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The Gettysburg Address
Students explore the implications of the Gettysburg Address. In this Civil War lesson, students read a handout regarding Gettysburg Address, analyze an excerpt of the speech, and complete the provided worksheet activities.
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From Bolls to Bolts
Fifth graders explore the economic effects of the colonization of North America. In this Social Studies lesson, 5th graders examine the economic and cultural results that occurred due to North America entering the market. Students...
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Reconstruction to Civil Rights
Eighth graders complete a unit of lessons on the period of time from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights movement. They analyze and interpret political cartoons and editorials, conduct research on famous civil rights places, and complete...
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Firestorms: The Bombing of Civilians in World War II: War, Ethics, Guernica, Precision Bombing
Students explore the history, rationale and ethics of civilian bombing in times of war. They consider war strategy, the laws and conventions of war and international implications.
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The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Realism
Students research the Civil War and make connections between the war and the interpretation of the war in the novel The Red Badge of Courage to help them understand realism. In this Civil War recounting lesson, students complete several...
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Free Blacks in the North and in the South
Eleventh graders research the different lives of free blacks in the South and the North. In this Post Civil War lesson, 11th graders analyze primary sources that illustrate their lives. Students create posters that compare and contrast...
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Slavery
Fifth graders complete a short unit on slavery and the U.S. Civil War. They read and analyze the book, "Follow the Drinking Gourd," compose their own secret song, complete an Abraham Lincoln crossword puzzle, and dramatize a historical...
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Massachusetts 54th Raid at Darien, Georgia Shaw Letter
High schoolers examine the expectations of Civil War soldiers. In this American Civil War instructional activity, students analyze a letter written by Colonel Shaw to his wife in order to gain an understanding of the expectations of the...
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Foreign War and Domestic Freedom: A Delicate Balancing Act
Students investigate civil liberties in the U.S. They watch and discuss a PowerPoint presentation, conduct research on an event from a timeline, complete a worksheet, take an ideology quiz, and conduct a debate.
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Civil Liberties And National Security
Students experience profiling first-hand through creation of a Class ID, and daily persecution of a selected group of students. They examine the tension between the concern for national security and for the preservation of civil liberties
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Landmarks of the Underground Railroad
Students explore Civil Rights by reading several books in class. In this Underground Railroad lesson plan, students discuss The Story of Henry Box Brown and identify the location and functionality of the Underground Railroad. Students...
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The Story of Latino Civil Rights: Fighting for Justice
Middle schoolers identify the civil rights abuses suffered by African Americans, Japanesse Americans during WWII, and Hispanic Americans. They explain what the common element is among the discrimination against these three groups. ...
NPR
Civil Rights of Japanese-American Internees
Prompted by a viewing of Emiko and Chizu Omori’s Rabbit in the Moon, a documentary about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, high schoolers examine a series of documents, including the Bill of Rights and the UN’s...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 2
Ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM. The force will be strong in the hearts of your young Jedi as they use their lightsabers to strike the accentted syllables in lines from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New...
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Red Legs: A Drummer Boy of the Civil War
Students identify and interpret the life of a drummer boy during the Civil War as well as about a reenactment. Students listen to a fictionalized story or a Civil War reenactor and compare ot with the life of the drummer boy the story...
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Causes of the Civil War
Students identify the various causes leading to the Civil War. Students create a timeline of the actual events that led to it. Students form small groups and read from one of the included paragraphs about the causes of the war to each...
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Southern Society during the Civil War: Plantation Society
Students investigate life on Southern plantation during the Civil War era. In this plantation lesson, students research the life of wealthy, white families on Southern plantations and the changes that occured as a result of the Civil...
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Causes of the Civil War
Students research information on the causes of the Civil War. They rank their top three reasons and individuals responsible for the war and then use that information to write a position paper.
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To Be or Not to Be: A Marriage of Civil War Descendants
Learners examine primary documents related to the burning of Chambersburg during the Civil Way. In this Civil War era history lesson, students study numerous primary documents relating to the burning of the town of Chambersburg. Learners...
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Civil War Leaders
Fifth graders explore leaders of the Civil War. In this history lesson, 5th graders use picture puzzles, vocabulary, worksheets, WebQuest, a Venn Diagram and role play activities in order to learn who the Civil War leaders were, what...
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The Battle of Honey Springs: The Civil War Comes to the Indian Territory (68)
Learn how the Civil War created fierce conflicts among American Indian nations who had been moved across the Mississippi River.
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American Literature and the Civil War
Students prepare for and respond to literature selections. This package includes fourteen lessons from the American Literature, The Civil War and Its Aftermath: 1845-1880 series, each covering a different reading selection. Pre-reading...
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Civil War and Reconstruction
Fourth graders investigate the Civil War by researching the state of Virginia. In this US History lesson, 4th graders identify Abraham Lincoln, James Chestnut and Fort Sumter, and discuss their roles in the start of the Civil War. ...
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1856-1865: Abolitionists and the Civil War
Students discover philanthropic acts of the Civil War era. In this service learning instructional activity, students research Underground Railroad literature, Reconstruction Amendments, and acts of philanthropy during the Civil War era.