A unit focuses on the Civil War. Second graders follow along with an informational reading about the war—why it started, how it ended, and essential individuals such as Harriet Beecher Stow, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Ulisses, S....

Over three weeks, second graders listen to stories about the United States Civil War. Informational texts explore the war, slavery, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Clara Barton, the Emancipation Proclamation, and Ulysses...

"Words, words, words." Despite Hamlet's opinion, words can be significant. In this inquiry lesson, middle schoolers learn how the words in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, in the view of many, lead to the American Civil War. To...

Jazz and the City, Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement, Jazz and Gender, Jazz and Literature, Jazz and the Arts, Jazz and Film. Here's a packet of unit plans organized around themes that reflect American culture. Each unit examines how...

To gain an understanding of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, class members investigate the Jim Crow Laws, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution, and the 1898 Supreme Court case,...

This 262-page Core Knowledge teacher guide presents an overview of the two-volume History of the United States program designed for middle schoolers. The guide includes information about the learning strategies used, a pacing guide, the...

What were the conditions that led to the American Revolution? What are the conditions that lead to revolution in other times and places? Class members examine primary source materials and use evidence drawn from these documents to craft...

The post-Revolutionary Period of 1781-1787, also known as the Critical Period, is the focus of a series of lessons that prompt class members to examine primary source documents that reveal the instability of the period of the...

Students utilize knowledge and understandings of the Civil War to look at the reconstructive era that followed. In this reconstructive era lesson, Students gain understanding of the definition of reconstruction by building, taking apart...

Scholars generally agree on the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. This inquiry-based lesson asks high schoolers to consider more than the claims of who freed the enslaved people but the significance of the issues...

Students study the Reconstruction Era after the US Civil War. In this Reconstruction lesson set, students examine the problems that were encountered by the South after the Civil War, look at different plans for Reconstruction, and...

The traditions, costumes, and the music of the Mardi Gras Indians, African-Americans and those with African American or Native American Heritage are the focus of a unit that introduces class members to a little-known group that...

Using video testimony, primary source documents that detail international agreements, and structured discussions, learners consider the precarious position of children during the Holocaust and other international conflicts, and how to...

Students participate in a Roman festival to complete a unit on Roman Civilization. In this Roman Civilization lesson plan, students learn about Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, the Mediterranean Region, and more. Students share what they...

Students participate in activities that teach them about the Gilded Age of industrialization and urbanization. In this social changing lesson plan, students answer questions, watch videos, have discussions, read texts, and more to teach...

Webisode 7 - What is Freedom? ..The history of the United States is presented in a series of webisodes, within each are a number of segments.Included are links to lesson plans, teacher guides, resources, activities, and tools.

Webisode 5 - A Fatal Contradiction. The history of the United States is presented in a series of webisodes, within each are a number of segments.Included are links to lesson plans, teacher guides, resources, activities, and tools.