Shays Rebellion Worksheets

About this resource

Teaching Shays' Rebellion and need pages students can actually work on? This is a complete set for grades 6-8. Students read the story two ways, a short read of 148 words and a full read in three parts, then analyze two source pages written for this file, order the events on a timeline, fill in a cause and effect organizer and a who-wanted-what chart, draw an eight-panel comic strip, answer short questions, write a claim-evidence-reasoning paragraph, take a twelve-item quiz, do three cut-and-paste sorts and finish with exit tickets. Answer keys give the letters and a sample for every open answer.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (41 pages)

• 24 student pages in 14 kinds of page, each with a name line and one short instruction
• 62 scored items spread over 13 scored worksheets, every answer taken from the same lists that print on the page
• Reading 1, a short read of 148 words with a main idea box and 3 checks; Reading 2, the full story in 3 parts (Hard Times in 1786, Closing the Courts, Springfield and After) of 138 to 158 words each, with a main idea box, a why-it-mattered box and 2 checks each (9 checks in all)
• 2 source analysis pages (written for this file, not historical documents) with 6 questions in ruled boxes: Source A is an invented farmer's letter written for this file, and Source B paraphrases George Washington's worry in modern words. Neither is a real quote, and each page says so
• 1 Before and After Check (5 questions, an answer box for each time) and 1 Before You Read page with 4 true-or-false items
• 1 Words to Know page: match 8 words (rebellion, debt, tax, hard money, petition, militia, arsenal, convention) to their meanings
• 1 timeline page: write the date for 6 events from 1781 to May 1787
• 1 cause and effect organizer with 4 causes, 1 who-wanted-what chart for 4 groups, 1 comic strip spread across two sheets with 8 panels (a drawing box at least 2.5 inches tall and one speech line in each)
• 6 short-answer questions across two pages, 4 ruled lines each
• 2 claim-evidence-reasoning pages: an organizer and an 18-line paragraph page
• 12-item quiz across two pages; 4 exit tickets
• 18 cut-and-paste pieces on 3 sort mats (cause or result, who would say it with three full-width boxes, put in order), 6 pieces each in a 3 by 2 grid
• 4 answer keys with a sample for every open answer; 1 tracker, 1 class grid, 1 team note, 1 family page
• 1 filled example (an invented student), 1 phrase bank (17 starters in 6 groups)
• A binder cover with type-in teacher and class fields, and a page of divider tabs (Readings, Sources, Sorts, Keys, Records) with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and a how-to-read-a-page page

Built For The Student Holding The Page

A "My name" line, one short instruction with a small picture cue, a plain scalloped border and big ruled boxes. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult: the keys and records are on separate teacher pages. The cut pages have six pieces in a strip-and-grid layout, edge to edge, so there are only a few straight cuts. Clip art is kept to a farmer with a pitchfork, coins, a letter, a flag, a quill, a map, a calendar and a pencil. The file prints clean in black and white.

A Short Account, Not A Full Textbook

Each reading is a plain-words summary written for this file. It covers the war debts after the Revolution, the weak government under the Articles of Confederation (Congress could not collect taxes), taxes in Massachusetts payable in gold and silver, the farmers' petitions, the courts closed in 1786, Daniel Shays, the march on the Springfield arsenal on January 25, 1787, the end of the rebellion in February, and the call for the Philadelphia meeting that wrote the Constitution. The pages use no long quotations: the two source pages are written for this file in modern words and say so. Check the readings against your own textbook; they are not tied to any standard. The only student in the file is an invented example, and it says so.

Type In, Or Print

The name line, every answer box, every check box and every ruled work box are type-in fields in any PDF reader: click one, type, then save. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A set of Shays' Rebellion readings and practice pages with the record-keeping around it. It is not a timed test, a screener, a clinical tool, or a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. There is no IEP goal language or eligibility wording anywhere in the file, and no claim of alignment to any standard.

If You Want More

Constitutional Convention Worksheets | Readings Compromises Sort Grades 6-8; Articles of Confederation Worksheets | Sort, Match, Timeline 6th 7th 8th Grade; Causes of the American Revolution Worksheets | Reading Sort Timeline Grades 6-8.