Causes of the American Revolution Lesson Plan: U.S. History

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Causes of the American Revolution, and supports the standard of analyzing the economic, intellectual, and cultural forces that contributed to the war. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of  projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display an image of the Boston Tea Party. Ask:

  • What do you think the colonists are doing? Why?  

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Students take the Causes of the American Revolution Challenge and Quiz, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about the causes of the American Revolution while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

  • Make-a-Movie: Create a commercial that answers this question: Why should other colonists join you in protest against the British?
  • Make-a-Map: Make a concept map to identify the escalating conflicts between the colonists and the British leading up to the American Revolution. 
  • Creative Coding: Code a comic where one character represents the colonists, and the other represents the British. Create a conversation between them that describes the conflicts that led to the American Revolution from each point of view.

More to Explore

Time Zone X: American Revolution: This interactive timeline game challenges players to put historical events in chronological order.

Mission US: For Crown or Colony: In this game, players immerse themselves in the political tension of 1770 Boston.

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of the American Revolution with these topics:  American Revolution, Regions of the Thirteen Colonies, Declaration of Independence, and Constitutional Convention. 

Teacher Support Resources:

 

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Related:

    Filed as:  3-5, 6-8, BrainPOP, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.4, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.4