This is Part One of a unit on European Exploration. This section covers an introduction to the unit with an attention grabber activity, intro to the Big Questions of the Unit, a lesson on how maps can be biased, a geography assignment built into a guided notes presentation, and an engaging presentation. The presentation, guided notes, and geography portion explain the why behind European exploration and connects the past to the present without weighing the students or the teacher down with meticulous details. It covers the main ideas while bringing up important points and questions. It'll have the students connecting events that happened over 500 years ago to current events like calling the War on Terror as a "Crusade" and current level of imports to the U.S. from Asian countries. These questions will help students grasp the importance of being sensitive to historical events, what we can learn from them, and the ways they still impact us today. As a bonus, there are links to a couple entertaining, but applicable, clips to break up the note taking. Keep a look out for Part Two and Part Three which will contain a Primary Source Analysis and engaging group and individual projects and assignments. If you like this unit, consider purchasing my Native American unit which is similar in scope, style, and focus.

I have included both a teacher version and a student version for this project. There is also a presentation to help you teach the students about artifacts, how to analyze them, and introduces the final project. For this project students will create an artifact that should reveal something about themselves as well as their community. This project allows for a lot of freedom and is a great beginning of the year project, which conveniently is when Native American units are usually taught. It will allow you as a teacher to get to know who your students are personally as well as what their strengths are as a student. The PDF is for you, the teacher, and gives you some tips and ideas for how to introduce this project as well as an easy way to keep tabs on their progress and, finally, fun ideas for presenting the artifacts at the end of the unit. This is part of a larger unit which can be purchased in whole for $15 from my store. It is called "Native American Unit." Please let me know if you have any questions!

This is designed to be used near the beginning of a poetry unit for middle school. It could be used as an introduction to figurative language, specifically similes and metaphors. Students define simile and metaphor, example famous examples, and then create their own, modeling after the professional. They then examine two short poems by Langston Hughes, putting what they learned into practice. They will identify and examine, analyzing why mostly similes are used in one poem while Hughes relies heavily on metaphors in the other. In the lesson, the teacher should work with the student to understand the purpose of similes and metaphors in general and how they relate to these poems. I have included both a PDF and a word document version for editing.

This set includes resources on the Columbian Exchange and a project for researching explorers called Pokexplorers: Gotta Explore it All! It also includes the completed student packet. The entire Exploration Unit can be purchased as a bundle for $15.

Have your students create “Pokexplorer” cards based off the popular card game and battle each other! Includes a presentation with detailed explanations, blank cards, sample cards, and energy cards. This is a fun way for students to present basic information about an explorer and learn about other explorers when they play. It involves more critical thinking than a basic poster. An in depth understanding of the explorer is required in order to create attacks and powers that “fit in” with who each explorer was and the impact (positive or negative) he had on the area he explored. This project is easily adaptable and the presentation includes a link if the teacher would prefer students to use computers to create their cards instead of designing them by hand.

This powerpoint and guided notes could be used during the final unit in Utah Studies where students learn about the diversity of Utah today including new immigration, refugees, festivals, issues, etc. The powerpoint includes an introductory activity, notes, and an analysis of cultural diffusion at the end which could easily turn into a class discussion. It also includes links for the teacher to relevant news articles and a place online where you could have the students take a sample citizenship test to see how they would do!

Have students correct these real life examples of grammar mistakes! Includes ten examples for correcting. Also includes a worksheet with a key for additional grammar practice if needed.

Everything you need for a unit on modern Utah! Will take students from the 1950s to Utah issues today. Includes a packet with vocab, projects, guided notes, etc. Also included is a PowerPoint presentation and links in the packet to Prezi presentations. Includes quizzes, a study guide, and a unit test as well. The presentation and notes on "Cultural Diversity in Utah" and the "Give Back to Your Community Service Learning Project" from my store are also included.

The prereading activity includes four very short primary source documents about slavery in order to give students the background knowledge they will need for the text. It would be a good idea to have the prereading activity completed in groups and discussed as a class. The questions to the text include 13 different questions, some comprehensive (ex: How did Douglass learn to read?), some text-to-self comparisons (ex: If you were in Douglass’s position, what do you think would be the most difficult part of life as a slave for you?), and some analytical (ex: Why do you think Frederick Douglass called this story about him learning to read, “A Spirit Unshackled?” ). I'm including it as a docx to simplify editing for you. You may add or delete questions as needed for your student's ability and time.

Have students create classroom visual aids to help each other tell those tricky words apart. Includes a presentation with instructions and examples, a list of words you could choose from, and a quiz with a key.

A presentation to teach students HOW to use a textbook and a class poster to remind them. When I was teaching, I found a lot of students were completely unfamiliar with HOW to read nonfiction, informational texts, and textbooks. This is a necessary life skill and one worth teaching in EVERY classroom. 85% of what we read as adults in nonfiction, not to mention the fact that if our students going to make it through middle school, high school, and college a few tips about how to conquer those daunting texts are be more than necessary. In this engaging presentation filled with examples and tips, students can find out just how to conquer these texts and make textbooks work for them. This also includes a fun assignment with a rubric that has students making their own "textbooks" all about their favorite subject.... their lives ;) (I've also include the External Text Features Scavenger Hunt just for your convenience. This is one of the free resources in my shop)

The perfect project for those two days before Thanksgiving! Keep your students learning and engaged! Your students will analyze a letter written by Pilgrim Edward Winslow, one of the few accounts that actually mentions the first Thanksgiving. The letter talks about the First Thanksgiving and goes into more detail about their harvest and what they ate that first year. (I have edited this primary source for clarity and have taken out parts that weren’t necessary for this assignment.) After analyzing the letter, your students will use the provided template to create a restaurant menu from the first Thanksgiving! I have included a presentation to help you introduce the assignment. It includes a description, sample menus, and a suggested rubric. This assignment is easily adaptable to a variety of ages. It is made for a U.S. History class, but would also be fun in a home living/cooking class! If this is your first experience teaching primary sources, this is a great one to start with! This assignment also works well in homeschool situations. Feel free to jump in and try out a few of the dishes your students come up with!

Did you know that Tisquantum literally means “Wrath of God?” Doesn’t quite sound like the do-gooder Native American we have come to love and revere throughout history, does it? What if there’s another side to Squanto? One we gloss over in history books and Thanksgiving day pageants? This primary source analysis will not only help your students analyze, evaluate, compare, and think critically about ten different sources regarding our beloved Squanto; it will also help them realize that every “character” they learn about history is a complex individual with multiple motivations and outlooks. This set includes ten carefully selected and edited sources, tailored with the teenager in mind. They are assembled in an easy to navigate packet with graphic organizers and helpful tips. It also includes a teacher’s packet with tips and ideas for you. I know time is a precious commodity, so I created this with the idea that you would be able to jump right in with minimal preparation. There is also a helpful PowerPoint presentation that guides you as you teach your students HOW to analyze primary sources and then walk through the first few sources with them, pointing out important facts and phrases along with helpful blurbs and tips for the teacher. I want you to be successful. If you have purchased my popular “Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain?” or “Aztec Primary Source Analysis,” this set will build on the skills your students have already begun to learn. It is formatted and organized the same way. Good luck and happy teaching! I hope you enjoy the lively debates that follow as you help your students engage with history, instead of just reading about it.

It was cold, snowy night: March 5, 1770. The colonists in Boston were riled up over what they felt were unjust laws and taxes. Soldiers stationed in the city were on edge, anxious about the behavior of the colonists. A fight broke out between Captain Preston’s regiment and the locals. Shots were fired. Five people lay dead. The events of that fateful evening quickly came to be known as The Boston Massacre. This “Massacre” further deepened the divide between England and the American Colonies, leading to the Revolutionary War in just five short years. Did Captain Preston order those shots to be fired on innocent civilians? Was this a premeditated attempt to enact revenge on the colonists? Or was he just a victim of circumstances beyond his control? Are the colonists the guilty ones? YOU DECIDE. This is a primary source analysis activity complete with student packet, teacher packet/key, and presentation. Optional activities are also included to extend and deepen understanding. Like my other primary source activities, you will get a helpful student packet with difficult words defined, graphic organizers, and (most importantly) engaging and accessible texts. You will also receive an awesome teacher packet to help you jump right in with minimal prep. It includes helpful tips, ideas, and supplemental material as well as a fun “British Debate” activity. You will ALSO receive a presentation to help teach students HOW to analyze primary sources using a fun text message example. This presentation includes everything you need to go over the first few primary sources together as a class with lots of notes, markings, tips, and ideas to help guide the students through this process. It also includes the supplemental materials mentioned in the teacher packet. This primary source analysis includes 12 sources, which is more than my other activity packets. However, several of the sources are short testimonies from the actual trial of Captain Preston. It is still very manageable for students and easily adaptable to many different class scenarios. In order to complete the entire activity without adaptation, you should allow for two 45 minute class periods. It can be modified for one class or extended to last up to a week if all the supplemental materials are used. Check out the reviews on my very popular “Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain” in order to hear from other teachers how these primary source analysis activities work in the classroom!

These are free for downloading for your convenience if you purchased the Native American Unit or the Native American Unit: Resources Proposal Project. I did not spend a lot of time making these especially attractive, but I did focus my energy on making them useful. I have taken information from the websites listed on the Resources Proposal Project and narrowed it WAY down to be far more manageable for your students. Each packet has a "Stuck?" page at the end to guide their thinking. When printing, I advise you to hold on to the "Stuck?" page and hand out if groups are struggling. These pages guide their thinking and highlight quotes from the different articles that are particularly important. Please let me know if you have any questions. You can find the entire Native American Unit in my store or you can simply search for the Native American Unit: Resources Proposal Project, if that interests you.

Includes 3 different quizzes and a key. Quizzes are formatted to fit multiple on a page for easy printing.

Fun pictures to help get kids writing. My students in the past responded well to these pictures (i.e. giraffes waterskiing, iceclimbers, etc). They can be used in a variety of assignments and are in an easy to edit PowerPoint format.