Road to Revolution Unit | Events Leading to the Declaration of Independence
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What educators are saying
Description
This Road to Revolution unit covers the events that led to the Declaration of Independence. Even better, a hands-on simulation will bring history to life!
In order to better understand the American Revolution, students will adopt a colonist identity and experience events like the tea act, the stamp act, and the Boston Tea Party. They will truly feel the struggle of "taxation without representation." Students also participate in Continental Congresses, where they decide how to respond to the taxes. Will your students sign a Declaration of Independence? Or stay loyal to the crown?
I’ve made this Road to Revolution unit as easy as possible for busy teachers to implement. From thorough lesson plans to answer keys – it's all there.
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Here's what's included:
Week 1
- Day 1: Choose Your Destiny—activity where students adopt a colonial identity that will last throughout the unit (they love this part!). They receive a colonial name, job and salary, and a political faction to belong to (patriot, loyalist, or neutralist)
- Day 2: Patriots vs. Loyalists—sorting cards with Patriot, Neutralist, and Loyalist arguments, booklet, & primary source worksheet
- Day 3: Stamp Act Simulation & Prepare for the Stamp Act Congress—In order to feel the stress of taxation without representation, students take part in simulated classroom taxes. Students are required to put an “official stamp” on all of their assignments in order for them to be graded.
- Day 4: Stamp Act Congress—simulated congress, article about what really happened, & reflection
- Day 5: Townshend Acts Simulation & Boston Massacre Lesson—classroom tax simulation, analyze eyewitness accounts of the Boston Massacre and explain each speaker's point of view
Week 2
- Day 6: Tea Act Simulation & The Boston Tea Party—classroom tax simulation, informative article, draw a political cartoon of the Boston Tea Party
- Day 7: Intolerable Acts Simulation & Lesson—classroom tax simulation, task cards about the Intolerable Acts, & student worksheet
- Day 8: Prepare for the First Continental Congress—learn about proposals and come up with speeches for the congress
- Day 9: First Continental Congress—simulated congress, article about what really happened, & reflection
- Day 10: Lexington, Concord, & Thomas Paine—article & student worksheets about Lexington and Concord, translating quotes from Thomas Paine's Common Sense
Week 3
- Day 11: Prepare for the Second Continental Congress—learn about proposals and come up with speeches for the congress
- Day 12: Second Continental Congress—simulated congress, article about what really happened, & reflection
- Day 13: Analyze the Declaration of Independence—compare the Declaration to a break-up letter & organize it into sections
- Day 14: Key Ideas in the Declaration of Independence—task cards & student worksheets
- Day 15: Write Your Own Declaration of Independence—use the Declaration as a model text for a writing piece
Help For The Teacher
- Table of contents (also available in the preview)
- Suggested pacing guide
- 15 lesson plans
- Answer Keys (Of course!)
- Editable end-of-unit test and study guide
- Easy printing file with all student worksheets and articles
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This unit also includes DIGITAL ACCESS via Google Slides.*
- I have created a Google Slides resource for each lesson. Each resource contains student instructions, student worksheets with editable text boxes, and articles/task cards if applicable.
- Google Slides can be assigned by teachers via Google Classroom. I hope this update will help teachers who are implementing distance learning.
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Why I created this unit
1. I believe that social studies should be exciting and interactive!
2. Teachers deserve excellent social studies resources (Can someone please tell our school districts?)
3. Planning complete units is tedious and time-consuming (um... I won’t even tell you how long it took me to create this). I want to save teachers precious time so they can focus on doing what they love—teaching!
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What people are saying about this unit:
“My students told me they finally LOVED social studies! This unit is engaging and hit all of the marks in skills and content while making it FUN. The kids talked about their debates at the Constitutional Congresses for weeks." —Catherine L.
“There are not enough words for me to describe how much I LOVE THIS RESOURCE! This resource makes this topic TRULY engaging and brings history alive. My students love all the activities and learn SO MUCH while doing it. Seriously- I cannot wait until we get to this unit every year!" —Meghan H.
“This was so well organized that I would buy it again! My students seemed to completely understand the motivations for the writing of the Declaration of Independence and that was my goal. Thank you for making this easy!" —Nichole A.
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How can this unit be for grades 5th-8th?
The articles are written at a 7th-8th grade reading level. If you teach one of those grades, your students will be able to complete the activities more or less independently. If you teach 5th or 6th grade, I recommend reading and analyzing the articles with your students. They will do great! Check out the reviews to see how teachers at your grade level have successfully used and loved this unit.
Where can I find more history units?
I have already created units for the following topics:
- Age of Exploration
- 13 Colonies
- Declaration of Independence
- US Constitution
- Early Republic
- Revolutionary War
- Westward Expansion
- Civil War
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Customer Tips:
For samples of what is included, download the preview file. I would love to answer any and all questions about this product. Ask a question by clicking on “Product Q & A”
All of my products are digital and non-refundable. This is a digital file. A physical product will not be shipped. Please make sure you have a way to open: a zip file, PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, and a word document before purchasing.
This product is not editable. The only part of the unit that is editable is the end-of-unit study guide and test. The other elements (like lesson plans, student worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, Google Slides, etc.) are not. The PDFs are password protected. This protects my work as well as the work of graphic and font artists I've purchased from.
