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. 

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...

Fifth graders read from their textbook a story about the pioneer settlement of the Western Frontier. They review the pioneer standpoint, but also discuss how the Homestead Act of 1862 affected Native Americans. They write another story...

In these manifest destiny worksheets, students read the definition for manifest destiny and its appearance in America in the 1840s. Students learn about the Homestead Act and study a painting of a depiction of manifest destiny.

Eleventh graders design and create a poster, advertising for recruitment of volunteers to serve with Teddy Roosevelt in the 1st Volunteer Calvary Regiment. Students create a historical newspaper front page, from the time period, which...

Students study the development of the New England colonies, their rationale for settlement, and the importance of Puritan theology in this development. They research towns in England and their copies in Massachusetts.

Students interpret primary sources concerning Pontiac's Rebellion. They are able to explain the motives behind the attack on the British. Students predict possible outcomes of Pontiac's Rebllion.

Students participate in a layered curriculum unit that includes: Create a political cartoon about the effect of the Mexican colonization laws on Texas settlement. The cartoon should be from the point of view of a Tejano. Write a caption...

How do transcendentalists believe you must learn about the world? Use this PowerPoint to define transcendentalism and explain reason and intuition. Social, political, and philosophical influences of this time are introduced, and a few...

Young scholars use a teacher-made museum guide with questions that allow them to analyze and compare the patron art of seventeenth-century France with portraits of later periods at the Joslyn Art Museum. Students also read The Little...

Third graders read and discuss the "Indian Allotment Act". Students compare communal and private property we have today. Students research Indian tribes online and write about their way of life and traditions during the 1880s. ...

Students examine the lives of early pioneers who traveled west for better opportunities. They listen to story "Josafina and the Story Quilt", and discuss hardships encountered by traveling families. Students then complete research and...

Fourth graders discover the history of the Utah Mountain Men and utilize their math skills simultaneously. In this cross-curricular history and measurement lesson, 4th graders read about the Utah Mountain Men and the challenges they...

Students examine reasons that led people to explore, identify "West" as defined following Revolutionary War, explain importance of finding natural resources, develop time line of dates and events leading up to Lewis and Clark Expedition,...

Students examine the military leadership of George Washington. In this military leadership lesson, students use Internet and print resources to research Washington's military experience and his successful military campaigns. Students...

Students explore the process of harvesting maple syrup. In this science and history lesson, students make their own maple syrup and create a picture book that shows the Native American and American pioneer methods of making the syrup.

Students explore and research the history of Native Americans in North America.

Travel back in time to the 1800s and research the Old West! Elementary and middle schoolers work with a partner to complete at least four activities from a list provided by the teacher. They use these activities to present their...

Logan’s Lament, a speech delivered by Mingo Chief Logan in 1774, provides pupils with an opportunity to not only study the historical events surrounding the battle between Native Americans and the Europeans for the West Virginia...

Students study American settlers, how and where they lived by observing images. They investigate how the settlers used sod to build houses that were adaptable to the plains environment. They compare living in a sod homes with their home.

According to some estimates, there are more guns than people in the United States. Learners decide if America should enact more gun control laws. They analyze information about gun deaths in the United States by year, read about the...

The American Civil War was a complex test of a relatively young democracy in the mid-nineteenth century. Discuss the events and factors that led to the Civil War with a thorough slideshow presentation.

Ninth graders research early mining in California. They study the "placer method" for mining gold, which is surface mining that does not involve tunneling. They examine what it was like for the early miners to pan for gold with...

Students compare/contrast the expeditions of Dr. Horatio Jackson and Lewis and Clark. They read and discuss journals from both trips, watch segments from the Ken Burns film about Lewis and Clark, conduct Internet research, and complete...