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

Children for Change

Schaefer, Kameron; Wise, Sue

Unit
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core, PA State
Change, Children, Communication, Civic Engagement, Equality, Individuals, Rights

Utilizing Primary Sources to Bring Historical Events to Life

Yewell Volin, Emily

PD Plan
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
ISTE
Contextualization, Fulton County, Marriage Bar

Introduction to Library of Congress and Southwestern Pennsylvania Map Analysis

Valentino, Maranda

PD Plan
6-8
English/Language Arts, History
21st Century Learner
Analysis, Library of Congress, Maps, Primary Sources

2019-20: The 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment

Taylor, Priscilla

PD Plan
6-8
History
21st Century Learner , ISTE
19th Amendment, Women's Rights Movement

STEMtastic Resources for Inquiry

Taylor, Kellie

PD Plan
3-5
Math, Science and Technology
21st Century Learner
Claim, Evidence, Inquiry, STEM

Redesigning History to Understand the Culture of Quilt Making

Sessoms, Diallo

PD Plan
6-8
Arts and Music, English/Language Arts, Science and Technology
21st Century Learner
Primary Sources, Quilting, Technology

Images of Integration: The Story of Desegregating Fulton County (Ga.) Schools after Brown v. Board of Education

Santrock, Mike

PD Plan
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core, NCSS
Brown V. Board of Education, Civil Rights, Primary Sources, Segregation

Yes, YOU Can Engage Students and Enhance Learning With Primary Sources

Rickman, Pam

PD Plan
3-5
Arts and Music, English/Language Arts, Math
Professional Learning
Engagement, Library of Congress, Immigrants

Teaching at the Turn of the 20th Century

Holtz, Jo

PD Plan
9-12
Arts and Music, English/Language Arts, History
21st Century Learner
20th Century, Teaching, Classroom, Photographs, Primary Sources

Teaching Theatre History with Primary Sources

Gee, Aimee

PD Plan
9-12
Arts and Music, English/Language Arts, History
AASL, ACRL Framework
Federal Theatre Project, History, Primary Sources, Theater

Lincoln's Governmental Impact on the Modern Day through Speeches and Policies

Crise, Thomas

PD Plan
9-12
Civics and Government, History
Common Core, MD State
Lincoln, Government, Speech, Policies, Primary Sources, Policy, Modern Day

Eddie Rickenbacker: Survival at Sea for 24 Days and Visual Discovery

Binford, Paul E

PD Plan
9-12
Civics and Government, History
Common Core, MS State
Primary Sources, Rickenbacker, South Pacific, Visual Discovery, World War II

Using a Score to Reach All Ages

Bennett, Carolyn

PD Plan
6-8
Arts and Music
ISTE
Analyze, Ensemble, Music, Score

Why is the Civil Rights Movement Taking So Long?

Bamford, Heidi

Lesson Plan
9-12
Civics and Government, History, Science and Technology
C3
Civil Rights, IDM, Oral History, Video

Digging Into the Constitution

Buzzard, Daniel; Fields, Timothy; Faust, Laura; Pugh, Mollie

Unit
9-12
Civics and Government, English/Language Arts, Geography
PA State
Bill of Rights, Constitution, Economics, Franklin, Government, Unit, Washington

Immigration

Busby, Alison; Danley, Leeann; Mineard, Brittany

Unit
6-8
English/Language Arts, History, Math
Common Core, PA State
Angel Island, Disease, Ellis Island, Graphs, Immigration, Poetry, Research, Unit

Westward Expansion: The Transcontinental Railroad

Burns, E

Unit
3-5
English/Language Arts, Geography, History
Common Core, Pennsylvania State
Map, Native American, Perspectives, Point of View, Railroad, Viewpoint, Westward Expansion

The Grand Canyon: How Did Something So Massive Come About?

Bobby, Maura

Unit
3-5
English/Language Arts, Geography, Science and Technology
Pennsylvania State
Climate, Habitat, Landform, Map, National Park, Research, Tourism

Three Golden Rivers

Ashburn, Ellen

Activity
6-8
Geography, History
Carnegie, Compare, Contrast, Local History, Pittsburgh, River, Transportation

Train to Somewhere

Lubich, Deborah

Activity
6-8
English/Language Arts, History
19th Century, Migration, Orphan, Railroad, Trains, Transportation

War Game

McCollum, Rebecca

Activity
6-8
History, Science and Technology
Friendship, Soccer, Technology, World War I, WWI

Langston Hughes' Drafts of "Ballad of Booker T." Exploring the Creative Process

Library of Congress

Activity
9-12
Arts and Music, English/Language Arts
Common Core, NCSS
Analysis, Ballad, Creative Process, Harlem, Hughes, Manuscripts, Poetry, PSSA, Washington

Classroom Comparision: Then and Now

Wise, Sue

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

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Library of Congress

Activity
9-12
Arts and Music, History
Analysis, Civil War, Poems, PSSA, Reconstruction, Songs

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Citations for TPS Eastern Region Publications