Mount Vernon is open to visitors throughout the inauguration week.  We look forward to seeing you.

Lesson Plans

Home Education Lesson Plans Lesson Plans

Education
For Teachers For Students Online Learning Distance Learning Programs Lesson Plans Educational Events Virtual Tour Primary Sources Digital Encyclopedia Online Activities for Kids

Breaking and Mending the Two-Term Precedent

This lesson draws a connection between George Washington’s establishment of the two-term precedent for the presidency and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s breaking of that precedent nearly 150 years later. In this lesson, students will analyze multiple primary and secondary sources, both collaboratively and independently. Discussion and debate is a large focus of this lesson. Students will make interdisciplinary connections between history and government/civics. This resource was created by 2013-2014 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Hannah Markwardt. 

View Lesson Plan

George Washington's Foreign Policy

A lesson that asks students to connect George Washington’s Farewell Address to later presidential foreign policy messages. As a group, the class will discuss the influence Washington’s message had on the nation and posterity. Working in groups, students investigate excerpts from later presidential foreign policy messages and compare and contrast these with Washington’s Farewell Address. A Socratic Seminar analyzing past U.S. foreign policy also asks students to chart a course for future U.S. foreign policy.

View Lesson Plan

Key Concepts of the Constitution

This lesson supports the video A More Perfect Union: George Washington and the Making of the Constitution. After viewing the video, students use image-based flashcards to practice and demonstrate their understanding of the key concepts of the Constitution presented in the video. Visual cues provide new routes for student understanding of these complex ideas. Key concepts addressed reflect the importance of compromise, the weakness of the union after the War for Independence, the importance of George Washington as a unifying figure during a fractious time, and the elements of government reflected in the first seven Articles of the Constitution. 

View Lesson Plan

The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret: The Founders' Failure to End Slavery

This DBQ style lesson asks students to use multiple primary and secondary sources to evaluate the statement: Ideals and moral concerns regarding human equality and the evils of slavery espoused over the course of the Founding Era were impossible to carry out and enforce due to the economic necessity and racial dynamics of slavery. This lesson was created by 2016-2017 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Michael Ellis.

View Lesson Plan

Snuff Box and Hogshead

This activity compares two containers of tobacco- one on the production side and the other on the consumption side to show how tobacco was made and sold in the Colonies and in England. Students will analyze a snuff box and hogshead as well as British advertisements for tobacco and snuff to understand the importance of tobacco to the 18th century. It also shines a light on how slavery was the foundation of Colonial and English economy, government, and lifestyle. 

View Lesson Plan
Logout
Buy Tickets

Quick Links

What to Do Calendar Shop Restaurant Support Membership
Estate Hours

9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

iconDirections & Parking
buy tickets online & save