Early American History Lessons for Arkansas Elementary Classrooms
Early American History Lessons for Arkansas Elementary Classrooms
Need early American history lessons for an Arkansas elementary classroom? The Early American History Bundle ($99.99) gives you eight units for Grades 1–4: Native Americans, explorers, the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, pioneers on the frontier, timelines, historical sources, and school and family life then and now. The units are written for any state, so check them against Arkansas's current social studies standards and your district's map before planning.
Look inside the 8 unitsFor an Arkansas teacher in Grades 1–4, the Early American History Bundle ($99.99) supplies eight ready units on early America and on how we learn about the past. Each unit has an overview and three sub-units with a lesson plan, a differentiated worksheet with reading passage and word bank, a project or source activity, an answer key and slides. It contains no Arkansas history and is not aligned to Arkansas standards, so confirm the fit with your district.
The resources
Early American History Bundle, Grades 1–4
8 resources in one download: $99.99 instead of $199.92 bought separately.
Start with the first resource; the others are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
Early American History Bundle | Native Americans, Explorers, Pilgrims & Pioneers | 8 Units | Grades 1–4
Elementary History Curriculum | All 20 History Units | Grades 1–4
Ancient Civilizations Bundle | Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, Vikings & Stone Age | 8 Units | Grades 1–4
Civics & Civil Rights Bundle | Martin Luther King Jr., Voting, Direct Democracy & Freedom of the Press | 4 Resources | Grades 5–9
The real problem
Why early American history is hard to teach well in Grades 1–4
Early American history is one of the first times young children meet real people from the past, and it is easy to get wrong. Thanksgiving lessons can slide into paper headdresses and a tidy story that leaves Native people as background. Explorers can come across as simple heroes. Pioneers can look like the first people on empty land. First impressions tend to stick with young children, so the framing matters. A careful lesson presents Native Americans as nations with their own homes, food and ways of life before any ship arrived, then follows the newcomers with the same facts-first approach. The second problem is reading. A Grade 1 room and a Grade 4 room need very different texts, and many classes hold both strong and struggling readers. Third, source work: young students can look at a picture or an object and ask what it tells us, but only if the task is pitched right. As for Arkansas specifics, this page does not list the state's standards or which grade covers which period. Confirm the current social studies standards and grade sequence with the state education department or your district before you decide where these units go.
Why it fits
How the eight units help an Arkansas classroom
The bundle pairs the people and events of early America with the skills children need to study them.
- Native Americans: First Peoples of North America is a full unit, taught before the newcomers arrive.
- Explorers & the Voyage to the Americas and Pilgrims & the First Thanksgiving keep the facts in order.
- Pioneers & Life on the Frontier carries the story west with daily life at the center.
- Timelines & Measuring Time helps children place events in order instead of one vague long ago.
- Traces of the Past teaches young students to ask what an object, picture or text tells us.
- Differentiated worksheets with word banks let Grade 1 and Grade 4 readers use the same unit.
Getting started
A suggested way to place the units in your year
These are suggestions. Your district's social studies map decides which grade teaches what.
- Early fall: tools firstOpen with Timelines & Measuring Time and Traces of the Past. Students who can order events and question a source will get much more from the history units that follow.
- Before November: First PeoplesTeach Native Americans: First Peoples of North America ahead of any Thanksgiving lessons, so children meet Native nations as people with their own history, not as a side note.
- November: explorers and PilgrimsFollow with Explorers & the Voyage to the Americas and Pilgrims & the First Thanksgiving. Keep the facts central and let students compare the different perspectives involved.
- Spring: pioneers on the frontierUse Pioneers & Life on the Frontier later in the year, when students can connect daily life on the frontier with what they already know about earlier peoples.
- Any time: then and nowSlot School Then and Now and Family & Daily Life Then and Now into short weeks, around holidays or for substitute days, since each sub-unit is a complete lesson.
What to buy
Early American bundle or the full series
If early America is your focus, the Early American History Bundle at $99.99 (parts $199.92) is the right size. If you want history for all of Grades 1–4 from one source, the Elementary History Curriculum ($169.99, parts $499.80) contains these eight units plus 12 more on the ancient and medieval world and then-and-now topics. For ancient history alone, the Ancient Civilizations Bundle costs $99.99. Teachers of older students in Grades 5–9 can add the Civics & Civil Rights Bundle ($54.99) for Martin Luther King Jr., the I Have a Dream speech, voting and freedom of the press.
Honest limits
What you still need to check and supply
These units are not written for Arkansas. They contain no Arkansas history and no Arkansas standards codes, and they have not been reviewed by the state or any district. Confirm Arkansas's current social studies standards and your grade's topics before you build them into your plan. You provide the printing and any craft supplies. If several teachers will share the files, send Teach Lessons a short message first. If the bundle is not a fit, you can exchange it within 7 days for store credit of equal value, not cash.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Does this match the Arkansas social studies standards?
It is not aligned with, approved under or written for the Arkansas social studies standards, and we cannot tell you which Arkansas standard a given lesson fits. Check the current standards and your district's curriculum map yourself, then use the units where the topics match what your grade teaches.
Is there anything about Arkansas history in it?
No. The eight units cover early America in general terms: Native Americans, explorers, the Pilgrims, pioneers and how we learn about the past. Arkansas history, local Native nations and state geography need to come from your district's materials or your own planning, and the units can sit alongside them.
How respectful is the treatment of Native Americans and the Pilgrims?
These three units are written with a factual, respectful approach. Native Americans: First Peoples of North America is its own unit, not a part of the Thanksgiving lessons. Read each lesson before you teach it so you can add context and answer children's questions carefully.
Will it work for both first and fourth graders?
Every sub-unit's worksheet is differentiated, with a detailed reading passage and a word bank. In Grade 1, read the passage together and lean on the slides and the activity. Fourth graders can usually read the passage independently and go deeper in the project or source tasks.
Can Arkansas homeschool families use it?
Yes. Families teaching at home file a notice of intent with their district superintendent each year, by August 15 for a full year, and no required subject list is named. The bundle works at a kitchen table as well as in a classroom. Check current homeschool law with the state or a homeschool legal resource.
How do I get the units?
The download link is emailed as soon as you check out and is saved under Orders in your account. All eight units arrive together, and each part is linked on the bundle page if you want to see a single unit first. Team or school use is possible after a short message to Teach Lessons.
Teach early America with care and less prep
Open the product page to see the eight units and the parts inside each one.
Look inside the 8 units