American Revolution Era Themes

Jeff Gumz -- Thomas Paine Activity No. 1 (Year 1)

Green Bay East High School teacher Jeff Gumz created various classroom activities focusing on Thomas Paine and his role in the American Revolution. Activity No. 1 asks students to read selections from "Common Sense" regarding America's Independence and answer questions interpreting those readings.

Jeff Gumz -- Thomas Paine Activity No. 2 (Year 1)

Green Bay East High School teacher Jeff Gumz created various classroom activities focusing on Thomas Paine and his role in the American Revolution. Activity No. 2 asks students to read selections from "Common Sense" attaching hereditary monarchy and try to interpret what Paine was thinking.

Maxine Thomas -- Oneida Involvement at Valley Forge (Year 1)

Oneida Elementary School teacher Maxine Thomas' lesson plan asks her 4th grade students to study specific persons who were involved in our nation's Revolutionary War efforts at Valley Forge. Activities will include students cooking cornbread to learn how meals had to be planned for our troops at that site.

Sarah Pope -- Declaration of Independence (Year 1)

Appleton Madison Middle School teacher Sarah Pope created lesson plans that help students explore the American Declaration of Independence within the context of world history. Students will read both secondary and primary sources of history, analyze images, paintings, documents, photos, timelines and maps, and read and explore events from different points of view -- for example the colonies perspective on independence vs. how the American Revolution was view in England. Students will use simulation and role-play to act out various parts of the unit, for example the signing of the Magna Carta. They will create a foldable book that illustrates the six types of governments in the world and then also traces the path of the roots of our republic up to how the Declaration planted the seeds of freedom in other nations around the world.