George Eastman Museum
Photographers of the American West
Original pictures of Westward expansion. Great activities and discussion questions for cross-curricular learning.
Other
American Journeys: French and English Approaches to Exploration [Pdf]
A lengthy lesson plan that examines French and English approaches to exploration and colonization in reference to religious factors. Using primary sources from French missionary Gabriel Sagard and Wiliam Bradford, first governor of...
Utah Education Network
Uen: How the Meanings of Colors Transmit Navajo Culture
Identify the four colors important to the Navajos and understand how these colors represent different elements of Navajo culture.
Ancestry
The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony: 1620
Study guide with loads of information about the pilgrims. Details everything from the religious beliefs of the pilgrims to what the Mayflower looked like, to the dogs on the ship, furniture, clothing, descriptions of medical practices on...
The Newberry Library
Newberry Library: Art of Conflict: Portraying American Indians, 1850 to 1900
Lesson uses digitized primary source material to examine the portrayal of American Indians in art between 1850 and 1900. Classroom activities and questions for discussion included.
Other
International Journal of Wilderness: Don Aragon: Wind River Indian Tribes [Pdf]
A comprehensive article honing in on concerns for federal wilderness protection by learning from indigenous peoples, specifically the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Indians in Fort Washakie, Wyoming.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: What Can You Make From a Buffalo?
The northern Plains Indians used every part of the buffalo. In this interactive matching game, students will match objects made by Native Americans from the buffalo.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Themepark: Liberty: Native Americans
Find a large collection of internet resources organized around Native Americans. Links to places to go, people to see, things to do, teacher resources, and bibliographies.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Pocahontas
Among the most famous women in early American history, Pocahontas is credited with helping the struggling English settlers survive.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Cherokee Nation: Virtual Field Trip
An in-depth look at the lives of the Cherokee Indians, from their first encounters with Europeans to events, such as the Gold Rush and the signing of the Indian Removal Act by Andrew Jackson, that led to their forced relocation to Indian...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Sitting Bull: Spiritual Leader and Military Leader
Through two primary source activities and a short biographical video, students will understand the remarkable courage of this leader who stood up for his people.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Life in a Native Kentucky Village
The scenes in this rollover interactive depict typical village life of Native American Indians of the Mississippian culture. The village was occupied from 1100 AD until about 1350 AD.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: The Columbian Exchange
In this interactive lesson supporting literacy skills, students watch video dramatizations that tell the story of the Spanish explorers who arrived in the Americas with Columbus and introduced European, African, and Asian plants and...
Children's Museum
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis: Native Americans and the Natural World
Explore the rich cultures of Native Americans through literature, storytelling, and fun, hands-on activities. Learners will gain an understanding of how and where Native Americans lived in the past and today, as well as their...
Hartford Web Publishing
World History Archives: Hartford Web Publishing: The Significance of Wampum
This site contains information about the term Wampum and its significance. Also contains information about Native Americans collecting shells and their worth to the tribe.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: School Publishers: Carving a Memorial to Chief Crazy Horse
This Harcourt Publishing site is all about the memorial carved in the Black Hills of South Dakota in honor of Chief Crazy Horse.
Library of Congress
Loc: Learning Page: Primary Source Set: Thanksgiving
A set of primary documents that reflect the Mayflower, Plymouth, Puritans, the first Thanksgiving, and legislation for the holiday.
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: America at the Centennial
A lesson plan requiring student to analyze primary documents from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Students interpret what these historical artifacts say "about the lives and values of Americans in 1876" among other things.
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Indian Boarding Schools
The Library of Congress provides a series of lessons that taddresses historical efforts of assimilating Native American children into white culture through boarding schools.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory Timeline: Colonial Settlement,1600s 1763
Read about the colonization in the New World by many European countries. Hyperlinks to you to more specific topics.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s
In this very detailed lesson plan, students will explore what life was like during colonial life in the late 1700s. Students will use what they have learned to write fictional letters to a cousin.
PBS
Mpr: The Meaning of Sioux Music and Song
This site from the Minnesota Public Radio provides the text of a 1915 article written by musician and self-trained anthropologist, Frances Densmore. Densmore spent years studying the music and culture of the Teton Sioux and other native...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Music Across America
This curriculum unit devoted to the study of American music features five lesson plans that help students identify instruments, recognize styles and genres of American music and begin to comprehend the rich diversity of American music.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Life on the Great Plains
A detailed lesson plan that explores "the concept of region and how culture and experience influence the perception of regions." Site provides many excellent websites for young scholars and teachers to explore during their study of the...