Ideas, Activities, and Plans

Lesson Plans, Units, PD Plans, Activities, and Book Backdrops to engage and empower your students.
This vetted searchable database of teacher-created resources is your source of inspiration for primary source driven teaching across the curriculum. Find just the right resource and then let us know how you used it:
Classroom Implementation Report
PD Activity Report

TPS Files

Arriving on Ellis Island: The Early Immigrant Experience

Goldsmith, Jill

Lesson Plan
Pre K-2
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core, PA State
Ellis Island, Europe, Immigrant, Immigration, Pull Factors, Push Factors, Statue of Liberty

Art of War

Hawks, Jeff

PD Plan
6-8
Arts and Music, History
21st Century Learner, Common Core
Art, Analyze, Battlefield, Experience, Photographs, Soldiers, War

Baseball Across a Divided Society

Ball, Stephanie; Chojnicki, Karyn; Ritz, Chelsee; Slampak, April

Unit
Pre K-2
Cultural Studies, History
Common Core, PA State
Baseball, Culture, Equality, Home Run, Little League, Racism, Society, Women's Rights, World Series

Battlefield Ghost

Jacobs, Irene

Activity
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Battlefield, Ghost, Revolution, Soldier, Washington

Battles, Bends and Breastworks: A Map Analysis From the Creek War

Elfer, Charles

PD Plan
9-12
History
ISTE
Analysis, Battles, Creek War, Geography, Horseshoe Bend, Military

Benjamin Franklin

Ames, Lindsay; Rogel, Regis; Schubert, Carly; Wood, Ashley

Unit
3-5
English/Language Arts, History, Science and Technology
Common Core, PA State
Amendment, Constitution, Franklin, Independence, Primary Sources

Benjamin Franklin

Carpenter, Syndknee

Unit
Pre K-2
Civics and Government, Geography, History
Common Core, PA State
Franklin, Inventor, Invention, Innovation, Gulf Stream, Mapping, Science

Betsey Ross: The Story of Our Flag

Grimes, Susan

Activity
Pre K-2
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
American Revolution, Betsy, Flag, Old Glory, Ross, Symbol

Better or Worse? The Push-Pull Migration Factors in 19th Century America

Wiebe, Glenn; Peckham, Terri

PD Plan
9-12
Bilingual/ESL, English/Language Arts, History
ISTE, KS State
Bi-Lingual/ESL, Problem-based Learning

Black History and the African American Read-In

Fink, Lisa

PD Plan
Any Grade
Civics and Government, Cultural Studies, History
NCTE
African American Authors, African American History, Analyzing, Black History Month, Literature

Black Women and the Suffrage Movement

Ayodele Ojumu

External link
Primary Source Set
9-12, Higher Ed
Civics and Government, History

Blending Primary Sources and Literacy

Barrett, Mike

PD Plan
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Civil War, Lincoln, Literacy, Literature, Primary Source

Bobbin Girl

Slaughter, Patricia

Activity
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Bobbin Girl, Child Labor, Industrial, Lowell, Mill, Revolution, Spinning, Textile, Worker Rights

Book Backdrops and the American Revolution

Walker, Ann

PD Plan
Any Grade
Arts and Music, English/Language Arts, History
Common Core, ISTE
American Revolution, Book Backdrop, Music, Primary Source, Soldier, War, World War I

Book Backdrops and the American Revolution

Ryan, Sharon

PD Plan
3-5, 6-8
English/Language Arts, History
AASL, Common Core
American Revolution, Boston Tea Party, Children, Historical Fiction, Lexington and Concord, Literature

Bud, Not Buddy

Vermeulen, Kathy

Activity
6-8
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
African American, Child Abuse, Great Depression, Harlem Renaissance, Hobo, Hooverville, Michigan, Music, Runaway

Building Literacy Across the Curriculum Using Primary Sources

Lomax, Tomeka

PD Plan
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Analysis Tool, Book, Building, Literacy, Literature, Primary Source

Built Environment and Popular Imagination: Learning to Integrate Library of Congress Primary Sources in Instruction

LaManga, Michael

PD Plan
Any Grade
Historic Site, Revolutionary War, Valley Forge, Washington

Caissons and Cofferdams

Pfiester, Josh

Lesson Plan
3-5
Economics, History, Science and Technology
NCSS
Bridges, Caissons, Cofferdams, Compare, Construction, Contrast, Geology, Water

Can Music and Dance Change Public Opinion?

Linda Lee

C3 Inquiry
9-12
Arts and Music, Cultural Studies, History
C3 Framework
African American, Civil Rights Movement, Dance, Equality, Music, Public Opinion

Can You Fly High, Wright Brothers?

Boyer, Daratu

Activity
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Aviation, Flight, Innovation, Invention, Primary Sources, Technology, Travel, Wright Brothers

Captain John Smith: Fact or Fiction?

Huber, Janet

PD Plan
3-5
Arts and Music, English/Language Arts, History
21st Century Learner
Colonist, Colony, Disney, Fact, Fiction, Inquiry, John Smith, Native American, New World, Pocahontas, Settlement

Cassie's Journey: Going West in the 1860s

Kyle, Kelley

Activity
3-5
History
Common Core
Cassie, Covered Wagon, Journey, Oregon Trail, Pioneer, Settling, Traveling, West, Westward Expansion

Catapults in History

Balsley, Heather; Harris, Laura Lee

Lesson Plan
6-8
History, Math, Science and Technology
VA State
Algebra, Catapults, Formulas, Linear Inequalities, Machines, Marshmellow, Quadratic Equations, Technology, Warfare

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