American History for Beginners
Length: 34 weeks
Content-type: Text-based, Interactive content
Age/Grade: Kindergarten – 2nd Grade
View a sample of American History for Beginners
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How to Use This Course
Through engaging text, pictures, crafts, maps, and more, early elementary students can discover the beginnings of the United States of America, from Columbus to the Bill of Rights. Weekly lessons provide the material you need to bring the past to life, and plenty of supplemental links to free resources around the Internet share ideas to keep your students engaged throughout the week with what they have learned.
Course Introduction
This thirty-four week study of early American history begins with Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World in 1492 and ends with the creation of the Bill of Rights in 1791–about 300 years! My aim is to spark your child’s interest in our amazing history through the use of text, vocabulary words, pictures, crafts, maps, games, speeches, and even some recipes. Your child will learn about the founding of Jamestown, Pocahontas, the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, as well as the role of faith in the Colonies, problems in the birth of our government, and the history of the American flag.
Most of the weekly history lesson will be contained in the text. Links will be provided to round out your student’s learning and can be used at your discretion. Some lessons will have printables, but those will mostly be color sheets, mazes, and puzzles, not worksheets. The best way to learn history is to talk about it. Read the lesson with your child, do the extras that are provided, and then talk about the who, what, where, when, why, and how. Occasionally comprehension questions will be provided, but again, those can be done aloud.
Our country has a rich, colorful history! I hope you and your child together learn more about this incredible land we call home.
Week 1: Christopher Columbus
Week 2: New World Explorers: Ponce de Leon, Amerigo Vespucci, and Hernando De Soto
Week 3: Sir Walter Raleigh and Roanoke Island
Week 4: Founding of Jamestown
Week 5: Powhatan, Pocahontas, and Captain John Smith
Week 6: The New England Colonies
Week 7: Pilgrims, Puritans, and Separatists
Week 8: William Bradford and the Mayflower Compact
Week 9: Native American Tribes
Week 10: The Pilgrims and Thanksgiving Day
Week 11: Women in the New World—Anne Hutchinson
Week 12: The Middle Colonies
Week 13: Southern Colonies
Week 14: House of Burgesses
Week 15: Life in the Colonies
Week 16: Religion in the Colonies
Week 17: The French and Indian War
Week 18: Problems in the New World/Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty
Week 19: Patrick Henry
Week 20: The Boston Tea Party
Week 21: First Continental Congress
Week 22: “The Shot Heard Round the World” and Paul Revere
Week 23: American Revolution, Part 1
Week 24: American Revolution, Part 2
Week 25: Famous Americans—George Washington
Week 26: Famous Americans—Thomas Paine and Common Sense
Week 27: Declaration of Independence
Week 28: Victory at Yorktown
Week 29: History of the American Flag
Week 30: Articles of Confederation—the first U.S. Constitution
Week 31: Shay’s Rebellion and the Constitutional Convention
Week 32: James Madison and Thomas Jefferson
Week 33: First U.S. President and the New Government
Week 34: The Bill of Rights
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