Ideas for Revolutionary War Unit

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Home : 2001 : January : 22

Ideas for Revolutionary War Unit
By Kathleen Neagle

I did a unit for the Declaration of Independence last semester. It was a ten day unit. I began with "Welcome to 1776"- the students travelled around centers in the classroom to get the feel of what life is like in the Revolutionary
War time. Some of the centers were Colonial food, colonial closet (clothes), colonial transportation, African Americans in colonial times, and political cartoons. At each center, there were questions for the students to answer and hands on opportunities. Colonial food had samples of colonial foods. The political cartoon was Ben Franklin's famous "Join or Die". The Colonial

closet was a website on dressing a colonial girl. This was a good way to introduce students to the colonial way of life.

Other activities I planned included creating a time line of events leading up to the Revolutionary War/the Declaration of Independence.
I've done "missing" posters for the women who are missing from the history of the Revolutionary War. I had the students rewrite the D.of In. in modern language and sign it at a 4th of July party. You could also show the movie "1776". There are some great websites for this period of time, and there are some great theme books too. I hope this helps!