The Terrible Transformation
http://www.pbs.org/
wgbh/aia/tguide/
1index.html
Description: At the beginning of the 17th century, both rich and poor Britons see the newly established American colonies as the land of opportunity. As changes in England's economy and word of hardships in America stem the flow of white bond servants, English planters bring more enslaved Africans to America to raise their profitable tobacco, sugar, and rice crops and to provide other forms of labor in the North. Gradually, laws are enacted that define legal status by race, ensuring that Africans and their descendants will be slaves. Resistance leads to rebellions in South Carolina and New York. The impact of slavery is felt by everyone -- North and South, black and white, the enslaved and the enslaver. 
Comments: This site accompanies the PBS Africans in America series, segment number one.
Resource Type: Mix of Text and Graphics
Graphics Content: High

American Thanksgiving Tradition
http://www.plimoth.org/
Library/Thanksgiving/
thanksgi.htm
Description: Most of what we know about the 1621 event comes from the first-hand accounts of Governor William Bradford and Master Edward Winslow, leaders of the young colony. Other facts can be gleaned by studying English harvest home traditions, available foodstuffs and cooking techniques, Separatist religious practices and 17th-Century English social patterns and customs. Here is a collection of information on all these subjects, prepared by Plimoth Plantation museum staff.
Comments: Compare the information found here with the story of Thanksgiving found in a piece of children's literature.
Resource Type: Secondary Text

Colonial Williamsburg
http://www.history.org/
almanack.htm
Description: This is a rich resource with pages of facts about important people and events of the Colonial Period. 
Comments: Takes time to load.
Resource Type: Mix of Text and Graphics
Graphics Content: High

Explore the Amazing World of Early America
http://earlyamerica.com/
earlyamerica/index.html
Description: Using the media of the day including newspapers, maps, magazines, autobiographies, and art, discover how the people in colonial times saw the world. There are wonderful primary source materials here to explore.

Resource Type: True
Graphics Content: True

Mayflower on the Web
http://members.aol.com/
calebj/mayflower.html
Description: This is a complete site with history of the Mayflower, inventory, passenger lists, primary documents such as the Mayflower Compact and Thanksgiving Proclamation.
Comments: Easy to use.
Resource Type: Primary Source Text
Graphics Content: High

Misfortune of Indentured Servants
http://odur.let.rug.nl/
~usa/D/1601-1650/
mittelberger/servan.htm
Description: This copy of Gottlieb Mittelberger's 1754 description of the voyage to America will make you glad you live in the 20th century.
Comments: This is a gripping primary source.
Resource Type: Primary Source Text
Graphics Content: Low

A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/
etext/readex/8611.html
Description: This is a first person account of how a slave, Briton Hammon, escaped from his master and fled to Boston in the 1740s.
Comments: Option To View Pictures
Resource Type: Primary Source Text
Graphics Content: Low

Archiving Early America: Historic Documents from 18th Century America
http://earlyamerica.com/
Description: 18th century classified ads, historical maps and documents of consequence, a moderated forum for early American history and a monthly contest with a contest question archive. 

Resource Type: Primary Source Text
Graphics Content: High

Benjamin Franklin: Glimpses of the Man
http://sln.fi.edu/
franklin/rotten.html
Description: Download lessons, enrichment activities, biographical information, and a short movie clip about one of the most interesting people in U.S. history. 

Resource Type: Secondary Text
Graphics Content: High

Boston History
http://www.boston-online.
com/boshistory.html 
Description: This site links to a Thanksgiving page, the Freedom Trail, and Black Heritage Trail to the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

Resource Type: Compilation of Links
Graphics Content: High

Declaring Independence - Drafting the Documents
http://lcweb.loc.gov/
exhibits/declara/
declara1.html
Description: This exhibition from the Library of Congress has pictures and a description of each draft of the Declaration of Independence.

Resource Type: Primary Source Text
Graphics Content: High

Explore the Amazing World of Early America
http://earlyamerica.com/
earlyamerica/index.html
Description: Using the media of the day including newspapers, maps, magazines, autobiographies, and art, discover how the people in colonial times saw the world. There are wonderful primary source materials here to explore.

Resource Type: True
Graphics Content: True

Jefferson's Home: Monticello
http://www.monticello.org
/index.html
Description: Join this virtual tour of Monticello and explore "A Day in the life of Thomas Jefferson."
Comments: This is an excellent site to explore Jefferson's life, including his contribution to US history as well as his living quarters
Resource Type: Other
Graphics Content: High

Revolutionary War: A Journey Toward Freedom
http://library.advanced.org/
10966/
Description: This student-created website has documents, maps and text about the American Revolution. It also has a student maintained discussion group for people who are studying this important event in history.

Resource Type: Mix of Text and Graphics
Graphics Content: High

America's Freedom Documents
http://www.earlyamerica.com/
earlyamerica/freedom/
index.html
Description: Primary source documents from early U.S. history
Comments: Copies of documents take a long time to load
Resource Type: Primary Source Text
Graphics Content: High

Charters of Freedom
http://www.nara.gov/
exhall/charters/charters.html
Description: This site shows National Archive copies of the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
Comments: Good graphic reproductions of original documents with explanations.
Resource Type: Primary Source Text
Graphics Content: High

Declaration of Independence
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/
statecraft/decl.html
Description: This is a primary source document showing America's Declaration of Independence.
Comments: Required reading under AB3086.
Resource Type: Primary Source Text
Graphics Content: High

Declaration of Independence, 1776
http://www.house.gov/
Declaration.html
Description: This is a primary source document showing America's Declaration of Independence.
Comments: Required reading under AB 3086.
Resource Type: Primary Source Text
Graphics Content: High

Declaration of Independence Archive
http://www.nara.gov/
exhall/originals/declarat.html 
Description: This is a primary source document showing America's Declaration of Independence.
Comments: Required reading under AB 3086.
Resource Type: Primary Source Text
Graphics Content: High

Magna Carta and Its American Legacy
http://www.nara.gov/
exhall/charters/
magnacarta/magintrp.html
Description: Good explanation of the history and impact of the Magna Carta on the U.S. Constitution
Comments: Be sure to visit the Exhibit Hall when you are finished with this source.
Resource Type: Secondary Text
Graphics Content: High

Acrimony in Bruton Parish Church
http://www.history.org/
In 1773 Williamsburg was not without excitement. One of the more interesting events was Bruton Parish's search for a new rector. The church had filled its vacant minister's position numerous times before with little difficulty. But this time the search involved a clash of personalities and religious doctrines. This role play activity will demonstrate to students the importance of religion in the eighteenth century and the involvement of citizens in the selection of the rector of Bruton Parish Church. To access this lesson, click on "Teach History" and then "Classroom Tested Lesson Plans". 
Author: Colonial Williamsburg Foundaton

Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Slavery During the Colonial Period
http://www.history.org/
other/teaching/
attitude.htm
Slavery was institutionalized in the colony of Virginia between 1640 and 1662 primarily through laws enacted by the Virginia Assembly and approved by the Royal Governor and the British monarch. Beyond this basic framework, little is included in history books about slavery during this formative period. Historians tend, instead, to concentrate on the period of the anti-slavery movement, focusing on the activities of the abolitionists. It is, however, reasonable to conclude that the extremely harsh slave codes enacted in southern colonies and, later, in other states must have been developed in response to events that occurred in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 
Author: Willimasburg Foundation

Colonial Reaction to the Stamp Act
http://www.history.org/
In 1765, the British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act as a means of raising colonial tax revenues to help pay the cost of the French and Indian War in North America. The Colonists reacted against the act as an attempt to raise money in the colonies without the approval of colonial legislatures. Resistance to the act was demonstrated through debates, written documents, and mob/crowd actions. In this lesson, students will analyze several eighteenth-century documents to determine the colonial opinion of Great Britain's attempts to tax the colonists in the 1760s. To access this lesson, click on "Teach History" and then "Classroom Tested Lesson Plans". 
Author: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Convoy Up the Mississippi
http://www.museum.state.
il.us/exhibits/athome/1700/
activity/convoy/lesson.htm
Simulate the activities surrounding the convoy of 1752 and the convoy itself by creating characters based upon people within the community of Kaskaskia. Running between New Orleans and the upper Illinois French communities, the convoy of "bateaux" carrying luxuries and news from Europe was the most important link between people of these rural communities and the outside world. 
Author: Illinois Museum

Eighteenth-Century and Twentieth-Century Forms of Resistance
http://www.history.org/
When unpopular laws are enacted or when unfavorable actions are taken on the part of a group or a government, there is often open resistance to the laws or actions. Resistance is demonstrated in many different forms, including written objections, words to songs, prints and political cartoons, mob violence, and even war. In this lesson, students will discuss the various types of resistance used in colonial times and compare them with the forms of resistance that take place in the twentieth century. To access this lesson, click on "Teach History" and then "Classroom Tested Lesson Plans" 
Author: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

What Is a Republican Government?
http://www.civiced.org/
wtp_elem03_sb.html
This lesson from the "We the People" elementary book, published by the Center for Civic Education, leads students to establish the relationship between the concept of Republican government and the principles of the common welfare and civic virtue. The lesson is guided by a series of problem-based thought questions. 
Author: Center for Civic Education

Why Do We Need Government?
http://www.civiced.org
/wtp_ms01_sb.html
What is meant by the ideas of natural rights, social compact , consent of the governed? Why were they important concepts to the Founders and how do they matter to us today?
Author: We the People 

3 - Presenter stays in character and has an effective prop.  Information is accurate,
creative and interesting.

2 - Presenter is in and out of character and laughing/giggling. 
The prop is an afterthought and not very effective. 
Information is accurate but contains boring facts rather than ones woven into a creative speech.

1 - Presenter is out of character.  There is no prop and the speech is only partly memorized.

Teacher Rubric:

Use the same rubric as above but do pay attention to the class attitude as well to prevent the class from interrupting the studentís attempt to present the speech effectively.