American Revolution Unit

The next unit in my US History curriculum covers the American Revolution. This unit begins with the French and Indian War before diving into lessons on the causes of the Revolutionary War, Boston Massacre, Patriots and Loyalists, Declaration of Independence, and the Founding Fathers. Upon completing this unit, students will understand all the key events that connect these subtopics in US History.

This is an interesting unit for your middle school or high school US History students, especially those with an affinity for the forces that created this country. With ample engaging activities, digital and print worksheets, and interactive notebooks, students will truly come to understand the American Revolution in all its intricacies.

You can download all the lesson plans and resources for this unit here, or sign up for a subscription and gain access to everything online.

The unit begins by covering the French and Indian War with options for a PowerPoint with guided notes, Google Slides, or "flipped classroom" video lesson. Upon gaining this foundational knowledge, teachers can assign an engaging project on Mercantilism in which students analyze primary sources to better understand the economic principle that influenced Great Britain's treatment of the 13 Colonies.

The next three lessons cover the growing rebellion in the 13 Colonies with hands-on activities and projects like an interactive play, a Mini-DBQ Project, and activity analyzing Thomas Paine's Common Sense, and more. There's also videos, digital interactive notebook activities, and PowerPoints as well. 

 Students then analyze the Declaration of Independence with a webquest and interactive notebook pages before moving on to compare Patriots, Loyalists, and those neutral to the imminent Revolution.

The next lesson in this unit has students analyzing primary sources on the infamous Boston Massacre before writing their own "letter to the editor" about the event. Students then complete interactive timelines about all the events leading up to the "Shot Heard 'Round the World".

Following this, students learn about the battles and key events of the Revolutionary War itself. A PowerPoint, Google Slides, and video (all with guided Notes) covers everything students need to know about this historic conflict.

To deepen your students' newfound knowledge, students analyze a poem on Paul Revere and (if time permits) complete a worksheet while watching “The Crossing,” a great movie about Washington’s famous crossing of the Delaware River. There are also hands-on interactive notebook activities and more digital notebook resources you can use here as well. 

Last but not least, there is a lesson dedicated to reviewing the Revolutionary War. Resources here include fun and interactive games like “American Revolution Jeopardy” and a comprehensive unit packet. These will allow students to exit the unit feeling solid about the key concepts and figures they’ve learned.

Throughout the unit, students can also work on a variety of engaging digital interactive activities or the unit guide packet. There are dozens of great videos linked to use in your lessons along with readings you can share from our online textbook.

The unit concludes with an editable unit test - with an editable Google Forms version also included for easy grading.

You can download each resource individually through the links above as well as check out reviews of each from teachers that have already used the resources. You can also download all of them for the unit here in one zip folder that can be saved to your desktop. Or, you can gain access to the entire unit’s lessons and resources online through a subscription. A subscription also grants you immediate access to the ENTIRE US History curriculum.

If you’re not sure which option is better for you, you can read more about the differences between subscriptions and TpT purchases here.