History Herald: U.S. American History  Middle School Mind! Part One to the 1870s 

"Extra! Extra! Learn All About It! Everything you need to know about U.S. History is here!" Travel with us through the United States American history from early indigenous civilizations to the 1870s! With Part ONE and TWO, this is a full curriculum course for the entire school year. 

This is a Self-Paced class with Teacher Courtney that adventures through the history of the United States and brings the past to life! In this 14-week course, we will travel back through the history of the United States from early indigenous civilizations to the 1870s!

 This is a beginner’s class, so previous knowledge is not necessary. e work  through readings, conversations, slides & presentations, activities,  games, and video clips to activate our critical thinking skills to unravel and discover how the United States was born, developed, and grew throughout its lifetime. 

Please note that there are some sensitive topics that will be addressed throughout the course including but not limited to: genocide, slavery, and sectional violence.

We will use "Everything You Need to Ace United States History In One Big Fat Notebook" by Workman Publishing and Philip Bigler as our class reference for this class. I will also add worksheets, games, videos, and slides to bring the content to life! This book is just used as a primer- to give students a broad understanding of the topic to get conversations moving. Students will read from this book each week to understand the basics of the topic. 

Each week, students will be give a weekly reading assignment from the book. Next, a recorded lesson will be attached to the classroom created by the instructor to guide them through the historical details of that topic. Students will then use independent time to work on the activities for the week. Activities will vary each week from escape rooms, small projects, creative drawings, short readings and questions, and more.  Students will also be encouraged to engage in class discussion by answering thought provoking conversation discussion questions in the classroom. Students will also be sent various follow up activities that are optional for the student to learn more about particular topics each week if so desired.

Feedback will be given by the instructor for each assignment and activity. Students have the entire week to do the required work and hand it in for the teacher to evaluate. All assignments and activities will be given in PDF format for the student to access. All videos will be created and attached to the Out school classroom for the learner to access as well. 


Students will be responsible for reading the assigned chapters each week- roughly 20-25 pages. But this book is great at keeping things in easy to read form while creating a bright and fun background! Each student will need to have their own copy which can be purchased from Amazon for under 10.00 at the moment. This will be a great addition to their library as they will be able to reference for years to come! 

We will also learn how to "understand" and research history like a historian. Students will learn historical research skills that will aid them in breaking down and analyzing history while helping them build critical thinking skills. Some skills that will be addressed are Chronological Thinking, Source Analysis, Inference, Relevance, and Summarizing. 



***********Part Two of both world and US history will be offered starting in January (spring semester) on the same date/time that Part One is offered in the fall. This will give you a full year of history between the two parts! *********