Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Powder Horns: Portals to the Past

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Pupils discuss the uses of a powder horn. They identify the types of etchings soldiers would make on them. They create their own design for their own powder horn.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Work of an Historian

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the life of John Pynchon and his role in the Connecticut River Valley's development.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating a Neighborhood Timeline

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students research information about their neighborhoods. Uncovering facts about geology and Native Americans, they examine how the neighborhood has evolved over time. They work together to create a timeline of specific events.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scientific Inquiry

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students make inferences about what activities occur at different places in school. They form a hypothesis as to how space is used. They simulate how archeaologists explore past people by designing and conducting a research project.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Africans in Mexico

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students read case studies to examine the role of Africans in Mexico. Using maps, they research the areas that are discussed in the text and map out movement maps of Africans to and from Africa. They research the history of the Mexico...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Media Center Map Skills

For Teachers 5th
Student demonstrates the ability to locate, retrieve, and handle media and equipment by utilizing the library media center floor plan, symbols, and guides. They then use systems of classification to identify, locate, and retrieve materials.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bill of Rights -- Texas v. Johnson, 1989

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners examine the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. During a visit to the George Bush Presidential Museum, they watch a video about the Texas v. Johnson flag burning case. In groups, they discover the role of the Supreme Court...
Unit Plan
The Newberry Library

The Aztecs and the Making of Colonial Mexico: Europeans Invade the Aztec Empire

For Students 9th - 10th
Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes invaded the Aztec empire in the 16th century. This conquest led to the colonization of Mexico. The Newberry Library provides an in depth look into this period of Mexican history through photos,...
Interactive
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation: Dirt Detective

For Students 1st - 5th
Archaeologists study artifacts and soil and they use post holes to determine just how old the layers of soil is. Based on the location of post holes, archaeologists can determine if they are finding a house, or a wall or even a fort....
Website
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Discovering the Past/ an Introduction to Archaeology

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a good, solid, but concise introduction to what archaeology is, how a site is set up, what one uses artifacts for, and how to approach a site. It is written for the teacher's newsletter from Colonial Williamsburg.
Interactive
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Within These Walls

For Students 4th - 8th
If these walls could talk! Explore American History through one house that has experienced over 200 years of history. This interactive site has pictures of artifacts, primary sources, and music from 1757-1945. Be a detective and guess...
Website
Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies

Famsi: Archaeological Research at Cotzumalhuapa, Guatemala

For Students 9th - 10th
Research at Cotzumalhuapa indicates that it was a major urban center that encompassed Bilbao El Baul, and El Castillo. Some discussion of colonial period use of site.
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Utopian Promise: Anne Bradstreet

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
English immigrant in the New World, Anne Bradstreet became an acclaimed poet of Puritan New England. Click on "Anne Bradstreet Activities" for related artifacts and activities.
Activity
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: School Publishers: James Fort Rediscovered

For Students 3rd - 8th
Jamestown was the first settlement in the United States in 1607. Once thought to have washed away with the James River, historians have found 10,000 artifacts related to the settlement.
Handout
Countries and Their Cultures

Countries and Their Cultures: Kongo

For Students 9th - 10th
The BaKongo, numbering three to four million, live in west-central Africa The unitary character of the Kongo group and the identity of the various subgroups are artifacts of colonial rule and ethnography. Most men and many women work, or...
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: First Arrivals, American Beginnings: 1492 1690

For Students 9th - 10th
Numerous visual images of artifacts from English settlements at Jamestown and at Plymouth, and from Spanish settlement in Hispaniola, and three original accounts of each of those early settlements that describe the possibilities and the...
Website
Other

Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704

For Students 9th - 10th
This award-winning resource draws the reader into a consideration of history as witnessed from multiple perspectives. Discover the mystery of the French and Indian raid on colonial Deerfield, Massachusetts where five cultures clashed in...