The Civil War is a major area to study in U.S. History. Help students understand the sequence of events that comprise this period of history. Send students on a web hunt, instructing them to look up major events of the Civil War. Give them some key phrases to search, such as Ulysses Grant, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, Emancipation Proclamation, confederacy, Union, battles and slavery. Provide students with large pieces of white paper to draw their own Civil War timeline. Once students have drawn the timeline, have them look up Civil War-era photographs on the Internet. They can print up a select number of images to illustrate their timeline. Once completed, display the timelines around the classroom. Students can give a two minute presentation on their timelines.
Simplify the big topic of American presidents by either assigning to each student a different president to study or by having students draw a name from a hat. For an extra presidential touch, draw from a Lincoln-style hat. Allow students to gather information on their assigned president through library books and Internet research. Once they have gathered some key facts, have the students design a bookmark with the president's likeness either drawn or a printed from the Internet. Photocopy each student's bookmark to make a classroom poster for display.
America has a number of national symbols, such as the Bald Eagle, the White House, the Liberty Bell and of course, the Statue of Liberty. Lead students in an Internet quest to find out everything they can about the Statue of Liberty. Students can glean facts and you can compile the information into a handout. Next, discuss how symbols work and different symbols at work within the larger symbol of the Statue of Liberty. Each student can draw an illustrated diagram of the statue. Have them draw the statue and draw lines to different details with notes on what that particular image denotes in its symbolism.
Through discussion and reading introduce students to the Underground Railroad, slavery and the perils of running away as a slave. On the Internet allow students to read more about the routes and stops of the Underground Railroad, actual advertisements for runaway slaves and biographies of key figures, such as Harriet Tubman. Once they have researched this topic have the students show their mastery of the material by writing a how-to guide for slaves looking to escape, outlining a route, describing tips and warnings and code words used.