Home & Classroom Lesson Plans & Activities

Please check out these great lesson plans and activities available for download and use at home or in your classroom. Check back frequently for new plans and activities! 

Old Mobile and Jean-Paul's Daring Adventure 

Introduction to Archaeology: This lesson introduces students to the archaeological discipline using garbage as an analogy. It requires students to use critical thinking and inference skills.

Cultural Map Analysis: This lesson compares 18th-century maps from two very different cultures: French and Chickasaw Native American. From these comparisons, students attempt to understand how these maps express cultural differences and similarities. 

• La Louisiane Map
• Chickasaw Deerskin Map
• Worksheet: Venn Map Comparison
• Venn Map Comparison Answer Key

Interpreting a Painting: This lesson will familiarize students with King Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King or Louis the Great, who reigned from 1643-1715. 

• Painting Worksheet

Letter to King Louis XIV: This lesson asks students to place themselves in the shoes of Bienville, Father of Mobile, and write a letter to the King of France, Louis XIV, explaining why he believes the town of Mobile should relocate. 

• Primary Document
• RAFT Worksheet
• What's My Address - Guide & Worksheet
• Scoring Guide - Letter to King Louis

Coloring Books, Craft Activities and Reading Lists

• Exploring the South in the 1700s Coloring Book: A coloring book of 18th-century illustrations from French colonial La Louisiane, thanks to Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz.
• Make Your Own Colonial Pottery Design: Explore real artifacts uncovered from Colonial Mobile and use them as inspiration to make your own pottery design! Read about the artifacts then click on "A Study of Colonial Ceramics" to see more!
• Archaeology Reading List: A list of elementary-level books on archaeology! 
• Archaeology Word Search: How many words can you find? 
• Make Your Own Mississippian-Style Gorget: Have clay at home? Try your hand at making a spider gorget! 
• Stratigraphy Puzzle: Learn about stratigraphy by placing the letters with their associated artifacts in the correct order. 

Lesson Plans and Activities from the Center for Archaeological Studies

• Lesson Plans: These plans are designed to be implemented as a complete unit on the basics of archaeology. However, each lesson may be used individually as a supplement to an existing curriculum.
• Artifacts of Colonial Mobile: Faience, a common find at French colonial sites in North America, is a refined earthenware with tin added to the lead-based glaze to produce an opaque white surface. French faience potters created different decorative styles, primarily floral and geometric designs, some of which can be attributed to regional pottery centers in France. Archaeologists studying French colonial sites in North America have developed a classification of faience based on decorative style and color. Our study discusses faience types recovered from colonial sites in southwest Alabama.