This set includes three different activities: a worksheet to get the students thinking; a Gallery Walk activity with pictures, instructions, and a worksheet; and a page with big questions to ponder throughout the unit. I have included a teacher version that has tips and instructions along with sample questions to encourage discussion. These activities could be could be completed in a 45 minute class period, depending on the length of discussion your class engages in. If you would like to purchase the entire unit, just look for the resource "Native American Unit" in my store. The entire unit includes resources for around 2 weeks, depending on your schedule and students' abilities.

The resource includes a guided notes page for your students and a key for you. It also includes a link to a very informative prezi I made that goes right along with the guided notes. These notes will give your students an overview about four very different Native American groups: Inuit, Cliff Dwellers/Anasazi, Mound Builders/Cahokia, and Iroquois/Haudenosaunee. These notes are part of a larger unit you can find in my store called "Native American Unit." You can purchase the unit as a whole for $15. Please message me if you have any questions.

This is an easily adaptable project for your students. I have included instructions as well as ideas for how to adapt it in the Teacher file. The resource also includes a rubric. This resource is a group project in which students take information about the way Native American used the land and the natural resources around them and compare it to the way we use the same land and resources today. After learning about these groups in class and reading about them and the way the land is used today, students will be required to make a judgement call: Are we using the same resources today to the best of our ability, or is their something we can learn from these native cultures? In some instances the students will find ways in which we could improve use of the land by modeling our use after Native groups. In some instances, students will find warnings from the Native use of resources that we need to avoid. This is part of a larger resource that can be found in my store called "Native American Unit." You will also want to download for free the resource "Native American Unit: Resources Proposal Information Packets." Here are the actual instructions for this project. I have inserted clarifications in brackets: You just learned some basics about four different Native American groups that lived in four different parts of North America [see my resource: "Native American Unit: Guided Notes"]. Some of these native groups still live in these areas, some don’t. As industrialization and modern life have entered these regions, how have things changed? Are the modern Americans better or worse at using and abusing these areas? What can we learn from the Native groups that lived in these areas longer than the modern inhabitants? As a group, choose ONE of the four areas [arctic, four corners/southwest U.S., Mississippi River valley, and the Great Lakes region]. Use the information packets [see free resource "Native American Unit: Resources Proposal Information Packets] or the internet for your research. Make sure each person in your group has an assignment. As a group, you will create a proposal to be submitted to local or national government leaders comparing the way the land was used pre-colonization to the way it is used today. You should choose in your proposal to either support and encourage the current way we are using those lands by comparing it to the way Native cultures used it OR suggest a change based on the way Native cultures used it. Make sure your proposals are well written and polished and reference research, not just your own ideas!

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.

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.

Help students understand what life was like for those in a polygamous family in Utah in the 1800s. Primary sources can help students grasp difficult and foreign topics (such as polygamy) far better than basic facts and figures. Have students explore the different perspectives from those involved as well as read actual facts about Utah Polygamy in the 19th century. Includes 12 quotes and 12 facts, a short presentation explaining the assignment, and a handout for students to record their findings.

Included in this set are a basic planning page and a writing page. I introduced this topic at the beginning of our unit on explorers and we referenced it throughout the unit. It was the student's final project for our unit. This is in a word document so you may edit as needed.

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!

Covers the following topics: 5 themes of geography, relative and absolute location, map features (key, compass, scale), human environment interaction, latitude and longitude, Prime Meridian and Equator, rain shadow effect, Utah's bordering states, Utah's land regions, Utah rivers, Utah mountain ranges, and Utah lakes. It is easy to edit if you'd like to change questions and answers to better fit what you covered in class.

Touches on the following topics: atlatl, Dominguez & Escalante, Wicki-ups, Hogans, Anasazi, Fremont, Utes, Navajo, Shoshone, Goshute, Paiute, Utah Native American culture, Jim Bridger, and Jedediah Smith Defines the following terms: Adapt, Primary sources, Migration, Petroglyphs, Cache, and Rendezvous Easy to edit to fit your needs!

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)

This is one of my favorite units. I did it almost every year I was teaching and always had a good response. It works well because the writing assignment involves choice and authenticity. They aren’t writing what you tell them to write and they aren’t writing to you. This works great for a persuasive writing unit in English or a government unit in U.S. History. Students write official letters to their government representatives. Included in this set is a page for the teacher explaining how I taught this unit, a page on ethos/pathos/logos that can be used as a handout or a lesson, a planning page that guides the student's research and outline, a letter format page to help the student understand how to write an official letter, and a peer edit page for the revising process.

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.

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!

An engaging PowerPoint to use for warmups around the different holidays during fall semester. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas each have two warmup options. Veterans Day includes an activity that is easy to expand into two warmups if desired. The warmups include a variety of activities and are filled with interesting facts such as: the worlds largest giant pumpkin (over 2,600 lbs), inscriptions on famous tombstones, how many presidents were veterans, what really happened that first Thanksgiving, the many things Batman and Santa Claus have in common, and what Hitler had to say about the Christmas Truce of 1914. Flexible and easy to adjust for time! 18 total slides plus two optional handouts to make your life easier. Grab Part 1 in time for the holidays this year and check back soon for part two!

In this set of five primary sources, students will be able to compare and contrast different viewpoints surrounding who the Aztecs were and why their civilization fell in order to come to their own judgments and conclusions. There is a PowerPoint that will help teach your students (through the use of a text message scenario) the importance of looking at multiple sources and how to compare them while thinking like a historian. Students will analyze each source looking at author, audience, and purpose and then identify the main ideas, compare and contrast to other sources, and finish by making a judgment call. I have selected sources about the Aztecs that are both interesting and easy to understand. That being said, primary sources can be difficult for students especially if it is their first time. In order to help, I have a teacher page with tips and ideas and the PowerPoint will walk you through two of the five sources if you choose to do part of it as a whole class. I loved doing primary source analyses in the classroom. It made the history really come alive and taught the students critical skills. It’s no longer about giving the kids the information, its about teaching them how to analyze and sift through the information being hurled at them. Plus, they get really into it! Let them voice their opinion, be sure to use the arrow opinion gauge in a public place so the whole class can see how viewpoints shift, and get ready for an exciting and meaningful break from history lectures! This is part of a larger unit. If you would like to purchase the entire unit packet for $15, search for it on my store: “Native American Unit.” Please let me know if you have any questions!

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.

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.

Stop lecturing about history and help your students engage with it! They will use the highest levels of thinking in this challenging, but engaging activity as they figure out for themselves who Christopher Columbus really is: A Hero or a Villain? I had great success with my students and this activity as spontaneous debates erupted in the classroom over which title this controversial character deserves. This is part two of a three part unit on the Age of Exploration. This section is a primary source analysis where students will use 9 documents to determine if Christopher Columbus deserves the title “Hero” or “Villain.” These engaging documents include primary and secondary sources about the explorer. Students will analyze paintings, illustrations, letters, journal entries, reports, and news articles that share a variety of opinions about Columbus and who he was. Each document is fairly short, the longest being a page, and so are very manageable for students. Depending on the length of your class periods, this activity could take up to two days. If you have purchased the Aztec primary source set from my Native American Unit, this set is designed the same way and will help your students continue to build on those skills as the year progresses. A PowerPoint is included to help you be successful as well as a packet for you that includes a key and tips in order to simplify your lesson planning and help you make the most out of this teaching tool. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see a sample: jennalyn.mackay@gmail.com