American Revolution unit study

At a formative point in my childhood, almost 12 years old, I went to Colonial Williamsburg for the first time. We had part of a day to go there, and I remember distinctly reveling in the milieu of Virginia right before the American Revolution. It fascinated me, and so I wasn’t too surprised to discover I’ve got a lot of American Revolution history lessons, and thought it might well be useful to put them all together into an American Revolution unit study.

Leading up to the American Revolution unit study

• From the Protestant Reformation the American Revolution– a silly take connecting these two events
• What are the Steps to the American Revolution– geared for upper elementary or middle school
• Steps to the American Revolution– preschool or early elementary version
• How Boston started the American Revolution– a fun way to act out the events in Boston
• Studying the Declaration of Independence– a great writing project
• Johnny Tremain– a great novel for upper elementary or middle school, also a different look at the events

Battles and Ideas of the American Revolution unit study

• Battle of Lexington and Concord– A great re-enactment of the famous first battle
• Spies in the American Revolution– a super fun activity to use
• Valley Forge– not technically a battle, but it’s one of the famous events of the American Revolution
• Yorktown– you need to go on this field trip

Important People in the American Revolution unit study

• Paul Revere– This silversmith helped start the revolution
• Nathaniel Greene– a famous general of the American Revolution
• Thomas Jefferson– Look at the writer of the Declaration of Independence through the facet of his house
• George Washington– a fun preschool lesson on George Washington, also check out Mount Vernon
• Patrick Henry– I really like Patrick Henry

Miscellaneous American Revolution lessons

• Make a soldier’s haversack– a fun hands-on lesson into the life of a soldier (yes they had to repair their own material and sometimes sew)
• Interactive history notebook– While this is written to apply generally, the example is the American Revolution.
• Liberty Bell– It’s interesting how some things become part of the story without really being talked about
• Yankee Doodle preschool lesson– Recreate your own version of this iconic song
• American Revolution books- I still need to write up a post about our favorite American Revolution books, but that might have to be several posts because there’s a lot to wade through.

Some more history unit studies for you to try

• Ancient Greece Unit
• World War 2 Unit
• World War 1 Unit