Printable Grades 7–9 History Units for Philadelphia's Phone-Free Classrooms
Printable Grades 7–9 History Units for Philadelphia's Phone-Free Classrooms
If your Philadelphia school now keeps phones locked away during class, the Middle School History Units Bundle gives you nine printable grades 7–9 history resources that run on paper, talk and source work. Students read, annotate, argue and solve puzzles without a screen, moving from the Black Death and medieval peasant life to Pompeii, industrialization, migration today, famous U.S. presidents and a history escape room.
See the 9 history unitsYes, it works in a room where phones stay in a cabinet or pouch. The Middle School History Units Bundle costs $74.99 and holds nine grades 7–9 resources you can print: informational texts, differentiated worksheets, source tasks, roleplay and debate preparation in the plague unit, and a printable escape room. Students need paper and a pencil, not a device. Bought separately, the same nine parts cost $123.91.
The resources
Middle School History Units Bundle, Grades 7–9
9 resources in one download: $74.99 instead of $123.91 bought separately.
Start with the first resource; the others are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
Middle School History Units Bundle | Black Death, Peasants, Pompeii, Industrialization, Migration & U.S. Presidents | 9 Resources | Grades 7–9
XXL History Teaching Bundle – Grades 6 to 9 | Complete Curriculum
World History Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for Middle School History
XXL Medieval History Bundle – Black Death, Feudalism & Society
The real problem
One district, many phone rules
Philadelphia does not have one phone rule. Under district Policy 237, each school in the School District of Philadelphia sets and enforces its own cellphone rules. West Philadelphia High School locks phones in classroom cabinets during instruction, and James Rhoads Elementary uses Yondr pouches for grades 3–8. Pennsylvania has no statewide school cellphone ban yet: the state Senate passed a ban bill in February 2026, the House passed an amended version in June 2026, and as of the 2026–27 school year the two chambers have not agreed on a final text. For a history teacher, your building may be phone-free while the school across town is not. And the habits many of us leaned on are gone: a quick image search when a student asks what a plague doctor looked like, a phone photo of the notes slide, a digital exit ticket. Source work has to arrive on paper, in a form students can mark up.
Why it fits
What students actually do with these units
Each resource was written as a classroom unit, not as an online module, so it sits well with a cabinet-or-pouch rule.
- The Medieval Plague unit pairs reading scaffolds with chronicles and images to analyze on paper.
- Roleplay and debate preparation in the plague unit give students a reason to talk instead of scroll.
- Daily Life of Medieval Peasants and Pompeii and Herculaneum come as worksheets and activities with keys.
- Industrialization & Labor Movements and Migration in the 21st Century bring the course toward the present.
- The History Escape Room is printable, so teams solve clues at their tables without a device.
- What Was School Like In 1930? is a workbook students can fill in and keep in a binder.
Getting started
A sample way to run the first weeks
This is a suggestion only. Your school's social studies plan and your own pacing come first.
- Check your building's Policy 237 ruleFind out whether phones go in a cabinet, a pouch or a backpack in your school, and whether any class devices are allowed. That tells you how much of each unit to print and how much to project.
- Open with the Black DeathStart with the Medieval Plague unit. Hand out the reading with its scaffolds, then the chronicle and image sources. The comparison to modern pandemics gives students something to discuss right away.
- Build a paper source routineUse the same steps for every source: read, underline, note who made it and why. Repeat the routine with Daily Life of Medieval Peasants so students stop asking for a phone to check facts.
- Move toward the presentTeach Industrialization & Labor Movements, then Migration in the 21st Century. Both close the gap between medieval Europe and topics students hear about at home.
- Keep the escape room for a hard daySave the History Escape Room for the day before a break or a sub day. Print the clue sheets in advance and keep one set in your sub folder.
What to buy
Which history download fits your Philadelphia room
For most grades 7–9 teachers the Middle School History Units Bundle at $74.99 is the practical choice: nine stand-alone units that cost $123.91 if bought separately, each usable on its own when your plan has a gap. If you want a full year of periods in one place, the XXL History Teaching Bundle ($249.90) runs from ancient civilizations through the Cold War with source tasks and rubrics. World History Complete – Middle School starts at $149.90 for a sequenced grades 6–8 course. If you only need the Middle Ages, the XXL Medieval History Bundle costs $19.99.
Honest limits
What the bundle will not do
This bundle was not written for Pennsylvania or for the School District of Philadelphia. It has no Pennsylvania history unit and no standards codes, so check each lesson against the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for History and your school's scope and sequence. It is nine single-topic units, not a full-year course. You supply the printing, binders and any classroom rules about phones. Sharing it with your grade team or department needs a short message to Teach Lessons first. If it turns out not to fit within 7 days, you can exchange it for store credit of equal value; there is no cash refund.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Is this aligned to Pennsylvania standards or the district curriculum?
No. The units are not aligned to, endorsed by or approved by Pennsylvania or the School District of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania organizes social studies into Civics and Government, Economics, Geography and History, and grade placement of world and U.S. history is decided locally. Compare each unit with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for History and with your school's plan before you schedule it.
My school uses Yondr pouches. Is anything in the bundle phone-dependent?
The resources are worksheets, texts, source tasks and printable activities with answer keys, so a class can work through them with phones sealed away. Some teachers project slides or texts from a teacher computer; that is your choice and does not involve student phones. If your school allows class devices, the materials also work in digital form.
Does it matter that Pennsylvania has not passed a statewide phone ban?
For your lessons, not much. As of the 2026–27 school year the Senate and House have passed different versions and have not agreed on one text, so Policy 237 still lets each Philadelphia school set its own rule. Paper-based units work under any of those rules, and they keep working if a state law arrives later.
Can I use the units with my eighth and ninth graders too?
The bundle is listed for grades 7–9, and Pompeii and Herculaneum and Famous U.S. Presidents are listed up to grade 10. The differentiated worksheets in the plague unit help when one class has a wide range of readers. Look through each unit and decide which grade it suits in your building's sequence.
How quickly can I use it?
Right after purchase. You get a download link by email, and the files also stay in your customer account under Orders. You can print the first unit the same evening, put a copy of the escape room in your sub folder, and return for the other units as the semester moves along.
Can my whole social studies team use one copy?
The licence covers your own teaching. Use across a team or school is possible after a short message to Teach Lessons, so write before you share files with colleagues in your building or on a shared drive. Posting the units on a public site, a class page open to anyone or a resale platform is not allowed.
Paper, sources and a full period of history
Open the product page to see all nine units in the Middle School History Units Bundle and pick the one you would print first.
See the 9 history units