American History Lessons

Since we live in the United States we of course are going to spend a fair amount of time learning about the country we live in, and we also are spending a fair amount of time studying the different states.

{I am adding to this page as I sort through blog posts, so be patient if the topic you’re looking for isn’t here yet}

Colonial American History Lessons

I had so many ideas for Colonial America, I turned this into a landing page to keep this from being forever and a day long, so I give you Colonial America lessons, the best way to start off our American history lessons.

 

American Revolution History Lesson

Towards the end of the Colonial period of American history, they started getting a bit anxious and that’s how we got the American Revolution. Again, it’s a fun period to study, so we’ve got quite a few American Revolution history lessons.

Early Republic history (founding to 1812)

• The Big Cheese, Jefferson’s presidency
• Monticello
• Lewis and Clark

War of 1812 History Lessons

• Causes of the War of 1812
• Battle of New Orleans
• Andrew Jackson
•  Sisters of Scituate Light
• Star Spangled Banner

Westward Expansion American History Lessons (1820s-1880s)

I have a generic Oregon Trail Unit that I need to update to include a few of these posts, at which point I will delete all of these links to keep this just a little bit more concise.

• Trail of Tears
• Davy Crockett
• Daniel Boone
• Sam Houston
• Battle of the Alamo
•  P.T. Barnum
• John Deere
• Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglass and the Underground Railroad
• Night Boat to Freedom
• Log Cabin Quilt, homesteading in Michigan
• Underground Railroad simulation
• Wagon Trains
• Gun Fighters of the Old West (learn your local legends)
• Tomstone, AZ
• Cattle Drives and the Old West
• Transcontinental railroad
• Oregon Trail Dice Game

Civil War History Lessons

• Young Abe Lincoln
• Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers (election of 1860)
• Battle of Fort Sumter
• First Battle of Bull Run
• Battle of Gettysburg
• Showing Civil War battles visually
•  HL Hunley, Civil War sub
• Civil War nursing
• Comparing texts on the Civil War
• Promise Quilt (how Civil War affected families)
• Underground Railroad book list

Gilded Age early 1900s American History Lessons

•  Gilded Age Presidents
• Spanish American War
• 10th Avenue Cowboy (early 1900s New York City)
• Alice Roosevelt

World War 1 American History Lessons

World War 1, the war to end all wars, is a much-misunderstood war, primarily because no one is quite sure why everyone is fighting. It also set the stage for much of the last 100 years of history, so take some time in your World War 1 Unit.

1920s and Great Depression History Lessons

• Aunt Minnie and the Twister (fiction picture book, art lesson)
• Traveling by train in the 1920s and 30s
• Movies to learn about the Great Depression
• Depression Era: living as hobos
• Depression simulation for kids

World War 2 American History Lessons

We all know about World War 2, Hitler, Nazis, The Bomb, Concentration Camps….. Turn this hard time into a collection of hands on lessons to drive home the tragedy with this World War 2 unit.

1950s-1970s American History Lessons

• Korean War lesson plan, should we have gotten into the war?
• America in the 1950s notebooking ideas
• Presidential report: Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower
• Martin Luther King jr.
• Last Mule of Gee Bend (Civil Rights)
• Ron’s Big Mission
• Helen Keller
• Cesar Chavez
• Neil Armstrong
• Under New York (fiction book about New York subways)