Lesson Plans

The “20 Questions” series of worksheets from George Washington’s Mount Vernon are designed to guide students through a structured exploration of primary sources. Each set of questions move from concrete observations to analyses of people that lived in the past. The last questions ask students to make larger conclusions about the culture of the time in order to inform a final writing prompt. Included with each worksheet are primary sources from George Washington’s world.

This activity is designed to question students' assumptions on how labor was divided at Mount Vernon. Students will look at an artifact (the grub hoe) and then analyze primary and secondary sources to reinterpret that artifact. They will learn that enslaved women primary worked in the fields, while enslaved men usually did "skilled" tasks. This is an activity that will illustrate how gender binaries are constructed and have changed throughout history. It also reinforces students' STEM skills, such as percentages and ratios. 

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to use historical thinking skills to source an excerpt from George Washington's 1789 letter to Henry Knox about accepting the presidency. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.

This activity sheet focuses students' attention on historical artifacts in the Archaeology collection to learn more about the enslaved population's lives at Mount Vernon. Students will learn how to use artifacts as a primary source, which is especially important in such cases where artifacts are some of the only primary sources left from enslaved communities. 

This activity connects students to George Washington's meticulous record keeping by equating it with modern day bullet journaling. Students will look at a 1793 Farm Report that was made by one of Washington's overseers and sent to Washington while he was President. Students will then keep a bullet journal for a week to experiment recording their own information. By reflecting on their experience, they will be able to get a better understanding of Washington.

This activity recreates the distribution of Washington's swords between his five nephews after his death. In groups of five, students will learn about five of George Washington's swords, after which they work together to choose which sword they would pick. They will consequently learn about how swords were used in the 18th century to represent a person's rank and identity, as well as the situation they are in. Students will also realize how artifacts are not static and their lives continue beyond their original use. 

This activity allows students to analyze a primary source and convey that information in the form of an infographic. Students will examine George Washington's List of Enslaved People, 1799 and create their own infographic to visually represent that data to convey a message. This will increase their media literary skills by analyzing the sources of infographics, while also learning more about the enslaved population at Mount Vernon in 1799.

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to read and analyze an obituary for Martha Washington printed in the Augusta Herald on June 9, 1802. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.

This activity has students summarizing entries from George Washington's 1754 Journal in the form of a tweet. Students will be divided into groups to analyze one of the entries from The Journal of Major George Washington, which was written after Washington's expedition to the Ohio territory before the French and Indian War. They will them summarize that information by transforming it into a tweet and then presenting that to their fellow classmates. 

This lesson shows how recipes are one way women documented their lives in the 18th century. Students will closely examine a recipe for hoecakes and focus on the people involved in that recipe. They will then hypothesize on the lives and interactions of those people based on the recipe. 

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to read and analyze George Washington's diary entry from April 16, 1789, the day he left Mount Vernon for his inauguration in New York City. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to read and analyze an advertisement George Washington wrote after his report to Governor Dinwiddie was published in 1754. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.

This activity sheet is designed to get students to look closely at a primary source document so that they can extract and analyze the information with in it. Students will use the source to learn about what happened to the enslaved people at Mount Vernon after George Washington's death. 

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to use historical thinking skills to source a map of George Washington's five farms. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.

This activity has students examine Martha Washington's Bible as a primary source and then recreate Martha's family tree from clues like those in the bible. Students will learn to use fragmented information to create a larger picture, as well as use math to calculate birth and death dates. 

This activity gives students a chance to write their own interpretation labels for a primary source object. Students will be receive information on one of five aspects of Martha Washington's garnets and use that information to interpret the object. The class will then come together to discuss all aspects of Martha's garnets to show how many different stories can be told using one object. 

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to read and analyze a letter written by Martha Washington to her nephew John Dandridge about the presidency. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.

This activity exemplifies George Washington's appreciation for innovation and ingenuity. Students will examine Oliver Evans' Mill Patent, which Washington adopted in his own Gristmill, and analyze how those represent both Washington's and America's values at the time. 

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students compare how both George and Martha Washington felt about General Washington becoming the first President of the United States. This lesson builds on the George Washington's Letter to Henry Knox about the Presidency and Martha Washington's Letter about the Presidency worksheets, which are included in this PDF lesson plan. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to rank ten modern rules of civility alone and in small groups before completing a short activity sourcing and rephrasing George Washington's version of the Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.

A worksheet encouraging students to read and source a newspaper article reporting on a celebration of George Washington's birthday from the Massachusetts Gazette from 1787. 

A primary source worksheet for students focused on using place as a primary source. Students will explore Samuel Vaughan's 1787 map of Mount Vernon to gain a better understanding of George Washington and the 18th-century world in which he lived. 

This activity uses the Slave Quarters at Mount Vernon to better understand the lives of the enslaved population who lived and worked on Mansion House Farm. Students will learn how to use place to examine American values and culture in the late 18th century. 

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. 

This activity highlights the global economy that Mount Vernon was a part of in the 18th century. Students will use primary and secondary source to follow the process of how fish from Mount Vernon could become Solomon Gundy, a fish paste that was traditional in Jamaica. It also shows how George Washington was an active member of the slave trade and profiting off of the institution of slavery independent of him owning enslaved people. 

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to read and analyze George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.

This activity explores two accounts of a meeting between the Iroquois Nation and the French before the French and Indian War. Students will analyze the sources of the two accounts and evaluate how truthful or biased they are to reconstruct what actually happened during that meeting. Students will consequently learn the difficulties historians have in interpreting history and increase their media literacy skills. 

This activity sheet uses a primary source document to introduce students to critical thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of Washington becoming Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. Students will learn about Washington's deliberation about taking on this leadership role, while extracting information from a primary source. 

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to read and analyze George Washington's letter to his brother John Washington written after Braddock's defeat in 1755. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.

A primary source worksheet for students focused on close reading skills. Students are asked to read and analyze a section of George Washington's 1799 Will and Testament concerning the creation of a national university. This resource was created by 2015-2016 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Marcia Motter.