's History Museum
The Path to Women’s Suffrage
The Path to Women's Suffrage unit focuses on how Western Expansion was instrumental in gaining women the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment. Young historians analyze maps, examine primary source documents, and create a...
National Woman's History Museum
Sacagawea
Mind maps are great tools. Teach your classes how to use mind maps to collect, organize, and retain information with a lesson that asks learners to research the life of Sacagawea and use mind maps to record their findings.
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Settlement of Frontier Alabama
What comes to mind when the class imagines settlers traveling out West? The instructional activity teaches pupils about the western frontier of Alabama and what life was like for people traveling West—in wagons with few possessions....
PBS
Extranjeros and Expansion
A three-part lesson plan gives light to the Unites States expansion from the view of Texans, New Mexicans, and Californians. Through videos and written activities, scholars work collaboratively to research specific individuals and their...
University of Richmond
The Overland Trails 1840-1860
What led Americans to head west in the 1800s? Using an interactive map and journals from those who traveled, pupils explore the stories of those who migrated. In addition, they see how the numbers fluctuated in response to the push-pull...
PBS
Myth of the West: Lonely But Free I’ll Be Found
Tumbling tumbleweeds! Scholars work with video clips, primary and secondary documents, and song lyrics to uncover life in the Old West. They examine song's lyrics to uncover myths told in the 1930s about life in the Wild West.
PBS
Myth of the West: The Battle of the Washita
Go West, young man! Scholars use PBS video clips, slide shows, and interactive materials to create a picture of Manifest Destiny in the American West. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, young historians learn about the...
PBS
Myth of the West: Kit Carson to the Rescue
There's nothing like the Wild Wild West! Scholars investigate the American Frontier through the eyes of Kit Carson. To complete the first installment of a three-part series, they use presentations, a short video, and primary and...
Library of Congress
The Alaska Purchase: Debating the Sale from Russian and U.S. Perspectives
Seward's Folly or brilliant strategic move? Class members investigate primary source documents from each country to determine the rationales behind the sale and purchase of Alaska, and then stage a debate.
Curated OER
Educator's Guide: Holes
You'll be a star at your next grade level meeting with an educational unit on Louis Sachar's Holes. Based on both the novel and film, the lessons include applications to language arts with character studies and movie reviews; social...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Conflict in Alabama in the 1830s: Native Americans, Settlers, and Government
To better understand the Indian Removal Act of 1830, class members examine primary source documents including letters written by Alabama governors and the Cherokee chiefs. The activity is part of a unit on the expansion of the United...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
American Stories: Extra Support Lessons (Theme 2)
Here's a packet designed especially for those kids who need extra support with the basic concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on American stories.
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Westward Expansion: Image and Reality
As your young historians study Westward Expansion, practice in-depth primary source analysis with the documents and guidelines presented in this resource. They will examine a lithograph and excerpts from two letters written by a Nebraska...
Smithsonian Institution
Stamp Stories of Westward Expansion
What a fantastic project idea for discussing not only the history of America's expansion into the West, but for reviewing any major unit of history in your class. Pupils build stamp collections to visually represent themes of the...
Curated OER
My Antonia: K-W-H-L Strategy
Use the well-known KWHL chart as a tool for building up to a research project and oral presentation related to Willa Cather's My Antonia. Starting with a class brainstorm, pupils research and gradually narrow down topics relating to...
Huntington Library
The Corps of Discovery: The Lewis and Clark Expedition
Don't miss this fantastic comprehensive lesson plan on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, packed with instructional guidance, worksheets, map work, informational texts, and secondary source materials.
K12 Reader
Traveling to the Distant West
If you build it they can come. After reading a short article about the impact of western expansion, middle schoolers cite evidence from the article to explain how this expansion forced changes in transportation.
Curated OER
The Louisiana Purchase: Reading and Quiz
In need of informational text and a related quiz regarding the Louisiana Purchase? Here are four pages containing basic information on Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon, Manifest Destiny, and the Louisiana Purchase, plus a 15-question...
Curated OER
Photography and the National Park Service
During the 1800s the United States was expanding westward; land was there for the taking. Kids explore how some early photographers used their photography to influenced the US Congress to save areas like Mirror Lake. They...
Curated OER
The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy
Upper elementary learners read about jobs on a cattle drive and the lives of cowboy during U.S. Westward Expansion. They create a "Help Wanted" poster for one of the jobs. After reading primary source accounts of cowboys, they write...
Curated OER
Manifest Destiny
Complete with maps, photographs, and historical documents, this presentation would be a great resource throughout a unit about mid-19th century America. Manifest Destiny, Texas Independence, the Oregon Trail, and the Mexican War are...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
What Brought Settlers to the Midwest?
Drawn by promises of fertile land, thousands of settlers poured West because of the Homestead Act of 1862. By examining images of the ads that drew them westward, learners consider the motivations for movement. They also consider how the...
Learning Links
The Josefina Story Quilt Study Guide
Considering using The Josefina Story Quilt in your classroom? Check out this sample teaching guide for a list of pre-reading activities.
Curated OER
Rocky Train Trek
Students research about America's westward movement and the effect of railroads on indigenous peoples, U.S. society, the environment, and the economy. They plan, map, and document an imaginary train journey across North America in the...