Students will analyze multiple sources to determine which of the causes of the Civil War each source best supports. Students will support their choices with evidence from the source and their own understanding of the causes of the Civil War.

Students will investigate the characteristics of heroes through the book Go Show the World. Students will select one of the heroes identified in the book and research them further, creating a Twine passage that shares what the student learned about the Native figure.This lesson was created through a partnership between CodeVA and the Virginia Tribal Education Consortium (VTEC). 

Students will gather information regarding the cultural and economic interactions between Europeans and American Indians during Westward Expansion. Students will work in groups to analyze several primary sources and create a visual representation depicting the Native vs. European perspectives of westward expansion. 

Students will use their knowledge and understanding of the lives and contributions of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln with focus on the Civil War era by reconstructing key aspects of their lives that connect them to the Civil War.

This teaching guide and activity seeks to introduce primary sources to students so that theyT can understand how to analyze and interpret them to make conclusions about the past. The primary sources the students will analyze are from the John Marshall House’s collection. All of the sources presented, both objects and written, focus on the theme of clothing during the Early Republic (1780-1820), the period in which John Marshall lived. This teaching guide and activity follow the Virginia Standards of Learning from 4th-6th grade, but may be applicable for other grades/ages.