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My country, ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims’ pride, From every mountain-side Let freedom ring! ~Samuel Francis Smith

Use these lesson plans (created by educators for educators) to explore the Early America with your students in your classroom:

Tinker, Tailor, Farmer, Sailor - (Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8,) Students examine a variety of primary sources to determine why colonists were drawn to settle in a particular region of the country.

George Washington - (Grades 8-12) Students engage in three lessons examining George Washington's leadership. Lesson One examines ways in which George Washington demonstrated his leadership abilities as a young British colonial officer

Huexotzinco Codex , The - (Grades 6-8,) Students analyze pictograph documents created by native peoples of Puebla, Mexico in 1531. Students take on the role of historians, study the documents, and create a scenario to explain what these documents were for, who created them, and why.

Drake’s West Indian Voyage 1588-1589 - (Grades 6-8,) Students investigate maps depicting a voyage by Sir Francis Drake involving attacks on Spanish settlements around the Atlantic. Students look closely at the details and draw conclusions about individual events as well as the entire voyage.

Is there a title (or two) that you always read to (or with) your students when teaching about Early America? Are there invaluable reference books that you use when working with this theme? Staff from The Library of Congress have generously donated favorite titles for the Early America theme. We hope you will contribute your favorite titles to our growing bibliography!

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Create your own collaborative lesson plans using material related to this month's theme assembled from The Learning Page Collection Connections:

Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region, 1600-1925, The - (Summary and Teaching Resources) This collection includes documents on the founding of the colonies of Maryland and Virginia.

American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920 - (Summary Only) Search this collection using the term "colonies".

Slaves and the Courts 1740-1860 - (Summary and Teaching Resources) This collection is comprised on an assortment of trials, cases, decisions, proceedings and other works of historical importance related to the experiences of the African and African-American slaves in the American colonies and the United States.

Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress, The - (Summary and Teaching Resources) Many items in this collection date back to the early 1600s.

George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress - (Summary and Teaching Resources) The collection can be used to explore the history of colonial America.

Map Collections - (Summary and Teaching Resources) Search this collection using the term "colonies" or the name of a specific colony.

James Madison Papers, 1723-1836, The - (Summary and Teaching Resources) Documents in this collection date back to the early 1700s.

American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera, An - (Summary and Teaching Resources) Search this collection using the term "colonies" to locate examples of early settlement ephemera.

Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals, The - (Summary and Teaching Resources) Search this collection using the term "colonies" for an interesting collection of articles relating to the early settlement of America.

Rochambeau Map Collection - (Summary Only) The maps in this collection cover much of eastern North America, and date from 1717 to 1795.

Louisiana: European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase - (This collection features 119 documents—from maps to newspapers to cultural artifacts - related to the inclusion of Louisiana into the nation.)

France in America - (Summary and Teaching Resources) This collaborative digital library explores the history of the French presence in North America from the first decades of the 16th century to the end of the 19th century.

These terms may be useful when searching for items related to this theme in the American Memory collections.