Civil War Interactive Battle Map and Worksheet w key

This interactive PowerPoint lesson is centered on a "clickable" interactive map that allows teachers or students to choose their own battle to explore. The 11 slide ppt. contains one slide of vital information for each of seven major battles of the American Civil War set to stunning full color paintings. A graphic organizer worksheet is also with an answer key so students can follow along and the teacher can check for understanding. (CA Standard 8.10) (11 slides total, including worksheet and answer key)

What makes this power point unique is that it is specially designed with hidden “clickable” links that make it a truly interactive power point and perfect for any smart board, however only a laptop and a digital projector are required. The power point consists of one title page, one hub page (home page) which is the map of the Union, Confederacy, and border states, seven content pages that detail the location/date, generals, strategy, casualties, outcome and significance of the battles of Fort Sumter, 1st Bull Run, Antietam, Shiloh, Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Sherman’s March.

To navigate the slide show imply click on the title page to move to the hub page (map). Once on the hub page (home screen) the map image provides the teacher, or student, an opportunity to choose which battle to explore and in what order by simply clicking on the name of the battle. Once the battle is clicked on you will be led to that battle’s feature slide. Each feature slide has six “clicks” per slide in the order of “location, generals, strategy, casualties, outcome and significance”

However, if at any time you wish to go back to the hub slide of the map, simple click the “home” button which is the map in the bottom right corner of any content slide. This gives the teacher and students total flexibility to explore the battles one at a time, and in any order they please! Each “battle slide” starts off with a great full color painting of the battle to help students visualize the content.

The lesson can then be delivered as a teacher led activity, and the students can fill in the worksheet during the lesson, or the worksheet can be completed by students first, after reading the textbook or other sources of information, and then the power point can be used to check for understanding and to discuss the significance of each battle. I enjoy providing the first five bullet points and then having my students read the text in order to come up with the significance on their own, before I check for understanding! You can even call students to the white board to pick the link of their choice and present what they have on their worksheet. I have also sent these PowerPoint’s out to my students on their netbooks and I’ve posted them on my website so they can interact with them at home for study. There are so many options because unlike normal PowerPoints that only follow a linear format, this PPT lets you exactly control how you cover the material!