Education

Welcome to the education page of the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania N.M.P. website. This page is separated into two parts. The first section is for teachers and contains information on field trips to the park and helpful information on developing lesson plans about the Civil War. The second part is designed for students working on research papers. It contains links to Civil War battles, personalities and other topics students might need help in researching. Students of all ages should find it beneficial.

TEACHER INFORMATION

VISITING THE PARK:

Field Trip Guidelines for visiting the park. Teachers wanting to set up a field trip should call Peter Maugle, the park education specialist, at [phone], or contact him via email.
Tour Options for visiting the Park.
Lesson Plans for visiting Fredericksburg Battlefield, Chancellorsville Battlefield and Chatham Manor.
Educational Resources at the Park. A traveling trunk, traveling haversack and traveling maps that may be checked out for use in the classroom. For more information contact Peter Maugle at 540-654-5498 or via email.
Chatham Plantation: Witness to the Civil War Former historians Elsa Martinez and Janice Frye developed a unit in the Teaching in Historic Places series. Chatham is one of the historic structures of the park.

LESSON PLANS AND OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION:

The Fredericksburg Newspaper's Website has an excellent webpage on teaching the Civil War. It contains information on the Virginia SOL's as well as useful information for teachers preparing lessons and students doing reports.

Education World's Great Sites for Teaching about the Civil War. Each week new sites are selected.
Education World's Civil War Lesson Plans and Activities. Lots of good links for teachers.
Valley of the Shadow Project
The Valley of the Shadow is an electronic archive of two communities in the American Civil War--Augusta County, Va. and Franklin Co., Pa. It has a very useful section for teachers which includes lesson plans, teaching materials and paper topics.
The Valley Web site includes searchable newspapers, population census data, agricultural census data, manufacturing census data, slave owner census data, and tax records. The Valley Web site also contains letters and diaries, images, maps, church records, and military rosters. The Valley of the Shadow will be published in CD-ROM version by W. W. Norton & Co. in three parts. The first part Web site focuses on the coming of the Civil War, the second on the Civil War battles and home front, and the third part on Emancipation and Reconstruction after the war.
Lesson Plan on the Civil War is a large lesson plan with objectives, teaching material and enrichment activities.
Civil War Internet Lesson Plans Middle School and High School
Civil War Place Quizzes, puzzles and trivia. Designed for teachers and students.
Social Studies and History Standards for Virginia Public Schools
National Park Service Resources for Teachers

Teachers may also find it helpful to explore the link listed below.

STUDENT INFORMATION

Many students come to the Park looking for brochures about their report topic. The Park simply cannot afford to write and publish pamphlets on every conceivable Civil War topic. That is where the internet comes in. The link below is a portal to a wealth of information on dozens of Civil War topics including soldiers, African-Americans, women, medicine, causes of the war, and summaries of the war.

Writing Reports