National Park Week & Earth Day

In honor of National Park Week and Earth Day, each year Teaching with Historic Places posts on the Web lesson plans that highlight some of our nation's National Parks. Created by National Park Service interpreters, preservation professionals, and educators, these lessons are free and ready for immediate classroom use by students in history and social studies classes.

• Brown v. Board: Five Communities That Changed America
Learn about the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. (Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site)

• Bryce Canyon National Park: Hoodoos Cast Their Spell
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn how it became a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century and finally a national park. (Bryce Canyon National Park)

• Camp Misty Mount: A Place for Regrowth
Inspect a recreational demonstration area (RDA) in western Maryland, created as part of a Great Depression government relief program. (Catoctin Mountain Park)

• Floyd Bennett Field: Naval Aviation's Home in Brooklyn
Learn about the vital role played by naval aviators delivering aircraft to combat-bound units in the Pacific during WWII, and the women workers on the home front who helped in one of U.S. history's greatest industrial feats. (Gateway National Recreation Area)

• Going-to-the-Sun Road: A Model of Landscape Engineering
Learn about some of the practical problems of constructing roads in difficult terrain and about the added challenge of building in such a way as to enhance, rather than damage, fragile and beautiful places such as Glacier National Park. (Glacier National Park)

• Harry Truman and Independence, Missouri: "This is Where I Belong"
Learn why the life of the 33rd U.S. President serves as an example of civic duty and explore the town that helped form his character. (Harry S Truman National Historic Site)

• Hopewell Furnace: A Pennsylvania Iron-making Plantation
Explore how Hopewell functioned as a productive work unit and how work defined social relationships in this early National period community. (Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site)

• The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Documenting the Uncharted Northwest
Learn how the 1804-1806 expedition effectively opened the Northwest to the influence of the United States, established relations with numerous American Indian nations, and gathered useful scientific documentation about the West. (Nez Perce National Historical Park and Fort Clatsop National Memorial)

• Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial: Forging Greatness during Lincoln's Youth
Meet the people and learn of events that influenced the development of Abraham Lincoln's character and personality as a youth on the Indiana frontier. (Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial)

• Lincoln Home National Historic Site: A Place of Growth and Memory
Learn how Abraham Lincoln's belief in freedom and democracy, his eloquence, and the support of family and community propelled him to the White House and uplifted him through the turbulent Civil War. (Lincoln Home National Historic Site)

• Mammoth Cave: Its Explorers, Miners, Archeologists, and Visitors
Tour the world's longest cave, a geological wonder, and assess the ways it has been used and preserved as a historic resource. (Mammoth Cave National Park)

• Minuteman Missile National Historic Site: Protecting a Legacy of the Cold War
Examine how the escalation of the Cold War led to the development and deployment of the Minuteman Missile system and investigate the role of missileers as America's "peacekeepers." (Minuteman Missile National Historic Site)

• Tonto National Monument: Saving a National Treasure
Learn about one of the nation's most important conservation laws--the Antiquities Act of 1906--and how its passage preserved important cultural sites such as Tonto National Monument, which preserves remnants of the Salado culture prior to European contact. (Tonto National Monument)

To learn more about TwHP's other lessons, including the many other lessons featuring our nation's National Parks, please visit the Lesson Plan Descriptions page.