Newscast on the Battles of the Ironclad Ships  This lesson is on the ironclad ships and the battles that took place during the Civil War.  Students will use the information from previous lessons to create a simulated newscast that takes place during an actual battle between ironclad ships.

The Underground Railroad  This lesson will integrate some of the writings about the Underground Railroad to encourage students to develop their questioning techniques for analysis of literature while furthering their knowledge of this era in American history.  As an extension of this study, students will create a class quilt to illustrate the depth of their research.

Before Brother Fought Brother: Factory vs. Plantation in the North and South
Students will list three differences and three similarities between life in the North and the South in the years before the Civil War and discuss how these differences contributed to serious disagreements between the North and South.

Before Brother Fought Brother: People and Places in the North and South
Students will list three differences and three similarities between life in the North and the South in the years before the Civil War and discuss how these differences contributed to serious disagreements between the North and South.

Before Brother Fought Brother: A Debate Against Slavery
Students will argue against slavery using evidence they gather from archival documents.

Before Brother Fought Brother: Life Before the Civil War
Students will demonstrate their knowledge of important technological innovations and social trends before the Civil War, and how they affected daily life in both the North and South.

Before Brother Fought Brother: Women's Lives Before the Civil War
Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the lives of women before the Civil War, with an emphasis on differences between the North and South (including the fact that African-American women were mostly slaves).

Southern Defense of Slaveholding
Students will analyze the causes and effects of major events of the Civil War and Reconstruction, including slavery.

Attitudes about Slavery in Franklin County, Pennsylvania
Students will compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, values, personalities, behaviors, and institutions by identifying likenesses and differences, consider multiple perspectives of various peoples in the past by demonstrating their differing motives, beliefs, interests, hopes, and fears, and evaluate major debates among historians concerning alternative interpretations of the past.

The Civil War
The student will discuss some of the social, political, and personal issues that Americans confronted during the Civil War era, use the internet to locate resources related to the Civil War and incorporate information from these resources into their own writing, define historical fiction and identify some of the techniques writers use to create good historical fiction, discuss the central issues of the Civil War from a variety of different perspectives, and share their personal reactions to what they have learned in both small-group and whole-class discussions.
 

Alabama History Timeline:  A very thorough resource.

Alabama Department of Archives & History: Timelines, activity sheets, teacher resources.

America Under James Monroe and John Quincy Adams, 1817-1828: The Monroe Doctrine and the Missouri Compromise:  This program looks at American expansion under presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams and how it affected American Indians and foreign powers.  United Streaming.

The American Civil War: The Causes of the War:  States' rights versus the constitution, tariffs, division of labor, slavery, abolitionism, and legislative mandates all led to the great war.  United Streaming.

Civil War:  This program utilizes exciting re-enactments, artifacts, and interviews to explore key battles of the Civil War, life on the Northern and Southern home fronts, and the role of African Americans in the war.  United Streaming.

The Civil War: The South Secedes and War Begins:  This program documents the beginnings of the American Civil War--the deadliest war ever undertaken in the Western Hemisphere.  The separate cultures of the North and South led to different economic views and deep-seated hostility, prompting several states to secede from the union.  United Streaming.

Suggestions for English Language Learners: 
(E/B=Entering/Beginning, D=Developing, E=Expanding)

(E/B) Students identify and label illustrated causes of the Civil War from the northern and southern viewpoints.
(D, E) Students compare/contrast causes of the Civil War from the northern and southern viewpoints using graphic organizers (i.e. Venn Diagram) with a word box of content vocabulary, using social studies texts, trade books and the Internet.
(E/B, D, E) Students make a time line of events that led to the Civil War.
(E/B, D, E) Students illustrate significant features of the Civil War.
 

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