
Western Expansion
FOR TEACHERS: Western Expansion FREE Use Lesson Plans, Classroom Activities, Projects, Simulations, and Units, before and after the Civil War, for use in the classroom
Unit: Western Expansion, a unit plan, 52 pages
Project: Western Expansion Project - Group activity, Searching for Gold, Pioneers Traveling by Wagon, Member of Cherokee Nation Forced to Oklahoma, Slave Escaping from South Carolina to New York, with templates for student use. Clear instructions.
Projects: Western Expansion - Projects, handouts, pretest
Projects: Western Expansion Projects
Unit: Western Expansion Unit, Free lesson plans with activities 8th grade
Unit: Western Expansion, 8th grade unit
Growing Pains, Western Expansion
Western Expansion Crash Course #24 (video)
Free LESSON PLANS with Classroom activities
A New Nation and The Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase 1803, lesson plans
Thomas Jefferson - Proud Patriot, Founding Father, lesson plan
Thomas Jefferson on the Sedition Act, lesson plan
Manifest Destiny
What is Manifest Destiny? (4 pages lesson plan, 9 pages student resources, museumca)
Manifest Destiny Assignment Rubic
Manifest Destiny lesson plan, 8th grade
Mexican American War and Manifest Destiny (mrdonn)
Lewis and Clark 1804
Lewis and Clark, lesson plan with activities
Lewis and Clark, teaching units and lesson plans
On This Day with Lewis and Clark, lesson plan
American Indians and Western Expansion 1831-1877
American Indians and Western Expansion - What happens when cultures collide? Teaching Guide (Scoll down to find very useful information, photos, and video clips)
Trail of Tears - Indian Removal
Texas Revolution 1835-36
Causes of the Texas Revolution, Debate, with handouts
The Texas Revolution, lesson plans
Texas Revolution lesson plans (also Spanish Texas and Mexican Texas)
Texas Revolution - Remember the Alamo (for kids)
The Alamo
Lesson Plans and Resources for Teachers
Oregon Trail, Wagon Trains - 1840-1880
Simulation: Decision Making on a Wagon Train
Free Complete Termatic Unit - Oregon Trail with activities
If you were a pioneer on the Oregon Trail, lesson plan
Headin' West - 2-3 weeks activity
Get Ready:
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Risk vs. Gain - Brainstorm a list of reasons why people would be willing to risk everything to move west
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Photo Analysis, Painting Analysis - Ask students: What do you think these early pioneers brought with them?
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Pack your bags - Wagon Trains. Work in groups. Have groups decide what they will need to bring in one wagon per family. Watch your weight!
Forgotten Stories of the Oregon Trail, free lesson plans and activities
Pioneer Life and the Frontier
A Child's Life on the Frontier - lesson plan, downloads, activities
Pioneers Find Fun, lesson plan
PBS - Frontier House- Resources- Lesson Plans
Frontier Life in Iowa Lesson Plans
Life at a Frontier Fort, lesson plan
Life on the Tennessee Frontier, lesson plan and activities
Western Expansion, Life in the West, lesson plan using primary resources
Mexican-American War 1846-48
Texas Annexation and the Mexican-American War, lesson plan
Mexican-American War lesson plans
Growth of a Nation - Mexican American War, free lesson plans, classroom activities
The Mexican American War on YouTube (many)
The Mexican American War - background, event leading up to the Civil War
Mexican-American War 1846, background and storyboard activity for students
Essential Question: After the expansion of US territory as a result of the Mexican-American War, was the Civil War inevitable?
California Gold Rush, 1848
Activity: Gold Seekers Brochure - Entice miners west so that you can benefit from their work, with handouts
California Gold Rush, lesson plan
To The California Gold Rush, lesson plan and activities
California Gold Rush lesson plan with six video clips
The Gold Rush - Simulation for the Classroom
Gold Mining Camp - Simulation for the Classroom
Outlaws, Law and Order
Outlaws of the American West, lesson plan using primary resources
Effects of Western Expansion
Effects of Western Expansion - takeaways
How did the US get so big? The effects of Western Expansion, lesson plan
The Homestead Act 1862 and Land Use
Learning About the Homestead Act, lesson plan
Land Use, mini-unit, 5 lesson plans
Mr. Donn's Lesson Idea Critical Thinking The Homestead Act gave 160 acres to whomever agreed to settle in the west and work their land. Speculate why the offer was only 160 acres. |
The Transcontinental Railroad 1869 & the Pony Express
The Pony Express, lesson plan using primary resources
I Hear the Locomotives: The Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad
Chinese Immigrants on the Trans-Continental Railroad, lesson plan using primary resources
The Transcontinental Railroad, lesson plan
Western Expansion, Native Americans and the Railroads, after the Civil War, lesson plans
Cattle Drives and Cowboys 1865-1885
What changed ranching in the old west? lesson plan
Lesson Plans - Create a branding symbol, story map, cause and effect, photo analysis
Cowboys and Cattle Drives 1865-1885
Western Expansion after the Civil War
Reasons for Western Expansion
Games and More
Choose Your Own Adventure from over 70 different classroom activities and possible assignments
For Kids - Free learning modules, interactive games, meaningful activities
Games: Many Interactives and Games, flash games have been removed
Free Learning Modules
Index of Free Learning Modules for Western Expansion
A New Nation - Jefferson and the New Republic
War of 1812 & The Star Spangled Banner
Life on the Oregon Trail, Wagon Trains
Indian Removal, Trail of Tears
The Alamo 1836, The Texas Revolution
Mexican - American War 1846-1848
Communication - US Postal Service, Pony Express, the Telegraph and Morse Code

Explore American History
For Kids and Teachers
Creating a New Nation
- New World Explorers
- Native Americans in Olden Times
- The 13 Colonies
- Road to Revolution
- The American Revolution
Creating a New Government
Western Expansion
- Jefferson and theNew Republic
- Louisiana Purchase
- Lewis & Clark
- War of 1812
- Monroe Doctrine
- Manifest Destiny
- The Oregon Trail
- Wagon Trains
- Pioneer Life & Frontier Life
- Trail of Tears
- The Alamo 1836, Texas Revolution
- Mexican - American War 1846-1848
- Gold Rush
Brink of the Storm and the Civil War
- Events Leading up to the American Civil War
- The Industrial Revolution
- American Civil War - 1861-1865
- People of the Civil War - Lincoln, Davis, Grant, Lee, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Dred Scott and more
- 13th Amendment ending slavery forever
- Reconstruction, Carpetbaggers & Scalawags
- 14th & 15th Amendments
Growth in the West
The Nation Grows
World War I, The Great War
The Roaring 20s
The Great Depression
World War II
Slavery in America
Segregation for Kids - Civil Rights
US Holidays
QUIZZES - Interactive, with Answers for Student Review
For Teachers
Free for Classroom Use - American History Powerpoints and Presentations
American History Lesson Plans, Units, Activities, Projects for Teachers