250th Educational Websites

Making History at 250: The Field Guide for the Semiquincentennial

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) has developed Making History at 250: The Field Guide for the Semiquincentennial, a resource with guiding themes to help the history community prepare for 2026.

By exploring common questions in different contexts, this anniversary can help us advance a more widely shared story about our nation’s history, one that acknowledges its many tensions and ambiguities and that informs our present and future.

250th Anniversary Program Handbook

The 250th Anniversary Program Handbook is a new resource from AASLH to help state and local history organizations prepare for the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026. It features more than 30 low-cost program ideas specifically geared towards smaller organizations to provide them with practical program suggestions they can use in their planning for the Semiquincentennial.

Youth 250 - Made By Us

Youth250 is the dynamic, nonpartisan initiative to capture young people's imaginations, ideas and input as the United States turns 250 years old in 2026.

America's Field Trip - America 250

America’s Field Trip is a contest that invites students across the country in grades 3–12 to be part of America’s 250th anniversary by sharing their perspectives on what America means to them — with the opportunity to earn an unforgettable field trip experience at some of the nation’s most iconic historic and cultural landmarks.

Students are asked to submit writing or original artwork in response to the contest’s prompt: “What does America mean to you?”

Teaching the 250th with Historic Places: A Field Guide to Lessons for America’s Semiquincentennial - National Park Service

This guide contains lessons designed to give students both a sense of place and the big themes in American history. The lesson plans will help students evaluate the values of the Declaration of Independence through a diverse set of historical places. These lessons are inquiry-based, student-centered and built on primary source documents. Most of them will give students extensions to explore these themes in their own community.

The ideas from the Declaration or Constitution can often feel abstract to students. Here, four themes categorize the documents: liberty, equality, memory, and belonging. Anchoring these themes in specific places help students connect to the past. The guide will highlight specific lessons in different eras of American history that showcase these themes. Teaching with Historic Places lessons give a nuanced picture of the struggles and triumphs of different generations of Americans to form "a more perfect Union."