Early American History: Declaration of Independence ~ Week 10 Lesson Plan For Kindergarten and First Grade
This post is part of the Early American History series. For a suggested class schedule, an overview of the entire course, and links to more lesson plans, please see the introductory post.
In this lesson you will teach your students about the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence.
Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. I am an affiliate of Amazon, and will receive a small commission if a link on this page is used to make a purchase.
Suggested General Resources
- World Wall Map
- Map of U.S.A. or 13 Colonies
- 13-Star U.S.A. Flag for wall
- Posters of Early Americans
- Small Dot Stickers
- Washable Markers, Crayons, and/or Colored Pencils
- Glue Sticks
- Plates, Bowls, Napkins, Utensils, Small Cups
- Computer, Black and White Printer (color printer optional), and Printer Paper
- Assembled Timeline File Folder for each child and Timeline Poster (click here for instructions and free printables)
- Assembled History Journal filled with Worksheets for each child (click here for instructions and free printables)
Additional Items Recommended For This Lesson
- The Declaration of Independence by Lori Mortensen
- Great Colonial America Projects: You Can Build Yourself
- Bean Bags from Lesson 2
- Several clean, empty tin cans
- Recipe Ingredients: egg, cornmeal, salt, milk
Week 10 Lesson Plan
For suggestions on how to conduct each activity below, please see the introductory post.
Year and Subject
1775 – 1783: Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence.
Map Activity
Find Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Story
The Declaration of Independence by Lori Mortensen
Timeline Figures
Please click here for Timeline instructions and free printables.
Liberty Bell, Soldier
History Journal
Please click here for History Journal assembly instructions and free printables.
Page 17: Declaration of Independence Coloring Page (The Light and the Glory : Children’s Activity Book – page 56)
Page 18: Liberty Bell Dot-to-Dot (The Light and the Glory Children’s Activity Book – page 65)
Page 19: American Soldiers: The Revolutionary War (free printable on education.com)
Activity: Bean Bag Toss
You will need bean bags and several empty, clean tin cans. Stack them up and see how many each child can knock down in three throws. Vary the game as you like – you can see more fun bean bag game ideas at tidymom.net.
Food Idea #1: Johnny Cakes
Find a Johnny Cakes recipe on page 19 of Great Colonial America Projects: You Can Build Yourself or on the Kid Activities: Colonial Theme site.
Food Idea #2: Revolutionary Soldier Diet
Revolutionary soldiers ate dried meat, hardtack, beans, dessicated (dried) vegetables, and also hunted for their food. For snack, we served beef jerky, white crackers, Veggie Straws, and sweet potato chips.
Timesaver Snack Idea: Spice cake from a box mix.
More Activity and Craft Ideas
My teaching partner brought red and blue paint dab markers, star stickers, and paper with an outline of the U.S. flag for our project. The kids enjoyed painting the flag with this new-to-them type of paint marker!
Please see my American History Pinterest Board for more ideas!
Additional Take-Home Activity
Betsy Ross Mini-Book from 15 Easy-to-Read Biography Mini-Books: Famous Americans (Grades K-2).
My copy of this book contained an error in the number of stripes on the flag. I used correction tape to blank out this sentence when I made copies for my students.
Text Copyright 2016 Kathryn Depew
Image of the Declaration of Independence – Public Domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Declaration_of_Independence.jpg.
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