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

Great Depression Unit

Chismer, Gared; Thornton, Amy

Unit
6-8
History
NCSS
Dust Bowl, Franklin Roosevelt, Great Depression, Herbert Hoover, New Deal, Stock Market Crash

Greek and Roman Mythology Gods and Legends

Ferrier, Cassandra

PD Plan
9-12
Arts and Music, English/Language Arts, History
21st Century Learner
Gods, Greek, Legends, Mythology, Roman

Health Education: Investigating Alcohol Abuse Using Primary Sources

Monica, Brigid

Lesson Plan
9-12
Cultural Studies, History, Science and Technology
Health
Abuse, Alcohol, Health, Healthy, Music

COVID Pandemic Era Poster of Essential Workers

Historical Empathy Toolbox: Teaching the COVID-19 Pandemic

Katherine Perrotta

External link
Primary Source Set
6-8, 9-12
Civics and Government, Cultural Studies

Historical Thinking and Primary Sources

Rooker, Sarah

PD Plan
6-8
English/Language Arts, History
21st Century Learner, Common Core
Analysis, Audience, Contextualize, Historical, Inquiry, Primary Sources, Purpose, Sourcing, Thinking

History and Engingeering Design of Cars

Joll, Eileen

Lesson Plan
6-8
History, Science and Technology
Next Generation Science, NCSS
Assembly Line, Automobile, Car, Design, Energy, Engineering, Henry Ford, Industrial Revolution, Mass Production, Technology

History as Geography: Teaching With Primary Sources and ArcGIS Online

Roper, Scott

PD Plan
9-12
Geography, History, Science and Technology
21st Century Learner
Analyze, ArcGIS, Child Labor, Geography, History, Industrial Revolution, Inquiry, Map, Mapping, Primary Source, Reform, Social, Vermont

History of the Microscope and Microscopic Images

Wright, Marietta

Lesson Plan
9-12
English/Language Arts, History, Science and Technology
Common Core
Biology, Cellular, Innovation, Medicine, Microscope, Observation, Science, Scientists

History Then and Now

Felock, Tia

PD Plan
3-5
English/Language Arts, History, Science and Technology
21st Century Learner
Book, Change, Historical Event, History, Library, Literature, Now, Primary Source Set, Then

Holocaust

Floyd, Lindsey

Lesson Plan
9-12
History
NCSS
Camp, Concentration, Genocide, Hitler, Holocaust, Jewish, Nazi, Propoganda, World War II, WWII

Homestead Strike of 1892

Thistle, Gay

Activity
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Homestead, Industry, Labor, Pittsburgh, Revolution, Strike, Union

How A Federal Law Can Have a Trickle Down Effect on Communities

Urtz, Matthew

PD Plan
6-8
Civics and Government, Economics, History
21st Century Learner
18th Amendment, Agriculture, Community, Federal , Federalism, Impact, Law, Prohibition, Temperence, Volstead Act

How Did Birds Gain Political Protection?

TPS Eastern Region Team

C3 Inquiry
9-12
Civics and Government, History
C3 Framework
Migratory Birds, National Laws, Political Protection, State Laws, Women's Fashion

How did Childhood Labor Impact American Childhood and Families

Gagnon, Kristin; Sutton, Megan

Lesson Plan
6-8
History
C3 Social Studies
Child Labor, Childhood, Factory, IDM, Industrial Revolution, Labor Laws

How Did Cotton Sow the Seeds of Panic

Beccaris-Pescatore, Jill

C3 Inquiry
9-12
Civics and Government, Cultural Studies, Economics, History
Cotton Industry, Economics, Panic of 1837, Slavery, Trade

How did Media Influence America's Decision to Enter WWI?

Marshall, Kathy; Wright, Dana

Lesson Plan
9-12
History
NCSS
Allied Powers, Government, Inquiry, Lusitania, Media, Neutral, Poster, Propoganda, Telegram, World War I, Zimmerman

How did Native Americans Influence Jamestown and the Settlers?

Lovell, Lauren

Lesson Plan
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
VA State
Colonies, Jamestown, John Smith, Native Americans, Pocahontas, Primary Sources, Settlers

How Did the Women's Suffrage Movement Shape and Reflect the Lives of American Women?

Knight, Mary Ann

PD Plan
9-12
History
Common Core, NY State
19th Amendment, Equality, Lives, Rights, Suffrage, Women

How Does Your Garden Grow? From Victory Gardens to Peace Gardens

Bamford, Heidi

Lesson Plan
6-8
History, Math, Science and Technology
NCSS, Next Generation Science, NY State
Community Gardens, Ecosystem, Environment, Food, Health, Nutrition, Victory Gardens, World War I, World War II

How has Music Influenced the Long Civil Rights Movement?

Joyce Mason

C3 Inquiry
9-12
Arts and Music, Cultural Studies, History
C3 Framework
Long Civil Rights Movement, Music, Songs of Protest

How has the Labor Movement Changed throughout American History

Penyy, Michelle

Lesson Plan
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Factory, Industrialization, Labor, Labor Union, Migrant, Picket, Strike , Worker

How is doing history different than knowing history?

Manfra, Meghan

PD Plan
9-12, Higher Ed
Civics and Government, History
21st Century Learner, ISTE, Learning Forward
Analyze, Change, Conceptual Skills, Corroborate, Discipline, Evidence, Historical Thinking, History, Interdisciplinary, Metacognition, Photography, Skill, Time

How Primary Sources Can Wake Up Your Classroom

Giardina, Greg

PD Plan
6-8
English/Language Arts, History, Science and Technology
21 Century Learner
Analysis, Cartoons, Images, Inquiry, Photographs, Primary Sources

How to Plan for Peace: Paris Peace Conference 1919

Kilgore, Emily

External link
Primary Source Set
9-12
History
Woodrow Wilson, The Great War, World War I, Versailles, League of Nations

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Citations for TPS Eastern Region Publications