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

Primary Sources The Key to Library Classroom Collaboration

Labert, Stephanie

PD Plan
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Analysis, Book Backup, Classroom, Collaboration, Library, Literature, SCIM-C

Primary Sources The Future to Teaching the Past.pdf

Grier, Caroline

PD Plan
3-5
History
ISTE Standards
Future, Past, Present, Teaching

Primary Sources, The Battle of Gettysburg, and Killer Angels

Divelbliss, David

PD Plan
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
21st Century Learner
Book Backdrop, Civil War, Gettysburg, Killer Angels, Pickett, Robert E. Lee

Primary Sources in International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Classrooms

Slobodnik, Candace

PD Plan
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
21st Century Learner, Common Core
African American, Baccalaureate, Critical Thinking, Discrimination, International, Research, Tuskeegee Institute

Primary Sources and Getting Familiar with the Library of Congress.pdf

Woolfolk, Sandy

PD Plan
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Analyze, Industrial, Inquiry, Labor, Revolution, Triangle Factory Fire, Work

Primary Source Evidence of Japanese American Internment During WWII

Newell, Laurian

PD Plan
6-8
English/Language Arts, History
21st Century Learner, ISTE Standards
Japanese, Internment, Korematsu, United States, World War II, Espionage, Executive Order, Franklin Roosevelt, Homefront, Inquiry

Presidential Elections of 1916 to 2016 Has Media Coverage Changed

Stephenson, Taylor

PD Plan
9-12
Civics and Government, History
21st Century Learner, Common Core
Coverage, Election, Media, Political Cartoons, President, Voting

Political and Economic Motives of the Civil War

Nordstrom, Mitch

Unit
6-8
Civics and Government, Economics, Geography
PA State
Battle of Fort Sumter, Bell, Civil War, Confederacy, Douglas, Jefferson Davis, Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses Grant

Pittsburgh Analyzing Change Over Time

Thistle, Gay

Lesson Plan
3-5
History, Science and Technology
PA State
Change, Dragon Tour, Pittsburgh

Only Passing Through The Story of Sojourner Truth

Resser, Megan

Book Backdrop
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Abolitionist, Auction, Emancipation, Plantation, Slavery, Sojourner Truth

Picnic in October

McCready, Cheryl

Activity
Pre K-2
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Ellis Island, Immigration, Migrate, October, Picnic, Statue of Liberty

Out of the Dust and Life in the Dust Bowl - Analyzing Primary Sources

Smith, Stephanie

Lesson Plan
6-8
Geography, History
PA State
Dust Bowl, Farmer, Great Depression, Migration, Okies

Out of the Dust

Morrison, Caitriona

Activity
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, Debt, Dust, Farmer, FDR, Great Depression, Migrant, New Deal, Relief, Roosevelt

Out of the Dust

Goodman, Jeanne

Activity
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Bank Failures, Dust Bowl, Farmer, FERA, Great Depression, Migration, Okies

Orphaned on the Oregon Trail

Weber, April

Activity
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Indians, Literature, Louisiana Purchase, Native Americans, Oregon, Trail, Westward Expansion

Orphan Train Immigration During the Late 1800s

Blankley, Wendy

Lesson Plan
3-5
History
NCSS
Illinois, Immigration, Maps, New York, Orphan, Train

Origin of Video

Laramie, Tina

Lesson Plan
9-12
Cultural Studies, History, Science and Technology
Common Core, NY State
Broadcasting, Edison, Film, Industry, Journalism, Storyboard, Technology, Video

Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth

Thistle, Gay

Activity
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Abolitionist, Auction, Emancipation, Plantation, Slavery, Sojourner Truth

Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth

Resser, Megan

Activity
3-5
English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Abolitionist, Auction, Emancipation, Plantation, Slavery, Sojourner Truth

Old Newspapers Reveal Great Stuff About the Past

Greeble, Marty

PD Plan
9-12
English/Language Arts, History
ISTE
Chronicling America, Newspaper, Past, Present, Western North Carolina

Night

Knight, Asher

Activity
9-12
Cultural Studies, English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Adolf Hitler, Ellie Wiesel, Genocide, Germany, Holocaust, Nazi, Night, World War II, WWII

Myth Vs. Reality: What Really Happened at Plymouth

Zupan, Michelle

PD Plan
6-8
English/Language Arts, History
21st Century Learner, NCSS
Bay Colony, Indians, Massachusettes, Mayflower, Myth, Pilgrims, Plymouth, Reality, Thanksgiving

Music Literacy + The Common Core

Pailen, Lillian

PD Plan
6-8
Arts and Music
Common Core
Culture, Heritage, Literacy, Music, Song

Museum Walk Activity

TPS

PD Plan
6-8
Cultural Studies, English/Language Arts, History
Common Core
Analyze, Artifact, Inquiry, Museum, Observe, Question, Reflect

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