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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Utopian Promise

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars learn all about the Puritans in the third installment of a 16-part lesson series. After watching a video, they read and discuss biographies of Puritans and Quakers from American history, write journal entries and poetry, and...
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Lesson Plan
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Memorial Hall Museum

Dedham Deed

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Class members examine primary source documents that expose the contrasting views of land ownership between the Pocumtuck and English settlers.
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Lesson Plan
NET Foundation for Television

1850-1874 Homestead Act Signed: Who were the Settlers?

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Life in the great, wide-open spaces of the West! Scholars analyze the reasons behind the vast movement to the Great Plains after the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Homestead Act. Using photographic, document, map, video, and...
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Worksheet
ReadWriteThink

Compare and Contrast

For Students 4th - 6th Standards
Read about the ways that different cultures set up homes with a set of reading activities. Learners read short paragraphs that cover one or more different ideas, and answer four questions about what they have read, including whether or...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native Americans of Our Region

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students describe the life of a Native American tribe native to their area. They form small groups and visit stations in the classroom to read about various Native American tribes. They write journal entries and draw pictures of the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Railroads and Settlement of the Great Plains

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Enhance your American literature unit with this resource, in which readers access the Nebraska Studies website and read about "Railroads and Settlement." They search for a photograph of some aspect of the railroad from the Prairie...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Iron Horse vs. the Buffalo: Indian-Settler Conflict on the Great Plains

For Teachers 10th
The Iron Horse encroached upon the land while conflicts escalated between Native Americans and the settlers. Sophomores study the print, American Progress then discuss how American progress affected Native Americans. They will study the...
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Lesson Plan
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

What Brought Settlers to the Midwest?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
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...
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Worksheet
DePaul University

Settlement

For Students 3rd - 5th Standards
Early settlers in the American Midwest experienced constant struggle. This reading passage describes for young learners the hardships of homesteaders as they journeyed west and sought to start a new life. When finished, students identify...
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PPT
Curated OER

Calvinism and Puritans

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Now your class can discuss Calvinism and Puritans like true academic. How, you ask? Because they've heard a lecture based on the presentation you've just found. Containing informational text, each slide gives basic differences between...
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PPT
Curated OER

Picturing America

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Teachers look here! You'll find a treasure trove of images, all representing the face of young America. There are 27 different paintings that depict early settlers, the landscape, Native Americans, and famous folk throughout early...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Our First Families

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Young scholars complete a variety of activities in which the Washington Post Newspaper is used to reinforce concepts pertaining to the history of the Washington, D.C. area.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where the Buffalo Roam

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders explore what life in the Chicago area was like hundreds of years ago. They discuss how settlers impacted the environment, and why there are no longer herds of buffalo in the Chicago area today. They read an article and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Taming Wild Land

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders consider the habitat needs of living things and how extensive farming in an area can affect the plants and animals of a region. They participate in a simulation to show how changing the habitat in one area can greatly...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Native Americans

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners participate in a skit. In this Native American history lesson plan, students read a book about Native Americans and answer comprehension questions. Learners then read a story about the Wampanoag people and work in groups to act...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jamestown's Economy

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Students identify items made in Jamestown and draw conclusions about their economy. For this Jamestown economy lesson, students use the internet to complete a worksheet which required them to look at photographs of goods made in and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marquette and Joliet Explore the Mississippi in 1673

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students locate and name the St. Lawrence River, the five Great Lakes, and the Mississippi River on a modern map. They find Quebec, Michilimackinac, Wisconsin, and Chicago on that map. They find the same places on a 1681 map.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Factors Contributing To the U.S. Dominance of the Pacific Northwest

For Teachers 6th - 11th
Learners examine the painting Columbia by John Gast. They discuss the concept of Manifest Destiny and the role of different groups (miners, missionaries, fur trappers, farmers, etc.) in the Americanization of the West. In groups, they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lives of Native Americans and Settlers

For Teachers 3rd - 11th
Students assess the effect of contact between the Native Americans and Europeans after 1492. They explore the lives of the early European colonists and the Native Americans living along the East Coast of North America. Lesson contains...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Louisiana

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders study factual information about Louisiana including the state flag, bird, tree, and important geographical points using the Internet and maps. They explain the different groups that settled the state in this mini-unit.
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PPT
Curated OER

Social Studies: Famous History

For Teachers 2nd
While a rudimentary overview of facts relating to U.S. History, this resource could be used as a starting point for a discussion of this topic. However, there is very little information included on each slide, and one of the terms used...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

American Settlement of the Great Plains

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders examine the Great Plains. In this American settlement lesson, 7th graders create a map of the settled areas in the United States. Students discuss the struggle between settlers and the Native Americans.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kansas Prairie Homes

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students read about settlers in Kansas and the adaptations they made in order to build different kinds of houses. For this Kansas settlers lesson plan, students participate in choral reading and retell information they learn.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Day 5 - Science Plants - germination - growth- What plants do we need to survive?

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students look at the crops of the settlers. In this crop lesson, students discuss why each crop was important to the settlers and how they used it. They plant seeds and track and observe the growth.