Civil War Lesson Plans

Gettysburg was one of the most important battles of the Civil War. These Civil War lesson plans will help your students understand its significance and relate to the history.

Click here for large downloadable collection of comprehensive battlefield maps, video clips of the battlefields, and historic photograph collections, all excellent resources for teachers and home schooling educators.

Using a variety of media will make the material more understandable to different types of learners.

Free Lesson Plans

There are free history lesson plans available from the National Park Service (opens in a new window). They're listed by the social studies standards with which they correspond, so lessons that meet more than one standard are listed more than once. The lesson on Choices and Commitments: The Soldiers at Gettysburg is excellent! You can find lessons related to other battles of the Civil War, too.

I also found a website with excellent lesson plans for a unit on the American Civil War that comes with a PowerPoint presentation and .pdf files you can easily print. It was all designed by a social studies teacher with experience in both the middle and high school levels.

For more fun civil war lesson plans, take a look at the online scavenger hunts I put together.

Other Gettysburg Lesson Plans

The Eisenhower National Historic Site is also featured in one of the lessons from the National Park Service. Thaw in the Cold War: Eisenhower and Khrushchev at Gettysburg examines issues of the Cold War.

If you are actually planning a Gettysburg field trip to Pennsylvania, here's a .pdf file from the National Park Service that includes fun activities and field trip planner help.

These Civil War magazines can also give you some great ideas.