Hands-On History: American History Activities

The activities described in this book do require some preparation time and effort on the teacher's part, but it is worth the work.There are eight topics covered in creative ways that actually work in a classroom setting.Colonial AmericaThe American RevolutionJeffersonian PeriodTecumseh and the American Indian ExperienceThe Civil WarExpansion and the Oregon TrailImmigration, Industry, and the American DreamThe Civil Rights MovementThe activities are targeted toward classes of 25 students, though I could see success with as few as five students.I have used the activity "Jeffersonian Period" with my class. It addressed five issues that Jefferson's administration faced.1. Should every person have the right to vote?2. Should settlers be allowed to farm in American Indian territory?3. Should the Supreme Court be able to decide what is and isn't constitutional?4. Should the president act outside the Constitution to agree to the Louisiana Purchase?5. Should the president ban all trade with Great Britain and France to make those two countries stop stealing our ships?The activity helps students learn how five famous people from that era felt about each issue.We used "Tecumseh and the American Indian Experience" and loved it. Not every mini-project worked the way the author intended, but my students were still able to grasp the concepts being demonstrated. Tecumseh appeared in our history text, so naturally he also appeared on my chapter test. Not one scholar missed those questions. I was pleased."Expansion and the Oregon Trail" is a choose your own adventure game in which teams compete to get to Oregon. The filler games were geared towards very young children and we skipped some of them. The choices did not lead to much variation, but there were penalties for mistakes. The most important thing to me was that the game worked in the context of a whole classroom.My favorite activity has been "The Civil War". We made a map on the classroom floor with masking tape and painter's tape. Then we reenacted the Battle of Fayetteville, Arkansas. My eighth grade girls came to me after school and stated that they better understood what it was like for the townspeople to live through a war.I am disappointed to report that there are typos and other mistakes that could have been easily corrected. This book is marketed to teachers. It should have been better proofreadAs teachers we are advised to use hands-on learning to help students grasp concepts better, but my teacher's edition calls a web-search "hands-on" and offers precious little help with how to make history fun. This book does exactly that! History is suddenly fun.

Use it in my eighth grade history class. Easy to use and understand.

Excellent activities

I homeschool my children and have found this book is very one-sided. It glosses over the history of events that made the United States what it is today. There is a lot of emphasis on how the land was taken from the native peoples, but briefly touches on the Industrial Age. It totally omitted The Great Depression, WWI, WWII, the building of the Panama Canal and goes straight into the Civil Rights Movement. The activities are set up for classrooms of at least 30 students which makes working on the activities a very long process for 1 or 2 kids who are learning the material. I do not recommend this book.

I was looking for a book that had more individual activities to reinforce major events. This book reinforces major events through role playing in groups. The activities look interesting. It just isn't what I was looking for.