Saerch by History Standard

Below are links to more than 80 lesson plans compiled by master teachers selected from across the United States, using primary source materials and the most authoritative resources, all under the auspices of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Search for lesson plans by era and standard, as delineated by the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA. Click on a specific standard to see all lesson plans in that category.


Era 1: Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620)
Standard 1:
Early Contacts: Native American and European Women in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
The First Thanksgiving Celebration
By Stephanie Clegg
(Elementary School)
Standard 1D:
Differing Views of Pilgrims and Native Americans in Seventeenth Century New England
By Marcy Vancil
(Elementary School)
Standard 2:
Early Contacts: Native American and European Women in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Standard 2B:
Conflict and Captivity in the Colonies
By Nicole Marsala
(Middle School)
Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
Standard 1:
Examining the Middle Passage
By William Walker
(Middle School)
Standard 2:
Democracy in Early America: Servitude and the Treatment of Native Americans and Africans Prior to 1740
By Wendy Thowdis
(High School)
Standard 3:
Enslaved African Americans and Expressions of Freedom
By Gloria Sesso
(High School)
Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
Standard 1B:
Perspectives on the Fourth of July
By Virginia Howard Mullan
(Middle School)
Standard 2:
Andrew Jackson and the Bank War
By Roberta McCutcheon
(high School)
Assessing Change: Women's Lives in the American Revolutionary Era
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Revolutionary Propaganda: Persuasion and Colonial Support
By Lydia Loureiro
(Middle School)
Every Four Years: Qualifications for the Office of President and Electing the President
By Fred Freitas
(Middle School)
Colonists Divided: A Revolution and A Civil War
By Elise Stevens Wilson
(Middle School)
The Battle Over The Bank: Hamilton v. Jefferson
By Elise Stevens Wilson
(Middle School)
The Boston Massacre
By Elizabeth Berlin Taylor
(Elementary School)
Banking Basics
By Elizabeth Berlin Taylor
(Elementary School)
Standard 3:
Andrew Jackson and the Bank War
By Roberta McCutcheon
(high School)
Assessing Change: Women's Lives in the American Revolutionary Era
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Ratification Debates: A New York Case Study
By Catherine Turso
(High School)
Revolutionary Propaganda: Persuasion and Colonial Support
By Lydia Loureiro
(Middle School)
Colonists Divided: A Revolution and A Civil War
By Elise Stevens Wilson
(Middle School)
Every Four Years: Qualifications for the Office of President and Electing the President
By Fred Freitas
(Middle School)
Philadelphia and the Constitutional Convention "Heat Up"
By Tracy Devlin
(Middle School)
The Battle Over The Bank: Hamilton v. Jefferson
By Elise Stevens Wilson
(Middle School)
"Father" of Our Country vs. "Father" of the Bill of Rights
By Tammy Spratt
(Elementary School)
The Boston Massacre
By Elizabeth Berlin Taylor
(Elementary School)
Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Standard 1:
Native American Policy
By Gabriela Mercado
(Middle School)
Perspectives on the Trail of Tears
By Elizabeth Berlin Taylor
(Elementary School)
The Pony Express: The Fastest Delivery of a Message across America
By Libby Gooch
(Elementary School)
Standard 1C:
Alamo Simulation
By Heather E. Robinson
(Elementary School)
Standard 2:
Andrew Jackson and the Bank War
By Roberta McCutcheon
(high School)
Militancy and the Abolitionist Movement
By John McNamara
(High School)
Women Abolitionists
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass and the Origins of American Music
By Erin Cavallaro
(High School)
The Textile Industry and the Triangle Factory Fire
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Who was John Brown?
By Fred Freitas
(Middle School)
Standard 2C:
Norwegian Immigration in the Nineteenth Century
By Scott Nelson
(Middle School)
Standard 2D:
Writing the History of African American Slave Women
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
A Look at Slavery through Posters and Broadsides
By Carla Nordstrom
(5th Grade)
Standard 3:
Common Man and Contradictions: The Trial of Andrew Jackson
By John P. Duckhorn
(High School)
Writing the History of African American Slave Women
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass and the Origins of American Music
By Erin Cavallaro
(High School)
Abraham Lincoln on Slavery and Race
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Early Contacts: Native American and European Women in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Declarations of Independence
By Amy Trenkle
(Middle School)
Perspectives on the Trail of Tears
By Elizabeth Berlin Taylor
(Elementary School)
Women's Suffrage: 140 Years of Struggle
By John Hallagan
(Elementary School)
Standard 3A and 3B:
Examining Antebellum Elections
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Standard 4:
Women Abolitionists
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass and the Origins of American Music
By Erin Cavallaro
(High School)
Abraham Lincoln on Slavery and Race
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Declarations of Independence
By Amy Trenkle
(Middle School)
Who was John Brown?
By Fred Freitas
(Middle School)
What Events Led to Lincoln's Assassination?
By John Hallagan
(Middle School)
Children's Attitudes about Slavery and Women's Abolitionism as Seen through Antislavery Fairs
By Carla Nordstrom
(Elementary School)
Women's Suffrage: 140 Years of Struggle
By John Hallagan
(Elementary School)
What Events Led to Lincoln's Assassination?
By John Hallagan
(Elementary School)
Standard 4C:
Examining Women's Roles through Primary Sources and Literature
By Marcia Kunf
(High School)
Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Standard 1A:
Examining Antebellum Elections
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Militancy and the Abolitionist Movement
By John McNamara
(High School)
Standard 2:
Lincoln and Civil Liberties
By John F. Travers
(High School)
The Supreme Court and the Fourteenth Amendment
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Abraham Lincoln: Defining Presidential Power
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Abraham Lincoln: Our Man for All Seasons
By Catherine M. Delaney
(Middle School)
The Emancipation Proclamation through Different Eyes
By Gregory Segovia
(Middle School)
What Events Led to Lincoln's Assassination?
By John Hallagan
(Elementary School)
Standard 2A:
Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan
By Rosanne Lichatin
(High School)
Standard 2B:
Traitors and Spies in the Time of War: How the Supreme Court Determined Who Would Live and Who Would Die
By Jack Bareilles
(High School)
An "Unconstitutional" Act? The Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
By Wendy Schanberger
(Middle School)
Standard 3:
The Supreme Court and the Fourteenth Amendment
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Securing the Right to Vote: The Selma-to-Montgomery Story
By Martha Bouyer
(High School)
Standard 3A:
Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan
By Rosanne Lichatin
(High School)
Standard 3B:
Travels Through Time: The Impact of Supreme Court Decisions on the Struggle for African-American Equality
By Dale Baumwoll
(Middle School)
Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)
Standard 1:
George Pullman: The Railroad Industry, Labor, and American Life in the 19th century
By Rosanne Lichatin
(High School)
The Jungle
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
19th Century Technology in 21st Century America
By William Walker
(Middle School)
Going to School, Then and Now: Education in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird
By Carla Nordstrom
(Elementary School)
Dashes and Dots: A Product of the 19th Century
By Kristal Cheek
(Elementary School)
Standard 2:
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, A Story of Human Tragedy and Triumph
By Gerry Kohler
(High School)
Jewish Immigration, Popular Culture and The Birth of the Comic Book
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Immigration in the Gilded Age: Using photographs as primary sources
By Philip J. Nicolosi
(High School)
George Pullman: The Railroad Industry, Labor, and American Life in the 19th century
By Rosanne Lichatin
(High School)
Standard 2A:
Immigration in the Gilded Age: Using photographs as primary sources
By Philip J. Nicolosi
(High School)
Norwegian Immigration in the Nineteenth Century
By Scott Nelson
(Middle School)
Standard 2C:
Immigration in the Gilded Age: Using photographs as primary sources
By Philip J. Nicolosi
(High School)
Perspectives on the Fourth of July
By Virginia Howard Mullan
(Middle School)
Standard 3:
George Pullman: The Railroad Industry, Labor, and American Life in the 19th century
By Rosanne Lichatin
(High School)
Jewish Immigration, Popular Culture and The Birth of the Comic Book
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Standard 3A, 3B and 3C:
Celebrating Labor Day
By Tedd Levy
(High School)
Standard 4:
June 25, 1876: An Interpretation of an Historical Event
By Bruce Lesh
(High School)
Standard 5:
Framing Soo Hoo Lem Kong
By Kristal Cheek
(Elementary School)
Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
Standard 1:
Alice Paul: Suffragist and Agitator
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Symbols of the 1920s: New York City Skyscrapers in Photographs and Paintings
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Theodore Roosevelt: A Bully Reformer
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
The 1919 Black Sox Trial
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation
By Shawn Kaeser
(Middle School)
The Progressive Era: Teddy Roosevelt's Problems with Monopolies
By Elise Stevens
(Middle School)
Origins of the Teddy Bear
By Elizabeth Berlin Taylor
(Elementary School)
Standard 2:
Alice Paul: Suffragist and Agitator
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Theodore Roosevelt: A Bully Reformer
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation
By Shawn Kaeser
(Middle School)
The Progressive Era: Teddy Roosevelt's Problems with Monopolies
By Elise Stevens
(Middle School)
Origins of the Teddy Bear
By Elizabeth Berlin Taylor
(Elementary School)
Standard 3:
The 1919 Black Sox Trial
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Symbols of the 1920s: New York City Skyscrapers in Photographs and Paintings
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)
Standard 1:
Women in the Great Depression: Investigating Assumptions
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Standard 2:
Jewish Immigration, Popular Culture and The Birth of the Comic Book
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Of Mice and Men and Migrant Farmworkers of the Great Depression
By Matthew Clements
(High School)
Dust Bowl Stories
By Liz Taylor
(Elementary School)
Standard 3:
Traitors and Spies in the Time of War: How the Supreme Court Determined Who Would Live and Who Would Die
By Jack Bareilles
(High School)
Beyond Rosie the Riveter: Women's Contributions During WWII
By Sean Irwin
(High School)
Japanese Internment Camps
By Luke Michel
(Middle School)
Farewell to Manzanar: Japanese Internment Camps During World War II
By Nicole Marsala
(Middle School)
Children on the Home Front
By Heather Robinson
(Elementary School)
Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)
Standard 1:
Baseball and Race in the United States
By Sean O'Mara
(Middle School)
Standard 3:
Jackie Robinson, WWII, and the Integration of Baseball
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Standard 4:
Challenging Segregation in Public Education
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
The Supreme Court, Title IX and Gender Equity
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Martin Luther King Jr.: His Legacy as Seen Through the Mississippi Summer Freedom Project
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Securing the Right to Vote: The Selma-to-Montgomery Story
By Martha Bouyer
(High School)
TITLE IX: Striving for Gender Equity in Athletics
by Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)
Nonviolent Direct Action at Southern Lunch Counters
By Sean O'Mara
(Middle School)
The Scottsboro Boys: When Racism Creates "Criminals"
By Elise Stevens Wilson
(Middle School)
Montgomery to the Supreme Court
By Kristal Cheek
(Elementary School)
Going to School, Then and Now: Education in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird
By Carla Nordstrom
(Elementary School)
Singing for Freedom
By Carla Nordstrom
(Elementary School)
Homer Plessy and Orval Faubus: Defiance of the Law
By Elizabeth Berlin Taylor
(Elementary School)
Sports and Politics: Making Statements
By Elizabeth Berlin Taylor
(Elementary School)
Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
Standard 1:
Bruised Egos, Battles, and Boycott: The 1980 Moscow Olympics
By Elise Stevens Wilson
(Middle School)
Standard 2:
The Supreme Court, Title IX and Gender Equity
By Roberta McCutcheon
(High School)




History Now -- American History Online