Curated OER
Literature Focus Unit: Civil War
Fourth graders complete a two-week unit on the U.S. Civil War and the Underground Railroad. They read the books "Follow the Drinking Gourd" and "Pink and Say," complete story maps, and dramatize a scene from "Follow the Drinking Gourd."...
Teach With Movies
Title: "The Yearling" - Topics: Literature/U.S.; U.S./1865-1913 & Florida
Life in the Florida swamps after the Civil War comes alive in the 1946 film adaptation of Majorie Kinnan Rawlings’s The Yearling. The film of this powerful coming-of-age story, filled with love and loss, can be used with or without a...
Curated OER
Word Search: Civil War on Sunday
In this reading vocabulary learning exercise, students locate 10 words and mark them in the puzzle. All words pertain to the book Civil War on Sunday.
Curated OER
Civil War on Sunday Crossword
In this crossword worksheet, students read 15 clues, solve them, and put the answers in a crossword puzzle. All answers pertain to the book Civil War on Sunday.
Curated OER
The Civil War through a Child's Eye
Students read Paul Fleischman's Bull Run in Readers Theater format. Next, students examine and interpret primary source images of Civil War era students and reveal their understanding of a child's perspective in a literary portrait.
Curated OER
Civil War Research
Eighth graders research different aspects of the Civil War using various multi-media techniques. Students create a report based on their research that includes views of the war from the point of view of the North, South and slaves.
Curated OER
The Civil War Through a Child's Eyes
Young scholars focus upon the Civil War era using research methods of drawing information from primary sources. Literature and photographic images reflect, communicate, and influence human perspectives of historical events. The lesson...
Teach With Movies
Title: "The Red Badge of Courage" - Topics: U.S./1860 - 1861; Literature/U.S.
Designed to be used with a showing of the 1951 version of The Red Badge of Courage staring Audie Murphy, this learning guide includes discussion questions, suggestions for activities, and topics that can be discussed with parents.
Curated OER
To Be Black and American: World War II
Twelfth graders research wartime conditions African American had to endure during World War II. They explain what role African Americans played in World War II and describe what life was like for African Americans in the United States...
Curated OER
Letters, Telegrams, and Photographs Illustrating
Students research the factors that are important in winning a battle in the Civil War. In a second activity they are assigned the role of a specific type of person during the Civil War and asked to describe what it's like being that person.
Reed Novel Studies
The Red Badge of Courage: Novel Study
A novel study guide for Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage follows Henry through his encounter with war Activities include asking readers to complete sentences with vocabulary words, write using personification, and answer...
Curated OER
Twain: Icon and Iconoclast
Students examine work by Mark Twain in the context of pre- and post-Civil War America. In this cross curricular activity, students gather biographical information about Twain, use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast him with...
Curated OER
The Cold War: Anti-Communism at Home
Eleventh graders take a closer look at the Red Scare. For this Cold War lesson, 11th graders read the provided literature about anti-communism in the United States and then respond to the provided discussion questions that accompany the...
Reed Novel Studies
Underground To Canada: Novel Study
Julilly dreams of freedom after being taken from her mother by a slave trader. Will she ever be free again? A resource focuses on the first chapter of Barbara Smucker's book Underground to Canada, and includes 10 vocabulary...
Curated OER
Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers
Learn about the events that helped shape the United States of America. Elementary schoolers explore the Civil War with six different activities. Each activity has a different focus: literature connections, primary sources, vocabulary,...
Curated OER
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 14 multiple choice questions about The Last of the Mohicans. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Curated OER
Opening Doors to Social Studies with Children's Literature
Fifth graders read a story about immigration, listen to songs about America and explore the history of their ancestors. They discuss how immigration creates a multicultural country. Pupils create a collage of the people in America. ...
Curated OER
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A viewing of Disney’s 1993 film of The Adventures of Huck Finn launches an examination of the events in and themes of Mark Twain’s story. Viewers respond to prompts on a film story worksheet, engage in full-class discussions, and select...
Curated OER
The Gullah People of the Sea Islands
Eighth graders examine the lives of the Gullah-Geechee people. In this unique cultures instructional activity, 8th graders explore music, language, and slavery of the Gullah-Geechee people from the southern low-country in the United...
Curated OER
Views of the American West: True or False?
Students explain that a landscape painting may or may not accurately represent a specific place. They identify techniques that create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface.
Curated OER
Perseverance
Students examine how the failure of Reconstruction led to the systematic passage of Jim Crow laws in states across the South and the negative impact these laws had on the growth and development of the US.
Curated OER
Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Learners make deductions about life in an internment camp by reading and comparing letters written to Clara Breed. Along the way, they consider the advantages of looking at a historical event from the multiple points of view of...
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Literature of the u.s. Civil War
This very thorough unit plan focuses on the literature of the Civil War for 4th and 5th graders. It includes both a student and teacher bibliography.
Other
Cartania: Civil War Reflections 1862 1865
Harvey Hogue's adventures as a Union soldier in a Confederate prison camp, and his escape from the notorious Andersonville make interesting reading. Not exactly a primary source document, but stories from an actual participant in the...