History Teacher Resource New Year's Sale!

I hope you have all enjoyed your holiday vacation so far, but school will begin again soon (if it hasn't already), so we're ringing in 2014 with a big sale! Starting New Year's Eve and ending New Year's Day (December 31 - January 1) every single teaching resource in the Students of History store will be 20% off!

This includes the big bundles of every Every World History Resource for Life and the similar Every US History Resource for Life! Plus lots of great unit bundles and more! These are some of the most engaging, interactive resources for teaching social studies that you will find and will make for a great start to the 2014 school year!

Happy New Year!

History of Santa Claus and Christmas in America Common Core Reading

This entertaining Common Core-aligned reading activity features a 1 page article on the history of Santa Claus in America. It explains how the image of Saint Nicholas changed from Europe to America and how the famous poem "The Night Before Christmas" and Thomas Nast's cartoons came to transform Saint Nicholas into the image of Santa Claus that we enjoy today.

Following the article is a set of reading comprehension questions that students can answer to demonstrate their understanding. An answer key for this is provided. You can download this for your classes by clicking here!

Thanks for looking and happy holidays!

Teacher Resource Cyber Monday Sale!

Happy holidays, everyone! To celebrate the start of the gift-giving season, today and tomorrow will be a store-wide Cyber Sale with every teaching resource 28% off! Be sure to use the promo code "Cyber" at check out to get the full discount!

Everything including my two Complete World History Resource Bundle and Complete US History Resource bundle are on sale! This is the absolute cheapest these 2 resources will ever be as the price goes up as more teaching materials are added.

Happy shopping!

New Magic Motion PowerPoint on the Good and Bad Emperors of Rome

This amazing download brings the good, bad, and downright crazy Roman Emperors to life in your classroom! It features 8 moving, blinking, smiling Roman Emperors that will look around your room and absolutely enthrall your students.

Each slide includes information about the emperor as an embedded  video of their marble bust plays to hold your students rapt attention. The slides cover the 5 Good Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pious, Marcus Aurelius) and 3 of the worst (Caligula, Nero, and Commodus). After analyzing the notes, student determine on which side of a graphic organizer the information should go.

This can definitely be one of your students' most memorable lessons. The preview pictures definitely do not do it justice. Everything you need is included along with an easy to follow directions page, the PowerPoint, 8 videos, and graphic organizer!

 

You can download this amazing lesson for your classes today just by clicking here. You can also see many additional Magic Portrait lessons by clicking here including free previews!

Thanks for looking!

Freshly Updated Lesson Plan Unit Bundles!

A few weeks ago, one teacher sent me a comment that she loved all of the resources in a bundle but wanted some guidance on how they all fit together. I couldn't believe I never thought to include that! Since then, I've been hard at work redoing every unit bundle in my store. I'm finally super close to being finished!

Each one now has a unit guide with teacher directions and then all files numbered by the day they are used within that unit. And I made sure to include multiple resources for each day just like you would use in your classes - PowerPoints, Common Core activities, readings, projects, and more!

Here's just a few - if you click on each one you can download a preview of the unit plan and directions from the TpT page!

The Civil War & Reconstruction

The 13 Colonies

The Roaring 20's and Great Depression

The Age of Exploration and Discovery

The Renaissance & Reformation 

The American Revolution

The Cold War

Plus even more that you can download from here on Imperialism, the French Revolution, World War I, Industrial Revolution, and more! If you ever purchased one of these in the past, be sure to go back and re-download it for free and you will get all the new resources that have been added!

Thanks for looking!

Entire World War II Lesson Plan Unit Bundle

This is the absolute ultimate bundle of lesson plan materials for World War II! In one super-organized folder you will receive 8 PowerPoints, 7 student projects and cooperative learning activities, 8 Common Core readings and worksheets, and a unit test with answer key!

Imagine having 2 weeks to a month completely planned out, FULL of visually-engaging, interactive activities every day!

All of the following TpT resources are INCLUDED with this purchase:

1. Rise of Dictators Pop Up Figures Lesson Plan
2. Battles and Events of World War II PowerPoint Lesson
3. Battles of World War II Radio Show Project
4. WWII Nazi Nuremberg Trial Simulation Lesson Plan
5. Countries of World War II Idea Web
6. Analyzing Adolf Hitler's Speeches Worksheet
7. The American Homefront During World War II
8. Hiroshima and Nagasaki 2x Atomic Bomb Survivor Worksheet
9. Turning Point Battles in World War II Worksheet
10. Charles Lindbergh US Isolationism and World War II Speech Worksheet
11. Japanese Internment Camps Primary Source Reading & Worksheet
12. The Holocaust: Background Through Liberation PowerPoint
13. The Double V - African-Americans' Experiences During World War II Lesson
14. World War II Mexican-American Story - The Pied Piper of Saipan
15. War Crimes Trials PowerPoint Presentation

Plus all of the resources in the World War II Teaching Resource Bundle are included as well!

     

PLUS even more great resources that are not on TpT, including a mapping the war PowerPoint and test! Also included is a simple directions page explaining pacing and the best way to use all of the resources over about 12 class periods.

You can download this awesome unit in one great zipped folder by clicking here!

Thanks for looking!

Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire PowerPoint Lesson Plan

This amazing, visually-rich PowerPoint presentation covers the great Genghis Khan and the rise and decline of the Mongol Empire. It makes for an excellent lesson plan on the Mongols for any middle or high school class!

    

Each slide features amazing images of the Mongolian steppe, traditional yurts (gers), and more, plus easy-to-follow notes based off state and national standards. Topics covered include: Temujin's birth and rise, war strategies, conquests, the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan, the Pax Mongolica, reforms, khanates, legacies, and more!

   

This is a wonderful PowerPoint that will have your students engaged, focused, and excited to learn. It concludes with an embedded Youtube video about Genghis Khan and a Common Core-aligned exit ticket.

You can download it for use in your classes by cling here!

New Holocaust and Genocide Lesson Plan Resources

I used to always hate teaching about the Holocaust and other genocides in history. It's just so sad and tragic when I like to keep my classes fun and engaging. It's so important though and can also teach valuable lessons about bravery, standing up for what is right, and the consequence of inaction in the face of evil.

Over the past couple years I developed a set of holocaust lesson plans that get students thinking about these important topics. They are all included in this downloadable Holocaust and Genocide Unit Bundle.

This download includes a wonderful set of Common Core resources to teach not just about the Holocaust, but other genocides throughout history, including: Stalin's Great Purge, the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Darfur and the Armenian genocide.

Included in this bundle is a PowerPoint on the Holocaust that covers from the rise of the Nazis in Germany through the Nuremberg Trials. Each slide includes gripping photos and the tragic history of the Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht, the Final Solution and the camps themselves. The notes are also easy-to-follow and focused in on essential understandings.

Also included is a fantastic lesson plan on genocides in history that incorporates Common Core strategies, cooperative learning, and higher-level thinking. It includes 6 one page readings on genocides in history (the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, Stalin's Great Purge, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Darfur) along with a chart students complete on each genocide's info. This can be completed as a station activity, in groups, or individually.

Additional projects, readings, worksheets and more are all included in this download! Now, I look forward to the amazing lessons I can impart to my students and our deep, meaningful class discussions. I hope that these can do the same for you and your classes!

Thanks for looking!

The History of Halloween Lesson Plan Worksheet

Every year around Halloween I love to teach my history classes about the History of Haloween as a holiday and its traditions.  This great handout tells the history of Halloween from its Celtic, Pagan, and early Christian beginnings up through its mainstream popularity in the United States today.

It includes the historic background to many popular Halloween traditions, including jack-o-lanterns, trick-or-treating, costumes, and more. Following the 1 page reading, students answer a set of CCSS-aligned comprehension and opinion questions before creating their own traditional Halloween postcard based off several examples shown on the handout. An answer key is included.

Students always love this type of interesting reading as opposed to the usual things they tend to receive in their classes. You can download this to use in your classes by clicking here!

Thanks for looking and Happy Halloween!!

One Year Anniversary Sale!

Today marks the 1 year anniversary for the Students of History store on TpT! As a thank you to everyone who has supported Students of History, we're having a sale on every resource in the store! Be sure to look out for more deals and giveaways all week long!

New Products Just in Time for My 1 Year Anniversary!

One year ago next week marks the 1 year anniversary of my Students of History store on TpT! I had heard about Teachers Pay Teachers a few times from different people, but was wary of how much of a market there really was for teaching resources online. I had a newborn baby though and was looking for some way to bring in a little extra cash, so when my mom emailed me a link to a CNN story about how one seller made a million dollars, so I thought I'd finally give it a try!

It's been a lot of time and effort to polish up the many resources I've created over my 11 years teaching, but also very rewarding. Just knowing how many teachers out there are using products I've made and benefiting, is really fantastic.

To celebrate the anniversary, I'm planning on lots of promotions, sales, and giveaways next week! I've also added a few products recently to get up to 250 total teaching resources! Here's a sample of just a few of the most recent:

Comparing the 13 Colonies Chart
This fantastic graphic organizer worksheet includes 29 characteristics, people, and colonies that students must correctly match to the correct colonial region: either the New England colonies, Middle Colonies, or Southern Colonies.

Analyzing Bill of Rights Scenarios Worksheet
This worksheet includes abbreviated versions of America's Bill of Rights for students to read and a set of short scenarios that students must analyze. Each scenario describes a violation of one of the first ten Amendments in a way that students can identify with and understand. They then refer back to the Bill of Rights to match it to the correct one. Finally, students answer a question regarding their opinion on whether our rights are absolute or can change over time.

Jonathan Edwards - "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" Analysis and "Students in the Hands of an Angry Principal" Project
This fantastic and fun assignment has students read a selection from the famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by the Colonial-era theologian Jonathan Edwards. Next are a few short analysis questions on the sermon before students must write their own speech titled, "Students in the Hands of an Angry Principal". The directions explain how students must identify the purpose of Edwards' sermon and then write a speech imagining what a new principal for your school might say with the same outlook.

Reasons for the Fall of Rome Sorting Activity
This is a great cooperative learning or individual activity in which students analyze 20 reasons for the Fall of the Roman Empire and match them to the category that best describes it (Social, Political, Economic, or Military). After classifying each reason for Rome's decline, students analyze their results to determine what had the biggest and smallest impact on Rome's ultimate collapse. I like to have my students work together on this so that they can argue and defend their choices as each is open to interpretation. However, an answer key is also provided for your convenience.

Plus, LOTS more amazing resources in the store! Thank you so much for looking and happy teaching!

New PowerPoint Lesson on the Founding of Christianity in the Roman Empire

This wonderful, visually-engaging PowerPoint lesson follows early Christianity in the Roman Empire and its growth to becoming the dominant religion in the region.

It begins with a description of Roman religion then details Jesus, Paul, and the reasons why Christianity was able to grow despite early persecution in Rome.

Each slide includes fantastic visuals, graphics, and easy-to-follow notes on essential topics based on state standards!

   

You can download this amazing resource to use in your classroom today by clicking here!

Thanks for looking!

Fantastic Constitutional Convention PowerPoint for Constitution Day

This beautiful PowerPoint lesson covers everything students need to know about the creation of the American Constitution based on state and CCSS. It is awesome to use every September 17th for Constitution Day or during your unit on the founding of America!

The PowerPoint includes a warm up on the founders, then moves on to the major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and how they were exposed by Shay's Rebellion in 1786. Further slides explore the major players at the Philadelphia (or Constitutional) Convention, the plans, major compromises, and structure of the Constitution.

It includes fantastic visuals and easy-to-follow notes, along with a warm-up and exit ticket for students to complete.

You can download this fantastic lesson for any range of students by clicking here!

September 11th Timeline Lesson Plan

I think one of the most important lessons I teach every year is my lesson on the events of September 11th. It so profoundly changed America and is so tragic and sad, but also filled with stories of incredible bravery and heroism. Some years I teach it on the anniversary regardless of my pacing, while others I have taught it toward the end of the year.

Either way, the best lesson I developed to teach about 9/11 was this cooperative learning timeline lesson plan. It truly makes for an amazing, thorough lesson on September 11th.

Your class is divided into 7 groups who each work together to put together a timeline for one aspect of the 9/11 tragedy. This  The 7 groups are:

• American Airlines Flight 11
• United Airlines Flight 175
• American Airlines Flight 77
• United Airlines Flight 93
• President Bush
• The World Trade Center Towers
• The Pentagon

After each group has analyzed their assigned minute-by-minute events, you lead a PowerPoint presentation of the whole day and each group shares their events, so that the class get get a true perspective of the chaos and confusion most Americans felt that morning.

Finally, an interview assignment is included for students to conduct after your lesson to get a better perspective of what happened.

This is a truly powerful lesson that can be download by clicking here. I promise, it will have a lasting impact on your students.

The download includes the 7 sets of timelines, a complete timeline of the whole day, a PowerPoint that matches the timelines, the interview assignment, and 4 videos of footage from 9/11.

Thank you for looking!

50th Anniversary March on Washington Sale!

To start off this week-long remembrance of the 1963 March on Washington, This fantastic lesson plan inspired by the "Freedom Riders" will be 50% off!

Included are 7 one page readings on major events of the Civil Rights Movement (Brown Vs. The Board of Ed., The Little Rock 9, The Montgomery Bus Boycott, etc) that students read as they travel around the room.

As your students stop and read about each event, they complete a graphic organizer and map each event. This is a great activity to get students moving around the room. It can also be completed in groups, or used for student presentations. A completed example is included as well as several additional ideas on how to present the lesson.

This is an awesome lesson for your Civil Rights Movement unit, gets kids moving around the room, while also working on their reading skills!

Be sure to look out for more Civil Rights Resource deals all week long!

March on Washington 50th Anniversary

This coming August 28th marks the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, one of the largest political rallies for civil rights in world history. There are a lot of events going on in Washington, DC this weekend to commemorate the anniversary.

Here is some rare footage of the event, including marchers, speeches, and of Martin Luther King, Jr:



To commemorate the event this week, be on the look out for giveaways, sales, and specials on all of my Civil Rights Movement lesson plans and teaching resources!

Thanks for stopping by!

Huge Back to School Sale

I know some teachers go back in a week while others are back already, but the biggest sale of the year - Back to School 2013 is this Sunday & Monday - August 18-19!

Every single lesson plan, teaching resource, PowerPoint, project, worksheet, etc will be 28% off! 

That's going to result in the lowest prices ever for some resources! For example you can save $36 on this Bundle of Every American History Resource that is already just 1/3 the price of products individually! The same for this Bundle of Every World History Resource! Both of these products will rise in price as new products are added, so this is the absolute lowest they will ever be! By downloading now, however, you get every resource that will ever be added to the store - FOREVER!

There's so many more amazing resources for your World and American History students available! These include:

1. Breathtaking, engaging PowerPoints in 3D!
2. Already discounted resource bundles that will be discounted even further!
3. Best-selling Warm Up Questions to start every day of the year with a CCSS focus!
4. Fun Craftivities for younger students!
5. Newer resources like this fun Marriage Counselling for the Union sheet, this great Emmett Till QR Code Project that integrates technology, or these Extra Credit Restroom Passes!
6. Plus so much more in my Students of History store all for 28% off!

All resources are of the absolute highest quality, have been used in my diverse classes successfully and proven to be highly engaging and reach all students. I promise you will not be let down. These amazing lessons can save you countless hours this year coming up with new strategies to engage your students.

Start looking through the store now and I know you'll find resources you'll love!

Excellent Tool to Limit Students Time Out of the Classroom

If your students are anything like mine, they are constantly asking to use the restroom or to get a drink of water. I was always hesitant to say no because you never do 100% know when a student really needs to go or just wants to check his/her phone or meet up with their friends in the bathroom.

A few years ago this problem stopped for me though! I created these extra credit bathroom passes for my students and they are absolutely one of the best tools I have ever used for my classes! If you have an issue with students constantly wanting to use the bathroom, I promise this will solve the problem immediately!

I've done the distribution for these a few different ways at the beginning of the quarter. Some years and for some classes, I gave each student 3 or 4 depending on the period (those classes after lunch usually require more legitimate bathroom trips than in the morning).

Other years we played games the first week such as this one where students earn passes by naming as many people from the video as they can:

Either way, the passes good for either 5 or 10 extra credit points (both are provided) or one trip to the bathroom. When a student needs to use the restroom or get a drink, he or she turns in a pass. However many are left at the end of the semester, they get that much in extra credit!

When I implemented these several years ago, my students' "bathroom" trips dropped dramatically. The best thing is you never have to refuse anyone! It works like a charm and great for classroom management. Your students will be in the room and on task longer so that you can teach them more effectively. It's an incredible classroom management tool!

You'll find that those constant wanderers never leave the room! And if you have students who do use them up and are doing poorly in your class, think of the ammo you have for a parent conference! "Well, if only he hadn't gone to the bathroom so much, he could have 20 points extra credit."

You can find passes for 5 and 10 points here!

Thanks for looking!

Renaissance and Reformation Lesson Plan Bundle

This brand-new amazing, comprehensive Renaissance and Reformation Unit Bundle includes a wide array of resources to teach your World History units on the Renaissance and Reformation!

All of the following TpT resources are included:

1. A gorgeous PowerPoint on Renaissance Art, Literature, and Philosophies

2. A creative, Pop-Up Notes and PowerPoint on the Protestant Revolution  

3. This brand-new Renaissance Art Show and Newspaper Project

     

4. A reading and worksheet to help students Compare the Beliefs of Catholics & Protestants

5. This fun and hysterical Snoop Dogg Renaissance, Reformation, Discovery, & Monarchs Cloze Reading

6. An interactive Am I Machiavellian? Quiz Based on The Prince

Plus a map activity on Europe during the 1500's and a full test with multiple versions and answer keys not found on TpT!

Priced individually, all of these resources would cost over $16! This Renaissance and Reformation Lesson Plan Bundle will save you money and countless hours of preparation!

Six Strategies ANY Teacher Can Use to Increase Student Engagement in History Classes

1. Engage Students the Minute They Walk In!
One of the best strategies to get students on task immediately is to have a daily warm up activity that activates prior knowledge and connects to that day's lesson. Here are 120 amazing daily warm up activities for US History that you can use every day of the school year!

For your World History classes, here is a PowerPoint download of 150 Warm Up Activities that you can use all year long!


2. Make Your Presentations Come Alive With Movement & 3D!
Now matter how engaging your PowerPoints are, at some point they are still just pictures and text. What will really WOW your students and knock them off their seats is when the pictures come alive - blinking, smiling, looking around the room like the "magic portraits" in Harry Potter.

I have created a series of these for World and US History that will truly amaze your students. There are amazing, complete lessons on The French Revolution with 24 slides and 9 Magic Portraits, a great Founding Fathers of America PowerPoint with 7 Magic Portraits, a 9-slide Philosophers of the Enlightenment "Magic Portrait" Lesson, and many more!

Make your Presentations in 3D! Everyone knows that the biggest summer blockbusters now are all in IMAX or 3D, so why not engage your students with the same strategies? I have a whole category of 3D lessons that can be downloaded by clicking here!

You can even purchase a class set of 3D glasses for your students here!

Then you can use simple anaglyph 3D pictures to create visually stunning, 3D lessons that will come alive in your classroom! You can download this fantastic 3D lesson on the Age of Imperialism, features beautiful slides like these:

Or for your US History classes, here is a similarly engaging 3D lesson on the Transcontinental Railroad! Over 22 slides, it tells the amazing story of the building of the First Transcontinental Railroad from the Homestead Act through the hammering of the Golden Spike at Promontory Point, Utah. The material is based on state and common core standards of US History.

4. Make Your Worksheets Fun!
Reviewing vocabulary and reinforcing concepts is something that is important for students, but can obviously become monotonous. I was thinking about ways to make my review worksheets more engaging for students when I came across a "Snoop Dogg Translator". I ran my CLOZE reading guides through the translator, than added my own flourishes to create these hilarious review guides that students go crazy for!

  

For US History, you can download a Snoop Review Bundle that includes all 4 Snoop Dogg (or Snoop Lion) review guides on early America from the colonies through the Civil War. Each is also available as an individual download as well.

For World History, this Snoop Dogg review covers the World at 1500, Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Discovery, and Absolute Monarchs all in one!

5. Add The Thrill of Competition to your Assessments!
The Vocabulary Football League (VFL) has helped my students increase their vocabulary skills and performance on our state tests as much if not more than anything else. My students actually look forward to these quizzes!

After being placed on teams, each week they take a simple 10-question vocabulary quiz based on words we have covered that week. Add up the team's score and that's it!

I keep standings on the board and I'm telling you, the kids love it! I have students encouraging each other to study! When it's coming from them and not the teacher, you know it's working!

6. Have Students Act It Out & Perform!
This World History lesson on Imperialism has students analyzing one of 8 cartoons from the Age of Imperialism and creating short scenes to act out for the class. In order to act out the scenes, students must think critically about the information presented and they almost always create memorable scenes that will help the rest of your students remember the concepts.

I have my US History students act out this short scene from a contemporary play about the settlement of Virginia colony. In the scene, a captain tells them all sorts of outlandish lies to entice two men to move to Virginia. It is a fantastic way to introduce students to reasons why people would come to the New World.

ALL of these amazing resources can be used to bring your classroom alive! Hope you all have a wonderful school year!