With the stroke of a pen, Thomas Jefferson roughly doubled the size of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase not only grew the new country, but also it gave rise to the legends surrounding westward expansion and accelerated the...

While much of prehistory is cloaked in mystery, ancient ancestors left evidence in DNA, languages, and materials from their time. Using photographs of items such as cave paintings and ancient tools, as well as maps of linguistic patterns...

Arthur and his friends help children explore the concepts of family, community, and diversity in a fun series of activities. From performing peer interviews to mapping out the different places students have lived or visited, this...

Despite the difficulty of travel, the US expanded significantly between the 1800s and the early 1900s. To prepare for a performance task assessment on the rapid expansion of the US in the 1800s, class members engage in a...

Class members are transformed into explorers as they work in groups to locate hidden items and map their journey along the way. They then leave clues for other groups of students to follow, and ultimately discover how past explorations...

What will your students choose to include in their explorer's treasure chest? Youngsters research an early European explorer and gather items to reflect their research, such as a detailed map of the explorer's voyages, portrait,...

How did early American pioneers decide what to take with them on their journeys, and what was their traveling experience like? Here you'll find a collection of activities to help you explore Westward Expansion with your young learners.

Extensive collection from the University of Virginia that explores many aspects of Twain's short story, "Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrim's Progress." Included are links that examine pre-texts, letters, sales, advertisement,...