Primers to the Past: Teaching Our History

The following lesson plans and activities have been developed by local educators in conjunction with George Washington's Fredericksburg Foundation Fellows Program.
Sponsors of the George Washington's Fredericksburg Foundation Fellows Program are George Washington's Fredericksburg Foundation, The Maury-Lafayette Fund of the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region and The Free Lance-Star.

Project Coordinator:
Tom Clark, Stafford High School

Explore Colonial theater in Virginia and see what was going on here in Fredericksburg where George Washington probably saw his first play on American soil.

Project Coordinators:
Patricia Veverka, Rocky Run Elementary School
Keith Veverka, Cedar Lee Middle School

This project is aligned with the Virginia Standards of Learning and provides teachers with lesson plans and student activities for The Free Lance-Star Civil War website.

Project Coordinators:
Sarah Cook, Walker Grant Middle School
Katya Zablotney, Walker Grant Middle School

A resource guide for 4th and 5th grade teachers that provides lesson plans about 18th century Virginia, dealing in particular with tobacco, slavery, and the Revolutionary War. This resource guide gives a local flavor to the Virginia Standards of Learning by showing how people in the Fredericksburg area were affected by colonial economics and the Revolutionary War.

"History in Your Own Backyard" is a two-part project. Part I, Economic Influences on the Virginia Colony, is currently available online. Part II, Much More than Minutemen: Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Stafford in the Revolutionary War, is in development.

Project Coordinators:
Jackie Sipple, Elementary Coordinator, Stafford County Schools
Willard Sipple, Grafton Village Elementary

The focus of this project is to connect students with nature while teaching the Virginia Standards of Learning. This project provides teachers with lesson plans, resources, strategies and techniques to teach academics through gardening.

Project Coordinators:
Ellen Maddox, Chancellor High School
Caren Saunders, Chancellor High School

This project supports the Virginia Standards of Learning by providing students with the opportunity to use a website to examine artifacts from the colonial era and discover or make conclusions about what life was like for colonial residents.

Project Coordinators:
Mary Jane Bohlen, Holy Cross Academy
Mary Ann Martin, Holy Cross Academy

This project focuses on colonial trades, particularly papermaking . Lesson plans, based on the Virginia Standards of Learning that provide a hands-on interdisciplinary approach to the study of colonial life.

Project Coordinators:
Rebecca Mills, Supervisor of Social Studies, Spotsylvania County Schools
Suzanne Smith, John J. Wright Middle School

This project, with strong ties to the Virginia Standards of Learning, focuses on the colonial history of Fredericksburg. This resource guide for teachers uses a variety of activities including a board game and a play to teach students about the events, names and places of 18th century Fredericksburg

Project Coordinators:
Cheryl Crane, Gayle Middle School
Sharon Null, Gayle Middle School

Come and navigate 500 years of river history without getting your feet wet. A mountain spring in western Virginia is where the Rappahannock River begins and it travels 184 miles to the Chesapeake Bay. Students will wind their way through mazes, build structures, search for hidden objects and learn new words from the activities. The activities in this project support the Virginia Standards of Learning.

Project Coordinators:
Tom Clark, Stafford High School
Fred Franklin, Colonial Forge High School

This guide documents techniques and strategies for teaching the Virginia Standards of Learning through drama as applied in the production of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" set in the Colonial American time frame.

Project Coordinators:
Jeanne Carter, Gayle Middle School
Susan Graham, Gayle Middle School

This project provides teachers with primary source documents and activities that interpret "The Rules of Civility" for middle school students. Each lesson is aligned with the Virginia Standards of Learning and sets a stage, presents players from the past, and asks the learner to decide "What Would George Do?" Finally students are asked to reflect on the impact of responsible behavior in their own world.