LESSON PLANS Teachers' Pages Resource Guide Teaching Tools PNB Home

Lesson Plans Teachers will find the following lesson plans useful for teaching units about the Civil War. While the lessons are designed to accompany the field trips to the Battlefield, they can also be used independently. All lesson plans are designed to fulfill certain Virginia Standards of Learning Objectives. Teachers can use the information presented in these lesson plans to accomodate varying grade levels. The following lessons explore the state of the country prior to the Civil War including the experiences of southerners and northerners, the causes of the Civil War, the people who participated and fought in the siege of Petersburg, and people's perceptions of this period as reflected in the poetry, music, and literature. Explore lessons that accompany the field trips: A Slave, A Plantation, A War Pre-visit Lesson Plan Post Visit Lesson Plan These lessons tell about slave life and plantation life in the south, and how the Civil War forever changed this structure. Study the words of a slave at Appomattox Manor, Dr. Eppes, owner of this plantation in Hopewell, and General Ulysses S. Grant, who occupied this plantation during the Siege of Petersburg. City Under Siege Pre-Visit Lesson Plan Post-Visit Lesson Plan Why was Petersburg a target for the Union army during the Civil War? Discover the "power of place" in these lesson plans, which focus on why people choose to settle in certain areas and the significance of transportation to the success of a city. Finally, discover the importance of supplying an army in the field, and how difficult it can be in the midst of a war. Portrait of a Soldier Pre-Visit Lesson Plan Post-Visit Lesson Plan Students read primary source documents that tell stories of three different soldiers who participated in the siege of Petersburg. Confederate soldiers, Union Soldiers, and the United States Colored Troops who were a part of the Union army. While each of these men fought in the war for different reasons, they were all fighting for a way of life that they felt was just. This lesson explores where these men came from, why they fought, and what they were fighting for at Petersburg. Prisoners of Petersburg Pre-Visit Lesson Plan Post-Visit Lesson Plan These lessons explore the daily life of a soldier. What was it like to be in the army during the Civil War? How did you eat? Where did you sleep? What did you wear? Soldiers tell you in their own words the difficulties of fighting in the Civil War and how they survived for nine-and-a-half months at Petersburg. If you would like to read more about the words of the soldiers, a bibliography will indicate the sources of their words.