Students examine the settlement patterns of the Kansas Territory. For this Kansas history lesson, students analyze primary documents from the pioneers in the territory. Students write letters or perform skits that feature their findings.

Students investigate the impact of Manifest Destiny. In this California history lesson, students conduct research on the settlement of the state between 1849 and 1900. Students use their findings to create scripts that link primary...

Fifth graders practice writing research papers by investigating U.S. history. In this Revolutionary War lesson, 5th graders identify the British and American roles in the historic war by researching the Internet. Students prepare a...

Students map the classroom by marking the movement of the first Americans' migration from Alaska down into North America. To improve their skills in map-reading and sense of direction, students identify physical features of the map and...

Students examine the early migration of Native Americans, African Americans, and the British Colonists. They conduct Internet research, complete a timeline, label maps, compare/contrast the three groups' experiences, and write an essay.

Seventh graders compare artifacts used by archaeologists to theorize the first inhabitants of the Americas migrated from Asia across the Bering Land Bridge.

We all know about Christopher Columbus, but who else explored the Americas, and specifically, the future United States of America? Learners find out these answers and more in a resource that includes four different reading sections,...

Complete with maps, photographs, and historical documents, this presentation would be a great resource throughout a unit about mid-19th century America. Manifest Destiny, Texas Independence, the Oregon Trail, and the Mexican War are...

Coming to America as an immigrant can be an emotional and difficult process. This lesson has learners explore what it means to be an immigrant, listen to real life accounts, and visit an online museum. This is a wonderful discussion...

Encourage your charges to pick up a book (or two, or three) over the summer! They'll find 25 different ideas on this list of summer reading books for kids. Each book is paired with publication information and a brief synopsis, so your...

Fourth graders recognize and can describe the settlers of Early America. In this American colonies lesson, 4th graders research using primary and secondary sources, Native Americans, Europeans, and African Americans role in the...

Students review 18th century New England schoolbooks to explain how changes occurred in early American education.

Students discover details about the slave community at Mt. Vernon. In this George Washington lesson, students examine Washington's 1799 Slave Census in order to determine what life was like for slaves of the first president. An analysis...

Students investigate primary sources to experience first- hand accounts of Kansas pioneers. They write an historical fiction letter or skit based on territorial documents.

Study the Revolutionary War era practice of recruiting seamen to prey upon the British shipping industry, and discuss the impact this practice had on the Colonial war efforts. Learners read and interpret recruiting advertisements for...

Students explain the reason for English colonization. They review the reasons for the colonization and settlement in Virginia and trace the route from England to Virginia through the Chesapeake Bay to Jamestown on a map.

Eighth graders read standard road maps and topographical maps, and examine the lives of pathfinders who opened the trails to the West. They develop Living History presentations, role-playing a character from the past.

Young scholars make a decision for site selection for a farm during the 1840s in the Midwest. They build research and writing skills by recording the information used for analysis in a chart and as diary entries.

Fifth graders visit the Smithsonian website to search online for early photo archives about life in the mid-nineteenth century.

Students research why immigrants came to America and the processes involved in the settlement. They write a script for a short play explaining the causes for immigration and situations that immigrants found themselves in.

In this colonial American instructional activity, students read a 1-page selection about the Jamestown Colony and then respond to 5 short answer questions about the selection.

Young scholars discover how the railroads contributed to the interdependence between farms and towns. Using the railroads, they describe the effect of them on western settlement and the relationship between their location and the...

Young scholars examine the motives for French expansion into the New World, they evaluate primary source documents to determine who, what, when, where and why.

Students investigate Hawaii's history to help them explain how a Reorganization Act may affect its residents. students track the region's history from statehood, to kingdom, to human settlement.