Containing more than 50 articles from the award-winning Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine and over 40 lesson plans, this multidisciplinary Educator Notebook will enrich your exploration of North Carolina and American history with diverse perspectives. This resource's link takes you to a very short form that gives you free downloadable access to the complete PDF book.

Students assume the roles of detectives as they investigate the occurrences during the Salem Witch Trials. They also assume the roles of lawyers and explore the principles of American democracy through the documents and laws that are meant to protect citizens from such unjust treatment in modern history.

This lesson investigates where and why the English colonists settled in America. The lesson also looks at leaders who had an impact on the development of the colonies and their reasons for founding the colonies.

In this unit, students explore Colonial America through the building of timelines and investigating primary and secondary sources. This study of significant events in the colonization of North America and the aspects of everyday life in Colonial America is designed for students to gather, record, and organize their own Colonial Notebook. Students will take on the role of colonist in a given region and work with other 'colonists' of the same region to develop a report and presentation. The study will take students through the life and times of those early settlers and will have them preparing a colonial meal representative of their region of focus

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the experiences faced by immigrant groups who traveled to New York throughout the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In this activity, students research the history of immigration to the United States trhough Ellis Island and then use art supplies to depict immigration through artwork they create.

In this lesson, students will listen to a read aloud book called Coming to America by Betsy Maestro. The class will discuss why the people in the story decided to immigrate to the United States and how they acclimated themselves within the culture. In groups of four, students will take a virtual field trip to Ellis Island. They will compare and contrast immigration from a long time ago to the present. The teacher will assess student achievement by having students fill in the last portion of the Know, Want to Know, and Learned chart (see attachment). In addition, the students will write a summative paper that includes a reflection on what the students learned throughout the unit using a “Summative Reflection Rubric” (see attachment). This lesson was developed by Cheryl Riffe as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to an immigrant from Canada. From a first hand account, students will learn what it is like to immigrate. The students will be divided into six groups and they will write questions to ask the interviewee. The students will conduct an interview through a video chat device. If no technology is available the teacher can bring in community members that have immigrated to the United States to conduct a live interview. After the interview, students will reflect on what they learned by using sticky notes and attaching them to a class chart to discuss. This lesson was developed by Cheryl Riffe as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to an immigrant from Vietnam. From a first hand account, students will learn what it is like to immigrate to the United States as a very young child. The students will be divided into six groups and they will write questions to ask the interviewee. The students will conduct an interview through a video chat device. If no technology is available the teacher can bring in community members that have immigrated to the United States to conduct a live interview. After the interview, students will reflect on what they learned by using sticky notes and attaching them to a class chart (for inteview two) to discuss. This lesson was developed by Cheryl Riffe as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to an immigrant from France. From a first hand account, students will learn what it is like to immigrate to the United States as a high school student. The students will be divided into six groups and they will write questions to ask the interviewee. The students will conduct an interview through a video chat device. If no technology is available the teacher can bring in community members that have immigrated to the United States to conduct a live interview. After the interview, students will reflect on what they learned by using sticky notes and attaching them to a class chart (for interview three) to discuss. This lesson was developed by Cheryl Riffe as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to immigration. The students will view three pictures of people immigrating. The teacher will use the books: If Your Name was Changed at Ellis Island by Levine, Ellen, and Wayne Parmenter, How I Learned Geography by Shulevitz, Uri and Lost and Found Cat: The True Story of Kunkushs Incredible Journey by Kuntz, Doug to show the students pictures that depict immigration.The students will also complete a three columned Know, Want to Know and Learned chart on what is immigration. The students will complete a sorting vocabulary activity to become more knowledgeable about immigration terms. This lesson was developed by Cheryl Riffe as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students will watch a short video to review immigration terms. The students will review the sticky note reflections from the previous three interviews by people who immigrated to the United States from other countries. The students will conduct a research assignment to learn about children who have immigrated to the United States. The students will work in pairs and will use a chart to answer specific questions pertaining to immigration. The pairs will use the information from their research to analyze and discuss why people immigrate to another country from their homeland. This lesson was developed by Cheryl Riffe as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

This lesson helps students understand the causes and effects of exploration with an emphasis on European exploration of North America. Students learn when, where, and why groups of people colonized and settled what is today the United States. Through group activities, reading and discussions, students learn the economic, social and political reasons for exploration and settlement.

This lesson helps students gain a better understanding of geographic tools and their application for interpreting information. Students learn about why the early colonists settled in the areas they did and the types of economic patterns that emerged due to the physical environment. In the process, students differentiate between different types of regions and how they may develop based on human actions or their physical geography

In the previous unit, students learned about European exploration and colonization in the Western Hemisphere. Students were introduced to the English colonial regions (New England, Middle and Southern colonies) and reasons for coming to the New World. This lesson investigates where and why the English colonists settled in America. The lesson also looks at leaders who had an impact on the development of the colonies and their reasons for founding the colonies.

In this lesson, students learn about the political, economic, and geographic regional differences that led to conflict in the United States through map sketches, primary sources, problem-solving and points of view.

In this unit, students will learn about the inventions and technology that led to industrialization. Students will also study the immigrants who would supply the labor for industrialization. Finally, students will learn about some of the people who would create the “big business” financing and industrial infrastructure. Students will also be exposed to some of the problems that the rapid expansion of cities and industry created.

In this lesson, students gain an understanding of what is meant by industrialization and growth. Students will examine primary source documents to identify major changes in U.S. cities and develop questions as to how and why these changes took place.

In this lesson, students will explain the reasons for increased immigration and how immigration helped cities and industries grow.

In this lesson, students work in small groups to organize a wagon train for a trek westward. They determine leadership responsibilities and rules needed to make a successful trek.