As a social studies teacher in the Bronx we often don’t have a class set of usable textbooks. Also, they were often too voluminous and difficult for my struggling students. Finding an appropriate summary of a topic was oftentimes frustrating and time-consuming.
That’s why I decided to start offering them on my website. This is an ongoing project, so stop back frequently and see what we’ve added.
When I say “we” I mean my brother and I. I have been teaching social studies for 19 years and my brother, Joe, is an historian. Between the 2 of us we create these reading passages.
If we’re missing a topic you’re looking for just email me at teachandthrive@gmail.com. No guarantees, but we’ll try to accommodate:)
Each reading passage is approximately 650 words, just right for most single period lessons. They are geared to grades 7-11, depending upon the abilities of your students.
If you want to differentiate for your struggling students and English language learners there is a highlight feature on PDFs. This allows you to annotate whatever areas of the reading you want students to focus on.
Below is a picture of each page. Click on the link to download your PDF copy.
Happy teaching!
If you’re looking for some lesson ideas to do with this reading passage I created a video you can watch here.
TO SEE ALL THE AVAILABLE U.S. HISTORY READING PASSAGES CLICK HERE
Happy teaching!