This breakout activity provides teachers and students an interactive way to demonstrate their learning about cryptography, code-breaking, and historic ciphers. Clues are provided, along with additional hints you can choose to provide to students so that students solve ciphers and learn what time their army is planning to raid the enemy camp.

In this lesson, students will learn about one of the most significant and successful spy rings in American History. They will also actually conduct some of the same techniques and demonstrate them to the rest of the class.

Students will examine the life of Phillis Wheatley. They will explore how as a woman, Phillis was able to fight for freedom during the American Revolution as enslaved, or formerly enslaved people. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources to learn more about the life and journey of Phillis, as well as her impact on historical events.

Art objects made and used in the past can offer clues to the ideas and attitudes that may have been prevalent at the time of their creation. Spending time to thoughtfully examine and explain their own ideas about such an object encourages students to become curious and open lines of inquiry about historical context. This interactive exercise guides students as they document their thinking about an 18th century American artwork.

Students will learn about Mask Letters and their use in the Revolutionary War, then they will make masks and messages of their own and discuss the pros and cons of this method of sending and receiving secret messages. 

Students will use a letter Paul Revere wrote to learn how he worked to keep meetings secret and warn the colonists that the British army was on their way.  

During the American Revolution, the Patriots relied on sending coded messages to prevent the British from understanding the actions of the Continental Army. George Washington’s army used this cipher– though it is not a very secure system in its original form. The Patriots adapted it by using a randomized arrangement of the alphabet. This cipher was also used to some extent during the US Civil War.

Students will examine the life of Crispus Attucks and/or James Lafayette. They will explore how both men were able to fight for their freedom as enslaved, or formerly enslaved people. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources to learn more about the life and journey of  both of these men, as well as their impact on historical events.

This section contains reproducible copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States, teaching activities correlated to the National History Standards and National Standards for Civics and Government and cross-curricular connections.