Browse lesson plans

Along the Trail of Tears

A part of history is often forgotten when teaching younger students. This is the relocation of the Cherokee Indians when the white settlers wanted their property. The US Government moved whole groups of Indians under harsh conditions. This trip became known as the Trail of Tears. Using this as a background students will explore and experiment with persuasive writing as they try to express the position of Cherokee leaders.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Glenda Bullard.

Blackbeard: The most feared pirate of the Atlantic

Students will acquire information about Blackbeard and apply their knowledge to create a newspaper article concerning his life.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Carol Holden and Tanya Klanert.

Civil War journals

This lesson integrates creative writing with Social Studies and enhances knowledge of the effects of the Civil War on people.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Gwen A. Jones.

Connecting folktales and culture in North Carolina and beyond

Students will explore connections to North Carolina culture as they engage in reading and analyzing three folktales of North Carolina Literary Festival author, William Hooks. After comparing these stories to other versions of the traditional tales, students will become authors and storytellers themselves as they rewrite a tale from a new cultural point of view. Opportunities are also included to extend this study to world cultures and folktales.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Jeanne Munoz.

Pottery traditions

In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.5

Students will learn how Indian people of North Carolina made and used coiled pottery, summarize why archaeologists study pottery, and make and decorate a replica of a North Carolina coiled pot.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 Visual Arts Education and Social Studies)

Writing a ghost story/mystery

Building upon the students' knowledge base of Blackbeard the Pirate, the numerous shipwrecks off of the N.C. coast, myths, and legends of the Carolinas, and/or The Lost Colony, students will write a ghost story or mystery narrative of their own.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By laura ritchie.

Resources on the web

Ghosts and sea monsters: Analyzing mythology

In this high school language arts lesson, students discuss the characteristics of myths. They then examine historical maps of North Carolina looking for images of sea monsters and write their own descriptions of the monsters and myths about them. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts)

Provided by: UNC Libraries