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!

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.

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!

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)

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!

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.

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.

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!

A creative idea for an open project that gets kids thinking and giving back. Great to use during a unit on civics and government. I had great success with this project in my classroom. It is best to not use it at the beginning of the year. This is a handout that includes a description of the project, ideas, a simple rubric, and a place for students to write their proposals and for you, the teacher, to approve of before they begin.

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.

Students will create a menu complete with appetizers, main course items, and desserts. Each menu item should reflect your students' understanding of how the Columbian Exchange changed the world, specifically the world of food. Includes a handout and a rubric. This resource will be a part of "Age of Exploration Part 3."

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

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 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.