Mr. Donn's Pages
Excellent source for lesson plans regarding ancient, U.S., and world history.

National Archives and Records: Teaching with Documents Lesson Plans
Wonderful teaching activities and lesson plans based on primary documents in the available online. Lessons are correlated to national standards for history, civics, and government. 

History Reference for Teachers
A long list of titles available for download from eNotes.

History Timelines
An excellent history resource. Scroll down the page for timelines and history resources in a variety of areas.

Old News
An archive of vintage newspaper articles! A great way to spice up a history lesson.

The History Place
An excellent resource.

HyperHistory Online
Another excellent history resource.

Lesson Plans from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
Many high-interest lesson plans for a variety of grade levels. Quite a few integrate music and history.

Eye Witness to History
A well-indexed collection of first-hand accounts (diaries, newspaper interviews, etc.) of historical events. An excellent resource for history lesson plans.

National History Day
Information and teaching ideas from the National History Day Program. See also National History Day in Minnesota.

What is History?
A 5th-grade lesson plan from Houghton Mifflin Social Studies.

History of the Local Community
A lesson plan for grades 6-12 teaching about local and state history. For other state and local history lesson plans, see History: Up Close and Personal (grades 9-12), "Promote A City" Posters (grades 5-7), and Built Environment Artifacts (grades 6-12).

Using Oral History: A Model Lesson
This lesson presents social history content and topics through the voices of ordinary people. It draws on primary sources from the American Memory Collection, American Life Histories, 1936-1940.

History Encyberpedia
An online history encyclopedia.

Today in History
Lists events that happened on every date of the year. Great way to start your class!!

Crossroads K-16 History Curriculum
U.S. history lessons for all levels. Click on the level you want.

Elementary History Lesson Plans
K-5  lesson plans from the Crossroads Curriculum.

Houghton-Mifflin: A More Perfect Union
Lesson plans for 8th-grade US history..

Women in World History Curriculum
An interactive site with lesson plans and resources documenting women's history.

Herstory: An Exhibit
Great site for women's history.

Black History Quest
Links to many sites on Afican-American history and African Americans. See also the Black History Pages.

Collecting, Preserving, and Researching History.
Access historical documents from the Library of Congress.

Teaching with Historic Places
From the National Registry of Historic Places. Click here for a chronological index of available lesson plans.

American Dreams Through the Decades: A WebQuest
Investigate the American dream on-line.

A Curriculum of United States Labor History for Teachers
Ten lesson plans complete with handouts covering labor history from the colonial period to the present.

Children's' Literature and U.S. History
Good source for lesson plans and children's books integrating literature and history.

Land Ho: Early Exploration and Settlement of the Americas
A 1st-grade unit in pdf format. See also Columbus and the Conquistadors for another 1st-grade unit.

Contact: Europe and America Meet: 1492-1673
A high school unit.

Discovering the World of l492
An elementary lesson plan using Barbara Brenner's  If You Were There in 1492 as a read-aloud to set the stage for learning about the 15th century world.

Columbus Day: Native American Perspective
A lesson plan for 4th/5th grade.

Columbus Day
A reader's theater activity.

1492: An Ongoing Voyage
An on-line exhibit from the Library of Congress.

What Was Columbus Thinking?
A lesson plan in which students read excerpts from Columbus's letters and journals, as well as well as recent considerations of his achievements to learn about the motivations behind Columbus's explorations, his reactions to what he found, and the consequences, intended and unintended, of his endeavor.

Explorers
A lesson plan for grades 3-5 focusing on Dutch, French, Spanish, and English explorations on the east coast of North America during the 1500’s and 1600’s.

Lessons of the Explorers
Lesson ideas and resources from Education World. See also Explore the Explorers Online.

Make an Explorer’s Book
A Web-linked 5th-grade project.

Adventure to the New World
A web-based activity for the middle grades.

Who Really Discovered America?
Another web-based activity.

Australian Explorers
Learn about the first Europeans to explore Australia.

Vikings in Vinland
A lesson plan for grades 6-12 from the NY Times Learning Network. See also Vikings in America.

Age of Exploration Curriculum Guide
An excellent source of information for planning lessons and units. It includes 12 lesson plans within the Online Teachers Guide.  

Colonial America and Children's Literature
Many ideas and book suggestions from Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site.  

Images of the New World
A high school lesson plan. If you're looking for concise information on the American Colonies, including vintage maps, see 13 Originals.  

The Pilgrims
A grade 5 unit integrating literature and the social studies. For background information on the Plimouth pilgrims, see The Pilgrims and America's First Thanksgiving, The Mayflower Web Pages, and Plimoth Plantation. Other lesson plans about pilgrims available on the Web include Life at Plimouth Plantation (1st-grade), The Pilgrim Life Adventure (3rd-grade), Mayflower (a grade 6 lesson), and Pilgrim Projects (teaching ideas from Education World). For Thanksgiving lesson plans and units, go to Holiday Lesson Plans. When you get there, click on November.

Colonial Williamsburg
Take an electronic field trip and experience colonial life. Click on Teachers to find the electronic field trips as well as teacher resources including lesson plans..

The Founding of New Societies 1607 -1763
High school lesson plans. See also Colonial Timeline.  

How America Began: The Founding of the Thirteen Colonies
A unit for third grade. Click here to find other 3rd-grade units on Colonial America as well as other topics from Core Knowledge.  

American Colonial Life in the 1700s: Distant Cousins
A lesson plan for grades 3-5.

The 13 Colonies
A 3rd-grade lesson plan.

Children of Colonial Times
A 4th-grade unit. See also Children in Colonial America.

A Royal Charter from the King
An elementary webquest in which students create a proposal for forming a new colony.

American Educational History: A Hypertext Timeline
My latest Web project, this annotated, clickable timeline of American educational history extends from 1607 to the 21st Century. See the accompanying activity, American Educational History: What's Most Important?

Colonial America
A webQuest for 5th grade. See also Back in the Day: Lessons From Colonial Classrooms.  

Colonial Rules
A lesson plan for grades 9-12 designed to help students understand how American colonists felt about the oppressive rules England imposed on them.

A Practical Experiment in Colonization
A secondary lesson plan designed to to provide an opportunity for American History students to gain practical experience in the basic types of challenges that may exist in the establishment of any early colony.

Jamestown Celebrates 400th Anniversary
A lesson plan for grades 2 and up.

Teaching About Jamestown
A comprehensive unit with lessons appropriate for intermediate grades and above. See also Jamestown Changes for a lesson plan for grades 3-5.

JamesQuest
A collection of WebQuests.

The Salem Witch Trials
A lesson plan for grades 9-12. See also Salem Witch Trials for a 5th-grade unit.

Ben Franklin
A primary-grade lesson plan. Click here for an intermediate-grade lesson plan titled, Ben Franklin's Philosophy Clock.  

Ben and Me
A 5th-grade unit for this book about Ben Franklin by Robert Lawson. See also Jefferson vs. Franklin: Renaissance Men for a middle school lesson plan.

World Wide Web Lesson Plan: Betsy Ross
A 5th-grade lesson plan utilizing the Betsy Ross Home Page.  

Samuel's Choice
A 5th-grade unit using the book Samuel's Choice by Richard Berleth as a means of teaching about the American Revolution.

Revolutionary War Lesson Plans
Links to lesson plans for a variety of grade levels. For an excellent resource, go to  Revolutionary War.com (this site will ask you to enter your first name; if you do not wish to do so, just click okay). It offers features such as What Happened on this Day in the Revolutionary War!

Revolutionary Tea Parties and the Reasons for the Revolution
A lesson plan for grades 6-8 from EDSITEment.

American Revolution Simulation
A lesson plan for grades 4-6.

Boston Tea Party: A Short Play
A high school lesson plan.

What Was the American Revolution? 1760-1836
A secondary unit. Click here for a similar middle school unit.

Images of the American Revolution
A web-based lesson plan from the National Archives and Records Administration.

Why Do We Remember Revere?
A lesson plan for grades 6-8 from EDSITEment.  

Voices of the American Revolution
A lesson plan for grades 9-12, also from EDSITEment.

How Man Negotiates Away His Natural Freedom
A secondary lesson plan in which students are assigned readings on John Locke's views regarding the political nature of man.  This is followed by class discussions on ways in which his views were incorporated into the early U.S. political framework and philosophy.

The Declaration of Independence: From Rough Draft to Proclamation
 A lesson plan for grades 6-12.

Mount Vernon Educational Resources
Excellent site for information about George Washington. 

George Washington: A National Treasure
A Teacher Guide with nine lesson plans as well as many resources.

George Washington Lives! - - On the Internet
A timeline, information, and activities for teaching and learning about Washington from Education World.

George Washington
A unit for grades 8-10 from the Library of Congress.

The Living Symbol
A lesson plan for grades 9-10 examining the life and legend of George Washington. See also George Washington: The Precedent President for a lesson plan for grades 6-8.

Launching the New United States Navy
A lesson plan using historical documents related to the beginnings of the U.S. Navy immediately following the Revolutionary War.

The Constitution and the Idea of Compromise
One high school lesson plan from Rediscovering George Washington (PBS).

Observing Constitution Day
A lesson plan using online documents from the National Archives and Records Administration.

Drafting the Constitution
A middle or high school lesson plan on the development of the U.S. Constitution from the unit In Congress Assembled.  

The United States Constitution and Selected Amendments
A unit for grades 6-8 in which students learn and write essays about the origin and history of the Constitution and its amendments as well as the Declaration of Independence and  Bill of Rights.

Jefferson and Franklin: Revolutionary Philosophers
A lesson plan for grades 6-8 from EDSITEment. Click here for a similar lesson plan from this same source.

Thomas Jefferson
A lesson plan for grades 6-8 from Discovery.com. See also The Era of Thomas Jefferson (a web-based lesson plan).

Exploring Native Americans Across the Curriculum
Lesson ideas in a variety of subject areas from Education World.  See also Activities to Celebrate Native American Heritage.

Three Native American Groups
A thematic unit for kindergarten. See also Native Americans.

Reverence for Nature
A 2nd-grade lesson plan from a unit titled A World of Their Own.

The Earliest Americans
A 3rd-grade unit focusing on the tribes of the Northwest, Southwest, Plains, and the Eastern Woodlands.

Trails of Understanding
A middle-grade lesson plan examining theories about the origins of the first inhabitants of North America.

Land Bridge Theory of Migration
A 4th-grade lesson plan on this theory of how the first humans entered North America. Though the lesson plan is designed for teaching about the early history of Wyoming, it could easily be adapted to teaching about the history of other states. For similar lesson plans, go to Earliest Americans and Their Environments and Canada'a First Peoples. For background information, go to Canada's First Nations: Antiquity, Who Were the First Americans, Trekking Across Our Land, Jeffers Petroglyph Site, and Lake Agassiz: The Ultimate Fishing Spot?

Following the Path of the Dakota Conflict of 1862
A lesson plan for grades 4-6 in which students map historically significant sites along the Minnesota River while learning about the importance of the Dakota Conflict of 1862

Bison: Their Influence on World Cultures
Interesting site on Bison and the Plains Indians complete with lesson plans.

Not Indians, Many Tribes: Native American Diversity
A lesson plan for grades 3-5 involving the use of primary documents.

Anishinaabe - Ojibwe - Chippewa: Culture of an Indian Nation
Another lesson plan for grades 3-5.

The Trail of Tears and the forced Relocation of the Cherokee Nation
A lesson plan from the National Park Service's Teaching with Historic Places. See also Trail of Tears for a middle-grade unit.

Native American Musical Instruments from Making Music
From Making Music.com

Native American Thematic Unit
An interdisciplinary unit for the upper elementary grades.

Revisiting Pocahontas
A middle-grade or high school unit in which students engage in a critique of the historical and cultural accuracy of the Walt Disney film, "Pocahontas."

A World of Their Own: The Americas to 1500
A high school unit.

Negotiating Treaties
An 11th-grade lesson plan involving a treaty negotiation simulation.

Life on the Great Plains
An excellent high school lesson plan from EDSITEment.  

Kennewick Man: Science and Sacred Rights
An interesting high school  lesson plan exploring the controversy surrounding "Kennewick Man," the name given to a 9000-year-old skeleton discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Also from EDSITEment.  

Sioux Treaty of 1868
A secondary lesson plan using historic documents from the National Archives and Records Administration.

American Indians and the Natural World: North, South, East. West
An excellent resource from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Odin's Castle: The Native Americans
Another excellent resource with a great deal of information.

Ask Thomas Jefferson
Have your students e-mail Thomas Jefferson at Monticello: The Home of Thomas Jefferson.  

Thomas Jefferson talks with George Washington
Lesson plans and supporting materials from Thomas Jefferson's Popular Forest. Go to Education for additional lesson plans.

Thomas Jefferson: Scavenging Around
A scavenger hunt through which students learn about Jefferson's daily activities.

Thomas Jefferson: Historical Opinion and Slavery
A secondary lesson plan.

Sectionalism in the Early United States
A lesson plan for grades 10 and 11.

Lewis and Clark Trail
Excellent source for information on Lewis and Clark.

Lewis and Clark: Maps of Exploration
Maps and information on early America, including the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Lewis and Clark: The Journey West
A lesson planning article and 5 lesson plans from Education World.

Lewis and Clark: A Scientific Journey
A middle-grade lesson plan. See also The Science of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Extra! Extra! Lewis and Clark Explore America
A WebQuest for grade 5. See also Adventure into the Unknown for another Webquest on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Lewis and Clark Online Game
From National Geographic, this is really cool! See their lesson plan Lewis and Clark: Same Place Different Perspectives.

Lewis and Clark Expedition
A lesson plan from the National Archives and Records Administration using historical documents.

If Lewis and Clark Made Their Journey Today, What Would They See?
A lesson plan for grades 6-10. Follow Lewis and Clark's 3700-mile journey with this site from the Lewis and Clark National Historical Trail.  

Lewis and Clark    
Classroom resources from PBS.

Exploring Maps: In the Wake of Lewis and Clark
From the USGS Learning Web.  You will have to scroll down the page to find this activity.

Go Across America with Lewis and Clark
An online activity.

Louisiana Purchase: Teachers Guides and Lesson Plans
Lesson plans for all grade levels that use primary sources.

Louisiana Purchase Curriculum Guide
Teaching aids, a glossary, and two lesson plans.    

Louisiana Purchase Natural History Materials
Two lesson plans (Extinct Animals of the Louisiana Purchase and Headwater Swamps) from the Arkansas National Heritage Commission.  

Louisiana Purchase Scavenger Hunt
From Education World. See also Lewis and Clark: The Journey West.

The Louisiana Purchase
Activities with online resources from the Louisiana State Museum. Click here to see their other lesson plans.

War of 1812
A 2nd-grade unit with 14 lesson plans. See also Key Events & Causes: War of 1812.  

The Battle of New Orleans
"In 1814 we took a little trip ..." Teach your students about it with this lesson plan for middle and high school students from the Louisiana State History Museum. See also Battle of New Orleans Artifacts for another lesson plan from this source.

War of 1812
Lesson plans and resources from Pro Teacher.

War of 1812
A thematic unit for grade 7.

War of 1812 in the News
A lesson plan for grades 7-9 from the Educator's Reference Desk.

War of 1812 in the Old Northwest Territory
A unit for grades 8-9 focusing on the northwest frontier, expansionism, and the different perspectives involved in this war. See also Time Travel: Primary Sources, Perspective, and the War of 1812.       

War of 1812 from Multimedia History
An excellent resource. See also The War of 1812 Webquest.

War of 1812-1814
Information on every battle.

Jefferson and National Unity
A 5th-grade activity in which students write an essay that might have appeared in a newspaper after the treaty was signed ending the War of 1812-1814

Anti-Railroad Propaganda Poster: The Growth of Regionalism, 1800-1860
A lesson plan using original documents available online at the National Archives and Records Administration.

Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Photographs, stereoviews, engravings, maps, and documents illustrating the history of the first transcontinental railroad.

Teaching Historical Research Using Primary Sources: Documents from the American West
Three lesson plans with links to primary sources from The Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia.

Westward Expansion: Early Exploration of the West
A 1st-grade unit. For other 1st-grade units from Core Knowledge, see America Moves Out and Bewildered but Not Lost - A Trip into Early Exploration of the American West.

Westward Ho!
A web-based activity for grades 4-8. See also The Western Expansion of the United States: A Timeline.  

American Frontier
A lesson plan for grades 9-12 from the Discovery Channel School. See also Mountain Men and the Fur Trade for information on the history, traditions, tools, and mode of living of the trappers, explorers, and traders known as the Mountain Men.

Life on the Great Plains
A multi-disciplinary high school unit.

Whitman Mission Teacher's Guide
Lesson plans and background information about the Cayuse, Whitmans, and the Oregon Trail from two previous teacher's guides: Whitman Mission and Oregon Trail.

Oregon Trail Theme
Links to many lesson plans about the Oregon Trail.

If You Were a Pioneer on the Oregon Trail
A K-2 lesson plan from EDSITEment.

Go West: Imagining the Oregon Trail
Another lesson plan deom EDSITEment. This one is for grades 3-5.

On the Oregon Trail
One more ESITEment lesson plan for grades 6-8.

The Oregon Trail
A 4th-grade unit from Idaho Public television.

America's Old West (1800s)
A web-based activity from ThinkQuest.

Western Expansion
Many lesson plans and resources from Mr. Donn.

Old West Hall of Fame Lesson Plan
Students create a Hall of Fame of the West.

Ghost Riders and Rest Stops
An elementary unit on the Pony Express and overland stagecoach from Utah Centennial Studies.    

The Buffalo War: A Clash of Cultures
A lesson plan for grades 8-12 using the PBS documentary "Buffalo War" to help students understand how cultures living together may come into conflict because of their different values.

Manifest Destiny
Resources for teachers and students from Mr. Donn.

Manifest Destiny and Western Expansion
A secondary lesson plan from Ohio State University.

Achieving Manifest Destiny
An 8th-grade lesson plan from Houghton Mifflin.

The U.S. - Mexican War
Lesson plans from PBS.

Manifest Destiny and the U.S.  Mexican War: Then and Now
A lesson plan for grades 6-12 from the above source.

The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo
A lesson plan on this treaty which brought an official end to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).

Colonial Mexico
Great site for information on 19th century Mexico.

Mexican History Timeline
Annotated timeline with links regarding specific events and individuals.

Teaching the California Gold Rush
Scroll down the page for the unit description and activities from the Homeschool Teacher's Lounge.

Gold Rush Curriculum
Sample lesson plans for a variety of grade levels from the Oakland Museum of California.

Metaphorical Gold: Mining the Gold Rush for Stories
A middle-grade lesson plan from EDSITEment. See also Gold Rush California and Its Diverse Population.   

Migration North to Alaska
A lesson plan using historical documents from the National Archive on this other gold rush

Slavery Lesson Plans
African American History and Heritage Site
From the U.S. Department of State, this site offers many resources for African-American History including a Teacher Toolkit for Grades K-12. See also National Organization of Blacks in Government, African American Mosaic, BlackPast.org, African American History and Culture, and Black History Pages.

Association for the Study of African American History and Life
The founders of Black History Month! See themes for Past, Present, and Future.

The Amistad Case: Teaching Activities
A lesson plan that correlates to the National Standards for History.  See also Amistad America and Teaching with Documents: The Amistad Case.

Transatlantic Slave Trade
Nine lesson plans for middle and high school students complete with a glossary and resource materials from In Motion: Afican American Migration Experience.

The Slave Dancer
A literature unit for this book by Paula Fox.

Was the Dred Scott Decision Jusicial Activism?
A secondary lesson plan from Lincoln/Net. For additoinal information, see Dred Scott v Stanford.

1850's: Two Faces of Slavery
A teacher's guide with a lesson activity.

Families in Bondage
A high school lesson plan using letters written by African Americans in slavery and by free blacks to loved ones still in bondage.

Been Here so Long
A lesson plan utilizing a jigsaw activity to help students examine and understand the Slave Narratives collected by the New Deal Network.

The Anti-Slavery Movement
A lesson plan in which students create and write a constitution for an anti-slavery society.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
A lesson plan in which students examine transcripts of these famous debates. See also Lincoln-Douglas Debates Interactive Map Activity.  

The Emancipation Proclamation: Freedom's First Steps
A high school lesson plan from ESITEment.

Spirituals
A high school lesson plan introducing studenst to the role that spirituals have played in African American history and religion.

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
A timeline, quiz, sketches, crossword puzzles, etc. all put together by a 2nd-grade class! Click on Classroom Activities to access lesson plans and units on Harriet Tubman from a variety of sources.

Teaching the Underground Railroad
Many lesson plans for all grade levels from the Northern Kentucky University Institute for Freedom Studies.

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
An 3rd-grade lesson plan using this book by Deborah Hopkinson.

Slavery and the Underground Railroad
A lesson plan for grades 3-5. See also Underground Railroad WebQuest.

Child of the Underground Railroad: Lesson plan for Malinda Paris - A Memorial
A lesson plan from the Michigan Historical Center.    

Two Tickets to Freedom
A 5th-grade lesson plan based on this book about the dangerous journey of two fugitive slaves.

The Underground Railroad
A lesson plan from Songs for Teaching that uses the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd."

Civil War Lesson Plans
A collection of lesson plans for various grade levels.

Civil War
Another set of lesson plans.

Civil War
Different than the above site, this is a 2nd-grade unit from Core Knowledge.  

Lesson Plan Ideas for the American Civil War
Five lesson plans for elementary and middle grade students. Scroll down the page past the links to find the lesson plans.

The Civil War
An elaborate lesson plan from Small Planet Communications designed  for the upper-elementary grades. It  integrates historical fiction and writing with the study of the Civil war.

The U.S. Civil War
A 4th-grade lesson plan.

Shades of Gray
Teacher's notes for this book about the Civil War from Carolyn Reeder's Official Home Page. For a literature-based, 4th or 5th-grade unit on the Civil War, go to Literature of the U.S. Civil War.  

Heroes of the Civil War Era
A 5th-grade lesson plan from Core Knowledge.  

Pink and Say
This site provides a lesson titled "Acquuiring New Vocabulary through Book Discussion Groups"using this book by Patricia Polacco.   Also, see The Civil War, for a middle-grade unit using trade books.

Role-Playing the Civil War
A lesson plan for grades 5-7 in which students examine both points of view in the Civil War.

Civil War
A 5th-grade lesson on the causes of this conflict.

Civil War Letters
A lesson plan for grades 6-12 integrating history and writing skills. Also see Letters from an Iowa Soldier in the Civil War to supplement your lessons on the Civil War with these authentic letters.

The Fight for Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
A lesson plan using historical documents available via the Internet from the National Archives.

The Civil War: Emancipation Experience
A high school lesson plan designed to give students an affective experience of the pre and post American Civil War experience on Americans.

Civil War Essay Writing
An activity for grades 11-12.

The Valley of the Shadow Project
This new, improved version of the Valley of the Shadow Project looks at two communities, one Northern and one Southern, through the experience of the American Civil War. The project is a hypermedia archive of thousands of sources for the period including newspapers, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, church records, population census, agricultural census, and military records. 

Gettysburg Teacher's Guide
From the Gettysburg National Military Park, this teacher's guide includes a sample lesson plan as well as information on distance learning programs and suggested activities for students. See also the Gettysburg History Information Center.  

The Reunion
An activity in which students dramatize a postwar reunion between people who held opposing views during the US Civil War.

Civil War Center
Links to sites that provide an incredible amount of information on the Civil War. Email them if you have a question about the Civil War!

The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady
A lesson plan from the National Archives and Records Administration. See also Civil War Photographs for a huge collection of photos from the Library of Congress.

The Civil War and Reconstruction
Many lesson plans from Teaching with Historic Places.      

Abraham Lincoln
Online activities for the primary grades.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
A lesson plan in which students examine transcripts of these famous debates. See also Lincoln-Douglas Debates Interactive Map Activity.  

Abraham Lincoln, President and Leader During the Civil War
A 1st-grade lesson plan.

We Must Not be Enemies: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
A unit for grades 3-5 that uses archival documents available online.

What Did Abraham Lincoln Do to Preserve the Union?
A middle-grade lesson plan from The Crossroads Curriculum  Unit VI: Now We Are Engaged In A Great Civil War, 1848-1880.  

Lincoln Goes to War
A lesson plan for grades 9-12 from Edsitement. See also Abraham Lincoln-Related Curriculum Resources and Lesson Plans.

Emancipation Proclamation
A high school lesson plan. See The Emancipation Proclamation through Different Eyes for another high school lesson plan. Go to America's Historic Documents to see the Proclamation.

Who Killed Abraham Lincoln
A lesson plan for grades 6-12 from Education World. For other lesson plans, see Lincoln's Assassination, An Acquaintance with Darkness: A Civil War Novel, Lincoln Assassination WebQuest, and Abraham Lincoln's Assassination.

Reconstruction Lesson Plans
Reconstruction: A Time of Turbulence
A 5th-grade unit from Core Knowledge.  See also The Plight of Four Million Newly Emancipated Slaves: Reconstruction 1865-1877

Unfinished Business: Making Democracy Work for Everyone, 1877-1904
A SCORE CyberGuide on the post-reconstruction South. See also Reconstruction of the South Jigsaw Puzzle.  

After Reconstruction: Problems of African Americans in the South
A lesson plan using the Internet to access pamphlets and other materials, most of which were written by African American authors about pressing issues of the day. For an excellent resource on African American History, see the Black History Pages.  

Reconstruction: A WebQuest
See also Reconstruction and Tennant Farming for another Webquest.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS: A Brief Biography and Exercise.
Information and a classroom activity for grades 4-8 on this prominent 19th-century African American leader. See also Frederick Douglass, a unit for grades 5-6.

George Washington Carver
A 3rd or 4th-grade unit.

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois
A unit on the issues raised by the celebrated debate between two famous African American leaders: Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois.  

Industrial Revolution Lesson Plans
A Day in the Life of Children: Then and Now
An elementary grade lesson plan comparing children's lives now and in the 19th century.

Photographs of Lewis Hine: Documentation of Child Labor
A lesson plan from the National Archives and Records Administration which uses primary sources.

Child Labor in America
A middle or high school lesson plan. See also Using the Internet to Explore Issues: Children's Rights (grades 6-12).

Industrial Revolution
A SCORE CyberGuide providing a web-based activity.

Industrial Revolution Teaching Theme
Links to lesson plans, worksheets, webquests, and resources.

The Industrial Revolution
A middle school unit created by a teacher from the North Pole Middle School, North Pole, Alaska.

A Curriculum of United States Labor History for Teachers
An entire curriculum complete with handouts.

The Industrial Revolution and the Progressive Era: 1877-1913
One segment of the above curriculum.

The Industrial Revolution: A WebQuest
For another WebQuest, see Industrial Revolution: A WebQuest on the Birth of Modern Times.

Age of Imperialism Lesson Plan
A lesson plan on 19th century US expansionism developed by Small Planet. See also their page, " A Splendid Little War."  

Imperialism and Expansion: Part 1
A middle school lesson plan. See also Imperialism Vocabulary and Imperialism and Expansion: Part 2.

1898-1998: Centennial of the Spanish-American War
Offers concise information about this conflict as well as links to related sites. 

How Did a "Splendid Little War" Help Us?  
A 9th-grade lesson plan. See also Effects of the Press on Spanish-American Relations in 1898. and Yellow Journalism and the Spanish-American War.

Theodore Roosevelt Association Curriculum-Based Lesson Plans
Many lesson plans for grades 5-12 from the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

Theodore Roosevelt's View on Citizenship and the Environment
A high school lesson plan from Learning to Give.  

The Muckrakers and the Progressive Era
An interdisciplinary unit for the 8th grade.

The Progressive Era
Lesson plans for grades 8-12.

Women, Suffrage, and the 19th Amendment
A lesson plan using documents available online from the National Archives and Records Administration.  

Susan B. Anthony Day
A grade 3-4 mini-unit for celebrating Susan B. Anthony Day (February 15). Click here for a grade 4-5 lesson plan on Susan B. Anthony. See also Susan B. Anthony Activist for a lesson plan from a middle-grade unit titled Women of the Industrial Era.  

The Nineteenth Amendment
A lesson plan for grades 9-12. If you are considering using a video to enhance your unit on the 19th Amendment, click here to read about and preview "Women Take Their Place: An American Revolution."

Cultural Change
A lesson plan for grades 10-12 that requires students to think critically about the arguments and counter-arguments in the debate regarding women's suffrage.

Germany and America in the 20th Century: An Annotated Timeline
An annotated timeline with links to sites providing information on individuals and events of significance to Germany and America during the 20th Century.

1900 America: Historical Voices, Poetic Visions
An interdisciplinary lesson plan for grades 10-12 which looks at what life was like at the turn of the century.

Thomas Edison's Inventions in the 1900s and Today: From New to You
A lesson plan fro grades 3-8 which examines life in 1900 and how technology has changed people's lives.

Poetry of the Great War
A high school lesson plan. See also Soldier Poets of the First World War for activities from SchoolHistory.org.uk.  

Causes of WWI
A web-based lesson plan.

July Crisis: Can You Stop the Great War?
An activity-based high school lesson plan on the European events that led to the start of WWI. Also, take a look at The Great War Society, which provides links to many WW I web sites.

World War I Unit
This 5-lesson high school unit is from the Alabama Department of Archives and History. For more information on World War I, go to WWI: Trenches on the Web, an Internet history of the "Great War." Also take a look at the WWI Document Archive.  

1910s Unit
Many lesson plans for both middle school and high school units including several lesson plans dealing with WWI.  

The Zimmerman Telegram
A lesson plan using online documents to teach about this infamous telegram that contributed to the U.S. entry into WWI.

U.S. Entry into World War I
A high school lesson plan.

Photographs of the 369th Infantry and African Americans During World War I
A lesson plan from the using primary sources which are available online. See also Sow the Seeds of Victory! Posters from the Food Administration During World War I for another lesson plan using primary sources.

First World War
A high school lesson plan using Internet resources.   

World War I and Its Aftermath
A high school lesson plan from the Discovery Channel School.

Treaty of Versailles Simulation
See also The Great War: Evaluating the Treaty of Versailles for a high school lesson plan.

The 1920s
A lesson plan for U.S. history. 

From the Great War to the Great Depression
A lesson plan for grades 6-8 from Discovery School.com.

The Roaring Twenties
A lesson plan for grades 7-12. It includes an outline for a lecture and a role-playing activity.

Getting on with Business: Coolidge and Corporate Growth
A lesson plan from American Odyssey.

The Roaring 20s (A WebQuest)
For other WebQuests, see Exploring the 1920s and 1920s WebQuest.

The Volstead Act and Related Prohibition Documents
A lesson plan on prohibition using primary sources available via the Internet. Though no suggested grade level is provided, the lesson and supporting documents would appear to be most appropriate for secondary students. See also Prohibition in the USA for another lesson plan.

Scopes Trial Activity
A lesson plan appropriate for secondary students. See also Historical Thinking Matters: Scopes Trial for a 5-day lesson plan. For background information, see The Antievolution Crusade of the 1920s, Clash of Cultures: The Scopes Trial, Tennessee vs. John Scopes: The Monkey Trial, and The 'Intelligent Design' Debate.

1920s Consumer Culture
An AP History lesson plan from HTI.

The Destruction of Black Wall Street: The Tulsa Riot of 1921
Another AP History lesson plan from HTI.  

The Automobile
One more lesson plan from HTI.

A Harlem Renaissance Perspective
An interdisciplinary lesson plan for grades 9-12. For other lesson plans, see Harlem Renaissance and Drop Me Off in Harlem.

Using Primary Sources in the Classroom: The Great Depression Unit
A 6-lesson high school unit.

The Great Depression and the New Deal
An elaborate unit from Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

New Deal Lesson Plans
Lesson plans on the WPA, CCC, etc. For more information on the New Deal, go to New Deal Network.  

Worth a Thousand Words: Depression-Era Photographs
A lesson plan for grades 9-12 examining the Great Depression and  New Deal programs through an Internet archive of photographs.

 1930s WebQuest Unit
A WebQuest for  a variety of people and events. See also The Great Depression: Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime? for another WebQuest.

Hometown Children and the Depression
One lesson plan from Dear Mrs. Roosevelt, which provides resources and lesson plans dealing with the effects of the depression on children.

Famous Person: Eleanor Roosevelt
A mini-unit for grades 4-6. See also The Great Depression: Eleanor Roosevelt.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
There are many lesson plans about FDR, including the one linked above titled The Foreign Policy of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the U. S. Entry Into World War II. Other similar lesson plans about FDR include Documents Related to Churchill and FDR, FDR's Fireside Chat on the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program, and FDR's First Inaugural Address. The FDR Portfolio Project and McGraw Hill's Bring a Cartoon to Life, both of which use the FDR cartoons, are also available online. For lesson plans that examine the impact of FDR's disability, see Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Disability: Was He Successful in Concealing It? or Debating the FDR Memorial. For additional information on FDR, see Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, The FDR Library and Museum, and The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.

Documents Related to Churchill and FDR
A lesson plan from the National Archives and Records Administration.  

World War II Unit
An 8-lesson unit using primary sources from the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Go to The Avalon Project for additional World War II documents.

Getting Involved in World war II
A middle school lesson plan which introduces students to the reasons why the United States became involved in World War II and asks them to consider the reasons Japan decided to attack Pearl Harbor .

World War II Mini-Unit
A 4th or 5th-grade unit using the book A Pocket Full of Seeds by Marilyn Sachs to integrate literature and social studies. Click here for another mini-unit for 5th-grade with this same title using the book Twenty and Ten by Claire Hutchet Bishop. For other ideas on integrating literature into your World War II unit, go to World War II as Seen Through the Eyes of Children's Literature. Additional books for children and young adults pertaining to World War II for which there are lesson plans available include The Big Lie, The Bracelet, Number the Stars, Sadako and the Thousand Cranes, The Summer of My German Soldier, and Under the Blood-Red Sun. Click on one of the titles above, or scroll down the page to find lessons and links for The Diary of Anne Frank.  

World War II
An 11th-grade leson plan which introduces topics of cost, scope, and human casualties of the war. For excellent sources of information on WW II, see HyperWar, The National D-Day Museum and Internet Modern History Sourcebook - World War II.  

World War II: An American Scrapbook
Recollections of World War II collected by 5th-graders. There are also three lesson plans. See the sites listed after the lesson below for sources of interviews and personal stories.

A Perspective on World War II
A lesson plan for grades 9-12 in which students work with students from other countries via the Internet to compare the WW II information contained in each country's textbooks.

Those Who Fought
A lesson plan for grades 6-12 from Education World in which students read interviews of WW II veterans and then interview family or community members who participated in the war. For oral history resources, see  WW II Submarine Veteran's Oral History Project, Holocaust Survivors Oral Histories, and What Did You Do in the War Grandma?   

Eleanor's Story: An American Girl in Hitler's Germany
A lesson plan for grades 5-12 using Eleanor Garner's book.  

Letters Home During World War II
A secondary lesson plan from the Wisconsin Historical Society. See also Women Remember World War II.

Powers of Persuasion--Poster Art of World War II
A lesson plan from the National Archives and Records Administration.  

The Identification, the Mapping, and the Personification of Countries Involved in World War II
A high school lesson plan in which students identify countries involved in both the Pacific and the European Theaters.   

The Causes of World War II
A lesson plan for grades 10-12. See also World War Two Timeline and Germany and America in the 20th Century: An Annotated Timeline. Click here for a World War II trivia quiz.

D-Day
A teacher's guide from PBS. See also The Normandy Invasion.

Message Drafted by General Eisenhower in Case the D-Day Invasion Failed
A secondary lesson plan using primary sources. See also D-Day Message from General Eisenhower to General Marshall.

WW II: The United States Becomes a World Power
A teaching/learning module using primary source documents.

Breaking the Code
A lesson plan for grades 6-12 in which students learn about cryptology during WW II.

World War II: The Pacific
 A high school lesson plan.

War in the Pacific
A discussion-based lesson plan for grades 11-12 in which students learn how the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor impacted the United states. For information on the Pacific Theater, go to The History Place: War in the Pacific.  

Navajo News
A lesson plan for grades 4-8 in which students learn about the Navajo Code Talkers. See also Memoranum Regarding the Enlistment of Navajo Indians.

War in the Pacific: The Forgotten Holocaust
A unit on the Japanese invasion of China during World War II which focuses on the atrocities committed against the Chinese people. For additional information on the Pacific Theater, go to The History Place: War in the Pacific.  

The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb
Two secondary lesson plans from the Truman Library. See also The Ethics of the Bomb, The Race to Build the Bomb for more lesson plans,  Atomic -Bomb Museum for information and personal perspectives,  and Decision to Drop the Bomb. If you're looking for a video to enhance your Hiroshima unit, go to Social Studies School Service to order "Hiroshima: Why the Bomb Was Dropped."

It's Up for Debate
A lesson plan for grades 6-12 in which students investigate and debate decisions made during WW II.

Citizenship Denied: An Integrated Unit on the Japanese-American Internment
An elaborate unit suitable for middle-grade or high school students. For an 8th-grade lesson plan, see Learning More About the Japanese Internment Camps.

Documents and Photographs Related to Japanese Relocation During World War II
One more lesson plan regarding Japanese internment. This one uses historical documents and photographs. See also Japanese-American History from Go for Broke National Education Center.

The Nuremberg Trials
A lesson plan from Towson University. See also Nuremberg Trials Lesson Plan.

WW II: The Other Americans
A multicultural World War II lesson plan I developed as an example for my students.

World War II
A high school lesson plan in which students research daily life for women in Britain, the U.S., or Germany during the war. See also Women During World War II.

WW II on the Web

The Rise of Hitler
An online high school lesson.

The Beast Within
An interdisciplinary 9th-grade unit from George Cassutto.

Holocaust and Resistance
A high school lesson plan from EDSITEment.  

Nazi Concentration Camps
An Internet-based high school lesson plan in which students identify Nazi Concentration Camps by using maps, pictures, and a factual information page for each camp. See also Nazi Concentration Camps - Map and Chart Reading Activities.

Teaching the Holocaust
Literature-based lesson plans for grades 4 and up.

Teaching the Holocaust
Different from thr above, this site from Education World offers ten lesson plans as well as guidelines for teaching about th Holocaust.

The Holocaust WebQuest
For other webquests see The Holocaust WebQuest and Voices of the Holocaust.

Cybrary of the Holocaust
A comprehensive site with images, recollections of survivors, a teacher's guide, links, etc.

United Nations Day
A lesson plan dealing with United Nations Day as well as the history and current status of the U.N. and its agencies.

United Nations Mini Unit
From the Truman Presidential Museum and Library, this unit is for grades 6-8. See also United Nations Milestones  and
Understanding the History of the United Nations through a Geography Focus.

U.S. Recognition of the State of Israel
A lesson plan using documents available primary sources online from the National Archives and Records Administration.

The Strategy of Containment, 1947-1948
A high school lesson plan.

Food Today, Freedom Tomorrow
A Lesson plan on the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine.

The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy
An high school lesson plan.

Truman Presidential Museum and Library
See their lesson plans and activities.  

Tales of Truman's Travels Fifty Years Ago
A 3rd-grade unit from the above site.

The Truman Trunk Experience
A lesson plan for 7th grade from American Presidents: Life Portraits.  

Harry Truman and the Truman Doctrine
A secondary-level activity from the Truman Presidential Museum and Library.  

Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to President Harry S. Truman
A lesson plan using primary sources.

The Foreign Policies of Harry S. Truman
A high school unit from the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.  

The Polio History Pages
No unit on the 1950s would be complete without some mention of polio, the near hysteria caused by the epidemics of the early 1950s, and the euphoria that greeted the development of the Salk vaccine. Drawing from my book, Polio's Legacy: An Oral History, this site provides excerpts from polio narratives, a polio timeline, a webquest, and information about the disease, its history, and late effects.

Propaganda: Name Calling
A lesson plan dealing with name-calling, propaganda, Joe McCarthy, and the "Red Scare" during the 1950s.

The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy
An high school lesson plan.

Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to President Harry S. Truman
A lesson plan using primary sources.

Photographs and Pamphlet about Nuclear Fallout
Another lesson plan using historic documents.

Memorandum of a Conference with President Eisenhower after Sputnik
One more lesson plan using primary sources. See also Milestones in the Space Program for a middle school lesson plan, Sputnik Lesson Plan for a 10th-grade activity, and Sputnik Anniversary Marks 50 Years of Space Race for an article and related Reading Comprehension Questions.

Eisenhower: The Contentious 1950s
A lesson plan for grades 9-12. See also Eisenhower: The Cold War for another high school lesson plan.

American Culture in the 1950s
Several units from the Pittsburgh Teachers Institute.

The 1950s Political Mood  
A WebQuest. See also 1950s WebQuest.

Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum
Excellent source for information about Eisenhower.

The United States Enters the Korean Conflict
A lesson plan using primary sources.

Cold War - Korean Conflict
A 10th-grade lesson plan.

The Hungnam Evacuation: The Korean War’s Dunkirk ?
A high school lesson plan from Teachiing More About Korea.    

Remembering the Forgotten War
An online lesson plan for grades 7-10. See also Korean Studies. See their other curriculum materials.

The Korean War
A lesson plan for grades 9-12.

Recollections of an RB-29 Crew in Japan and Related Korean War/Early Cold War Stories
A site providing first-hand accounts of individuals and crews involved in Cold War era USAF reconnaissance missions.

Photographs and Pamphlet about Nuclear Fallout
A lesson plan from the National Archives and Records Administration which uses primary sources.

The Cold War
An 8th-grade unit from Core Knowledge. See also Hitting the Cold War from All the Angles for a similar unit from this same organization. Both lessons are in pdf format.

Reel History and the Cold War
A lesson plan using film as a primary source.

Leader of the Free World: 1945-1975
An extensive high school unit that includes lesson plans on the Cold War and other topics pertinent to this time period.

Submarines: A Heated Competition in a Cold War
A middle school lesson plan from Xpeditions.

Unit 9: Cold War
An elaborate 11th-grade unit requiring teams of students to use a variety of Internet resources to assemble a Cold War timeline, a map showing areas of Cold War activity, a photo gallery of major leaders, a paper, and a multimedia presentation.

Cold War
A lesson plan for grades 9-12 from The Educator's Reference Desk.

The Cold War - The 1950s
A middle school lesson plan.

Crisis During the Cold War
A WebQuest for 10th grade. See also The Cold War and Cold War WebQuest.

Student Activity: The Berlin Airlift
From the Truman Library and Museum. See also The Berlin Airlift, Pictures of the Berlin Airlift: Primary Sources (Photos and Cartoons) to Motivate Learning and The Uneasy Peace: The Berlin Airlift.