Objectives
(will differ for you depending upon grade and ability level of your students)

For you:

• To offer you teaching resources to enhance regular curricular studies.
• To provide you with information on valuable places on the Internet.
• To introduce you to how others are using online sources.
• To give you activities to use with your students.

For your students:

• To help students develop an interest in Internet resources related to the Civil War.
• To help students use links to locate information within and beyond sites.
• To introduce students to learning by taking virtual tours.
• To introduce students to Civil War resources available on the World Wide Web.
• To encourage students to seek new learning methods and to work together on group projects using technology.

Curricular Extensions, Projects, Ideas

Here are a few ideas about how to help students with this study:

1. Because a number of sites offer K-12 lesson plans, we encourage you to spend some time reviewing as many sites as possible in order to find appropriate lessons for your classes. To get you started, try these:

AskERIC
<http://ericir.sunsite.syr.edu/Virtual/Lessons/>

Blue Web'N
<http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/

Education-World
<http://www.education-world.com/>

Eisenhower National Clearing House (ENC)
<http://www.enc.org/>

Learning Web
<http://www.usgs.gov/education/>

Ron MacKinnon's Educational
<http://juliet.stfx.ca/people/stu/x94emj/bookmark.html>

Study Web
<http://www.studyweb.com/>

TeachersNet
<http://www.teachers.net>

The Library-in-the-Sky.
<http://www.nwrel.org>

Web Sites and Resources for Teachers
<http://www.csun.edu/~vceed009/index.html>

2. Do the lesson The American Civil War<http://ericir.sunsite.syr.edu/Virtual/Lessons/Social_St/US_history/civil.html>. This lesson comes from the ERIC collection of lessons.

3. Using outline maps, have students identify the Union and Confederate states.

4. Try the lesson Teatime at the White House<http://ericir.sunsite.syr.edu/Virtual/Lessons/Social_St/US_history/soc017.html>to introduce students to role playing about historic characters.

5. Find out if your students have visited Civil War museums or battlefields. If any of them have visited a museum or battlefield related to the Civil War, have them bring in photographs or souvenirs from their visit.

6. Let the children tell you what they know about President Lincoln. Go to the Lincoln part of The History Place

<http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/index.html> to show them pictures of Lincoln. Discuss some of the important facts of his life. Ask the children why they think we celebrate Lincoln's birthday and George Washington's birthday and not the birthdays of the other Presidents.

7. Find out if there were any Civil War events that happened in your state. If so, and if the events are appropriate for discussing with the age and ability levels of your students, talk with the students about these events. You may want to visit the Civil War location and/or invite someone from the museum or battlefield to visit with your students. Here are a few links that might be useful for this activity: Chronological list of Civil War Battles <http://users.aol.com/dlharvey/engage.htm> ,

8. Have students draw a picture of a particular Civil War battle, life in camp, soldiers writing letters home, armies going in to battle, etc.

9. Have a discussion about women in the Civil War and why women became directly involved in the war effort. What roles did they assume on the battlefield? How were their roles different than those of men? How were they the same? For ideas on this topic, check Web Sites & Descriptions.

10. Invite someone who participates in Civil War reenactments to visit your class in uniform and talk with the children. Try to get a representative from the Union and the Confederacy to visit.

11. Discuss with the children the role of ordinary citizens during a war such as the Civil War. How do they become involved? Have them read the story of Jennie Wade <http://www.angelfire.com/ct/beawriter/cw.html>, a young girl from Gettysburg and how she tried to help the Union soldiers. Note: there are some spelling mistakes in the story that your students may want to correct.

12. Discuss slavery with the children. Locate children's books and online materials about slavery, Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad that will be appropriate for the age and ability of your students.

13. Work with parents to help the children find out if their ancestors were involved in the Civil War in any way. Have the students put together information about all the Civil War ancestors that the class can find.

14. Have the students find out what life was like for a soldier during the Civil War. Let them create a diary of a soldier.

15. Check on students' understanding of the Civil War material by having them explain in writing what they think are the reasons why each side fought in the war. What did the Union and the Confederate governments hope to accomplish? Which states seceded from the Union and why?

16. Have students find out the various ways African Americans escaped from slavery and traveled north. Have them write a report on the Underground Railroad including how it began, how it was used and who were some of the famous "conductors" who helped slaves along the routes. See the Web Sites & Descriptions for site ideas.

17. Researching the words of Civil War songs can be a fun and educational activity. Have students listen to songs like "When Johnny Comes Matching Home" (which was sung on both sides of the battlefield) and "Good Ol' Rebel Soldier." What are these songs saying about the soldiers who sung them? Can they tell from the lyrics whether they were Union or Confederate songs? What are "Goober Peas?" It would be fun to sing some of the songs with your class. The students may enjoy some marching exercises to go with the songs.

18. Have your students create a class timeline showing events in US history such as: The Revolution, The Constitution, The War of 1812, Lincoln's election, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Men on the Moon, and today's date. Then ask them to construct a timeline of major events during the Civil War.

19. Have students draw a Union or Confederate army camp as they believe it might have looked during the Civil War. After they are finished, ask them to add to the drawing two or three items they believe would have made things better for the soldiers.

20. Have students pretend they can go back in time to the Civil War and take with them two or three items from the present. What would these items be and why would they take them?

21. Invite parents to come to school and be Civil War experts. They might talk about museums and battlefields they have visited, Civil War reenactments, or Civil War personalities.

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Sample Student Activities

Grades Four Through Six
(Adapt these to Grade & Ability of Students)

Activity #1: Write to the President
Grades: Grades 4-6

Read the letter that the 11 year old girl sent to President Lincoln. Many people have heard about the suggestion that the President grow a beard. What else did this young lady suggest to the President?

Write a letter to our President today. What would you say to him?

Bookmark:

Lincoln's Beard
<http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton1/Lincoln50.html>

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Activity #2: Children Before the Civil War
Grades 4-6

Use the bookmark below to learn about what it was like to live on a plantation before the Civil War. Travel to Stratford Hall, where Robert E. Lee was born, to find information.

Write a story telling whether or not you would like to have been a child during this period of time.

Bookmarks:

Children's Plantation Life Before the Civil War
<http://www.stratfordhall.org/>

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Activity #3: Nursing the Sick and Wounded
Grade 3

Find information about Clara Barton by going to the bookmarks. Also, go to your school library to look for books and encyclopedia articles on Clara Barton. Try to find articles on CD encyclopedias, too.

Then, after you have learned about Clara Barton, write a short story about her life. Include some photographs of her that you find online or on Cds. You may want to consider learning about other nurses of the Civil War. Did you, for example, know that Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, was a Civil War nurse?

Bookmarks:

Clara Barton
<http://www.incwell.com/Biographies/Barton.html>

American Red Cross & Clara Barton
<http://www.redcross.org/hec/pre1900/barton.html>

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Activity #4: Leaders during the Civil War
Grades 4-6

After reading about Civil War leaders, see if you can explain why Lincoln, Lee, and Grant seem to be the most popular historic figures from this war. What qualities of leadership did these men possess? Even though General Robert E. Lee was not the general on the winning side of the war, he is respected by many in the United States, north and south. Why do you think this is so?

Bookmarks:

Abraham Lincoln
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/presidents/html/al16.html>

Ulysses S. Grant
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/presidents/html/ug18.html>

Robert E. Lee
<http://www.mindspring.com/~ptoulme/lee.htm>

Generals in the Field
<http://www.treasurenet.com/images/civilwar/civil009.html>

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Activity #5: Slave Families
Grades 4-6

With the help of your teacher, learn about slave families. What was life like for a child who was a slave? Draw a series of pictures of a slave child on a plantation. Show the clothing worn, jobs assigned, and life on the plantation.

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Activity #6: Puppet Play
Grades 4-6

With a group of your classmates, write a brief script for a puppet play that describes an event during the Civil War. Create the puppets (figures cut out of paper and mounted on sticks) you'll need for your drama. Practice and present the play to the class.

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Activity #7 New Technology
Grade 6

Use the bookmarked sites to find information on new ideas about ships that came about during the Civil War. Develop a computer presentation program describing these ideas. You might even search for information about submarines.

Bookmarks:

Civil War Ironclads Page
<

The Ironclads

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Activity #8: Being a Photojournalist
Grades 5-6

Pretend you are a photojournalist during the Civil War. Select an event during the war and cover it for your newspaper. Submit photographs and copy to your paper.

Bookmarks:

Selected Civil War Photographs
<http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/cwphome.html>

Pictures of the Civil War
<http://gopher.nara.gov:70/Oh/inform/dc/audvis/still/civwar.html>

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Activity #9: Children's Civil War Site
Grades 4-6

Check the bookmarked site to find information written by a middle school student. Have fun with the quizzes and games as you learn more about the Civil War.

Bookmark:

Main Page