Elementary Renaissance to Modern History with American History in World Context {Pre-K-3rd}

Week 1: The Islamic Empires in the Renaissance

  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 298-301. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Make a map of the Ottoman Empire.
  • Make a map of the Mogul Empire.
  • Make a tessellations picture.

Week 2: Catholics and Protestants

  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 302-303. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • What are the main differences between the Catholics and the Protestants?

Week 3: Elizabethan England and an Introduction to Shakespeare

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  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 304-305. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Read The Queen's Progress.
  • Play Nine Men's Morris.
  • Queen Elizabeth I (and then later, the Dutch East India Co.) sent Hudson to the New World. Complete a map of Hudson's voyages.
  • Read a Shakespearean story retold by Bruce Coville. Make puppets from the stories and have your students retell the stories.

Week 4: Kings, Cavilers and Roundheads

  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 306-307. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Color a map of England.
  • What is a Caviler and what is a Roundhead?

Week 5: The Habsburgs

  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 308-309. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Begin making outlines of your readings. On a piece of paper write the Habsburgs and then write down two things you learned from this lesson. Write down important names and key words such as: Philip II of Spain, Ferdinand, Charles V, Holy Roman Empire, Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), defenestration, Peace of Westphalia. Did the Peace of Westphalia end the Thirty Years’ War completely? Why or why not? 
  • On a map, color and label the Republic of the United Netherlands and the North Sea. Refer to the map in UILE on page 310. 
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 310-311. Discuss pictures as you read. What is a province? Write down two things you learned. Some of the important names and keywords you might have jotted down as you read this part of the lesson are: William the Silent, William of Orange, tulip, merchant ships, lowlands, dikes. 
  • Why was William called William the Silent?
  • Read Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus? by Yona McDonough, Johannes Vermeer by Mike Venezia
  • Read Hana in the Time of the Tulips by Deborah Noyes and dissect a tulip.

 Week 7: France and the Sun King


  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 312-313. Discuss pictures as you read. What does the word consult mean? Why were the ordinary people of France very angry by the time Louis XIV died? Write two important things you learned in this lesson. If you are jotting down important names and keywords, you might have written these: Louis XIV, Cardinal Mazarin, absolute ruler, Versailles, the Sun King.
  • On a map of Europe, color and label France. Find Paris. Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean on your wall map or atlas and label them on your map.
  • Read The Man in the Iron Mask.

Week 8: Age of Enlightenment
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 314-315. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Write two things you learned in this lesson. While you were reading you may have jotted down some of these important names and keywords: Kepler, Boyle, Rembrandt, Diderot, Harvey, Samuel Johnson, Linnaeus, Rousseau, Voltaire, Thomas Paine, John Locke, Galileo, model, solar system, blood, Rights of Man, scientific method, gravity, constitutional monarchy, universal laws, natural law, contract, government of three parts.
Week 9: Changes in Russia and the Prussians
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 316-319. Discuss pictures as you read. Name three reasons that Czar Peter I became known as Peter the Great.
  • On a map, color and label the expansion of Russia. Complete the map key. Label these bodies of water: Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Arctic Ocean, and Pacific Ocean.
  • Read Peter the Great by Diane Stanley, Catherine the Great by Christine Hatt, Catherine: The Great Journey by Kristiana Gregory, or another book about Peter the Great, Frederick the Great, or Catherine the Great. Write a report or tell someone about what you read.
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 320-323. Discuss pictures as you read. Who were the first settlers in North America? Locate on a map where these settlements were.  Interactive 3-D Maps: American History has some really good maps to use. Alternatively, on a blank map of the Americas, locate, label, and color North America, Central America, South America, and Canada on a map of the Americas. Also label the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Arctic Ocean.
  • Write down two things that you learned in this lesson. Did you jot down keywords and important names as you read
  • Read Roanoke: The Lost Colony by Jane Yoland
  • Read 1607: A New Look at Jamestown by Karen Lance.
  • Research and then write a sentence about Marquette and Joliet, John Cabot, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Antoine de Cadillac, Jacques Cartier, Bernal Diaz Del Castillo, Franciso Vasquez de Coronado, Hernan Cortes, Robert de LaSalle, Ponce de Leon, Hernando de Soto, Henry Hudson, Sir Francis Drake, Eric the Red, Leif Eriksson, Martin Frobisher, Francisco Pizarro, Sir Walter Raleigh, Giovanni da Verrazzano, or Amerigo Vespucci. Pick one or two that you particularly found interesting and write a short report or tell an adult what you have learned, using at least three different sources. 
  • Read Shakespeare's The Tempest by Bruce Coville
Week 11: The Slave Trade
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 324-325. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Play the Slave Trading game.
  • Complete a map of the Slave trade. Interactive 3-D Maps: American History has a really good map to use.

Week 12: Exploring the South Seas

  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, page 326. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Did you jot down keywords and important names as you read? Write down two things that you learned in this lesson. 
  • Make a map showing Cook's voyages.
Week 13: The British in India

  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 328-329. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Did you jot down keywords and important names as you read? Write down two things that you learned in this lesson. What were Aurangzeb’s three decisions and what effect did those decisions have on India?  What big mistake did the East India Company make that led to the Sepoy Mutiny? What is a sepoy? Why did Queen Victoria declare that India was a British colony? 
  • On a map, label these bodies of water: Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Color and label India. Trace the rivers in blue. Use page 329 of UILE to color in the primary region in which the Indian Mutiny occurred.
  • Read India (Eyewitness Books) by Manini Chatterjee and Anita Roy

Week 14: American Revolution

  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 330-331. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Read George the Drummer Boy  and Sam the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley (4 - 8 years) or read The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh (ages 7-10).


Week 15:The French Revolution
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 332-333. Discuss pictures as you read. 
  • Write two things that you learned in this of this lesson. While you were reading you may have jotted down these important names and keywords: Robespierre, Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, Estates General, Bastille, Reign of Terror, guillotine, Three Estates, citizens, royalists.
  • Label France and Paris on a map of Europe.
Week 16: Napoleon's Empire
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 332-333. Discuss pictures as you read. 
  • Write two things that you learned in this of this lesson. While you were reading you may have jotted down these important names and keywords: Robespierre, Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, Estates General, Bastille, Reign of Terror, guillotine, Three Estates, citizens, royalists.
  • Label Spain, Italy, France, Britain, and Russia on your map, using the map on page 335 in UILE as your guide. Mark a red ‘X’ at Cape Trafalgar and color Napoleon’s whole empire. Use your wall map or atlas to identify and label the Baltic Sea, North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Adriatic Sea, and Mediterranean Sea. Circle the Battle of Waterloo.
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 334-335. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Write two things that you learned. Some of the important names and keywords you jotted down might include: Napoleon, Duke of Wellington, emperor, Battle of Trafalgar, Moscow, Battle of Waterloo, oligarchy, Battle of the Nile, Napoleonic Code, pressed. Who fought the War of 1812 and what did it accomplish?
  • Possible read-Aloud Betsy and the Emperor by Staton Rabin

Week 17: Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions

  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 336-337. Discuss pictures as you read. Write two things you learned. You may have jotted down these important names or keywords as you read: Jethro Tull, Lord Charles Townshend, seed drill, crop rotation, bigger animals, larger fields, Acts of Enclosure. 
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 338-339. Discuss pictures as you read. Define industrial. Write two things you learned. You may have jotted down these important names or keywords as you read: James Hargreaves, George Stephenson, Eli Whitney, Ned Ludd, James Watt, spinning jenny, steam engine, steam-powered train, cotton gin, standardization, interchangeable parts, Luddites, Great Exhibition, Crystal Palace, coal mines, methane.
  • Complete Industrial Revolution changes mapping activity.
Week 18: Life in New Towns 
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 338-339. Discuss pictures as you read.
  • Write two things you learned. You may have jotted down these important names or keywords as you read: factory, slums, overseer, workhouses, trade unions, strike, Factory Acts.
  • What was it like to be a child who worked in a coal mine or a factory? Pretend that you are such a child and write one or more paragraphs describing what the mine or factory looks like, what your job is there, what it is like to work there, whether or not your parents work there, what some of the dangers might be, and describe what the place you live looks like.

Weeks 19-20: Nations and Revolutions 

  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 342-343. Discuss pictures as you read. The text calls 1848 the Year of Revolutions. Why?
  • Write down two things you learned in this lesson. Did you jot down important names and keywords as you read?
  • Complete a timeline/world mapping activity, such as the one here.
  • Read Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 334-335. Discuss pictures as you read. 
  • On a map of South America, label Paraquay, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Trace the Paraguay River in blue. Label the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 
  • Read Simon Bolivar, Frank De Varona

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