Sixth graders play a game.  In this Civil War lesson, 6th graders discuss the beginnings of the Civil War and define vocabulary words associated with the war such as abolitionist and Emancipation Proclamation.  Students play a...

Easily broken into pieces for several class sessions, this presentation is a great way to transition your class out of a Civil War unit and closer to the 20th century. Engaging photographs, including relevant maps and humorous political...

Your history students will be on the edges of their seats during this fascinating presentation, which details the abolition movement and slave life during the Antebellum period in the American South. Students will be left agape at the...

Young historians consider the cause and effects of the Emancipation Proclamation. They use handouts, response sheets, and class discussion to build an opinion about the subject after viewing the PBS documentary Abraham and Mary Lincoln:...

Middle schoolers read one of the most important documents in our nation's history: The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. After everyone reads the proclamation, they set out to write a "You Were There" type of report on it. They pretend...

Students examine the happenings at the Battle of Antietam from all sides. In this American Civil War lesson, students analyze newspapers accounts from different perspectives regarding the battle and then write their own accounts of the...

High schoolers, examine The Civil War, from a variety of perspectives and assignments. After taking notes, they can choose from creating a front page newspaper article describing the fall of Fort Sumter, discuss the pros and cons of...

Students are able to describe all of the Civil War terms. They are able to wonder why things happened. Students are able to tell that the United States used to be two countries.

Eighth graders determine why Hoosier soldiers were willing to fight in the American Civil War. In this Civil War instructional activity, 8th graders listen to a lecture about the involvement of Indiana soldiers in the war and then...

Eighth graders examine the role of Indiana soldiers in the Civil War. In this American Civil War lesson plan, 8th graders listen to a lecture about the involvement of Indiana soldiers in the war and then analyze letters written home by...

Students demonstrate how the American Civil War affected black Kentuckians socially and politically. They identify and discuss the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which forced the end of slavery in Kentucky months after the...

Was the Emancipation Proclamation a revolutionary document or just a military strategy? It proclaimed that all those enslaved in Confederate states would be "forever free." Logistically, though, it did little. The order, however,...

The Emancipation Proclamation shifted the tone and purpose of the Civil War. Using a primary source analysis, pupils consider the significance of the document. A second activity investigates the founding of the United States Colored...

Give your WWI study collaborative energy using a group research project. Groups are assigned one of the six main themes (included). Each group has an outline to guide research but will need an assignment guide. Consider supplementing the...

Young scholars investigate major characters of history that are represented in children's literature. They conduct research using a variety of resources and each character is put into a class book as a presentation. The character...

Should Juneteenth be recognized as a national holiday? To prepare to take a stance on this question, young historians first analyze the Emancipation Proclamation and compare it to Lincoln's first Inaugural Address. Scholars then read an...

Students write or design a creative project about the Civil War. For this Civil War lesson, students share memorable quotes from speeches and discuss documents historians could use to analyze the Civil War. Students read excerpts from...

The United States Civil War forced Northern and Southern societies, as well as the people who made up those societies, to reconstruct their vision of themselves and their identities. A series of video-based web lessons look at the great...

Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary resources. In this Civil War lesson, students examine the service of African Americans in the Civil War and consider their plight to secure the rights and...

In this Civil War worksheet, students listen to the song "Civil War" and complete 11 sentence completions based upon the information from the lyrics.

Students explore the historical importance of the Emancipation Proclamation. In this United States History lesson, students use the internet to research the specific events that were centered around the Emancipation Proclamation, then...

In this U.S. history worksheet, students read assigned textbook pages about the Civil War and respond to 48 short answer questions.

In this American Civil War worksheet, students read assigned textbook pages about the causes of the war and then respond to 20 short answer questions about how the war.

Eighth graders explain the nature of slavery, the impact of slavery on African-Americans, and how slavery intensified the conflict between the North and South that eventually led to a major cause of the Civil War.