Teaching Materials

Students learn more about the larger than life figure of Theodore Roosevelt through sources related to the presidential election of 1912.

Students learn about John F. Kennedy and his ideas about service as a prompt to explore what service means in their communities.

Students learn about the sixteenth president’s relationship with Jewish Americans and his policy of religious tolerance.

Help students make connections between religion, technology, and American culture in this teaching module.

What pushes and pulls people into new ways of life? In this lesson, students use artifacts, documents, and photographs to help them answer this question.

Introduce students to the importance of oral history while simultaneously teaching them about 20th-century labor unions.

Even the recent past was very different from the present. Students analyze photos from the 1960s and 1970s to identify differences between then and now.

History is imbedded in the smallest objects. In this lesson, students examine how a simple farming tool connects to the work done by United Farm Workers.

Students examine primary sources related to the life of an immigrant girl and her family to discover what life might have been like at the turn of the century.

In this lesson, students will organize photographs both chronologically and conceptually in order to construct a narrative of the Holocaust.

Teach your students about causality with this useful activity.

Through the lens of documents concerning the Iran-Contra Affair, this lesson enables students to examine how audience and purpose affect a document’s contents.

Explore the rise of animosity between the U.S. and Japan through primary source documents and related classroom activities.

Help students understand wartime propaganda with this excellent lesson plan.

Take a variety of perspectives into account before moving past the first Thanksgiving.

This creative lesson transforms language into a historic artifact and enables students to analyze how language changes over time.

Young students locate themselves on a map and explore spatial relationships among geographic features.

Use this essay on Jewish immigration to flesh out a unit on the Civil War or immigration.

Allow students to explore historical events through multiple perspectives with this lesson.

A great way for students to learn more about the War of 1812 and our nation’s emblem: the Star-Spangled Banner.

An interactive exploration of the decisions Abraham Lincoln had to make during his presidency.

Analysis of photographs of Civil War artillery broadens students understanding of the American Industrial period.

Use the Triangle Shirtwaist fire to examine the benefits and costs of industrialization.

Only 60 settlers out of 600 survived the winter of 1609–1610 in Jamestown Virginia. Was “the Starving Time” due to natural circumstances or planned …

To make something real, make it personal. Abstract concepts can best be understood when applied to individual experience.

Did you know the Quakers were pre-Revolution abolitionists?…

To indict or not to indict? Watergate raised complicated questions concerning Constitutional interpretation.

Cutting through New York from the ocean to the Great Lakes, the Erie Canal changed lives.

Relive the dream of the women’s vote through roleplay or interfacing with primary documents.

Explore the ins and outs of turn-of-the-century labor law, business, housing, and immigration.

Did Revere’s ride really look like that? Use historical documents to analyze flights of artistic fancy.

You’re a Union general on the eve of Antietam. You know Lee’s plans. What will you do?

Very few of us have ancestors who were not immigrants. Bring the topic of immigration to life.

Help students think about where evidence for history comes from.

Elementary students investigate the first presidential assassination and debate whether it was avoidable.

Learn about the experiences of immigrants detained at Angel Island and how this impacted their opinion of the US.

Did the Chinese discover America before Columbus? How would or does this impact our understanding of European explorers and exploration?

Examine the role of African Americans in the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression.

Constitutional or not? Read about this 1803 landmark court case deciding issues of judicial review.

Examining changes in early American homes helps interpret the past. It reflects the transitions that occurred in that community, as well as within the …

Documents and audio files explain the range of early political viewpoints on the League of Nations.

Check out this lesson on arguments surrounding the 1830 forced removal of the Cherokee peoples from their homeland.

What were the consequences of and motivations for Japanese American removal during World War II?

This lesson leads students to see how Lincoln’s life in Springfield influenced important national issues.

How did the final version of the Declaration differ from Jefferson’s draft?

The textbook is examined as one source among many, rather than a final authority.

How geography influenced interactions among Lewis, Clark, & Native Americans.

How to identify the author, audience, date, and message of historical posters.

Analyze letters written by America’s presidents to learn more about these men.