Category: 9-12 High School

Students will learn about the formation of Crowley’s Ridge and the features that make it one of Arkansas’ six natural divisions. They will also learn about the impression that this “upland in the lowlands” made on the Europeans who explored Arkansas and the reasons Crowley’s Ridge was attractive to them. Students will read about the plants and animals important to early settlers on Crowley’s Ridge and use this information to produce a class quilt depicting the natural features of the ridge.

Students will study civilian Arkansans during the Civil War. These Arkansans, who held down the home front during the Civil War, faced many challenges, including outlaw bands know as Jayhawkers who ravaged the people and the land. Additionally, students may study the events leading up to the war and the post Civil War era.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level:5-8 Middle School

Time period:Civil War Through the Gilded Age 1861-1900

Arkansas Academic Standards are subject to revision every six years by the Arkansas Department of Education.

Through the study of the rediscovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, students will analyze the physical changes in the state of Arkansas, creating a timeline to depict the changes, and completing a writing prompt for further analysis and opinion. Students will utilize content area textual resources.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level:5-8 Middle School

Time period:Modern Era 1968 to Present

Arkansas Academic Standards are subject to revision every six years by the Arkansas Department of Education.

Students will be introduced to Arkansas History by becoming archeologists who discover artifacts in a “dig simulation.” They will gain an understanding of how archeology has aided the study of Arkansas’ past and be introduced to the different groups who have made our state their home. By placing artifacts on an Arkansas History Timeline, students will develop an overview of the important time periods in Arkansas History.

Students will study and examine the Southwest Trail as described in “Bears and Panthers Aplenty”, Chapter II of Bandits, bears, and backaches.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level:5-8 Middle School

Time period:Louisiana Purchase Through Early Statehood 1803-1860

Arkansas Academic Standards are subject to revision every six years by the Arkansas Department of Education.

The major goal of the unit is to guide students as they research a Arkansas Civil War topic, The Engagement at Poison Spring, in preparation for a classroom ‘debate’.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level:9-12 High School

Time period:Civil War Through the Gilded Age 1861-1900

Arkansas Academic Standards are subject to revision every six years by the Arkansas Department of Education.

Students will research and examine the important roles of lawmen such as Bass Reeves in the structuring of Arkansas as a state.  They will also review how lawmen such as Reeves may have influence Arkansas law and political system as a whole.

Lesson Plan

Courtesy of CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

Grade Level:5-8 Middle School

Time period:Civil War Through the Gilded Age 1861-1900

Arkansas Academic Standards are subject to revision every six years by the Arkansas Department of Education.

In the nineteenth century, historians tried to lift their scholarship to a higher level, declaring that they would rely only upon documented facts. However, as noted historian E. H. Carr wrote in his essay, What Is History?, even this does not guarantee the final truth about the past. The next question is, “Which facts?” This lesson will include two more questions that historians must always ask: What is significant about a particular event?

Students will review an assortment of Arkansas’s natural resources as they use a large map of Arkansas. They will learn a song about the natural resources in Arkansas and then use concrete examples to locate where these resources are found within our state. This lesson is also intended to help the kindergarten teacher implement art/music while using curriculum content.

Students will be introduced to the struggle for women’s rights in the U.S. first by reading a quote from Carrie Chapman Catt. They will then study and discuss gender attitudes and the roles of women in Arkansas from colonial times to the present. Finally, students will research specific Arkansas women and their contributions to our state’s history.