Smithsonian Institution
Western Indian Wars
Why do many Native Americans live on reservations? An interactive resource teaches about how reservations came to be and the tragic history behind Native Americans moving from their lands. Teenagers read passages, view images, and click...
Curated OER
Hummingbirds and Flowers: A Study of Co-Adaptive Relationships
Hummingbirds and flowers need each other to survive! Pupils explore the co-adaptation of hummingbirds and the flowering plants. They explain how a flowering plant has adapted to be pollinated by a hummingbird and how the hummingbird has...
Curated OER
Women Who Changed the World
While you don't always find the names of famous women in history books, there are a variety of ways to help pupils learn about these notable females.
Student Achievement Partners
You've Been Lied To: The REAL Christopher Columbus
Looking for resources that explore alternative perspectives of the Christopher Columbus story? Check out the images, videos, cartoons, primary source documents, and other texts in a packet designed to spark...
Stanford University
Ruby Bridges
A two-part lesson features Civil Rights hero, Ruby Bridges. Part one focuses on the heroic actions of Ruby Bridges then challenges scholars to complete a Venn diagram in order to compare themselves to her. Part two begins with a...
Scholastic
Voyage on the Mayflower
After completing an online activity about the Mayflower, scholars draw a picture about what they know of the Thanksgiving holiday, including a one-sentence summary. A reading of If You Were at the First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma is...
Scholastic
Women's Suffrage for Grades 1–2
Scholars take part in a grand conversation after they examine facts and stories about the Women's Suffrage Movement. Eight discussion questions bring light to influential women, the importance of voting, citizenship, and voting rights.
University of California
The Civil War: Final Assessment
Pupils discover the true nature and purpose of the Civil War in the eighth and final installment of an informative series. Using primary and secondary documents, history buffs merge social study knowledge with English skills to create a...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Women's Lives Before the Civil War
Women's lifestyles before the Civil War made a huge impact as a point of causation. Give middle schoolers the opportunity to view firsthand the lives of women before the Civil War. They analyze primary source documents, view photographs,...
Center for History and New Media
Growing Up in a Segregated Society, 1880s–1930s
What did segregation look like in the beginning of the 20th century? Middle and high schoolers view images of segregated areas, read passages by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, and come to conclusions about how the influence of...
American Battlefield Trust
Antietam 360
It was the single bloodiest day in Civil War history. Now, class members have the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of soldiers who fought in the Battle of Antietam using an interactive website. Supplemental resources include...
K12 Reader
Reading Comprehension: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Introduce your high schoolers to one of the most important pieces of American literature with a reading comprehension lesson. As class members read a short passage from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, they learn...
Annenberg Foundation
Evaluating Evidence
Was the Civil War fought only due to slavery? Using an interactive web tool, scholars investigate the four main causes of the Civil War. Gathering evidence and data to support their claims, they present a final statistical breakdown...
Curated OER
Energy Through the Ages
For this energy through the ages worksheet, students read about the history of energy use beginning with early civilization and the use of water wheels for the production of energy to hydrocarbon-based coal, oil and natural gas of today....
Digital History
Compensation for Slavery
Should Americans provide compensation to those whose ancestors suffered from slavery? Read and analyze the arguments of two modern-day journalists on the topic. Then, have a discussion on both the merits of the arguments as well as what...
Mr. Nussbaum
Abraham Lincoln Reading Comprehension—The Presidential Years (Part 2)
How does a president save a country from itself? Readers learn how the Civil War began and how Lincoln managed it with a reading comprehension passage. They then demonstrate their understanding with multiple choice questions that...
Penguin Books
Core Curriculum Lesson Plans for The Lions of Little Rock
Schools in the 1950s and 60s looked very different from the schools we know today. An educator's guide explores the civil rights movement and, specifically, the process of integrating schools. Questions cover key themes in the novel and...
Smithsonian Institution
Civil War
Did you know that more than three million people fought in the Civil War? Through artifacts, graphics, and passages class members learn about the stark divide between North and South that led to the war, as well as about the events...
US House of Representatives
Objects in Time
What is the role artifacts play in the study of past events and people? As part of an examination of the careers and contributions of women in Congress from 1917 to 2006, groups examine artifacts that symbolize each woman.
Center for Civic Education
What Does Returning to Fundamental Principles Mean?
Looking for materials for your Constitution Day and Citizenship Day lessons? Then check out this packet of activities that not only gets your class members thinking critically about the fundamental principles at the heart of American...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Newspaper
One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...
Newspaper Association of America
Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...
Library of Congress
The Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance brought forth many American art forms including jazz, and the writings of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. Using a carefully curated set of documents from the Library of Congress, pupils see the cultural...
Planet e-Book
Les Miserables
Many consider Les Miserables to be one of the greatest novels ever written. An eBook version of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo contains the entire text, translated from the original French. Each section is organized into books...