US History
Mr. Chrisman | Room E-8
Embedded Files
\Welcome to U.S. History 2025-2026
Thanks for checking out the website. I've been maintaining a classroom website for ten years. I update it every day and it's available to anyone with internet access. It's extremely important that you bookmark this website on your bookmarks bar.
If you want to buy classroom supplies, you will need mechanical pencils and a spiral college-ruled (not wide-ruled) notebook that is used exclusively for this class. Any work done in a wide-ruled notebook or a notebook that is shared with other classes will not be given credit. These are available for about 35 cents at target and I have a bunch in my classroom if you want to buy one for 35 cents. If you take care of this notebook, it will last all year.
Please click on the dates to see the day's slides show. All homework is highlighted on the first slide.
This is just a sample of the daily Slides show that appears when students enter the classroom. The slides shows can be accessed by clicking on the dates below.
Week 17
December 8, 2025
Today we reviewed the Bill of Rights and talked about the process of How a Bill Becomes a Law. We watched a Schoolhouse Rock Cartoon and a Brainpop and started on our Flowcharts which will be stamed before the end of class tomorrow. Test Friday: here is the study guide.
Week 16
Today we reviewed the first 10 Amendments aka the Bill of Rights and took a quiz. Then we reviewed some hypothetical scenarios where these right may be violated. Chapter 5 and 6 test next week. Please check out the study guide.
Today we reviewed amendments #1-5 and took a practice test on those amendment. We also learned the hand symbols for amendments 6-10. There will be a quiz on all 10 amendments tomorrow. I also published the Study Guide for next week's test. It will be closed note, but we will devote a lot of next week to studying and reviewing terms and concepts from chapter 5 and 6 including the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Today we worked on our Map of the Constitution and started learning the first 5 amendments. There will be a quiz on these amendments tomorrow so if I ask what amendment protects against self incrimination or illegal searches and seizures you should know what amendments I am talking about.
Today we talked about the passing of the 27th Amendment and started a map of the Constitution. We will complete the map and add the amendments during class tomorrow.
Today we talked about some Supreme Court Decisions and saw some videos explaining what the amendment process is like. Homework it to finish Article IV-VII scavenger hunt (there are only 7 questions)
Week 15
Today we took our stamp and planner test and played Quizlet Live for Chapter 6 and also did a Jeopardy for chapter six. Have an amazing break Here is today's Jeopardy. You can use it to study over the break.
Today we talked about the Supreme Court and Article III of the Constitution. We also Peardeck and saw a video on Barack Obama's State of the Union Address where he calls out the Supreme Court for making (what he thought) was a bad decision and we saw a video on Tinker v. Des Moines where some high school students went to the Supreme Court to challenge their right to freedom of speech. Finish Article III Scavenger Hunt for homework.
Today we started by looking at some of Mike Levin's bills and we Blooketed some Chapter 6 vocabulary terms and started on our Article II scavenger hunt which is due tomorrow.. Here is the BLOOKET from today. Please study if you have some time.
Today we talked about the Legislative Branch and worked on a scavenger hunt by using our textbooks to look up information about Article I of the Constitution. This is due tomorrow. If you're stuck on the Equally Divided question, the word I was looking for is tie.
Today we did a review Kahoot and reviewed the 7 principles of the Constitution. Homework is the Principles Formative. Take as many times as you need to.
Week 14
Today we finished our Checks and Balances notes, reviewed Brainpop and played a game of Kahoot (maybe). The Kahoot will be posted here at the end fo the day if you want to practice.
Today we started talking about the Constitution, its seven principles and its seven Articles. We did a Brainpop in class (google classroom) and we also started a "Checks and Balances Chart" which will be stamped tomorrow.
Today we took a close look at the Constitution's Preamble and updated our "Problems with the Articles of Confederation" notes using the words of the Preamble. We also took an Entry Test on Chapter 6. This is due tomorrow if you didn't finish it in class.
Today we saw a slides show on the Ratification of the Constitution and started a chart on Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists.
Week 13
Today we talked about apportionment, specifically with respect to slaves. We used google sheets to calculate the impact of the 3/5 compomise and discovered how it impacted apportionment in the early days of the United States.
Today we reviewed the Great Compromise and the term apportionment and also did some fun math with the 3/5th compromise and realized why our founding fathers chose that fraction.
Today we stamped the "Problems Under the Articles of Confederation" and talked about the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and completed a chart.
Today we wrote about the problems of not having executive leadership and the problems of the Articles of Confederation. We also saw a Brainpop. The Brainpop Quiz is homework tonight (take it as much as you want)
Today we started Chapter 5. We started by taking the Seterra Quiz on the United States in the early 1800s and then we took a Formative Quiz on Chapter 5. After that we started a Peardeck and started reading Chapter 5. Homework is to get your name (First Name, Last Initial, and Period for example Alexander H.1)on the leaderboard for the Seterra Quiz and Finish the Chapter 5 Entry Quiz with 100 percent. You can take this an unlimited amount of times so make sure you retake it enough times to get 100 percent.
Week 12
Today we took our chapter 3 and 4 tests and planner and stamp test. I'll have those in the gradebook very soon if they're not there yet. If you weren't here, please come in during Advisory on Monday to retake it.
Today we wrapped up the Revolutionary War, saw a Brainpop and I gave students a chance to work on Smartbook 2.0. Be sure to finish Smartbook 2.0 by tomorrow and be sure to take notes as you do it. You can use those notes as a cheat sheet for tomorrow's quiz. Many of questions tomorrow will be taken directly from Smartbook. Everything else will be on the Timelines; The Good, the Bad, and the Cray; and some Vocab. Should be easy if you have all of your notes. I will collect the notebooks as well.
We finished our Good/Bad/Cray notes today and the homework is to finish Smartbook Chapter 4. We will spend a good amount of time in class on Thursday working on the Smartbook and the assignment will be due this Friday. The only difference is this time I want you to take notes on the questions. This will make it easier to answer the questions if they show up again and it will make Friday's open notebook test much easier. So please write down any information that you don't know off the top of your head.
Today we compared Hamilton the book and Hamilton the Broadway musical. We also started "The Good, The Bad, and The Cray". In class you should have taken notes for the Good and the Bad. Tomorrow we will do the Cray, but if you want to start early the notes are up there. In all classes we only finished "The Good and The Bad". So if you have notes on Lafayette and Arnold, you're done. We will do our notes on John Paul Jones tomorrow.
Please consider watching Hamilton (on Disney Plus) or memorizing the Crisis (which is on all the slides show for the past few weeks).
Today we reviewed the events of Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778 and focused on two foreign additions to the American Revolution: Marquis de Lafayett and Baron Von Steuben. We also saw a little bit of Lin Manuel Miranda's production of Hamilton and read some of Ron Chernow's Hamilton and made a chart comparing the two. This will be stamped at the beginning of class tomorrow.
Week 11
Today we did a vocab review and took a practice test. We also did a peardeck on the Revolutionary War and talked about Valley Forge, saw a couple video and (maybe) heard a song from the Hamilton Mixtape called "Valley Forge." For those of you who are trying to get your grade up, please memorize "The Crisis" by Thomas Paine.
Today we talked a little about chess and how in 1777 the Continental Army lost the capital but had huge win in Saratoga and that victory inspired the French to sign the Treaty of Alliance in 1778. We also finished our timeline and got it stamped and took a quiz on the timeline. Study two sets on Quizlet tonight.
Today we reviewed some of the more challenging questions on the Smartbook 2.0 and started our timeline. I'll probably give students a few minutes in class tomorrow to finish this timeline, but you should have most of it done by the end of class.
Also: If you did not turn in your Smartbook 2.0 assignment, please see me at lunch and I can give a 1 day extension. But you have to come in at lunch for me to authorize the extension. This is a great opportunity for people who need to get their grades up. Don't pass it up!
Today we talked about weapons technology in the Revolutionary War and how smooth bore, barrel-loaded muskets were the only guns available. We also did a quick brainpop review on the Causes of the Revolution and we did some work on our Chapter 3 Smartbook 2.0 assignment which is due tomorrow at 8:00 am (12:33 p.m. if you are in period 6 or 7. Please ask questions before the due date if you have any issues.
Today was a bit rough because we couldn't use our computers, but I believe things are better now. So the homework is the same as it was but I will try to give everyone about 20 minutes of class time tomorrow to work on their Smartbook 2.0. I would recommend you get started on it tonight however just to get ahead.
We talked about the First Year of the Revolutionary War starting with the battle of New York in 1776 and going into Washington's crossing of the Delware on Christmas of that year. Please check out the video and slides show if you weren't here.
Week 10
Today we reviewed some information from yesterday, talked about the Declaration of Independence and did a critique of the storyboards. If yours was approved, then you can turn it in on the Slides Show (which is on Google Classroom). But if you still need to work on it over the weekend, please fix it first before turning it in. Many of these seem to be incomplete. If it is not in its final form and linked on the Slides show by Monday at 8:00 a.m. then I will have to give you a zero (these were due today btw.)
As always, if you cannot get this turned by Monday you will have to come in at lunch and I really would prefer to have all of these turned in on Monday. This is school and there are deadlines and at this point in the year you need meet these deadlines and not simply generate exuses as to why your work wasn't turned in on time.
Here is a screencast on how to submit your storyboard.
Have a nice weekend. Go Dodgers.
Today we reviewed the Battle of Bunker Hill and talked a bit about Benedict Arnold. We also did a checklist for our Storyboards on the Declaration of Independence. The should be finished by tomorrow. We will post them on a Slides show tomorrow at the beginning of class.
Today we reviewed yesterday's slides show and talked about the Grievances in the Declaration of Independence. I'm not sure right now if the technology is going to work, but if it does we will spend some time this week working on a mini-project where we illustrate a grievance.
Please make sure you have a Grievance on your slide by tomorrow. We can look at a few of these in class and we'll finish the slides from today (we didn't get to any of them).
October 14, 2025 (THIS PAGE IS TEMPORARILY RESTRICTED TO PREVENT PEOPLE FROM LOOKING UP ANSWERS)
Today we took a vocab test for chapter 3 and also looked at Slides show on the early days of the Revolution.
Today we reviewed some vocabulary, read chapter 3 lesson 4 page 48 in the digital textbook. Homework is to study vocabulary words on Quizlet. Make sure you do at least two sets (matching, test, flashcards, etc.) otherwise you will not be eligible to retake the vocabulary test tomorrow if you don't study.
Week 9
Today we got caught up on some Bitmoji projects and saw a video on the Boston Tea Party. We also reviewed last night's homework and watched a little of Hamilton.
Today was a busy day. We added a bit more to our Taxation timeline and we also did a shared document chart on the different Acts and Taxes and reactions. Tonight I want you to do the same thing for chapter 3.3 (pg 47) as you did last night for 3.2 (pg. 46). This time you can make a screenshot of your pdf rather than copy and pasting the words from the pdf on to a google doc. Email before 8:00 pm if you need help.
Today we finished our charts, looked at new Vocabulary, watched a video and started our homework. For homework turn in a google doc of all your highlights from chapter 3, lesson two on page 46 of your digital textbook. Instructions are in this video.
Today we reviewed the French and Indian War Brainpop and did a Kahoot on a John Green Video on the French and Indian War. The video and Kahoot will be linked here at the end of the day. We also started our Taxation Timeline (1764-1774) and this is homework and will be stamped tomorrow.
Today we took an entry test on Chapter 3 and saw a Brainpop on the French and Indian War. The Google Forms quiz will be due tomorrow at 8:00 am and you can take it as many times as you want.
Week 8
Today we took our test. I will have the scores in Aeries by the end of the day and we will review the test once everyone has taken it. Feel free to come in at lunch if you are in per. 1-3 and have specific questions.
Today we did a practice test and played some Jeopardy. The jeopardy game will be available today for students to practice and update their cheat sheet. You should be able to review your answers for the practice test using McGraw-Hill.
Today we played a review game in teams. 90 percent of these questions will appear on the test so make sure you have your cheat sheet out when we play them.
Today I had my website down for most of the day. We took the stamp test, planner test and did a review of Triangular Trade just for practice. Then we talked about the Great Awakening and watched a short video. The rest of the day was spent studying for Friday's test and (maybe) doing a few presentations.
Today we talked about Triangular Trade and made a chart in our notebooks. Please get those stamped today. We also added some new words to our Quizlet terms. Finally, we reviewed the study guide for Chapter 1 and 2. The test is Friday. You can have one page of notes with you during the test.
Week 7
UPDATE: Here is the Chapter 1 and 2 Study Guide. You can have one page of notes (front and back, no printing/typing/photocopying). The Kahoot and Blooket from Friday is also on there so please check them out.
Today we talked about the Southern Colonies and I released the study guide for next week's test. You will be allowed to have 1 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper with your name on it to use for notes. You must turn this in at the end of class or you will not be able to submit your quiz. Also: I will give a lunchtime retake of the Rivers and Maps quiz. If you want to retake it you MUST take the two new Seterra Quizzes and get 100 percent on both quizzes in order to retake it. You must have your first name and last in initial on both leaderboards to take it. You can't just do once part, you have to do both parts. Please address any technical issues before 8:00pm on Sunday September 28.
New 13 Colonies Map Link | New Rivers Quiz Link [you MUST USE THESE LINKS: you cannot use the old links]
Today we reviewed Brainpop and continued working on our 13 colonies resource map. Hopefully you got that stamped today, if not, get it stamped tomorrow. Those who finished were able to work on a blooket that includes vocabulary and map terms from Chapter 1 and 2.
Today we got our notes stamped for King Philip's war and watched a Brainpop. The Brainpop is due tomorrow you can take it however many times you would like.
Today we reviewed last night's homework and talked about the people who founded the New England colonies of Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. We also learned about King Philip's War and started some notes. These notes are due tomorrow if not finished in class today.
Today we reviewed the three colonies and talked about what was ironic about the Puritan settlements in New England. We also started Smartbook 2.0 Lesson 2 and this will be due for homework. To do this assignment, open a new tab, go to your waffle, click McGraw-Hill, then find the assignment. Email if you have problems, but email before the due date. Here is a screencast if you have issues.
Week 6
Today we reviewed the first 3 colonies and talked about how New England was colonized.
Today we took our Map quiz on Rivers and Colonies. If you are on the list of students who studied and want to retake the test, you can retake it lunch on Friday. We also finished our notes on early American Colonies and watched a video on Jamestown and did some presentations.
Today we talked about Roanoke and Jamestown and started some notes. We also will have a quiz tomorrow on the first 13 American Colonies which is linked to Seterra. Your homework is to get on the leaderboard at 100 percent. If you can do this, then no matter how badly you do on the test tomorrow you will be able to retake the quiz for a second time. But if you choose not to study and I don't see your name and last initial on the leaderboard, you will have to accept your score and there will not be an opportunity for a retake. So unless you can identify the 13 colonies and the 7 rivers, I recommend studying Seterra this evening. Here are the links for the Rivers and the 13 Colonies.
Today we took an open note test on the Early Enlightenment Thinkers and I'll have those scores in Aeries before the end of the day. We also looked at some key North American Rivers and talked about the early settlements. Tomorrow we will go into detail about the major English colonies.
Today we talked about the difference between Direct Democracy and Representative government, also known as a republic. We also finished our notes on Enlightenment Thinkers and those were stamped. Finish those if you didn't finish them in class.
Week 5
Today we reviewed last night's homework. This information is on today's slides show. We also talked about some thoughts of the major Enlightenment thinkers. You can start the notes this weekend or we can do it in class on Monday. As long as they are stamped by the end of the day on Monday, everything's fine.
Have a great weekend.
Tonight we had back to school night and everyone had an amazing time and nothing went wrong at all.
Today we had a special presentation from the District on Inclusion and Belonging. Homework is to get your picture on the Class Picture by 6:00 p.m and also finish the Inquiry Journal on McGraw Hill. If you run into technical difficulties, you can use the workbook (page 20). If you are having a problem with the class picture, I have a screencast here that explains how to do it.
Today we reviewed the Protestant Reformation and tried to identify how the Pilgrims were a direct result of Henry VIII's restructuring of the Catholic Church. We also worked on our Class Picture that I want to have ready by Back to School Night (September 11). We also started on our first Interactive Reader Assignment. This is going to be due Friday and we'll get started in class today so hopefully you'll get most of it done today or tomorrow in class.
I will put today's full slides show up. The one that is linked right now is just a shorter version of it (I may have to leave 3rd period for a meeting)
Today we reviewed Capitalism vs. Mercantilism (please finish this chart if you were absent today) and also worked on our Smartbook 2.0 for the first time. The assignment should be done in class, but if not it's homework. Please log in to your Smartbook using the Waffle (the link in Google Classroom doesn't work so well). This assignment will time out at 8:00 am tomorrow so please have it done by then. It should take less than 15 minutes and we spend about 20 minutes of class time on it.
Week 4
Today we talked about the Treaty of Tordesillas and compared Capitalism and Merantilism. We will take some notes on this on Monday. Have a nice weekend. Please check out the new vocabulary on Quizlet. Try downloading the app on your phone.
Today we reviewed the Columbian Exchange, took a quiz, got our notes stamped and learned about Cortez and Pizarro. Homework tonight to to annotate page 22 in digital textbook. Please follow instructions in this video.
Today we talked about the Columbian Exchange and watched a 10 minute video that explains how the exchange of crops, animals, and microbes impacted the entire planet by reducing population in the New World and increasing population in the Old World. Please have those questions answered by tomorrow. You can print the handout out at home if you weren't here, if not, just leave some space at the top. For handouts, see the "Stamp Board" page. If you can't watch the video, the transcript is here in English and Spanish.
Today we finished our Christopher Columbus notes, watched a Brainpop, took a quiz (you can redo this for homework if you didn't like your score) and we read from a book called "Columbus: the Four Voyages" by Laurence Bergreen about Columbus' clever and controversial use of science to convince the natives of Jamaica that he could speak directly to God.
Week 3
Today we had our first planner and stamp test. Here are a few things we need to know:
On the planner test, you can miss one without any penalty. So those of you who didn't have your planner the first day are not going to have a low grade because of that one answer. In the future, it is up to you do get all the answers if you don't have your planner with you, but usually you can miss one and not lose any points.
On the stamp quiz, I want to manually review a few of them. So if you took the quiz and you don't see a score and you see the words "See me" in the comments, that means I need to see your stamps with my own eyes. Probably not a big deal, but I always need to pick a few to see on my own. So please come in at lunch and I will try to add a few bonus points for the inconvenience.
We started our notes on Columbus in most classes except per. 6 and 7 (!). But if you want to get started or finish them, you can. But there will be some time in class on Tuesday. Have a nice weekend.
Today we talked about Columbus and his ideas about the size of the earth. We watched a video and we looked at the results of last night's homework. Please have your stamps by tomorrow (come in at lunch today if you need stamps (I don't stamp on the day of the test unless you were absent). Also make sure your planners are up to date.
Today we reviewed some of the information from Chapter 1 lesson 1 and did a peardeck. Homework is to finish the Quizlet Activity. This should be located in Google Classroom. Try using this link if you can't find it quizlet.com/join-activity?code=AMY555.
PLEASE USE YOUR FIRST NAME LAST INITIAL FOLLOWED BY YOUR PERIOD NUMBER!!
We will resume presentations tomorrow and the stamp/planner quiz is on Friday.
Today we got our textbooks from the library. You can keep these books at home (whe have a class set). We also started our Age of Exploration Notes and will finish those tomorrow and get a stamp.
Here are the class codes for the Digital Portal in McGraw Hill if you didn't get a chance to log in yesterday.
Per. 1: viVqCsUD
Per 2: dilhN7fP
PER #3: vZBUEhy2
Period #6: ScBLIVGl
Period 7: pWoiZT1p
Today we glued two maps into our notebooks and labeled the countries. We also took a look at our digital notebooks and learned a bit about annotating. I also explained when to email me. If you have a late assignment and you want credit for it, sending an email is not going to make a difference. To deal with late work, you must come in at lunch. If you have a question about an upcoming assignment, please email so you don't waste time doing something the wrong way. But late work can only be cleared from Aeries if you come in to see me at lunch so I can have a face-to-face conversation about why you didn't get the assignment in. I don't answer emails about late work.
Week 2
Today we signed up for Quizlet. You can log in using your Google ID. Here are the codes for each class. Be sure to click the correct period or you will lose credit for upcoming assignments. Be sure to sign up for the right class!
Per. 1 https://tinyurl.com/2s36vb8n
Per. 2 https://tinyurl.com/4naspn5d
Per. 3 https://tinyurl.com/3xnfsdau
Per. 7 https://tinyurl.com/75x24e7a
Per. 8 https://tinyurl.com/5n884kmn
Once you join, PLEASE change your user name to someting I can recognize. Ideally your first name with your last initial followed by any random combination of letters. If your name is Christopher Columbus, for example, don't say CdawgSkibidi. Say ChristopherC123123! or something like that. Otherwise, if you want to prove you studied I won't be able to verify your Quizlet Activity.
We also worked on our timeline, talked about notebooks and got our timeline stamped (hopefully).
Today we took a practice quiz on 7 European Countries and tried to organize major events in American History. If you did not like your score on your quiz, I will adjust the settings tonight in order to have you take it again. At home, you will be able to take it an unlimited amount of times, but until 3:00 p.m. it will only allow you to take it once. This way I can see what we know and those of you who aren't sure where these countries are can practice on your own. Please make sure you get 100 percent. After 8:00 am tomorrow the test will be unavailable.
We also did a few presentations.
Today we talked a tiny bit about England/Great Britain/United Kingdom. They are different terms for the same area. We will review this in today's slides show. A few brave souls will present their islands and the rest of you will make changes to our projects based on the feedback I give to these projects.
Today we finished our project, reviewed some geography, and learned about the stamp board. I also stamped the notebooks. If you didn't bring them today, bring them tomorrow (you will lose points each day it is late.)
Today we went over the syllabus and learned how to turn it in. We also took another look at our Bitmoji Island projects and reviewed how to use remove.bg to get rid of backgrounds on personal pictures.
Please bring notebooks tomorrow and also turn in Syllabus using the digital form that links to the bottom of this document.
Here is a great screencast on how to use your aeries picture or your webcam to get a cartoon
Week 1
Today we reviewed some school rules, got our name tags, and worked a little on our Bitmoji island projects. Please go to google classroom to see the complete instructions. Please bring back your name tags if you took them and try to get a notebook for next week. Have a great weekend.
Today was the first day of school and we reviewed the class rules and the King Code. Please take a minute to look at the syllabus and be sure to bookmark this page on your bookmarks bar under the name US HIST so you can get to it whenever you need it. It will be updated every day and the date with be a link to the day's slides show.
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