US History Semester Two Ultimate Thematic Course Bundle - Print & Digital

Ready to revolutionize the way you teach US History!? Wanting to go deeper than rote memorization? Desiring to spend more time developing an understanding of US History for your students rather than cramming in every detail?

Ever since I first learned about teaching history by theme rather than straight chronology, I was hooked. When students are free to explore one theme or topic of US History across decades they can make connections and understand history on a much deeper level. They can track trends, discuss continuity, and mark major shifts. Rather than learning about one time period all at once, students are able to really pull at the threads of history to see how one event or movement directly led to another.

My philosophy is that lessons should always be engaging, educational, and very low prep. Therefore, there is not a lot of prep work involved in any of the lessons. You can, however, expect your students to think critically, make deep connections, and analyze quite a few primary and secondary sources. Every lesson is designed to be student-centered, interactive, and interesting.

Each unit also teaches the 11th Grade Common Core Standards for History (reading, writing) and Speaking & Listening. If you want to check out which standards are included in each unit, check out this helpful curriculum map.

How Thematic Units Work: Not to worry- all of the same US History content is covered over the course of the year. But instead of teaching each time period in its entirety chronologically, students learn the material in themes. Within each theme, the curriculum is arranged chronologically so students can see trends and events unfolding over time. For example, in the Imperialism & War Unit, students start with the rise of the US as a superpower with imperialism and world wars and then learn how the US became even more involved with other countries during the Cold War into today. Wanna see the details of what to expect in each unit? Check out this helpful curriculum map.

Semester Two Thematic Units: Movements for Equality (African Americans, Women, Chicano Americans, Native Americans, LGBTQ+ Americans, & more!), American Culture, and Imperialism & War

What's Included: Everything you need to teach the content and Common Core skills for Semester Two (except the research paper materials- see below). There are more than 35 individual resources included, most of which contain multiple days of lessons.

Time Period Covered: late 1800s-present

What's NOT Included: The curriculum map and the included Semester Two Calendar note that this course includes teaching research papers. In fact, I do use my US History course to teach students how to write legitimate historical research papers. However, the resources for teaching students to write these papers are not included in this bundle. They will only be included in the Semester One Bundle & sold separately. Here they are sold separately: EDITABLE Research Skills & How to Research for History and EDITABLE Historical Research Paper Materials. Both are distance learning friendly.

Also Available for Purchase: US History Semester One Thematic Bundle, which includes the following units: Founding Documents Introductory Unit Bundle for US History, Executive Branch Thematic Unit Bundle, US Economy Thematic Bundle for US History, & Immigration & Migration Thematic Unit Bundle for US History

Semester Two Bundle sold separately from the Semester One Bundle.

Distance Learning Note: Now updated for distance learning. All included resources have Google Drive options! Teaching in person? There are print versions as well.

Please view individual lessons prior to purchasing. Many included resources are not editable. Lecture PPTs, exams, quizzes, and most projects are editable.

What to Expect:

• Warm Ups and/or Hook Activities (included in most lessons)
• Essential Questions (included in nearly all lessons)
• Many Engaging Lectures with Think-Pair-Shares and/or Source Analysis throughout
• Student Fill In Notes for Lectures (including Warm Ups)
• Student Research Activities & a Webquest
• Socratic Seminar, Roundtable Discussions, & a Debate
• Engaging Activities including learning stations, historical figures speed dating, creative writing, I Love Lucy episode analysis, a podcast, etc.
• Lots of Primary Source Analysis!
• Modern Wars Project (& several other projects!)
• 3 Unit Exams & Review Guides
• Final Exam & Review Guide
• Daily Lesson Plans
• Calendar of Lessons for 50-minute Periods & for a Hybrid Block Schedule
• So much more!

To reduce tech issues, please be sure to have the most recent free version of Adobe Reader downloaded. More help linked here.

Note: Most resources come in PDF format. All PowerPoints come in MS Powerpoint and PDF versions. Not all lessons or topics have a lecture. There are a variety of learning styles included in this bundle.

Also Note: all Google Drive versions appear in the lesson plans of each individual lesson. As of right now, there is no way to copy a folder in Google so for right now you will need to open each lesson plan and make a copy of each digital resource using the provided links and instructions.

Materials Needed (if using print version):

• Class set of included worksheets
• Poster Paper
• Blank sheets of paper or small posters
• Markers or colored pencils
• Highlighters
• Computers for research, activities, & projects
• Ability to find and show episode of I Love Lucy
• Suggested: Doc Camera

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