Websites for Free U.S. History Lesson Plans

US History is a core subject in junior high and high school. If you love history like I do, you’ll love these websites loaded with information, lesson plans, games, maps, activities, worksheets, resources, digital lessons and powerpoint presentations, virtual museums, primary sources and documents, and much more.

If you don’t enjoy history, you’ve come to the right place! These sites lay-out lessons galore that you can copy download or just use and they are free! Use any of the search functions on these websites to get help and information on the most difficult or complicated US history subjects or questions. I’ve concentrated on providing .org (organization) and .gov (Government) sites as they are non-profit. Most lessons on the commercial sites are still offered free.

Free Government Lessons: Here is a government site devoted to US history. It’s overflowing with materials and links that cover all aspects of our history. Here’s a very complete site for US History Lesson plans and printables.

Who better than The History Channel for sources, materials, and lesson plans? Each of the shows and series on THC has links and materials for use in the classroom.

Here’s a site with free lesson plans and powerpoint presentations for your computer or projector. This site covers early explorers, native Americans, 13 colonies, revolution, westward expansion, immigration, industrialization, 20th century, women, civil rights, economics, documents, symbols, presidents and much more. Mr. Donn is a web guru on US history!

The Library of Congress is the source for documents, artifacts, and information on US history. This institution is itself historic and has always been the guardian of knowledge in the United States. So this is a natural source to explore for lessons on US History. This site is listed as one of the top five sites for free US history information and history lessons. You’ll find digital lessons, printables, primary sources and references.

PBS is my favorite source for information in general. Because it’s public it’s information is offered free. This source gets access to the best of the best world-wide in material and information. Each show featured on PBS has a site associated with it. And there are a multitude of lesson plans for the shows. Look for The American Experience. Go to PBS teacher source link.

CNN is your news history source for pictures and stories. In journalism, stories and photos are kept in the ‘morgue’; a huge clearinghouse of all the information collected and published by that media. Check out any local or national news source site for access to it’s ‘morgue’ Select the archives link for access to 1000’s of news articles and photos.

The National Parks Service was set up to act as caretakers and docents for our nation’s historic sites and artifacts. Each park is a story in itself. Here is the National Park Service link to US history lessons based around the historic sites maintained by the NPS. If you can’t visit in person, take a virtual tour through the NPS. Check out the printable materials for study as well.

Another government website for you to utilize to get student excited about history is EDSite

Performance is what it’s all about, right? So check out Performance Education. This is a .com website, but has some free materials and lessons you can print.

Fun History? Sure! This site utilizes differentiated instruction which teaches to students’ different learning styles. Student’s investigate History as a detective. Lessons include cartoons, brochures, dialog, drama, fames, interviews, letters, journals, maps, demonstrations, poems, songs, speeches, painting, newspaper, story-writing, slogans, timelines, trading cards, etc. This is a pay site, but it offers free lesson for you to download to PDF from Acrobat Reader. This site is not my first choice because it is a pay site, but it does offer some really nice lessons.

With these links, your study and teaching of US history will spark interest, creative thinking and passion!