American History Classes:

• Core Subject - American Revolutionary War
   
  • 8^th Grade American History PASS Standard 3: The student will examine and explain the causes of the American Revolution and the ideas and interests involved in forging the revolutionary movement.
  • 8^th Grade American History PASS Standard 4: The student will evaluate and describe the factors which affected the course of the American Revolution and contributed to the American victory.
  • 8^th Grade American History PASS Standard 5: The student will examine the significance of and describe the institutions and practices of government created during the American Revolution and how they were revised between 1787 and 1815 to create the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
   
• Day 1 - First Continental Congress
   
  1. The students will receive the following prompt: You are a prominent lawyer and colonist living in Boston. You are fed up with the tyrannical British government. You have just heard about the Intolerable Acts. You are invited to a join the Second Continental Congress. With a partner draft a list of complaints (5) toward the British Government and list actions (at least one) that you and your partner recommend the Continental Congress to take against the British. They will have 15 minutes to complete this using the following websites:
      
     1. http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/revolutionarywartimeline.htm
         
     2. http://www.americanrevolution.com/EventsLeadingTo.htm
         
     3. http://www.history.com/content/fourthofjuly/history-of-july-4th/american-revolutionary-war
      
  2. After students come up with their lists, the class will come together and compare what the other groups have done. They will put results up on the Promethean Board and discuss and vote on which ones that they (the Continental Congress) wants to approve. They will have 15 minutes for this.
      
  3. Discuss as the class the actual First Continental Congress and what they did compared to what the class did.
   

• Day 2 - Early Conflicts of the War
   
  1. Power Point presentation over Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, and Patriots and Loyalists.
      
  2. Students will complete the outline in class during the lecture.
   

• Day 3 - Second Continental Congress/Olive Branch Petition
   
  1. Students will watch a video from United Streaming to introduce them to the Second Continental Congress.
      
  2. Students will use the following website to find the information they need for the assignment.
      
     1. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h656.html
         
     2. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1263.html
      
  3. The students answer the following question in class. It must be in their own words and it must be at least 15 sentences long.
      
     1. What was the Second Continental Congress? What was the Olive Branch Petition and why did they send it? What sorts of things did they do during the war?
   

• Day 4 - Declaration of Independence
   
  1. Students will get into groups of 3-4 and given a copy of the Declaration of Independence. They will also be given two dictionaries. Two people will be in charge of looking up words that they don't know. One person will be in charge of writing this onto a piece of notebook paper. One person will be in charge of leading the group and reading the text of the section that they were assigned. They will be asked to "translate" a section of the Declaration of Independence into words that they understand. They will then write this down on a large piece of paper with a marker. They will have 30 minutes to do this.
      
  2. Each group will share their results with the rest of the class and take notes over each section.