Curated OER
A Practical Experiment In Colonization
Role-play and simulation exercises are fantastic ways to help learners understand the reality behind many social and historical events. Pretending they are colonists, upper graders choose a location, create a history, establish laws, and...
Curated OER
Anonymous Patriots: Songs of the Revolution
Give your class a deeper understanding of the context and meaning behind early American song lyrics. By reading the lyrics to "Yankee Doodle" and "Revolutionary Tea," high schoolers will practice analysis by examining the structure and...
Curated OER
Modern Interpretations
To conclude an eight-lesson study of the events that occurred in the early colonial period in Deerfield, Massachussetss, class members evaluate the point of view and bias found in late 19th and early 20th century retellings.
Curated OER
The Colonization of the United States
Bring the Age of Exploration into the 21st century with this ancestry activity! Learners get a chance to explore the complex genealogy of the Spanish settlers through watching two video clips (approximately five minutes each) featuring...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Early English Settlements History Detectives
Young historians play the role of history detectives as they investigate some primary source texts and images related to the early colonization of America, The Jamestown Settlement, and the Mayflower Compact.
American Documentary
American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai'i
In this activity, high schoolers will examine Hawaii's issues of colonization, authority, authenticity and cultural identity, and understand the distinction between native and non-native Hawaiians. This activity includes links to videos,...
Curated OER
Practical Experiment in Colonization
Students examine the effects that cultural background and specific historical events have upon the development of a colony. They research the colonies to design their own.
Curated OER
Lives of Native Americans and Settlers
Students assess the effect of contact between the Native Americans and Europeans after 1492. They explore the lives of the early European colonists and the Native Americans living along the East Coast of North America. Lesson contains...
Curated OER
American Indians
Students research early Indian adaptations in this lesson. They research the different American Indian tribes. They also research and compare the tribes' rituals, daily lives, and their impact on the Europeans who came later to the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
David Walker vs. John Day: Two Nineteenth-Century Free Black Men
What was the most beneficial policy for nineteenth-century African Americans: to stay in the United States and work for freedom, or to immigrate to a new place and build a society elsewhere? Your young historians will construct an...
Curated OER
The Settlement of the Chesapeake
Focusing on the Virginia and Maryland settlements in the 1600's, this presentation is a complete and thorough resource during a unit on Colonial America. It includes pictures, maps, and interesting discussion points for you to address...
Curated OER
English-Indian Encounters in Early 17th Century Virginia
Students participate in a three part lesson in which they examine the initial encounters between the English and the Indians, the different ways in which the colonist and Indians interacted and why English settlers and Native Americans...
Curated OER
Jamestown in Context: The Colonization of North America
Students analyze the significance of Jamestown in the broader picture of colonization and analyze a historical document to determine the effects of previous explorations on the expectations of the Jamestown colonizers
Curated OER
Overland Trails To The West
Consider the political, physical, and geographical factors that led to and marked the Westward Expansion. Learners will track the various routes developed during the 1800's. They create a first person journal describing what they see,...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Slaves and Indentured Servants
In theory, at least, indentured servitude and slavery were two different practices in the American colonies. Class groups conduct a close reading of two primary source documents, one written by a slave and one by an indentured servant,...
Curated OER
Early Explorers of America
Fifth graders examine a time line of early American explorers from England, Spain, and France. They trace exploration routes on maps and write reports about early explorers. Students view a laser disc presentation, Land of Opportunity...
Curated OER
Bison on the Plains
Fifth graders explore U.S. geography by reading assigned text about American Indians. For this migration lesson, 5th graders identify the differences between Native Americans and European settlers who traveled through middle America in...
Curated OER
Coming to America: A Look at Colonization in the 1600s
Students analyze the European colonization of America. In this colonial America lesson, students use provided Internet resources to research colonization and representative government. Students use their finding to create webpages,...
Curated OER
Americans Settle in Texas and Life in Early Texas
Students participate in a layered curriculum unit that includes: Create a political cartoon about the effect of the Mexican colonization laws on Texas settlement. The cartoon should be from the point of view of a Tejano. Write a caption...
Curated OER
The First American Colonies
Fourth graders are introduced to the early colonial settlements of America by observing a map, filling in a map themselves and then researching information on their own.
Curated OER
Colonization
Students explore why the Americas attracted Europeans, why they brought enslaved Africans to their colonies, and how Europeans struggled for control of North American and the Caribbean.
Curated OER
Images of the New World
Students examine how visual and literary images played an important role in the English colonization of Virginia. They analyze the importance of Thomas Harriot's Report on the subsequent development of English colonial plans for...
Curated OER
1704 Attack on Deerfield
Class groups examine conflicting primary and secondary sources describing the 1704 attack on the fort at Deerfield by French and Native Americans and analyze the implications of discrepancies.
Curated OER
Native American
Students investigate how early European exploration and colonization resulted in cultural and ecological interactions among previously unconnected peoples. They comprehend that Europeans had misconceptions about Native American literacy...