1624 american-history results | sort by:
Declaration of Independence - National Archives
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Use the "Meet the founding fathers" section as the basis of character roles for a in-class town hall meeting, recreating the events of the constitutional convention. Assign students different roles, i.e. founding fathers, and have them use the biographies of this site to allow them to research who their role was and what their beliefs were for a debate as to whether or not to sign the Declaration of Independence. If students stick to their assigned perspectives, the town-hall meeting can be a great way to review the important reasons for independence and the various perspectives that existed.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Presidency in Action - American Presidents - University of Virginia
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
This site has a variety of uses within a US government or history classroom. To begin with, teachers can use this site as a resource for research projects; a source for speeches and writings, as well as a learning center during a unit on a particular president or time period. A very useful and flexible source that can easily be worked into your curriculum!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Watergate Revisited - Washington Post
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups. Have students explore the site with the intentions of creating a summary of the most important events. Have cooperative learning groups create online books using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. Students can write the book from the perspective of Nixon or Deep throat...a great way to introduce the topic in a non-lecture format.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
National Archives: Educator Resources - National Archives
Grades
4 to 8In the Classroom
This is an excellent site for any history, art history, or civics teacher attempting to put forth something more tangible for students to grasp. Click on "Images of the American Revolution," and open up the pictures on the interactive whiteboard or projector. Question students as to the meaning and context of the illustrations, to help them understand how images were used to convey certain meanings. Ask the students to create their own cartoons about something controversial in their town, or about the unit being studied, and encourage them to use some of the same subtle concepts the original illustrators did.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Native American Dioramas - University of Michigan
Grades
4 to 8In the Classroom
Share this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector as an introduction to a unit of Westward expansion or colonization. Allow students to view the images to garner a more realistic vision of what Native Americans were like during that time period. Use the images as inspiration for students to create their own dioramas, although be careful in making sure that the students don't create exact replicas of the originals.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Dream of Flight - Library of Congress
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Within the section entitled "the dream" is a collection of primary resources that reflect society's obsession with flight. Print out or download these images separately on the interactive whiteboard or projector. Once students are in groups, assign each student a resource - with each group analyzing and interpreting the meaning of the pieces of art. After each group has dissected their resource, have a classroom debate as to which is the most reflective of human desire to fly? Which is the most inspirational? Which was the most scientific? Not only will the debate explore each of the sources but it will depend on students background knowledge of the history of flight. Because of this, this activity is probably best served at the end of a unit when it can be used as an informal review.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Modernism - Minneapolis Institute of the Arts
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge as you start your study of modernism in the past two centuries. Use the site's images and virtual exhibits to showcase the movement being talked about to compliment your class lectures. Another useful item is that some of the exhibits have a quick video clip that can help introduce the idea to your class in a way that foreshadows the rest of your lecture. Make sure your technology allows for the videos to be seen and not just heard!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Calisphere - University of California
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Teachers and students have permission to print, or download these collections for classroom use. Make bulletin boards or let students include the images in their PowerPoint or movie presentations. You do not have permission to place these images on a web page or use them for other purposes without specific permission to do so.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
A Better Future - Let's Be Counted - Steven J. Logwood
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Share this video and song on your projector and screen, or whiteboard, as students come into the classroom. Use it as a lead-in to a discussion about the importance of the census. You can post some of the information from "Statistics - Census in Schools," reviewed here. From this same site you can go to "Fun Facts," that you can use in elementary, middle school, and high school classrooms. One last suggestion: Once you've completed your census unit, discussion, etc. You might want to have your class participate in the "100 People: A World Portrait" reviewed here. Don't forget about the possibility of using the census in math class to understand data and graphing, as well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Jamendo - Sylvain Zimmer
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Music teachers and content area teachers alike have a perfect opportunity to explicitly teach ethical use of internet materials and especially music. This discussion could spark a debate about plagiarism, patents or inventors rights depending upon the course that is being taught. Also, older students who are talented musicians could be encourage or just inspired to use Jamendo to post their own music from home for sale. Depending on district policies, this could be used as a take home lesson for upper level music classes.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Colonial Williamsburg: Virtual Tours of the Town - Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
If you have a whiteboard or projector, you will have a captivated class. Individual or paired computer experience will allow your students to walk through the streets on their own. How about having a cyber-scavenger hunt? You will need to walk through the town yourself to find tidbits along the way, then later, ask the students to find them. They must give you the location where they were found.Younger students will need to be shown how to cyber-walk through the streets. You can ask them to report to you about the citizens they meet along the way. Ask students to draw their own colonial town based upon a layout like Williamsburg.
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Civil War Traveler - civilwartraveler.com
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use this fabulous resource for research. Turn your students into virtual "Civil War Travelers" by sharing the Podcasts and pictures on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students complete interactive research projects about these famous locations. Have students create a news broadcast, wiki, blog, or PowerPoint presentation. If you want to video the broadcast try YouTube or another tool such as SchoolTube (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
National Museum of the American Indian - Smithsonian
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Use the images on this site to create a picture walk in your classroom during a unit on Native American culture. Select 10-15 of the more descriptive and diverse images, hanging them around the classroom in different places. Have students rotate around the classroom, moving every 30-45 seconds jotting down what they see in each image. At the end of the walk, have a class discussion based on what students saw in the images and what the walk has portrayed about Native American culture in the time period being studied. This is a great way to introduce the unit in a non-lecture format.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Argument Wars - iCivics Inc.
Grades
5 to 10In the Classroom
This site is a great way to review the amendments to the US Constitution. Using an interactive whiteboard or projector, complete one case as a whole group so students can see how the interactive should work. Use the provided handouts so students can take notes as they are working through the case. When it is time for students to work independently, make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and use it as a center. Divide students into cooperative learning groups to explore the site. Afterward, have a discussion or have students journal using the provided discussion questions. This site does not have a save feature, so students must complete the entire activity to see if they've won. For students who need more of a challenge, assign them to Gideon v. Wainwright. Students have to examine two arguments which makes it more challenging.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States - Teaching American History
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
A great resource for the interactive whiteboard or projector, although be aware that you may need to disable your pop-up blocker to get the information to display properly. Challenge students to find other paintings depicting famous events in United States (or another country). Have cooperative learning groups create multimedia presentation about the paintings. Create fictitious blog entries from one character in a painting to another character within another painting at another famous event. What would John F. Kennedy write to Benjamin Franklin?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
WASP on the Web - Wings Across America, Nancy Parrish
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use the video on this site on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector to show students who the WASPS were as well as the contribution they made to the war effort. This would be a great addition to a lesson on WWII as well as the fight for equality between the sexes. Click on the Gallery and view Above and Beyond about the 38 WASPs who died during service to their country. The information here is very brief. You may want to ask small groups of students to select three of four WASPs to research and share their stories using a tool like Sway, reviewed here. With Sway, you can have music, photos, videos, and even make it interactive.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
World Mapper - Various Professors from University of Sheffield & Michigan
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Geography and history teachers will enjoy this site. Use this site as a learning center during a unit on maps, or a unit on something like poverty or religions (there are many more categories), or a specific time period mentioned within your studies. Many of the maps within categories have pie graphs. Challenge groups of students to use the maps for research projects and create multimedia presentations such as a video using a site such as SchoolTube (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
The National Parks: America's Best Idea - PBS
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Share the film (or clips) on your interactive whiteboard or projector. One section of the site enables you to design a national park postcard to email to a friend. Groups of students might research individual national parks (links to the NPS site appear on this site) and circulate their own postcards to other groups. Students can also "collect" national park badges that can be cut and pasted into personal or class websites. You could also have cooperative learning groups create multimedia projects about various National Parks. Alter student learning by having students create online posters or do it together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here, or PicLits, reviewed here. If you are near a park, your students could redefine their learning and create an online park tour to share with others far away! Try a tool such as Adobe Spark For Education, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Southern Poverty Law Center - The Southern Poverty Law Center
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of the information on the site to include when teaching lessons about equality, racism, and social injustice. Learn more about the classroom resources offered through Learning for Justice, reviewed here. Include selections from the Features and Stories portion of the site as part of any integrated unit. Consider using a learning management system like Actively Learn, reviewed here, to include videos and additional text sources as part of your unit. Actively Learn also includes resources that provide feedback on student learning. Extend learning by asking students to gather data and share information through various digital tools including infographics and digital storytelling resources. For example, as students learn about civil rights issues, ask them to share information by creating infographics with Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, create a multimedia presentation with Sway, reviewed here, or use Powtoon, reviewed here, to create an animated video explanation.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Best of History Web Sites
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Save this site as a favorite on your classroom desktop and use it as a reference for virtually everything! It's amazing how many resources they have managed to find - incredibly more helpful than a Google search would have been.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).

Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
Close comment form