Educator Resources Educator Resources

This resource set contains best practices for teaching about Native people in your classroom and sample maps with Native viewpoints and inquiry questions to use in your classroom.

In 1898, the U.S. officially annexed Hawaii—but did Hawaiians support this? In this lesson, students read two newspaper articles, both hosted on the website Chronicling America, which make very different arguments about Hawaiians’ support for—or opposition to—annexation. Students focus on sourcing as they investigate the motivations and perspectives of both papers and why they make very different claims.

Students explore the connection between art and activism by analyzing a painting about the Gold Rush from the Autry Museum. Students are also invited to participate in activism by creating their own painting.

In the decades following the Civil War, the US military clashed with Native Americans in the West. The Battle of Little Bighorn was one of the Native Americans’ most famous victories. In this lesson, students explore causes of the battle by comparing two primary documents with a textbook account.

Maps, truth, and belief have a complicated relationship with one another. Every map is a representation of reality, and every representation, no matter how accurate and honest, involves simplification, symbolization, and selective attention.

This deliberation guide focuses on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, encouraging students to examine the choices the Californio Indigenous people faced in June 1849 as they determined how they would approach, or avoid, a future as American citizens.

This online lesson provides Native perspectives, images, documents, and other sources to help students and teachers understand how the 17th century fur trade brought together two cultures, one Native and the other Dutch, with different values and ideas about exchange. Examine these differences to determine whether the exchange that took place on Manhattan in 1626 was really a land sale or not.

Students will learn about personal identity by discovering who Mabel McKay, a Native Californian basket weaver from the 20th century, was through “The Story of Mabel McKay” video.

This Readers’ Theater and Read Aloud Story introduces students to the people who lived and worked at George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation. Students meet members of the Washington family, members of the enslaved community at Mount Vernon, and indentured servants working on the estate.

NK360° Helpful Handouts: Guidance on Common Questions provide a brief introduction to teachers about important topics regarding Native American life, cultures, and communities. Honoring Indigenous Inhabitants: Land Acknowledgement discusses land acknowledgement as a dynamic cultural practice rooted in Indigenous traditions. Use this resource as a starting point to recognizing the continuing experiences, rights, and values of Native Peoples. Culturally sensitive activities and resources related to land and tribal sovereignty are provided.

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, killing hundreds of people and causing billions of dollars in damage. The effects of the storm are still felt today in Louisiana and Mississippi, and the government response to the storm remains a politically charged issue. In this lesson, students learn about the storm and consider whether a range of online sources provide reliable information about the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

NK360° Helpful Handouts: Guidance on Common Questions provide a brief introduction to teachers about important topics regarding Native American life, cultures, and communities. Native Life and Food: Food Is More Than Just What We Eat explores Indigenous relationships with food. Use this guide to discuss the continuing legacies of sustainable Native food practices. Culturally sensitive activities and resources related to Indigenous foods are provided.

U.S. History pop-up cases are short, one-page scenarios based on foreign policy issues in U.S. history. Use the cases to spark discussion and put your students in the shoes of policymakers. This case asks students to consider the following 1845 scenario: with thousands of American settlers migrating west to the contested Oregon Country and a campaign promise from President James K. Polk to annex the entire territory, how should the United States respond to British naval buildup in the region and a deteriorating U.S.-British relationship?

This lesson focuses on helping young children learn to participate in different kinds of digital communities. Students will solidify and work on what they know about being part of any community.

Students learn why and how Texas, California and Oregon became part of the U.S., and about the diverse people who lived in each state.

Thanks to the Disney film, most students know the legend of Pocahontas. But is the story told in the 1995 movie accurate? In this lesson, students use evidence to explore whether Pocahontas actually saved John Smith’s life and practice the ability to source, corroborate, and contextualize historical documents.

Students reflect on the impact their decisions have on the wellbeing of the planet and on future generations. A discussion on why it is important for people to use long-term thinking introduces students to the Seventh Generation Principle. Through a creative writing task, students reflect on the importance of having a long-term view when making decisions that impact future generations.

Pop-up cases are short, one-page scenarios based on issues reverberating in the news today. Use one of the cases to spark discussion and put your students in the shoes of policymakers. This case asks students to consider the following scenario: as the United States emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic into a recession, policymakers need to consider another global crisis: climate change. How should the United States pursue environmental sustainability alongside economic recovery?

Created in collaboration with representatives of the Poarch Band of Creek Indian, this guide highlights the difficult choices faced by Creek people during the Creek War, with emphasis on the ways that colonization, in particular the Federal Road and the “Plan of Civilization,” influenced the war.

This lesson opens with three nineteenth-century illustrations of San Francisco. Students analyze the images and consider how depictions of the city changed over time. Next, students read two firsthand accounts and compare these narratives with the illustrations to explore how the Gold Rush affected San Francisco.

This free classroom resource provided educators with all of the material necessary to hold a simulated Senate debate in the classroom. Two-day lesson plans guide your class though examining a national issue, evaluating proposed provisions that might address the issue, previewing an actual bill that has been before the Senate, and taking on the roll of a senator to deliberate and vote on the bill.

This set of Library of Congress primary sources explores the westward expansion of the United States.

In this lesson students will identify people and places that make their own neighborhoods special. Extension activities explore science elements raised in the story.

A module of explainers and lesson plans on climate change and how it is relevant to us.