Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Chicano Movement in California - Culture, Causes, and Community

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers explore the culture and community of the Chicano movement in California using prints that emerged from the Chicano movement. The historical, binational, and bicultural components are examined in this three lessons unit.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

California Mission Slide Show

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders research the details of a California Mission. They design a slide show to present their research.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Coming to California

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders read excerpts from Juan Bautista de Anza's diaries. They analyze the impact of primary sources. They write journal entries for characters in stories they have read during the year.
Website
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Pre Columbian America

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Although the title of this unit is Pre-Columbian America, the primary focus is on historical thinking. The second part of the unit explores the variety and complexity of cultures in Pre-Columbian America. Included are State Standards,...
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Online Exhibition: The Cultures and History of the Americas

For Students 9th - 10th
Examine some of the rare books, maps, prints and other artifacts in this online exhibition. The exhibition explores several themes on the cultures and history of the Americas. The collection focuses on the period of pre-contact through...
Article
Henry J. Sage

Sage American History: Native American Cultures: The Pre History of America

For Students 9th - 10th
Article on pre-Columbian Native American history and culture, including discussion on the impact of the Europeans.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: History of Guatemala

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides an extensive guide to the history of Guatemala dating from Pre-Columbian times to the 21st century.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: History of Honduras

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore the tremendous amount of information on the history of the Central American country of Honduras ranging from Pre-Columbian times to the present.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Exploring the Early Americas: Interactive Presentations

For Students 9th - 10th
Interactive collection of presentations from the Library of Congress provides glimpses into the fascinating history of pre-Columbian Americas.
Activity
Other

Maya, Olmec and Pre Columbian Ruins in Guatemala

For Students 9th - 10th
Site opens with a map of Guatemala on which the most famous and interesting Maya Ruins are located. Following, each site is placed in a chronological period according to the dates that have been estimated.
Unit Plan
Virginia Tech

Digital History Reader: Demographic Catastrophe: Native Population

For Students 9th - 10th
When Christopher Columbus discovered the New World he and his entourage brought with them not only the views of Europeans, but also diseases of Europeans. This was catastrophic to the natives in the Caribbean Islands and Meso-America as...
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Mirror Pendant in Form of a Bat Human From Grave 5, Sitio Conte

For Students 9th - 10th
Bat-human imagery in ancient Central American art is often linked to religious beliefs and practices. View pictures and read descriptions of a pendant in the form of a bat-human found in a grave near Panama City in this essay. A video...
Unit Plan
Tom Richey

Tom Richey: Ap u.s. History: Colonial America (1491 1754)

For Students 9th - 10th
Tom Richey provides a collection of videos, lessons, and assignments to assist with teaching or studying pre-Columbian cultures in the New World through the beginnings of the French and Indian War.
Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

Univ. Of California: Calisphere: Early California Exploration and Settlement

For Students 9th - 10th
Images showing early California exploration and settlement dating from 1780s through the 1830s and describing the social, political, cultural, and economic life and interactions among pre-Columbian people of California.
Website
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: A Biography of America

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Learn about the full sweep of U.S. history at this comprehensive site based on a PBS series and telecourse. The series compresses several centuries of events, issues, and people in U.S. history into twenty-six half-hour programs. A team...
Graphic
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aztec Stone Sculpture

For Students 9th - 10th
The Metropolitan Museum of Art provides this informative page on Aztec stone sculpture. With information and pictures this in a nice resource for study.
Handout
Yale University

Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: The Aztecs: A Pre Columbian History

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This site contains several lesson plans, a teacher bibliography, a student reading list, and a large amount of background information on the Aztecs.
Article
Hartford Web Publishing

World History Archives: Hartford Web Pub.: Pre Columbian Hispaniola

For Students 9th - 10th
This site describes the Arawak and Taino Indians on the island of Hispaniola. Read about their lifestyle, housing, dress, food, and religion.
eBook
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: Appearance of Settled & More Highly Structured Groups

For Students 9th - 10th
Essay on pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas and the development of a more structured and hierarchical society as populations grew and tools became more advanced.
Graphic
Other

Villanova University: Ancient Maya Architecture

For Students 9th - 10th
View photographs of pre-Columbian Maya architecture in the regions from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: History of Costa Rica

For Students 9th - 10th
Wikipedia looks the history of Costa Rica in this general overview.
Website
University of Illinois

University of Illinois Urbana Champaign: Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion: Collections

For Students 9th - 10th
The Krannert Art Museum provides a great collection of artwork from all over the world. Click on "collections" to access images of African, Egyptian, America-Pre-Columbian, USA, Ancient Gandhara, China, India, Japan, Thailand, Greece,...
Website
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Arts and Humanities: Art of the Americas to World War I

For Students 9th - 10th
A landing page for a course on the art history of North and South America. These should be cross-checked against what we have from smarthistory.org. Found one of the resources there - eval 16069716368457046sekCR.
Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: World History: Early African and Meso American Societies

For Students 9th - 10th
World History learning module with comprehensive multi-media reources for student exploration of early African and Meso-American societies.