Curated OER
Primary Sources and Personal Artifacts
Connect historical text to primary sources. Researchers observe and discuss primary sources. Then, historians bring in their own personal artifacts and connect them back to their history.
Curated OER
Tintin and I: Primary and Secondary Sources
Mickey Mouse, Elmo, and Tintin? Belgian cartoonist Georges (Herge) Remi’s famous comic character launches a study of primary and secondary source material and the impact these sources have on storytelling. Class members also examine the...
Curated OER
Primary Sources and Protagonists: A Native American Literature Unit
Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...
Library of Congress
To Kill A Mockingbird: A Historical Perspective
Students study the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Through studying primary source materials from American Memory and other online resources, students of all backgrounds study the relationships between blacks and whites.
Curated OER
Exploring the Irish in America Through Found Poetry
What was life like for Irish immigrants settling in America during the late 1800's? Learners examine primary source documents, such as lyrics, poems, and letters, to understand the immigrant experience. They then use those primary source...
National Woman's History Museum
Unsung Voices: Black Women and Their Role in Women's Suffrage
Reclaim perspectives often left out of the narrative about the suffrage movement with an activity that lifts up the voices of African American women. Using primary sources and biographical details of Fannie Barrier Williams' life, young...
Curated OER
Create a Walking Tour of San Francisco's Chinatown
Take a tour of Chinatown as it was in the 1800's. Analyzing primary source images and documents, learners will gain a better understanding of the myths and misconceptions of Chinese immigrants during the 1800's. They create a pamphlet to...
Curated OER
The See Family
Third graders examine photographs as primary source documents. Students are broken into groups and are given photographs of the See Family.
Curated OER
The New England Fishing Industry:Sea Changes in a Community
Explore New England's economic and cultural past and possible issues New Englanders will face in the future. Middle and high schoolers research the fishing industry and the need for regulation. They analyze the topography of New England...
Curated OER
Teaching with Primary Sources Across Tennessee: Debunking Civil War Photographs
Students analyze photographs and texts using primary source analysis. In this primary source lesson students determine whether the photographs and text are truthful.
Curated OER
Teaching With Primary Sources
Students examine primary sources. In this primary sources lesson, students evaluate 19th century advertisements. Students create and illustrate an advertisement.
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Debate Against Slavery
Slavery is a serious topic that can be challenging for middle schoolers to study. Young scholars can see firsthand through primary sources what occurred during that time period in the United States. The third of five lessons provides...
Curated OER
The Donner Party
Who is the Donner Party? Find out why this group of pioneers lives in infamy. A lot of information is provided in this resource, but you will have to copy and paste the text to acquire the handouts. Learners will look at primary sources,...
Curated OER
Introduction of Primary Sources
First graders create two personal artifacts to add to a primary source shoebox that represents information about themselves. The first draw a self-portrait then build an artifact from Play-Doh and pipe cleaners to represent something...
Curated OER
Family History
Fourth graders identify primary source items in the study of their families. They relate the importance of primary source materials in understanding history and events of the past.
Curated OER
Westward Movement: Expansion or Encroachment?
Sixth graders create a portfolio of pictures and research primary resources to investigate if westward expansion was justified. For this westward expansion lesson plan, 6th graders discuss the effect the expansion had on Native American...
Curated OER
Forced to Flee: Famine and Plague
Students examine facts about the Irish Potato Famine and explore primary resources, such as newspaper articles, photographs, songs, and poems, related to the famine. Once research is complete, they create a small collage of their...
Curated OER
Differing Expectations
Students examine the expectations that colonists had for lives prior to the revolution. In this colonial America instructional activity, students read primary documents that feature the perceptions of white men and minorities during the...
American Battlefield Trust
Antietam 360
It was the single bloodiest day in Civil War history. Now, class members have the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of soldiers who fought in the Battle of Antietam using an interactive website. Supplemental resources include...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Soldier: Experiencing the Battle of Franklin
Fighting a war over home soil makes a living nightmare even more real. Class members describe the experience of a Civil War soldier during the Battle of Franklin, poised right at a major turning point of the war, after researching the...
Curated OER
A Durable Memento: Portraits by Augustus Washington
Students read primary source newspaper articles from mid 19th century United States. The topics of the articles are slavery, abolitionism and colonization. Students are given several options for activities based on the readings.
Curated OER
Lines From Behind the Lines
Fifth graders create a timeline of events in a soldiers life. In this World War I lesson plan, 5th graders learn about the Great Depression and World War I. Students watch video segments about World War I and examine primary sources...
Curated OER
Can You Hear Me Now?
Students explore the industry involving communication and put communication devices into activities. In this communication lesson plan, students put items into chronological order, review primary sources, compare and contrast items, and...
Curated OER
Introduction of Primary Sources
First graders are introduced to photographs and newspaper articles to be used as primary sources. Using a projecter, they are shown photographs of a famous person to prove they were real and not make believe. In groups, they use...