Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students read and analyze the novel, 'The Witch of Blackbird Pond.' They list choices they have in society today, conduct a debate on freedom, role-play interviews with characters from the novel, create a timeline of a character, and...
Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Back to the Farm

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Read up on farming and ranching and connect this information to your learners' lives. After reading, send class members home to fill out a family tree and trace their family history, focusing on farming and ranching backgrounds. Once...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Origins of Islamic Law

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders examine Islamic Law.  In this Law lesson, 9th graders read documents on the origins of Islamic Law.  Students create answers to questions based on Islamic Law. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What is an American?

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Young scholars investigate how the definition of being American has changed over the years using online primary source documents.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Saving the Past for the Future

For Teachers Higher Ed
Students examine the need for preservation of archaeological resources. They discuss and propose possible solutions to a given ethical dilemma.
Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Life in Colonial America

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This lesson presents an explanation about who the early colonists were and why they came to America. Young scholars will explore their lives and the economy by navigating the Internet. Students will conclude the lesson by completing a...
Article
Henry J. Sage

Sage American History: Introduction to American Colonial History

For Students 9th - 10th
Introductory article on American Colonial History in which the author takes a look at the first European settlers who made the voyage to America and addresses the essential question of who they were as people and hence, why they made...
Lesson Plan
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: Colonial Texas [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th - 8th
An activity guide where students refer to the Texas Almanac, which is free to download, for information needed to complete assigned tasks. In this instructional activity, students research the people who were involved in early Spanish...
Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Loyalists

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Who were the Loyalists? Why did they oppose independence? For this historical inquiry lesson, young scholars seek answers to these questions by sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating two documents...
Article
A&E Television

History.com: 6 Common Jobs in Colonial America

For Students 9th - 10th
In the colonial era, the most prestigious jobs were reserved for well-off white men, who secured appointments as colonial governors and military leaders. But there were many other types of jobs in Britain's 13 American colonies. Here are...
Handout
Other

Religious Tolerance in Colonial America

For Students 4th - 8th
Religious tolerance was an important but often misunderstood contribution of the colonial era. Tolerance developed only after time. Groups such as the Pilgrims and Puritans who left Europe to escape religious persecution often were...
Primary
Bartleby

Bartleby.com: Cambridge History of Eng and Am Lit: Chauncy and Wigglesworth

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a detailed essay discussing Charles Chauncy and Edward Wigglesworth, two men who were religious leaders in early 18th century colonial America.
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Witches of Salem

For Students 9th - 10th
In 1692 a group of adolescent girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, became subject to strange fits after hearing tales told by a West Indian slave. When they were questioned, they accused several women of being witches who were...
Website
University of Missouri

Famous Trials: Boston Massacre Trials

For Students 9th - 10th
In 1770 five citizens of Boston were killed when British soldiers fired into a group of people who had been throwing things at the soldiers. The soldiers were put on trial. A chronology, historical documents, primary source materials,...
Handout
Countries and Their Cultures

Countries and Their Cultures: Asians of Africa

For Students 9th - 10th
The Asian population of Africa is a small but significant minority. Whereas there have been Asians, primarily merchants, who lived on the east coast of Africa for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, a great influx of Asians came to...
Article
Google

The Life of Yeoman Farmers

For Students 9th - 10th
A look at the lives of the yeoman farmers who lived in the South. The yeomen were akin to the status of a middle class of farmers.
Website
Other

The Great Awakening

For Students 9th - 10th
Tells about what caused the Great Awakening, who was involved, and what the effects of it were. Learn a great deal about the Great Awakening at this comprehensive website devoted to this historic religious movement.
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: New Peoples

For Students 9th - 10th
Most settlers who came to America in the 17th century were English, but there were also Dutch, Swedes and Germans in the middle region, a few French Huguenots in South Carolina and elsewhere, slaves from Africa, primarily in the South,...
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Debate and Compromise

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
The 18th-century statesmen who met in Philadelphia were adherents of Montesquieu's concept of the balance of power in politics. This principle was supported by colonial experience and strengthened by the writings of John Locke, with...
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Women and Minorities

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Although the colonial period produced several women writers of note, the revolutionary era did not further the work of women and minorities, despite the many schools, magazines, newspapers, and literary clubs that were springing up....
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Colonization

For Students 9th - 10th
For a variety of reasons, those who came to settle the early colonies sought a new homeland. Puritans, for example, established several settlements in Massachusetts. These English colonists were a pious, self-disciplined people who...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Britain in the New World: The Growth of the Tobacco Trade

For Students 5th - 8th
Many colonists came to Jamestown to find gold. Read about what finally brought money into the colony, and what John Rolfe's role was in that. Read about who the workers were who provided the labor for this new money source.
Handout
Countries and Their Cultures

Countries and Their Cultures: Pokot

For Students 9th - 10th
During the colonial period, the Pokot were called "Suk" by Europeans. To some Pokot, the older designation is a reminder of an era in which Africans lacked the power to name themselves; to others, it represents the clever ruse of a...