Students, in groups, study the Homestead Act. Each group studies a region of the country in the 1840s: the North, the South, and the West. Ask each group to research and write their region's position on the homestead issue.

To understand how the Homestead Act of 1862 changed the US and the lives of the people during that time, class members examine primary source materials including letters, broadsides, and images. They then assume the voice of a...

Drawn by promises of fertile land, thousands of settlers poured West because of the Homestead Act of 1862. By examining images of the ads that drew them westward, learners consider the motivations for movement. They also consider how the...

Enhance your American literature unit with this resource, in which readers access the Nebraska Studies website and read about "Railroads and Settlement." They search for a photograph of some aspect of the railroad from the Prairie...

Fifth graders investigate the significant events in America's history. Students listen to a variety of books based on significant historical events in America. Students divide into 6 groups, each of which is responsible for researching...

Students research pertinent information based on historical facts and is supported by quotations from primary sources in order to prepare for a class debate about land ownership in the 19th century.

Willa Cather's My Antonia might seem like a hard sell for today's teen readers. Rather than dramatic plot twists, trysts, and terrors, the novel celebrates the pioneer spirit that lead immigrants to a small Nebraska town. The Signet...

Students discover the origins and different uses of watermelons. Using the internet, they find photographs of the fruit and reading about them in primary source documents. As a class, they plan a community activity in which they use a...

This is an online study guide for the western novel Shane by Jack Schaefer including author information, literary elements, chapter-by-chapter summaries/notes, study questions, and analysis.