Lesson Plan
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Whose Land Is This? Conflict Between Native Americans & Settlers [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" designed to provide insights into the causes of the conflict between Native Americans and new settlers pushing west. Young scholars will examine...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of the American Indian: Beyond the Thanksgiving Myth [Pdf]

For Students 4th - 8th
This study guide gives information about the Native Americans who were living in the area where the Pilgrims landed in 1620 and information about the new settlers too. The myth of the title concerns the friendly meal shared by the...
Activity
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Colonial Period of American History

For Students 9th - 10th
Comprehensive information about the colonial period of American History. Includes information about New England, colonies, government, people, The French and Indian War, and the Salem Witch Trials.
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: New Peoples

For Students 9th - 10th
Most settlers who came to America in the 17th century were English, but there were also Dutch, Swedes and Germans in the middle region, a few French Huguenots in South Carolina and elsewhere, slaves from Africa, primarily in the South,...
Activity
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Things to Do at Home

For Students 9th - 10th
Families can come together through games designed to make history something fun and integral to family life. Build a sod house like prairie settlers did in the 1800s. Go back in time to visit five families that lived in the same house...
Website
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Colonial Period

For Students 9th - 10th
The early settlers to the New World began to map strategy for their own system of government. This site details that strategy and what kinds of events spawned the idea of representative government.
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Problem of Expansion

For Students 9th - 10th
With the end of the Revolution, the United States again had to face the old unsolved Western question -- the problem of expansion, with its complications of land, fur trade, Indians, settlement and local government. Lured by the richest...
Graphic
Other

The Peopling of America: Pre 1790 Settlers

For Students 9th - 10th
This web page displays a chart and description of the immigrants into the United States before 1790.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: African American Odyssey: Reconstruction and Its Aftermath: Black Exodus

For Students 9th - 10th
Newly freed slaves left the South after the Civil War and many moved to the West. Read about the all-black community in Kansas called Nicodemus.
Interactive
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Texas Ranch House

For Students 3rd - 8th
What was it like to be a cowboy in 1867? Visit the Cooke Ranch and explore a cowboy's working and dwelling quarters. Play the interactive games to learn about the many aspects of daily life in the American West. (Click "Interactive...
Lesson Plan
Other

Bringing History Home: Communities Long Ago

For Teachers K - 1st
This Grade 1 unit explores U.S. communities in a historical context. By exploring their own community's buildings and services of both long ago and today, children in non-Native American communities are introduced to concepts of change,...
Website
Nebraska Studies

Nebraska Studies: Tribes in Nebraska Give Up Lands in Treaties

For Students 9th - 10th
Review this discourse of the many treaties enacted between the settlers and Native Americans during the development of the Great Plains, the problems that arose, and the creation of reservations.
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: The Homestead Act and the Exodusters

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains what the Homestead Act of 1862 was and what it meant for settlers, as well as the Exodus of 1879 when many African Americans became exodusters and left the South. Includes questions for students at end.
eBook
Other

Hillcrest High School: Us History: Expansion in Texas [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
This chapter covers a time in Texas history during the mid-nineteenth century when Mexico offered land grants to American settlers, but conflict developed over religion and other cultural differences.
Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: Oregon Trail

For Students 9th - 10th
The Oregon Trail was the important route taken by settlers from the east migrating to build a new life in the western part of the United States covering over 2000 miles.
Website
Other

History of German American Relations: 1683 1900: History and Immigration

For Students 9th - 10th
From the U.S. State Department, a comprehensive reference tool about the history of Germans in America starting in 1683 up until the present. Provides background, exhibits, digital images, statistics, teacher resources, internet links,...
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Encountering the American West: Ohio River Valley 1750 1820

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a PDF of the information from LOC of the exhibition of America's move to its first West, that of the Ohio River Valley. Discussion includes these topics: Contested Lands, Peoples and Migrations, Empires and Politics, Western Life...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Utopian Promise: William Bradford

For Students 9th - 10th
Seventeenth century author, William Bradford, set sail on the Mayflower and embarked on a journey to the New World using his experiences for his writings. Click on "William Bradford Activities" for related artifacts and activities.
Website
Other

Live Science: First American Settlers Not Who We Thought

For Students 9th - 10th
This article discusses findings that point to a pre-Clovis, New-World-humans model through artifacts dug up at various archaeological spots thoughout the Americas.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: What Did People Wear?

For Teachers K
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about the clothes worn by early Americans. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Graphic
Curated OER

Early Settlers in Virginia

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Early Settlers in Virginia
Article
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Land Departments and Immigration

For Students 9th - 10th
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes what the Land Department and the Bureau of Immigration did in order to attract new immigrants to settle along the railroad line. The...
Website
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: The First Dutch Settlers

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the Dutch colonization of the Hudson River Valley in this comprehensive essay about the Dutch in America. Pages 3-7 deal with the Dutch colonies.
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: What Should a House Do

For Teachers K - 1st
Site provides an extensive lesson plan that challenges students to compare early American houses to present day houses. Very comprehensive site with several activities that will assist students in understanding common features of houses....

Other popular searches