Students study Civil War photography and write captions for each picture based on context. In this Civil War photography lesson, students match photographs with their original captions. Students read included short biographies of the...

How did the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act contribute to the growing tensions that led to the Civil war? To better understand the events that led to the Civil War, young historians engage in a...

Fourth graders examine both perspectives of the Civil War as related to the differing economies. In this nation divided lesson, 4th graders view primary sources, examine paper money and a political chart, and review recruitment...

Students decode archaeological artifacts in order to recreate an event, using discarded objects as a model for real-life artifacts. They apply this model to reconstructing historical or literary events from artifacts they create.

Students examine primary documents related to the burning of Chambersburg during the Civil Way. In this Civil War era history activity, students study numerous primary documents relating to the burning of the town of Chambersburg....

High schoolers examine the time after the Civil War known as Reconstruction. In groups, they role play a Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Reconstruction in which some members are senators and others are witnesses. They share their ideas...

High schoolers explore and analyze the position of freedmen in the post Civil War period as well as the impact of Andrew Johnson's presidency on Reconstruction. In addition, they evaluate the laws and amendments that were put in place...

Students explore the failures of the UN embargo on conflict diamonds from Sierra Leone. They participate in a trading game to explore the international trading system and the ways in which it rewards and punishes countries.

Students research African American history and the Underground Railroad. In this African American history lesson, students discuss the Drinking Gourd. Students read 'If You Traveled the Underground Railroad' and discuss. Students work in...

Eleventh graders examine how Rutherford Hayes should be elected President of United States in order for the Union to continue effective Reconstruction.

Scholars write letters as if they were someone who heard the story of John Brown's raid. The resource, a standalone, covers information from primary sources that is important to West Virginian history: the Harpers Ferry Letters.

Young scholars read slave narratives and retell the stories to the class, identifying sensory details. In this slavery lesson, students discuss the importance of sensory details, then read the slave narratives looking for specific...

Young scholars study the manhunt for, John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. In this lesson plan about a president, students write and role-play they are announcers who are informing the...

Eighth graders watch electronic field trip entitled Call to Arms, and simulate daily life of eighteenth-century soldier, including marching, camp building, cannon firing, and sharing common meal. Student groups form regiments by signing...