Below you will find web links, extra printables, and other resources to use along with the American History units in the Layers of Learning curriculum.
American History is sold as a single volume and as individual units, which are like chapters within the American History book.
Thirteen Colonies
- Thirteen Colonies YouTube Playlist
- Mr. Donn: 13 Colonies for Kids
- Hundreds of lessons and interactive resources about the 13 colonies
- Scholastic Dear America Resources, with quizzes, recipes, and more
- CORE Knowledge Textbook about the 13 Colonies
- 13 Colonies Quiz
- Matching Map Game to practice the names of the 13 Colonies
- Article about games played in the colonies
- AP/College US History from Khan Academy – Unit 2: Period 2: 1607-1754
American Revolution
- American Revolution YouTube Playlist
- Explore an animated map of the Revolutionary War
- View a set of maps that were created during the Revolutionary War period
- Read an article written for kids from Britannica about the Revolution
- A list of battle sites you can visit (this includes Civil War sites as well)
- View an interactive timeline of the Revolution
- How to draw the Betsy Ross flag
- American Revolution worksheets for grades 1-6
- Play interactive games from US history including “For Crown or Colony”
- “The American Revolution” documentary by Ken Burns
Expanding Nation
- View the original copy of the Constitution and read the transcribed version
- A hardback, bound copy of the Constitution to purchase
- Benjamin Franklin’s speech at the close of the Constitutional Convention
- How to draw George Washington
- How to draw a liberty torch from Dragoart
- The Birth of the Constitution with Charlie Brown
- How to draw George Washington
- Pun Chi, An Appeal to Congress from a Chinese railroad worker (A primary source for Manifest Destiny)
- Speech by Tenskwatawa, a Shawnee prophet (A primary source for Manifest Destiny)
- Speech by Pablo de Guerra, a Mexican American and California senator (A primary source for Manifest Destiny)
- Pioneer journal by James Bryant, a Welsh immigrant (a primary source for Manifest Destiny)
- Read this first hand account of William Henry Singleton, who was born a slave in 1835
- Listen to negro spirituals from the slaves of the American South
Civil War
- YouTube playlist for Civil War
- Inflation calculator for 1860 to today
- Full text of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act
- Article about the abolitionist resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act
- Read the Chief Justice’s opinion on the Dred Scott case
- Mock trial from the National Park Service you can run about the Dred Scott case
- Library of Congress stories from the Civil War
- Civil War stories from America Comes Alive
- Letters from Antietam from the National Park Service
- Read an eyewitness account of the Battle of Gettysburg
- Animal Mascots of the Civil War (from the City of Alexandria)
- An article about the economic advantages of emancipation following the Civil War
Wild West
- Wild West YouTube Playlist
- Visit this site about Oregon Pioneers
- Browse this repository of pioneer journals
- A guide of places to go to visit the Oregon Trail from the National Park Service
- Visit the website of the Golden Spike National Historic Site
- The history of barbed wire in the West
- Account of the Rock Springs Massacre from Chinese survivors
- An account of the Navajo Long Walk from the National Museum of the American Indian
- Eyewitness account of the Massacre at Wounded Knee
- Chief Joseph’s 1877 surrender speech
Gilded Age
- Visit Gilded Age mansions in this online tour
- Take a virtual tour of Ellis Island
- Read Teddy Roosevelt’s First Annual Message to Congress
- Senstational newspaper article about the explosion of the Maine in Havana