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In this activity, students investigate social, economic, and geographic influences that led to westward expansion in the United States prior to the Civil War. Students will also identify technologies and conflicts that occurred from expansion and analyze whether manifest destiny was truly achieved. Click on the download PDF or DOC button for additional resources such as song lyrics, maps, photographs, and newspaper articles.

This article from Khan Academy provides an overview of the nullification crisis. In response to the Tariff of 1828, vice president John C. Calhoun asserted that states had the right to nullify federal laws. Students can read this article and answer the questions at the end as an assessment. The article can be read in a whole group setting or individually. It can be assigned through Google Classroom.

This clip re-enacts the attacks of September 11, 2001. One of the flights vanishes off the radar, and air traffic control tries to communicate with it. As news starts pouring in of an attack on the World Trade Center, concerned air traffic controllers note that the flight is heading towards Washington D.C. and begin to suspect the worst.

The coach of a football team redefines the meaning of determination and motivation when he has two of his players complete an arduous task. This video can be used when teaching about the role of motivation and emotion in human behavior.

This video from the Daily Dose provides a 3-minute micro-learning film on Caligula, a Roman emperor who was the victim of an unknown illness resulting in erratic, impulsive, and sadistic behavior. Caligula's excesses and draining of the treasury would result in a conspiracy among senators to assassinate the mentally ill emperor.

In this learning activity, students will hear the story of John Bull, one of the first locomotives in the United States and compare transportation from the past to today's transportation. A video of John Bull is included along with web links to other activities.

This classroom resource from Epic! is an interactive book that explains how Earth is covered by landforms and bodies of water, all of which change shape over time. A glossary and additional suggested websites and books are included. The age range is 5-8 years old. The AR level is 3.4. This book also includes directions for making a model of a landform.

This video is a short biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald, an influential 20th-century author best known for works such as The Great Gatsby and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He is one of the most famous writers of the "Lost Generation," people who came of age during or shortly after the first World War and became disillusioned by the senseless death and destruction.

In this learning activity, students will pretend they have been chosen to induct Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe into the fictional abolitionist hall-of-fame. Their first job, however, is to design a “flyer” that advertises the inductees and the reasons for their inductions. In the spaces provided on the flyer, they will continue the narratives that highlight each inductee’s accomplishments. Secondly, they will design an abolitionist hall-of-fame medal each would receive upon their entry. Medals can include icons, symbols, color, and their names.

In this lesson, students will gather information about the Greensboro Woolworth's Lunch Counter sit-in and how it helped change the Civil Rights Movement. Students create a virtual museum exhibit using the information they gathered. Additional links to resources are included.

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about some of the colonies that were not in Virginia or Massachusetts. Old New York was once New Amsterdam. Before the English got there though, the colony was full of Dutch people who treated women pretty fairly and allowed free black people to hold jobs. John also discusses Penn's Woods, also known as Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was (briefly) a haven of religious freedom, and William Penn dealt relatively fairly with the natives his colony displaced. We venture as far south as the Carolina colonies, where the slave labor economy was taking shape. John also takes on the idea of the classless society in America, and the beginning of the idea of the American dream.

Xavier, Yadina, and Brad are surprised to see that the big new exhibit at the museum features an old bus. They’re unsure what’s so special about it but excited to climb aboard anyway. As our trio squabble over who will get to be the driver and honk the horn, they suddenly find themselves in the Secret Museum! Our heroes are sent back in time to meet the important person who once rode that bus: Rosa Parks. Witnessing how Rosa reacts to being treated unfairly, both as a young girl and as an adult when asked to give up her seat on that bus in 1955, opens our trio’s eyes to her very important message: everyone should be treated equally.

Xavier is at a loss for what to do: there are three pieces of pie left and one is way bigger than the other two. Who gets the big piece? This is a tough problem with only one solution…to the Secret Museum! Our heroes are sent back in time to meet someone who knew how to work out tough problems: Thurgood Marshall. Thurgood invites our trio back to his house, where he is about to feed his pets some carrot treats. But, uh oh, one carrot is way bigger than the others. Xavier, Yadina, and Brad have their own ideas for who should get the big carrot, but Thurgood decides to break apart the big carrot to ensure everyone gets an equal amount because he knows the most important thing is to be fair to everyone.

This interactive game from WNET Thirteen, “Prisoner in My Homeland,” puts players in the shoes of 16-year-old Henry Tanaka, in 1941, whose family is forced to leave their home on Bainbridge Island, WA, for a prison camp in Manzanar, CA. Players grapple with the choices and challenges faced by more than 120,000 Japanese Americans as they coped with their unjust incarceration during World War II. Teachers will need to register to play this game.  The game can be played in a whole group setting or individually.  Teachers can also download a teacher's guide.

In this lesson, students identify and discuss the condition and aspirations of free African Americans in the years following the Civil War. Students identify the social factors that led to the rise of Jim Crow segregation and evaluate the effects of segregation.  

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about Reconstruction. After the divisive, destructive Civil War, Abraham Lincoln had a plan to reconcile the country and make it whole again. Then he got shot; Andrew Johnson took over, and the disagreements between Johnson and Congress ensured that Reconstruction would fail. The election of 1876 made the whole thing even more of a mess, and the country called it off, leaving the nation still very divided. John will talk about the gains made by African-Americans in the years after the Civil War and how they lost those gains almost immediately when Reconstruction stopped. You'll learn about the Freedman's Bureau, the 14th and 15th Amendments, and the disastrous election of 1876.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class

Join host John Green to learn about Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Prior to this event, almost everyone in Europe was part of the Roman Catholic Church. However, during Martin Luther's lifetime, the Church was in desperate need of spiritual and moral reform. Combined with the new ideas in the political and social scenes in Europe, this led Luther to leave the Church and start his own, which spread rapidly. Then, what started out as a doctrinal dispute turned into an all-out social revolt: peasants against landlords, and kings against the Catholic Church. Both politically- and faith-charged, this period had lasting repercussions on Christianity, politics, and social order.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

In this passage, students will learn about the history of Rome. A historian named Livy wrote 142 books about the history of Rome. He believed the city did not develop by chance but by fate. This passage is his account of how Rome was founded. You may believe it or not, as you like. What you should do is think about it and learn from it. Oh, and one more thing: enjoy it.

This collection includes videos, photographs, and articles about the Holocaust. Students can use this collection to explore what life might have been like during the Holocaust.

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, John Green teaches students about the tumultuous 2000s in the United States of America, mainly the 2000s that coincide with the presidency of George W Bush. From the controversial election in 2000 to the events of 9/11 and Bush's prosecution of the War on Terror, the George W. Bush presidency was an eventful one. John will teach you about Bush's domestic policies like tax-cutting, education reform, and he'll get into the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

In February 2009, Continental Flight 3407 crashed outside of Buffalo, NY, killing 50 people. The flight was operated by Colgan Air, a regional airline that flies routes under contract for US Airways, United, and Continental. The crash and subsequent investigation revealed a little-known trend in the airline industry: Major airlines have outsourced more of their flights to obscure regional carriers.

In this video chapter from FRONTLINE  Flying Cheap, correspondent Miles O'Brien explores this trend and examines some of the many factors that may have contributed to the accident.

In this reading passage, students will learn about making a schedule. Making a schedule can be very helpful. A schedule is a list of times when certain things will happen. A schedule can help you do things on time.

A vocabulary activity is included with the reading passage. 

In this interactive game from iCivics, students assume the role of President of the United States and learn how to propose an agenda to Congress, sign bills into law, delegate new laws to the appropriate federal agency, handle international diplomacy, and command the military during times of war. This game can be used while teaching a lesson on the executive branch for reinforcement or after as an assessment. It can be played in a whole group or individually.

You will need to create a free account in order to access some of the content on this site.

This video from PBSLearningMedia explains that the Declaration of Independence was the first formal statement by a nation's people asserting their right to choose their own government. The document was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, and announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain

John Green teaches you about the Indus Valley Civilization, one of the largest of the ancient civilizations. John teaches you the who, how, when, where, and why of the Indus Valley Civilization, and dispenses advice on how to be more successful in your romantic relationships.

In this interactive game from iCivics, students can help remind citizens that their civic duties aren't just responsibilities, they help get things done! Students describe ways an individual can contribute to a school or community, identify ways that responsible community members exercise their rights, responsibilities, and roles, distinguish civic virtue, common courtesy, respect for person/property, civic and personal responsibility, and honesty as important characteristics for citizens to effectively participate in public life, and evaluate how civic and social duties address community needs and serve the public good. This game can be played when teaching a lesson on civic duties and responsibilities for reinforcement or after as an assessment.

You will need to create a free account in order to access some of the content on this site.

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn about cardinal directions and complete an interesting hands-on activity. This video is part of Activity Starters, which is an animated video series. In each episode, an animated character introduces a concept and an activity

John Green teaches you about the European Renaissance. European learning changed the world in the 15th and 16th centuries, but was it a cultural revolution, or an evolution? We'd argue that any cultural shift that occurs over a couple of hundred years isn't too overwhelming to the people who live through it. In retrospect though, the cultural bloom in Europe during this time was pretty impressive. In addition to investigating what caused the Renaissance and who benefitted from the changes that occurred, John will tell you just how the Ninja Turtles got mixed up in all this.

**Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.