Free Revolutionary War Battles Activity

With so many details packed into every history lesson, it can be hard to know what to focus on in your lessons. Sifting through all of that information can be time-consuming. I remember it all too well… Planning at your desk long after your students are gone. Then coming home from school and working into the late hours of the night… It is exhausting! In this free Revolutionary War Battles activity, I have done all of the work for you. From narrowing it down to the most significant battles to creating an engaging lesson plan, you will be ready to teach in minutes.

Engaging Students with Primary Sources

One of my favorite ways to engage students in history lessons is to use primary sources. A primary source is a document, image, or artifact that provides a firsthand account of an event.

Using primary sources in the classroom can give students a glimpse into what it was like to live in past eras. Not only is this engaging for students, but their curiosity and critical thinking skills will also improve!

As you incorporate primary sources into your classroom, consider these tips from the Library of Congress:

Have students look over each source several times.
Encourage students to observe the source.
- Where does your eye go first?
- What do you see that you didn’t expect?
- What powerful words and ideas are expressed?
- What feelings and thoughts does the primary source trigger in you?
- What questions does it raise?
Promote student inquiry as they dig deeper into the primary source.
- Think about the creator and historical context of each source.
- What was happening during this time period?
- What was the creator’s purpose in making this primary source?
- What does the creator do to get his/her point across?
- What was the audience?
- What bias or stereotypes do you see?
Help students practice their critical thinking and analysis skills.
- Primary sources are just small, often incomplete, snippets of history. Guide students as they question the purpose, historical context, point of view, cultural bias, etc.
- Ask students to find other sources that either contradict or support the primary source.
- Help students investigate the sources further by developing questions and research strategies.

Some of my other favorite resources for analyzing primary sources are the National Archives and Teachinghistory.org!