Optional Activities
Optional Activities
Embedded Files
Optional activities are self-paced ways to earn project hours and stipends. These will always be shared via the weekly American History and Civics Toolkit to keep you updated on available activities and your progress. All optional hours are totaled and added to the EXCEL Platform at the end of the project year (August 2026), so they won’t appear there until then. In the meantime, click the link below to track your progress. You may only earn up to 24 optional activity hours.
List of ALL EXCEL Optional Activities Opportunities, 2025-2026
1) Colonial Williamsburg Investigation Declaration: Teaching Declarations of Independence from Around the World - 09.16.25 - 1 hour
2) Colonial Williamsburg Contact and Conflict: The English and Powhatan - October 2, 2025 - 1 hour
3) Colonial Williamsburg Historians at Work: The 250th Anniversary of Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation -October 21, 2025 - 1 hour
4) Colonial Williamsburg Historians at Work: Meet a Person of the Past: George Wythe - November 4, 2025 - 1 hour
5) Making Music in Colonial Boston:From the Old North Church November 5, 2025 - 1 hour
6) Colonial Williamsburg Beyond the Textbook: Using Primary Sourcesto Teach Women’s Daily Lives - November 18, 2025 - 1 hour
7) Washington and Thanksgiving: A Virtual K-12 Classroom Program - November 21, 2025 - 1 hour
8) Washington and Thanksgiving: A Virtual K-12 Classroom Program - November 24, 2025 - 1 hour
9) Colonial Williamsburg Through the Seasons: The Holidays in Revolutionary America - December 2, 2025 - 1 hour
10) Colonial Williamsburg Historians at Work: Women and the American Revolution - December 9, 2025 | 7PM EST - 1 hour
11) Gilder Lehrman Institute The Rediscovery of America: The Declaration of Independence and the Perils of Narrative History January 8, 2026 - 1 hour
12) Colonial Williamsburg - Paths to Freedom - From Revolution through the Civil War - January 20, 2026 - 1 hour
13) Colonial Williamsburg - Historians at Work: Race, Slavery, and the Law - February 12, 2026 - 1 hour
14) Colonial Williamsburg - Strategies for Teaching Civil Discourse with Primary Sources - February 24, 2026 - 1 hour
15) VDOE - Primarily Virginia Online Institute - Spring 2025 - Up to 24 hours
16) Outdoor Learning Workshops: Feb 10, 2026: Supporting Youth in Learning from the Land - 1 hour
17) Outdoor Learning Workshops: Feb 24, 2026: Getting Yourself Outdoor Learning Certified! 1 hour
18) Outdoor Learning Workshops: Mar 3, 2026: Mentorship in the Wild: Leadership, Adventure & Wonder 1 hour
19) Outdoor Learning Workshops: Mar 10, 2026: Spring Celebration of Outdoor Learning Books! 1 hour
Book Clubs
Book Clubs
Like Optional activities, Book Clubsways to earn project hours and stipends. These will always be shared via the weekly American History and Civics Toolkit to keep you updated on available activities and your progress. All book club hours are totaled and added to the EXCEL Platform at the end of the project year (August 2026), so they won’t appear there until then. In the meantime, click the link below to track your progress.
Book Club 2 - Spring 2026
Book Club 2 - Spring 2026
Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington follows Abraham Lincoln during his 1861 journey from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., just before his inauguration. Widmer uses this train trip as a lens to show Lincoln at a moment of extreme uncertainty—politically, personally, and nationally.
As Lincoln travels through northern cities and border states, he gives dozens of short, often improvised speeches. These reveal a man still finding his presidential voice, cautious about slavery, committed to preserving the Union, and deeply aware that civil war may be unavoidable. Widmer contrasts Lincoln’s private doubts with the public expectations placed on him as the country fractures.
The journey also exposes the danger Lincoln faces, including credible assassination threats, especially in Baltimore. His decision to pass secretly through the city underscores how fragile the nation—and his presidency—already is.
Overall, the book portrays Lincoln not as the confident wartime leader he would become, but as a leader in transition, learning how to wield language, authority, and restraint at the edge of national collapse.
Author, Ted Widmer
Author, Ted Widmer
Ted Widmer is a historian, writer, and Distinguished Professor at Macaulay Honors College (CUNY). His book Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington won the Lincoln Forum Book Prize and traces Abraham Lincoln’s tense journey to his inauguration. Widmer is also the author of Young America, winner of the Washington Irving Prize, and Listening In, coauthored with Caroline Kennedy.
Widmer has held senior roles at the Library of Congress, the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, and the U.S. Department of State, and previously served as a speechwriter and advisor in the Clinton White House. A Guggenheim Fellow, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker.
Book Club 1 - Fall 2025
Book Club activities include 5 multiple choice quizzes and 5 one-hour Zoom meetings. Each activity earns one hour in the program. See invoice for stipend amounts.
Join us for a powerful book club discussion centered on Jim Murphy's An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. This riveting narrative uses firsthand accounts, newspaper clippings, and historical documents to transport us to a moment when the new American capital was brought to its knees by an invisible killer. By delving into this historical event, we will explore timeless themes of crisis management, community resilience, and social inequality.
Our discussions will provide fresh insights for the classroom and spark meaningful conversations about public health, political leadership, and social justice, both then and now. Murphy's meticulous research highlights the heroism of the Free African Society, who selflessly nursed the sick despite facing racial prejudice. We will also examine the medical ignorance of the era and the constitutional crisis that unfolded as President Washington fled the city. This book is not just history; it's a dramatic exploration of what happens when a society is tested to its limits. Come connect with colleagues in a low-pressure environment and deepen your passion for both history and teaching.
If you're interested in joining us for this engaging collaborative learning experience, sign up by October 1, 2025.
Click below to see your recorded participation. Please note that all recorded hours will be compiled and added once at the end of the invoice cycle for processing.
To Log in the the National Performance Education Site for Book Club Quizzes and Links use the following link: https://login.usnpe.org/home
“No one knew that a killer was already moving through their streets with them, an invisible stalker that would go house to house until it had touched everyone, rich or poor, in some terrible way.”
“No one knew that a killer was already moving through their streets with them, an invisible stalker that would go house to house until it had touched everyone, rich or poor, in some terrible way.”
-Jim Murphy, An American Plague
Awards for An American Plague
2004 ALA. Newbery Honor Book Award
2004 ALA. Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award
National Book Award Finalist Medal
NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
An ALA Notable Children’s Book
A YALSA Best Book for Young Adults
A SLJ Best Book of the Year
Blue Ribbon, Bulletin of the Center for
Children’s Books
An Editor’s Choice, Kirkus Reviews
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