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

Classroom Comparision: Then and Now

Wise, Sue

Activity
6-8
History
Analyze, Analysis, Compare, Contrast, Classroom, School

Cold Mountain

Rokicki, Kristina

Activity
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
1860s, Civil War, Confederacy, Contrabands, Cold Mountain, Love, Prisoners, Sacrifice, Slaves, Soldiers, Union, Women

Columbus /Exploration New World

Lucas, Amanda; Mesanger, Courtney; Pulaski, Madison

Unit
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
PA State
Columbus, Explorer, Santa Maria

Columbus: Hero or Villain?

Johnson, Angela

PD Plan
6-8
21st Century Learner
Columbus, Hero, Europe, Exploration, North America, New World, Villain

Comparing and Contrasting the Lives of Children in the Early 20th Century to the Present-Day Life of Students

Goldberg, Marina

Lesson Plan
3-5
History
NCSS
Childhood, Children, Compare, Contrast, Lives

Comparison of the Environmental Movements through the Eyes of its Participants

Rokicki, Kristina

Lesson Plan
9-12
Geography, History, Science and Technology
PA State
Environment, Green Movement, John Muir, Rachel Carson, Science, Society

Conestoga Wagons

Sheffer, Dustin

Lesson Plan
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core, PA State
Colonies, Conestoga Wagons, Immigrants, Transportation, Travelers, Truck Drivers

Connecting Local to Global: Primary Sources and Place-Based Learning

Lindboe, Theresa

PD Plan
6-8
Arts and Music, English/Language Arts, History
Learning Forward
Community, Global, Inquiry, Local, Narrative, Primary Source

Conservation and National Parks

Guthrie, Michael

Lesson Plan
9-12
Geography, History, Science and Technology
Common Core, PA State
Conservation, National Parks, Theodore Roosevelt, Preserve, Progressive Era, Sanctuary

Constitution

Brigich, Casie; Hagy, Angele; Broadwater, Annie; Berkebile, Kaitlyn; Falleroni, Shannon

Unit
3-5
English/Language Arts, Geography, History
Common Core, PA State
Bill of Rights, Constitution, Convention, Map , Philadelphia, Preamble, Washington

Constitution

Colamartino, Mara; Morrow, Nicole; Wishner, Brittany

Unit
6-8
Arts and Music, English/Language Arts, History
PA State
Art, Articles, Constitution, Convention, Federalist Papers, Government, Media, Quilt, Ratification, States Rights

Countdown

Keruskin, Kelly

Activity
6-8
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
1960s, Cold War, Communism, Countdown, Cuban Missile Crisis, Duck and Cover, Fidel Castro, Library, John F Kennedy, Nuclear War, Read Aloud, Soviet Union

Courage to Remember

Lee, Gorman

PD Plan
9-12
Civics and Government, History
Common Core, MA State
Bigotry, Bystander, Courage, Discrimination, Hate, Holocaust, Jewish, Nazi, Remember, World War II, Anti-semitism

Creating Lincoln

Smith, Laurelin

Lesson Plan
3-5
History
NCSS, PA State
Lincoln, Primary Sources, Personality, Life

CRP Tenet 1: Motivate Students to Choose Academic Success

Inquiry in the Midwest

External link
Curriculum
Pre K-2, 3-5
Bilingual/ESL, Cultural Studies
CRP, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Culture, Elementary, Video

CRP Tenet 2: Tap Students' Cultural Competence

Inquiry in the Midwest

External link
Curriculum
Pre K-2, 3-5
Bilingual/ESL, Cultural Studies
CRP, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Culture, Elementary, Video

CRP Tenet 3: Students Examine and Critique the Status Quo

Inquiry in the Midwest

External link
Curriculum
Pre K-2, 3-5
Bilingual/ESL, Cultural Studies
CRP, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Culture, Elementary, Video

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy with Primary Sources

Minnesota Historical Society

External link
Curriculum
Any Grade
Cultural Studies, History
CRP, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Videos

Cumberland, Maryland: Exploration, Encounter and Exchange

Leatherman, Grace

PD Plan
9-12
Bilingual/ESL, English/Language Arts, History
Learning Forward Standards
Cumberland, Encounter, Exchange, Exploration, Maryland, Primary Source, Railroads

Days of Future Past: Making Cross Curricular Connections with Primary Sources

Gershman, Eric

PD Plan
6-8
English/Language Arts, History, Science and Technology
21st Century Learner
Analysis, Future, Past, Present, Primary Source, Resource

DBQuest

iCivics

External link
Curriculum
Any Grade
Civics and Government, English/Language Arts, History
App, Civics, History, Primary Sources, Question

Death in the Afternoon

Dille, Sarah

Activity
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Bullfighting, Ernest Hemingway, Pamplona, Seville, Spanish

Developing Inquiry Based Lessons with Digital Primary Sources

Martindell, Toni

PD Plan
6-8
History, Science and Technology
Learning Forward
Digital, Inquiry, Library, Literacy, Media, Primary Source, Technology

Did Abraham Lincoln Really Want to Free the Slaves?

C3 Teachers Development

C3 Inquiry
9-12
Cultural Studies, History
C3 Framework
Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, President, Slaves

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