Teaching about the American Revolution in a way that is fun takes a lot of behind the scenes planning. When you are a teacher like myself who teaches all subjects (including P.E.) sometimes your Social Studies lesson goes to the back burner.
Math and Language Arts are priority so creating Social Studies lessons that are fun and hands-on can feel overwhelming.
So this year I took the time to create American Revolution lessons that are hands-on and engaging. I start my American Revolution unit by teaching the causes of the war and why Britain was trying to tax the colonists in the first place.
Why did Britain Tax the Colonist in the First Place?
To understand why Britain taxed the colonists in the first place, students must first learn about the French and Indian War. Just the name itself is confusing because the title makes it seem like the French and Indians were fighting against each other, but in actuality they were fighting together against the English.
After presenting slides that explained where these countries even were, I showed my students a map of the 13 colonies and the land that England and France were fighting over.
I created an interactive fill-in-the blank activity with a map to show how France and England were fighting over control of the land.
Then my students created a poster to protest the Proclamation of 1763 which stated that settlers could not settle on the land past the Appalachian Mountains. This Proclamation was created to avoid conflicts between the colonists and the Native Americans which could be costly for England.
Get Creative Teaching the Stamp Act
We continued our lesson by learning about the Stamp Act using Google Slides Presentation and guided notes. After we learned about each cause, I followed the lesson with a hands-on activity so students could remember each cause.
Students have to create something related to what they learned if they are to remember what was taught. So in this instance, my students created a new design for a Stamp. I was so pleased with their drawings and creativity.
Creating a slogan to protest the Stamp Act was the next activity we did. Some of my students were not familiar with slogans so we looked up a few online of some major stores and products.
After I taught my students who the Sons and Daughters of Liberty were and how they boycotted British Imports, they created a poster to urge others to boycott British products. You can get this activity for free by entering your email below.
Be an Eye Witness at the Boston Tea Party
The next lesson was teaching about the Boston Tea Party. Students pretended to be a reporter who witnessed it.
They had to write about what they saw in the Boston Gazette and draw a couple of pictures. The newspaper article I created is very guided with exact questions about the event so that the activity is quick and easy.
I like to go into detail about how the Sons of Liberty used soot on their faces and dressed as Mohawk Native Americans to conceal their identities. Dressing as Mohawks was also symbolic because the protestors no longer felt like they were British but they now had a new identity of being Colonial Americans.
Many of my students had no idea what soot was. So the next day, my plan was to take a candle and move it around under a plate to create soot on the plate.
I wanted to use my finger to paint my arm so to speak but I forgot to bring a candle to work. Don’t you hate when that happens! So next year for sure I will do this.
Create an invitation to the First Continental Congress
The next lesson was about how the colonists began to organize themselves to form the First Continental Congress. We discussed how the goals of the meeting were to start a militia or the Continental Army, to print their own currency, and to try to form an alliance with France.
Then, my students created an invitation for the delegates that had the date, location, purpose of the meeting, and their signature.
Many of my students do not know how to sign their names. I think all students should be taught cursive writing. Why not? Maybe not to the extent that it was taught before, but at least enough lessons so that students can sign their own names.
This led us to some quick lessons on how to do cursive which we are still working on! Funny how one lesson leads to another, you know how that goes.
What was the Join, or Die political cartoon all about?
Throughout my lessons I emphasized the fact that there were many colonists who were still loyal to Britain. Benjamin Franklin worked hard to unite the colonies and his political cartoon, Join or Die, is iconic of the American Revolution.
I wanted my students to remember his political cartoon and the need for the colonists to unify against Britain, so I had them create their own political cartoon. I asked them to choose an animal that is associated with evil or darkness.
Then I asked them to severe it to pieces like the snake in Benjamin Franklin’s cartoon. They had to label each piece with the abbreviation of the colonies. I was very impressed with what they came up with.
Our next lesson was to learn about Paul Revere. I showed my students the slides I created and then we watched this awesome YouTube video that I found with Lego pieces. CLICK HERE to see the video. My students got a kick out of watching it.
I then gave them the choice to either research and draw the events of the night of Paul Revere’s ride as a comic strip or do the Join or Die Drawing. Most of them chose to do the Join, or Die drawing.
We also answered True or False questions based on a map that outlined the ride that Paul Revere, Samuel Prescott, and William Dawes took the night the British invaded. CLICK HERE to get my free sample of my Cause of the American Revolution lessons.
Road to the American Revolution Poster
As a culminating lesson, my students made a Road to the American Revolution Poster with small cards that they wrote in to discuss each cause. It also served as a timeline because they had to put all the events in chronological order. The poster looks great on your bulletin board and is perfect to have up for Open House or for a Showcase.
You can really go in-depth with the American Revolution and there are so many incredible topics to go over but it just depends on the time that you have. Pick and choose what works for you and change it up every year so that you are still having fun and learning too.
You can get these activities that I discussed at my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking HERE.
I hope that I gave you some great ideas that you can use with your students when teaching the Causes of the American Revolution. You got this!
