Less than $5 8th Grade U.S. History Google Apps

Make learning about the US Civil War interesting with this no-prep digital escape game.  The game includes access to a website where your students will hunt for the keys to unlock a set of locks.  Students will need to read the clues very carefully and watch videos, visit websites, and read texts to find the information they need to win the game.  Very easy to use - just send your students to the website and let them work!  Students can play individually or in teams.

Digital escape games are a fun way to start a unit, or to review at the end of a unit.  They can also be used to learn about a cultural or historical event.  This game will have your students reading carefully and paying attention to the smallest details in order to complete the challenge and unlock the locks.  

This item includes:

• Access to a website where your students can play the game
• Complete teacher's guide to playing the game
• Answer key so you can help students if they get stuck!

Your students will enjoy learning without even realizing that they are learning!  The challenging game format will get them excited about finding the code to unlock each lock - and the format of the clues for each lock will have them paying close attention - there's no way to solve the puzzles  without being 100% focused!

The included topics are:

• The Battle of Gettysburg
• The Gettysburg address
• Robert E Lee
• The Emancipation Proclamation
• Facts & figures about the war

Prep is very easy - you just need to share the website URL with your students.  You may want to test the site before you use it, just to make sure nothing is blocked by your district.  As some of the clues can be challenging to unlock, you may choose to help your students with the trickier ones.  With the teacher guide, you will have the answer key - so you can help guide students towards the correct answer by giving them hints, or if you have limited time, you can adjust the game by reducing the number of locks they need to unlock - just give them the answer(s) to help the activity fit your time constraints.

You may also like:

The Renaissance

The Great Depression

The Cold War

The Vietnam War

The American Revolution

The US Constitution

World War I

Engage Your Students in the Key World War II Battles with This Research Assignment!

Dive deep into the critical battles of World War II with this comprehensive U.S. and World History research assignment. Perfect for middle and high school students, this resource guides learners through the most significant military conflicts that shaped the course of WWII. Through independent research, students will investigate the causes, outcomes, and strategic significance of these key battles.

What’s Included:

• Research Guidelines: Clear instructions for students to conduct their own research on pivotal battles such as the Battle of Stalingrad, D-Day, the Battle of Midway, and more.
• Critical Thinking Questions: Encourage students to analyze the military strategies, geopolitical impacts, and the role of each battle in the larger context of WWII.
• Battle Overview Template: A structured template for students to organize their findings, including sections for key figures, dates, military forces involved, and battle outcomes.
• Engaging Historical Analysis: Questions designed to prompt deeper understanding of how these battles influenced the outcome of World War II and changed global history.

Key Features:

• No Prep, Ready to Use: This resource is designed for immediate classroom use, requiring no preparation—ideal for history teachers looking for a ready-to-go research project.
• Student-Centered Learning: Allows students to take ownership of their learning by diving into independent research on historical battles.
• Flexible Use: Perfect for individual or group work, class projects, or homework assignments.

Travel through time with our back then versus now items presentation! Students will compare pictures of items that were used in the past with their modern-day counterparts. Clip art and an answer key are included for easy identification. Perfect for history lessons or just a fun trip down memory lane. Shop now and bring the past to life in your classroom!

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Now with digital worksheet to support distance learning!

This product features an engaging back to school History Talk activity that will have your new students thinking, writing, speaking, and moving on the very first day of school. In this activity, they must choose between 7 different quotes about history and articulate why the quote aligns with their own perspective. Use this lesson every year to set the tone for what you expect in class; it is a great way to gain insight about your students' current attitudes toward history while getting to know one another with a higher level thinking activity. We have also recently added a digital version of the History Talk worksheet to support distance learning and cut down on paper.

Product includes:

• Comprehensive Lesson Plan
• "History Talk" Worksheet
• 7 Corresponding "History Quote" signs to hang up around your room
• Digital Worksheet to support distance learning for use with Google Drive - newly added!
• Detailed instructions for accessing digital resource

Though this lesson plan is ideal for the first day of school, it can be used all year long without modification.

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Also, check out these great products to start your school year off strong by Language Arts Excellence:

⭐History Quote Posters

⭐First Day of School Powerpoint

⭐Study Hall Expectations Powerpoint Presentation

⭐Back to School / Open House Brochure

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Are you looking to engage your students in the study of FDR's New Deal? This New Deal Matching Game is the perfect way to get your students excited and engaged with history. The game provides slides to guide both the teacher and the student through note-taking, student discussions/debate, and the ‘New Deal Matching Game’.

Instructions: Organize into groups of 3-4 students. Each group will analyze 10 scenarios that will be presented in the next several slides. Fill out the T-chart addressing the following…

1. Which New Deal program(s) is the best match in addressing the problems associated with each scenario? Write in the letter of the card. 

(*You will use each program only once).

2. Acronyms? Write in the abbreviation. 

3. Which of the 3 R’s best applies to each of the scenarios; Relief, Recovery, or Reform? (Hint, scenario #3 is the only one that has two of the R’s)

If you would like to purchase the entire Unit, 'Mystery: What Caused the Great Depression'? (FDR Matching Game is included), click HERE.

Are you looking for a new way to make the events associated with the attack on Pearl Harbor more interesting for your students? Look no further! With this no-prep digital escape game, your students can dive into a world of adventure as they uncover the truth about Pearl Harbor.

The game includes access to a website where students need to locate the keys that will unlock a set of locks. Here's where the real fun begins — each key has its own unique code, so they'll need to pay close attention and watch videos, visit websites, and read texts in order to find the information needed to win.

This game is easy to use – just send your students off on their adventure and let them do the rest. They can play either individually or in teams. In addition, this digital escape game is highly adaptable; it can be played anytime, anywhere - even at home!

Introduce some excitement into your virtual lessons and encourage your students’ critical thinking skills while still having fun with this outstanding Pearl Harbor digital escape game.

It's 1942. The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor. They plan to attack again, but you can stop them! You've got the code-breaking information, but in order to get to it you'll have to figure out the combinations to unlock the box where the decryption information is locked. Learn and review the important events surrounding the attack in this Pearl Harbor digital escape game.

Digital escape games are a fun way to start a unit, or to review at the end of a unit.  They can also be used to learn about a cultural or historical event.  This game will have your students reading carefully and paying attention to the smallest details in order to complete the challenge and unlock the locks.  

This item includes:

• Access to a website where your students can play the game
• Complete teacher's guide to playing the game
• Answer key so you can help students if they get stuck!

Your students will enjoy learning without even realizing that they are learning!  The challenging game format will get them excited about finding the code to unlock each lock - and the format of the clues for each lock will have them paying close attention - there's no way to solve the puzzles without being 100% focused! 

Topics in this game include:

• The attack on Pearl Harbor
• Roosevelt's address to Congress
• Congress votes
• American retaliation - the Doolittle Raid
• The 442nd Infantry

Prep is very easy - you just need to share the website URL with your students.  You may want to test the site before you use it, just to make sure nothing is blocked by your district.  As some of the clues can be challenging to unlock, you may choose to help your students with the trickier ones.  With the teacher guide, you will have the answer key - so you can help guide students towards the correct answer by giving them hints, or if you have limited time, you can adjust the game by reducing the number of locks they need to unlock - just give them the answer(s) to help the activity fit your time constraints.

Introduce your students to the Cold War with this interactive reading lesson, which includes:

• notes and highlights about the U.S-USSR tensions
• warm up and review questions
• click and drag activity
• discussion questions to get students to formulate an opinion

Students will be engaged during this interactive lesson, geared toward great classroom discussion and debate!

In this lesson, students will gain a frame of reference for understanding how multiple factors can influence how history is written. This resource will prompt students to be able to answer not only “What happened?” BUT-- “How do you know?” and “Why do you believe your interpretation is valid?”

Critical questions are posed;

• What kind of factors can influence how history is written?
• What is a primary source? What is a secondary source? Strengths and limitations of each?
• Does one's analysis of recent historical events differ from distant past events?

Students will explore these important questions through the study of Christopher Columbus. Through the analysis of primary & secondary sources, students will re-examine the way in which the Columbus story has been portrayed in mainstream literature. A culminating Venn diagram activity will complete the lesson.

Two Optional Extension activities include;

#1. Analyze Excerpts from Children's books; Identify the different possible ways in which the following images and/or text can influence a reader’s understanding of Christopher Columbus and the Taino culture.

#2. Debate: Should Columbus Day be Celebrated?; FOR & AGAINST arguments included.

This Resource Includes:

• Teacher Reference Guide
• 34 Google Slide Presentation & Guided Notes
• Two Optional Extension Activities: 1# Analyzing Children's Literature, #2 Debate- Should Columbus Debate continue to be celebrated?

If you liked this lesson see other related lessons here:

• The Debate on Affirmative Action: Exploring Two Sides of the Issue
• Native American Residential Schools in the U.S. (Gallery Walk Activity)
• Westward Expansion & the Transcontinental Railway: Exploring Perspectives
• U.S. Imperialism UNIT: Interactive Notebook
• The 'Bill of Rights' Time Travel

Students will use their research and context clues skills as they explore in depth 20 key figures of World War II through this online (or print) activity, as they work to find the missing pieces of information in the chart!

Key Figures include:

Adolf Hitler
Anne Frank
Benito Mussolini
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr
Bernard Montgomery
Charles de Gaulle
Chiang Kai-shek
Douglas MacArthur
Dwight Eisenhower
Erwin Rommel
Franklin D. Roosevelt
George S. Patton

...and more!

Google Compatible - just copy and assign to students. Print version also available! Answer keys included!

This inquiry based lesson will vicariously draw your students into the lives, circumstances, and struggle for social justice as they engage in the analysis of three primary sources. Specifically, this resource will have students;

• Discuss and analyze the motivations and philosophy of César Chávez
• Understand the problems faced by farmworkers in California's central valley and beyond. 
• Analyze primary sources related to the meaning and context of the Chicano Rights Movement.

The primary sources include;

1. Photograph taken on December 19, 1969 outside of a Safeway supermarket in Seattle, WA (strike and boycott led by Cesar Chavez)
2. Speech given by César Chavez to the Commonwealth Club of California on Sept 9, 1984.
3. Viva La Causa Documentary film- the grape strike and boycott led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta in the 1960s. The film shows how thousands of people from across the nation joined in a struggle for justice for the most exploited people in our country — the workers who put food on our tables.

Materials Include:

• Teacher Reference Guide
• Google (10) Slide Presentation
• Interactive Guided Notes Handout
• Economics Chart

If you liked this lesson see other related lessons here:

• American Japanese Internment
• Unit BUNDLE- Reconstruction, Jim Crow & the KKK
• Jim Crow: Separate and Unequal
• Women's Suffrage: Iron Jawed Angels (Comparing Sources)
• Civil Rights Movements: Then and Today
• The Ku Klux Klan: The Past & Today
• Proposing a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
• 'The Quotable Rebel' Activity: First Day of School

This is a great resource for students to become familiar with key terms relating to World War II. If you choose to use this as the classroom collaboration project, just share the file with your class, assign a certain number of terms/slides to each student, and allow them to work on the Google Slide together in realtime!

This resource will provide students with an engaging way to learn about the 'Bill of Rights'. In a critical reading activity, students will explore and understand the historical background of how each Constitutional Right came to exist. The provided reading is an easy to read, attention-grabbing resource. The second part of this lesson involves having students delve deeper into their analysis by completing a graphic organizer in which students will:

1. Interpret each amendment.

2. Summarize the historical background of why/how each amendment came to exist.

3. Illustrate: Find an image/gif (or draw) that best depicts the meaning behind each of the 10 amendments. Be creative!!

SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES:

Option #1: This activity will have students vacillate between two different time periods: late 1700’s and current day. The slide presentation will guide students through the ‘Bill of Rights' reading AND prompt student discussion and debate as it surrounds the 1st, 2nd, 5th, & 8th amendments.

Option #2: The Bill of Right Rank-O- Meter will have students rank their Constitutional Rights in terms of importance. Working collaboratively, students will present and defend their analysis to their classmates.

If you liked this lesson see other related 'Government' lessons here:

• Controversy and the Criminal Justice System (Eric Garner Case)
• Mock Trial: Class Preparation (MY BEST SELLER)!
• Analyzing The Declaration of Independence & the U.S. Constitution
• Post Zombie Apocalypse: What Form of Government Would YOU Create?
• YOU Be the Judge: Analyzing Supreme Court Decisions

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Students will use their research and context clues skills as they explore in depth 16 key figures of World War I through this online (or print) activity, as they work to find the missing pieces of information in the chart!

Key Figures include:

Arthur Zimmerman
Douglas Haig
Edith Cavell
Ferdinand Foch

John Pershing
Manfred von Richthofen
Mehmed V
Nicolas II

...and more!

Google Compatible - just copy and assign to students. Print version also available! Answer keys included!

The year is 1956. You & your partner have taken advantage of new economic conditions & purchased a suburban home. Upon moving to the suburbs, you find you need to fill your home with clothes & furniture. 

Use the Sears catalog provided to fill your home. The average monthly income in the USA in 1955 was $360. Let’s say you & your partner have been saving, and have a savings account of $600. The mortgage payment on your home is $60 per month, & let's say you use $40 per month for groceries. That leaves you with $500 to spend for the month!

Fill out the provided order sheet with the products you want to buy, and their prices. Do not spend more than $500, because then you will end up in debt! Beware–life events and circumstances happen, so adjust accordingly!

This Resource Includes:

• Teacher Reference Guide
• Google Slide Presentation
• Sears Catalog Student Handout
• Life Event Cards
• 1956 Sears Catalog (Printable & digital versions)

*If you would like to purchase the entire lesson CLICK BELOW!

1950s & 60s: Conformity or Rebellion (Counter-culture)?

If you liked this lesson see other related lessons & activities here:

• Protest Movements of the 1960's: E-Chapter Textbook Project
• César Chavez: Analyzing Primary Sources
• The Cold War and Vietnam
• Hot War Turns into the Cold War

This highly engaging, primary based, interactive Slide Presentation will have students examine; the underlying roots from which the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) came to exist in America, the organization's primary tactics of using intimidation & fear in fighting against social equality, and why many poor whites were recruited to join the KKK organization. Students will delve deeper by comparing the circumstances and social conditions of two former KKK leaders (one who lived during the era of Jim Crow, and the other of present day).

Class discussion, and critical thinking is promoted throughout the entire lesson.

Materials Include:

• Slide Presentation & Guided Notes Handout
• Venn Diagram- 'Comparing White Supremacy of the Past with Today'
• Primary Source Reading- 'C.P. Ellis Why I Quit the Klan'
• Teacher Answer Key Included

*All THREE lessons (Era of Reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan, & Jim Crow) is available in the BUNDLE for a discounted %.

This lesson will have students critically explore a contentious current event issue involving the cases of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The lesson will invite students to examine the context and controversy that surrounds the two cases, although emphasis will be placed on the Eric Garner case. A thought-provoking Slide Presentation & accompanying handouts will prompt students to analyze a variety of news resources; all of which frame the issue in a particular way, and offer different explanations as to the underlying causal factors in Garner’s death.

**New Google App format available now***

This lesson includes:

• One 18 Slide Presentation
• Detailed Lesson Plan
• Handouts:

1. Handout #1- Guided Notes
2. Handout #2- Current Events: America’s Criminal Justice System

Race, Criminal justice system, controversy, racism, Black Lives Matter, Colin Kaepernick

If you liked this lesson see other related 'Government' lessons here:

• Analyzing 'The Bill of Rights' (click here to open in new tab)
• Mock Trial: Truman and the Atomic Bomb (click here to open in new tab)
• Mock Trial: Class Preparation (click here to open in new tab)
• Analyzing The Declaration of Independence & the U.S. Constitution (click here to open in new tab)
• Our Constitutional Amendments: Analyzing Supreme Court Decisions (click here to open in new tab)
• Causes and Effect: Protest Movements of the 1960's
• The Affirmative Action Debate: Exploring Two Sides of the Issue

I OFTEN PROVIDE FREEBIES TO MY FOLLOWERS AND ALL NEW PRODUCTS DEBUT AT 20% OFF:

• Look for the green star next to my store logo at the top right corner of this page and click it to become a follower. This will allow you to be notified each time I debut a new product or freebie.

This lesson will have students explore & debate the five major compromises that were made at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. The delegates were charged with the task of amending the Articles of Confederation. However, they quickly decided to replace the Articles and write a new constitution. Because the delegates came from all parts of the country, they differed on a number of key issues. In order to keep the convention going and ensure ratification of the Constitution, the delegates had to compromise a number of times. As a result, the final document is sometimes described as a "bundle" of compromises.

Materials Include:

• Student Guided Notes T-Chart
• 23 Slide Presentation
• Teacher Answer Key

Supporting Questions:

• What was the purpose of the Constitutional Convention?
• What are the five compromises of the Constitution?
• How did the Constitutional Convention address the issue of slavery?

If you liked this lesson see other related 'Government' lessons here:

• Controversy and the Criminal Justice System (Eric Garner Case)
• The 'Bill of Rights' Time Travel
• Mock Trial: Class Preparation (MY BEST SELLER)!
• Post Zombie Apocalypse: What Form of Government Would YOU Create?
• YOU Be the Judge: Analyzing Supreme Court Decisions

The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 pushed the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war. This lesson will have students critically examine the complex relationship between the United States and Cuba that led to this climatic point in history. Students will delve deeper into this conflict by analyzing the differing points of view and perspectives concerning the events that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis through the study of three sources of information.

This resource is a perfect lesson for students to work independently, or for a substitute to teach!

This lesson includes:

• Teacher Reference Guide
• Reading: ‘On the Brink- From the Bay of Pigs to the Cuban Missile Crisis’
• 44 min Documentary film ‘Fidel Castro Declassified’
• 2 page set of 7 questions (analysis and comprehension)
• Venn Diagram
• American history textbook version

If you liked this lesson see other related ‘Cold War’ lessons here:

• Hot War Turns into the Cold War
• The Cold War and Vietnam
• Cold War Unit Review & Assessment
• The Korean War: A Critical Reading Activity
• Protest Movements of the 1960's: E-Chapter Textbook Project