Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Primary Sources to Discover Reconstruction

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders discover how reconstruction had an impact on racial issues in the United States. In this Reconstruction instructional activity, 5th graders are introduced to primary vs. secondary resources and then rotate through...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reconstructing Artifacts

For Teachers K - 12th
Students investigate artifacts and reconstruct them. In this artifact lesson, students research archaeologists and Native American groups. Students plan a design for a clay pot which represent the Native American artifact.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Young scholars study Presidential Reconstruction during the Civil War years. They examine the role of the Executive Branch of government, especially in wartime. They investigate the complex issues of how Congress took on the role of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reconstructing a Fossil Pterosaur

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Students reconstruct the skeleton of the fossil Scaphognathus crassirostis. In this fossil lesson plan, students discuss the Kingdoms of life, geologic history and the history of the skeletons of species. Students are given 20 minutes to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Civil Rights through Photographs

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students examine why racial tensions continued after laws were put into place to try and create equal treatment.  In this two part Civil Rights lesson, students explored the causes of the movement through photography and a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Political and Cultural Road to the American Revolution

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Learners examine the Declaration of Independence. For this Revolutionary War lesson, learners use primary sources to analyze how the creation of the Declaration of Independence lead to the development of the United States as an...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

“Will I or Won’t I?” Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, 54th Massachusetts Regiment

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discover the story of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. In this American Civil War lesson, students study the life of Robert Gould Shaw and the regiment he led. Students research primary and secondary sources to learn about the...
Lesson Plan
1
1
C-SPAN

14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Two Supreme Court cases, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education take center stage in a lesson about the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Class members research both cases to compare and contrast the rulings.
eBook
Core Knowledge Foundation

Volume 1 - A History of the United States: Precolonial to the 1800s

For Students 7th - 8th Standards
Volume One of the 299-page Core Knowledge History of the United States covers events from the Precolonial Period to the 1800s.
Unit Plan
Core Knowledge Foundation

A History of the United States

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
This 262-page Core Knowledge teacher guide presents an overview of the two-volume History of the United States program designed for middle schoolers. The guide includes information about the learning strategies used, a pacing guide, the...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Taming the American West

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Have you ever seen a movie about the romance of the American West with its buffalo, horses, cowboys, and endless frontier? The 13th installment of a 22-part series on American history presents the myths associated with the American West....
Unit Plan
Pacific University Oregon

Civil Rights: US History

For Teachers 10th Standards
To gain an understanding of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, class members investigate the Jim Crow Laws, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution, and the 1898 Supreme Court case,...
Lesson Plan
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Alabama Tenant Farmers and Sharecroppers, 1865 to Present

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
The tenant farming and sharecropping systems that developed in the South after the Civil War, the reasons for their development, and the eventual decline of these systems are the focus of this two-day plan.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Constitutional Change During the Progressive Era

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Young scholars analyze the passage of the 16th through 19th amendments during the Progressive Era around the turn of the century. Using research skills, they write papers and create portfolios supporting and opposing the adoption of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Perseverance

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Pupils examine how the failure of Reconstruction led to the systematic passage of Jim Crow laws in states across the South and the negative impact these laws had on the growth and development of the US.
Lesson Plan
Atlanta History Center

What if YOU Lived During Jim Crow?

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Young historians envision what life was like for African Americans living in the Jim Crow South through hands-on, experiential activities. 
Lesson Plan
American Battlefield Trust

Post-1865: Effects of the War

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
What did Lincoln want? Historians still debate this question, and perhaps people will never fully know. Class members examine the legacies of the war, including the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. The lesson plan also...
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

Women in the Civil War

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Vivandieres and cantinieres, nurses and soldiers, loyalists and unionists. A primary source set provides young historians an opportunity to investigate the many roles women played in the United States Civil War. 
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

Voting Rights Act of 1965

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Despite the passing of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, as well as the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the struggle to ensure fair voter registration and election procedures continues. Young historians...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Show Me Your Credentials: Voting In America

For Teachers 11th - 12th
The debate over voting rights continues. To begin their study of voting rights, class members first vote on proposed new classroom rules. After a discussion of the activity, groups are given a copy of the 1965 Alabama Literacy Test and...
Activity
National Woman's History Museum

Create your own Women’s History Museum

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Celebrate Women's History with a museum display. Divide the class into seven groups and assign each a different historical topic/time period. Each group member researches a different woman of that time period and creates an exhibit that...
Lesson Plan
1
1
University of California

The Civil War: Effects of the Civil War

For Students 7th Standards
Imagine being on the front line of the Civil War —from the front porch of your own house. Scholars use visual evidence from primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of the Civil War on all Americans. They examine the research...
Lesson Plan
Teaching for Change

History Detectives: Voting Rights in Mississippi, 1964

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Promises made and promise broken. Spies and activists. Voting rights in Mississippi are the focus of a lesson plan that has class members research the history of the struggle in Mississippi. Learners take on the role of voting rights...
Lesson Plan
1
1
US House of Representatives

Black Americans in Congress Speak Their Mind

For Teachers 7th - 12th
To conclude their study of Black Americans in Congress, groups select a statement made by one of the Members, examine the Member's profile on the provided link, and create a display that includes state represented, years of service, an...

Other popular searches