Investigate different types of documents with your middle schoolers. They look at newspapers, letters, maps, reports, etc. and answer a list of questions provided. Introduce them to different primary sources!

Sometimes all kids need is a little guided practice and then they can be on their way. They can use an analysis worksheet to help them analyze a primary or secondary source document. They answer several questions describing the type of...

Was Thomas Jefferson a hypocrite? Tackle this question with primary source analysis and an essay. The packet includes historical background, a writing prompt, a combined outline and checklist, and ten primary documents paired with...

What did the English settlers think of the Native Americans inhabiting the Chesapeake region of the United States? Learners analyze a series of documents and images to determine the English perception of the local inhabitants. A great...

In this Colonial America primary source analysis worksheet, reviewers respond to 5 short answer questions. Although the primary source documents are not included, the questions could be adapted to the analysis of any primary source.

Being a historian requires serious sleuthing. They examine primary source documents and look for evidence, for clues that reveal who wrote the document, when, and why. After watching two historians model the process, young history...

Teach the class about the predecessor to Declaration of Independence—the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Using the foundational documents, scholars examine the two writings to consider how they are similar and how they are different. A...

Why do we read primary source documents? What can they give us that other writings cannot? Provide your learners with any of the primary sources attached here (there are seven), and have them complete the graphic organizer (which opens...

Planning on using primary source materials? Introduce your class members to SOAPS, a worksheet that models how to analyze and reflect on primary source materials. Readers name the document, identify the subject (S), the...

In this primary source analysis worksheet, students respond to 16 short answer questions that require them to analyze the provided historical document.

When in the course of a course on historic American events, it becomes necessary for learners to examine, with decent respect, the Declaration of Independence, it becomes evident that there are six separate and equal parts of that...

Third graders discuss documents in our government. In this government lesson, 3rd graders look up vocabulary words and illustrate them. They examine a historical document to discuss and answer questions. 

Students analyze and compare various primary source documents. They formulate historical questions based on the documents.

The year is 1891, and the document is an excerpt from a letter written to Hasan Shirazi. The class reads and analyzes the excerpt by completing three document-based questions. Islam, the Persian Empire, and British colonialism will all...

In this writing and reference worksheet, students identify and name the physical qualities of a document of their choice. Then they identify three major things the author stated that are important and why they believe the document was...

This document or that? Historians compare crucial documents from both the American and French Revolution to gain a better understanding of the purpose and impact the documents had on each nation. Academics read excerpts from both...

Delve into the responsibilities of the president by looking at President Hamilton's opinion of the presidential office in his own words. The second in a three-part series, the resource also offers an interesting compare-and-contrast...

Why is it important to preserve historical documents and artifacts? Examine the role of primary source documents and the availability of these documents on the Internet. Middle and high schoolers write a journal about the nature of...

Film analysis takes critical thinking, connections, and context. Upper graders look at the film installation, Crystal Palace in terms of the film makers choices, presentation, and perspective of truth. After an analytical discussion...

Today, many young people find it hard to understand why it took over 150 years for women in the United  States to get the right to vote—why there was even a need for the suffrage movement. As they read a series of primary source...

Spanish learners peek back into history by reading a copy of an original letter written in the sixteenth century by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. To show their comprehension, they respond to a series of provided questions. For writing...

What does it mean to be an American citizen? Lieutenant Colonel Commander William Barret Travis believed that it meant honor to country first—even above one's own life. Middle and high schoolers read his final letters from the Alamo that...

Calling upon the legacies of Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, and Catherine the Great, Esther Reed rallied Southern women to support the American Revolution. Using a broadside by Reed and other primary sources, such as poetry, young historians...

Let's build a dream house! By examining promotional materials and photographs of early suburban developments, scholars consider what led to the development of this particular American dream. The resource includes case studies of three...