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History Lesson Plans

Teach history with lesson plans that connect people, events and historical questions. Explore units, readings and project sequences for U.S. history, world history and ancient civilizations.

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Lesson Plan on the American Civil War teaching resource preview
U.S. history & civics

Lesson Plan on the American Civil War

Watch a video, participate in guided discussion, take notes on a timeline, complete a multi-part worksheet, and write a reflective paragraph.

Answers included
File
PDF
Level
5–8
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Lesson Plan on the Civil Rights Movement teaching resource preview
U.S. history & civics

Lesson Plan on the Civil Rights Movement

Watch a video and fill in guided notes, sort events into a timeline, discuss grassroots activism, write a short reflection, and take a review quiz.

Answers included
File
PDF
Level
9–12
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Peloponnesian War Battle Strategies Lesson Plan teaching resource preview
Ancient civilizationsProjects & simulations

Peloponnesian War Battle Strategies Lesson Plan

A lesson plan (for the teacher) describing an activity where students devise Athenian and Spartan battle strategies for the Peloponnesian War before being told what actually happened.

Answers included
File
Microsoft Word
Level
9–11
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Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic Lesson` teaching resource preview
World history & cultureProjects & simulations

Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic Lesson`

Students role-play as German merchant or tourist groups across five rounds of a trading simulation using fake money and hand-drawn goods, then debrief on how prices changed to understand hyperinflation.

Editable
File
Microsoft Word
Level
9–11
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Great Brains of the Enlightenment teaching resource preview
Projects & simulations

Great Brains of the Enlightenment

Students move through a speed-dating rotation, working with a different partner for each of ten thinkers to fill in a chart recording each thinker's occupation and country, their greatest book/pamphlet/writing, and their big belief; the lesson opens with a values-line debate on the death penalty and closes with a…

Answers included Editable
File
Multiple File Types
Level
9–12
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Ancient Civilizations: Indus Valley Unit Study teaching resource preview
Ancient civilizations

Ancient Civilizations: Indus Valley Unit Study

A multi-resource unit study packet to teach elementary/middle grades about the Ancient Indus Valley (Harappan) civilization: geography, daily life, inventions, and key sites.

File
Multiple File Types
Level
3–6
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Tecumseh's Speech to the Osage- Analysis, Questions, Assessment teaching resource preview
U.S. history & civicsHistorical reading & sources

Tecumseh's Speech to the Osage- Analysis, Questions, Assessment

Students review the difference between primary and secondary sources, then work through a Four-Reads process on 'Tecumseh's Speech to the Osage' (reading for origins/context, meaning, purpose, and like a historian), complete a 4-Reads worksheet, answer a multiple-choice/short-answer assessment, and complete a 'Say…

Answers included
File
Google Docs
Level
6–9
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The History of Pirates teaching resource preview
World history & culture

The History of Pirates

Follow a 4-lesson slideshow with 'Do Now' warm-up prompts and reading sections, answer accompanying worksheet questions, and complete a crossword puzzle using unit vocabulary.

File
Multiple File Types
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The Scientific Revolution World History Unit teaching resource preview
Science & invention history

The Scientific Revolution World History Unit

Read information sheets/text sections and answer embedded questions, complete graphic organizers on each topic, do crossword/flashcard/sudoku activities, complete a review sheet, and take a unit test.

Editable
File
Multiple File Types
Level
6–9
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Scientific Revolution Experiments Lesson teaching resource preview
Science & invention history

Scientific Revolution Experiments Lesson

At Station 1 (Gravity), weigh and drop objects of different mass/shape to test whether heavier objects fall faster. At Station 2 (Observatory), predict and then record Mars' trajectory across several weeks to test the geocentric vs. heliocentric model. At Station 3 (Human Body), observe a prepared diagram/model to…

Editable
File
Microsoft Word
Level
9–10
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Astronomy Facts and Fun - A Topical Study eBook teaching resource preview
Science & invention history

Astronomy Facts and Fun - A Topical Study eBook

Read biographical/historical content about astronomers, complete an astronomers chart, play a history-of-astronomy timeline card game, build a lapbook on the planets, and complete a space-exploration timeline; the introduction also references word searches and crossword puzzles as part of the study.

File
PDF
Level
9–12
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Iowa State Unit Study (Capital, Bird, Flower, Flag, Animal) teaching resource preview
World history & culture

Iowa State Unit Study (Capital, Bird, Flower, Flag, Animal)

Follow a Monday-Friday pacing guide watching suggested videos, doing independent or read-aloud readings, completing worksheets or discussion and coloring pages, and making interactive-notebook pieces for the capital, bird, flower, flag, and animal topics; optionally complete graphic-organizer research pages (KWL…

File
PDF
Level
2–4
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American Revolution and Enlightment teaching resource preview
U.S. history & civics

American Revolution and Enlightment

Watch a linked 'Crash Course World History: The American Revolution' YouTube video, research four Enlightenment leaders (name, core belief, and how that belief influenced the American Revolution/U.S. government), complete the worksheet individually, then discuss in small groups which thinker had the greatest influence…

Editable
File
Multiple File Types
Level
9–12
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California State Unit Study (Capital, Bird, Flower, Flag, Animal) teaching resource preview
World history & culture

California State Unit Study (Capital, Bird, Flower, Flag, Animal)

Watch linked videos, read passages, complete state-symbol worksheets and graphic organizers (KWL, interesting facts, state overview, capital, geography, culture, climate, government, historical timeline, important person), color pages, build interactive notebook pieces, and optionally produce a research report.

File
PDF
Level
2–4
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Polynesian Unit teaching resource preview
World history & culture

Polynesian Unit

View a slideshow presentation on Polynesian geography (island groups, atolls, volcanic origins), complete accompanying worksheets, create a labeled map of Polynesia showing island groups/Equator/Tropic of Capricorn, and solve a crossword reviewing the geography vocabulary.

File
Multiple File Types
Level
5–8
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Who Was King Tut? (Lesson Plan, Quizzes, Vocabulary, Videos, Activities) teaching resource preview
Ancient civilizationsHistorical reading & sources

Who Was King Tut? (Lesson Plan, Quizzes, Vocabulary, Videos, Activities)

Following a printed day-by-day plan, students watch linked videos, read a chapter of the companion book each day, take notes, answer open-ended chapter quiz questions, define vocabulary words, fill in a chapter events timeline, and complete varied activities (coloring pages, word searches, writing their name in…

File
PDF
Level
3–6
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Da Vinci Unit Study teaching resource preview
Science & invention history

Da Vinci Unit Study

Read chapter overviews on da Vinci's life and work across history, science, and art (architecture, mathematics, inventions, anatomy, flight, nature studies), using accompanying maps and a timeline.

File
PDF
Level
4–6
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Anti-Communist Frenzy in 1950s (McCarthyism) Lesson Plan teaching resource preview
U.S. history & civicsProjects & simulations

Anti-Communist Frenzy in 1950s (McCarthyism) Lesson Plan

Working in pairs, students role-play as FBI agents interrogating a list of suspects (using provided 'archive' clues) to identify Soviet spies, take notes on findings, then discuss as a class who they identified, how, and whether the process was fair.

File
Microsoft Word
Level
9–11
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Midnight on the Moon (Magic Tree House #8 Lesson Plan, Videos, Activities) teaching resource preview
Historical reading & sources

Midnight on the Moon (Magic Tree House #8 Lesson Plan, Videos, Activities)

Students read assigned chapters each day, watch a related video (e.g. phases of the moon, history of Neil Armstrong), complete chapter quizzes and vocabulary work, fill out pre-reading and KWL worksheets, and do a daily drawing activity (e.g. draw the moon, an astronaut, a rocket ship, the solar system, Earth and the…

File
PDF
Level
1–3
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