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Smithsonian Learning Lab - The Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access
Grades
4 to 12
2 Favorites
1 Comments
Discover, create, and share digital resources from the Smithsonian Museum, the National Zoo, and nine major research centers with this visually appealing site. Use the search feature...more
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Discover, create, and share digital resources from the Smithsonian Museum, the National Zoo, and nine major research centers with this visually appealing site. Use the search feature to find digital resources including photos, recordings, videos, and text. Sign up to create your own collections, including those found on the site and your own resources. Also, click Discover and use the search bar to find topics already on the site your class is studying like dinosaurs, explorers, black history, volcanoes, etc. Add annotations and develop quizzes. Easily share your creations or curated collections using social networking links provided. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.
In the Classroom
The Smithsonian Learning Lab is a must-add to your list of classroom bookmarks! Search for collections and information throughout the year on all topics. Add a link to classroom computers for the entire site or specific collections. Be sure to take advantage of the many features of this site to create customized collections, then have students add additional resources. Have students create quizzes for review of topics. Enhance student learning by challenging them to create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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NewsHour Extra Lesson Plan: Checks and Balances in Supreme Court Nominations - PBS
Grades
7 to 12
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This site is affiliated with the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and presents a lesson plan focused on Supreme Court nominations and the ongoing balance of power in the US ...more
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This site is affiliated with the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and presents a lesson plan focused on Supreme Court nominations and the ongoing balance of power in the US government. There are excellent discussion guides, a link to streaming video from the NewsHour, with an accompanying transcript that can be distributed, and a PDF version of a Chicago Tribune article on the issue. There is a nice vocabulary list. There is a good handout on the process of nominating a Supreme Court judge and a worksheet that accompanies it.
In the Classroom
There is a really nice "balance of powers" exercise that goes way beyond a simple discussion of the Supreme Court. Students look at all three branches of government and determine which branch has power in a variety of contemporary situations. This lesson plan is good as a stand-alone, but also provides a lot of jumping off places for further discussion and adaptation. Use a projector, as the plan suggests, to share the short video clips, available in several formats.
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NBC Learn Free Resources - NBCUniversal Media, NBC News
Grades
5 to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
This collection of free streaming videos, mostly under six minutes, supports school curriculum using material from NBC News, one of the largest news archives in the world. Topics include...more
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This collection of free streaming videos, mostly under six minutes, supports school curriculum using material from NBC News, one of the largest news archives in the world. Topics include language arts, humanities and social sciences, and parenting information. The majority of videos feature STEM content. Specific sample topics include: Mysteries of the Brain, Writers Speak to Kids, Science of NFL Football, and many others. All videos include transcripts. Some have lesson plans and/or activities which are available in a side tab in the video window when launched. Most have closed captioning, and a few have a Spanish language option. The majority of NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, is fee-based. This review is for the free material.
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This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for flipped or blended learning classrooms but will spark interest in most classroom lessons. Use the search box in the upper right corner to find free content of interest. The whole class can watch the videos, many of which are parts of a series. Create a Padlet, reviewed here, for each group and have individuals or small groups view and extend their learning by sharing information. The transcripts and close captioning will be helpful for struggling learners. Transcripts can be used alone for informational text reading practice. If your school or district doesn't block YouTube, you may want to investigate the NBC Learn playlists here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Godey's Lady's Book Online
Grades
6 to 12
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Treasured moments from the 1850s are relived in the archived collection of Godey's Lady's Book, the periodical that many scholars say changed the role of the American woman. Each book...more
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Treasured moments from the 1850s are relived in the archived collection of Godey's Lady's Book, the periodical that many scholars say changed the role of the American woman. Each book is full of poetry, sketches and articles by well-known authors of the time. From the University of Rochester.
In the Classroom
One interesting feature of these books are the articles considering etiquette. During a unit on suffrage or the Women's rights movement, pass out this article or have it projected on to the board as students are coming in to your classroom. Direct students to immediately read the article and respond in some way, whether or be verbal or written in some sort of journal. This is a great comparison to make to the expectations of the suffragettes, and the rules that most in society thought were appropriate. An interesting point would be if someone said this today - are they still right? Why or why not? What things have changed that makes this statement inapplicable now? A great way to connect past and present while getting students connected to the content!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Raising the Hunley
Grades
4 to 12
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This site provides information on the Civil War Confederate submarine "Hunley" and the efforts to find, raise, and restore the vessel. Used to attack Union ships blockading the Charleston,...more
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This site provides information on the Civil War Confederate submarine "Hunley" and the efforts to find, raise, and restore the vessel. Used to attack Union ships blockading the Charleston, SC harbor, the Hunley successfully sank the USS Housatonic, then mysteriously disappeared. This site is worth a look for both its scientific and historical possibilities. This site requires QuickTime. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom
Use this site during an "Unsolved Mystery" units with gifted student. Share the photos and "tour the Hunley" using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students investigate the Hunley in cooperative learning groups.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ducksters - Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI)
Grades
2 to 8
2 Favorites
1 Comments
Ducksters is a safe, extensive, educational portal for kids. Find a wide choice of content such as interactives, sports, movies, and music. Begin by choosing a category to explore choices....more
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Ducksters is a safe, extensive, educational portal for kids. Find a wide choice of content such as interactives, sports, movies, and music. Begin by choosing a category to explore choices. The study category includes extensive information such as world history, many biographies, science explanations, and information on all continents and many countries. Interactive subjects include math times tables, checkers, and guess the country. There is a TON here to explore.
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This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This site is a perfect addition for use with a biography unit. Explore and share information categorized by topics such as Civil Rights, the Cold War, Ancient Greece, and WWII. Extend student learning by having students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a president, famous scientist, or nearly any other real or fictitious person. Be sure to create a link to the site on your class webpage or newsletter for students to explore at home. Create a link on classroom computers for students to use the interactives during center time.Comments
Very safe and reliable. Everyone else is my school thinks ducksters is stupid but I love ducksters.Ry, CA, Grades: 6 - 12
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State and Regional Folk Tales - S.E. Schlosser
Grades
5 to 7
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This repository of folk tales from throughout the United States, organized by state and region, provides students with a great literary tapestry of American culture. Add to a unit on...more
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This repository of folk tales from throughout the United States, organized by state and region, provides students with a great literary tapestry of American culture. Add to a unit on your state's history, or use to supplement your reading curriculum.
In the Classroom
Introduce this site on the interactive whiteboard or projector, before allowing students to explore the site independently. Use the stories as a writing prompt - after students have explored for a set amount of time, have them write their own ghost stories about areas in the state. To tie it into history, teachers can make them time-pieces, with the stories required to be related to a certain unit or period of time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American Slave Narratives - University of Virginia
Grades
6 to 12
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This site from the University of Virginia provides transcripts of oral history interviews conducted with former slaves in the 1930s as part of the WPA projects. The site includes more...more
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This site from the University of Virginia provides transcripts of oral history interviews conducted with former slaves in the 1930s as part of the WPA projects. The site includes more than a dozen interviews, along with commentaries on the material which help provide context and suggest areas for further study. Excellent primary resource for students trying to understand what slavery was really like.
In the Classroom
Play the audio portions of this site over the interactive whiteboard or with external computer speakers) to help students understand the reality of living as a slave in the Antebellum South. There is also a transcript teachers could print out to assist students who have trouble discerning the words or need to be guided. This would be a great resource for a US history class studying the lead up the the Civil War.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Gullah Net - South Carolina ETV
Grades
4 to 8
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Gullah is the unique culture of African Americans living on and along the coastal waters of South Carolina and Georgia. This site offers a look at the traditions, customs, and ...more
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Gullah is the unique culture of African Americans living on and along the coastal waters of South Carolina and Georgia. This site offers a look at the traditions, customs, and folk tales of the Gullah people in a treatment that students will find both respectful and entertaining. Try it as an example of a regional American culture, or as part of a study of African American history. Find Gullah lesson plans, music and tales in video format.
In the Classroom
Use the stories and materials on this site as a writing prompt. Open the site and introduce it on the interactive whiteboard or projector before allowing students to explore it individually. Allow students to listen to the stories in groups or individually on classroom computers. Once students have explored the Gullah Tales, have them create their own stories on the website. The stories students can create on the site have pre-determined story titles and themes, making them more appropriate for lower-level readers. However, if there are a lot of advanced students in your class, use a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. This allows them to be a little more creative and put more work into designing their books. An interesting site for English class!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Anyday
Grades
6 to 12
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This one is tough to categorize. Enter a day of the year, and this site will tell you about important events, births, and deaths that have happened on that day. ...more
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This one is tough to categorize. Enter a day of the year, and this site will tell you about important events, births, and deaths that have happened on that day. Try using this one to create a list of important events - covering a variety of subject areas - for an entire week.
In the Classroom
This site would make for a great creative writing project for students in a high school english class. Have students search for their birth date, and find one person on that list that they can focus their paper on. Have students research their historical person, eventually writing a analytical paper about the similarities and differences between their own life and that of their selected person. Teachers can focus more on similarities to make it more difficult and interesting - but it is a great way to get students thinking about comparing and contrasting.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Apollo 11
Grades
4 to 12
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Brief narrative with clickable photos and audio files recounts the course of the mission. From The History Place. ...more
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Brief narrative with clickable photos and audio files recounts the course of the mission. From The History Place.
In the Classroom
Use this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge as you start your study of Space travel. The audio and images on this site would work really well either on the whiteboard or placed within a powerpoint lecture. This would be a useful resource for an American History course, especially as all the information is practically laid out in lecture format.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Explore Pennsylvania History
Grades
4 to 12
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Learn about Pennsylvania history, see and learn about historical sites within Pennsylvania, and find lesson plans for elementary through high school on this site. There are three different...more
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Learn about Pennsylvania history, see and learn about historical sites within Pennsylvania, and find lesson plans for elementary through high school on this site. There are three different avenues into the site, including the link to lesson plans (Teach PA History). Standards correlation is to Pennsylvania standards, but the content is appropriate for any history class studying the many events that occurred in Pennsylvania as part of U.S. history. Reading levels may be challenging for younger students.
In the Classroom
Follow a lesson ready-made plan or design your own web treasure hunt for students to read, see, and learn about history by navigating this site. You could also feature a "historical marker a day" as an anticipatory set on a projector during your units on PA history in Pennsylvania classrooms.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Supreme Court Historical Society
Grades
6 to 12
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This site offers one-stop shopping for a history of the Supreme Court and the ways in which it operates. There are additional links from this site to more complete anthologies ...more
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This site offers one-stop shopping for a history of the Supreme Court and the ways in which it operates. There are additional links from this site to more complete anthologies of court decisions and their interpretation. Middle schoolers could use elements of this one for basic research about the separation of powers and branches of government; high school students should find many uses for the additional materials.
In the Classroom
This would be a great resource in a civics or government class. Open the site on the interactive whiteboard and tour students through the make-up of the court today. Each Judge has his own separate biography that can also be explored to demonstrate the political alliances of the court. Assign cooperative learning groups different judges to research, with the intent of presenting the material to the class. Try something new, like a podcast! Use a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture - University of Virginia
Grades
8 to 12
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Tap into this multimedia archive for a comprehensive understanding of the controversial popularity of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel. Text, images, songs, three-D images, and film clips...more
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Tap into this multimedia archive for a comprehensive understanding of the controversial popularity of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel. Text, images, songs, three-D images, and film clips come together to provide a unique historical perspective. Select the "Interpret Mode" for access to an interactive timeline, virtual exhibits, and suggestions on exploring the primary source materials.
In the Classroom
Bookmark as an online resource for student research or as a teacher source for lesson development.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American History - Primary Documents - Library of Congress
Grades
6 to 12
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This collection of the key documents of American history puts "all the important stuff" in one place. At the moment, the collections only run through the Gilded Age and Progressive...more
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This collection of the key documents of American history puts "all the important stuff" in one place. At the moment, the collections only run through the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (1920).
In the Classroom
Try using this site as a way to actually connect students to the time periods they are studying.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Center for Civic Education - Center for Civic Education
Grades
5 to 12
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The Center for Civic Education offers this site loaded with information and resources that support the democratic process. Choose the Teaching Resources tab to take advantage of many...more
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The Center for Civic Education offers this site loaded with information and resources that support the democratic process. Choose the Teaching Resources tab to take advantage of many lesson plans for all grade levels on topics such as President's Day, voting, Women's History Month, 9/11 and the Constitution, and many more. Choose the More Lesson Plans link to see a list of all lessons sorted by grade levels from K-12. Also under Teaching Resources find the 60 Second Civics option, reviewed here. 60 Second Civics is a daily podcast accompanied with a short question. Previous podcasts are archived for access at your convenience. Subscribe with iTunes or Podcast Alley or visit the page to listen.
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This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share a link to the podcasts via your web page or blog. Have students answer the daily question then respond with a short journal entry or with comments on your webpage. Use lesson resources to supplement your current curriculum or commemorate events such as 9/11, MLK Day, Presidents Day, or Constitution Day. Assign podcasts to groups of students to use, then report to the class. Rather than a traditional report, challenge cooperative learning groups to collaborate on a topic found on the site using Netboard, reviewed here, to share ideas and information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Historic Maps in K-12 Classrooms - The Newberry Library
Grades
K to 12
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This site has 18 maps with coordinated lesson plans that are designed to help the K-12 student improve their map reading skills. Using historical maps, students learn about history...more
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This site has 18 maps with coordinated lesson plans that are designed to help the K-12 student improve their map reading skills. Using historical maps, students learn about history and how geography has influenced that history. Sample themes include "Environmental History," "The Historical Geography of Transportation," "Political and Military History," and a few others. The themes each have lesson plans by grade level. Some parts of this site use Flash that is no longer supported, however, much of the information is still accessible and relevant for classroom use.
In the Classroom
In addition to using the provided lesson plans, use this site on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Use the whiteboard tools to highlight special features of the map. Print out the maps and have students label them with the provided vocabulary words. Use a drawing program like KidPix and have students create their own "historical" maps based on their own lives. Use the additional photos from the resource section and have students create an interactive online poster using Genial.ly, reviewed here about why their map is significant to history.
This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.
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American Revolution - Chronology - The History Place
Grades
4 to 12
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Dates and events from the first settlers through 1800, along with links to biographies and related documents. ...more
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Dates and events from the first settlers through 1800, along with links to biographies and related documents.
In the Classroom
Use the timelines on this site to guide students through the events of Colonial America. Open this site on the interactive whiteboard or projector as a semi-agenda for the days activities. This would be a useful site for a US history classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Day After Pearl Harbor
Grades
6 to 12
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Here's a collection of audio recordings of interviews with "ordinary Americans" conducted by the Library of Congress on December 8, 1941. Users can hear how people reacted to the Japanese...more
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Here's a collection of audio recordings of interviews with "ordinary Americans" conducted by the Library of Congress on December 8, 1941. Users can hear how people reacted to the Japanese attack, and the thoughts that were foremost in their minds as America went to war. This one could be an interesting sidebar to the study of World War II.
In the Classroom
Use this site as a way to discuss how life may have been for families on the home front and how they were affected by more than rationing. Some of the letters are touching, so be aware if you have quite a few sensitive girls in your class when to stop. But the letters show a different side of the war than normally discussed in class. Teachers can also have students use this as a writing prompt - have students write a letter from the perspective of a soldier on different fronts. Letters can be used to detail the different experiences of soldiers or even how varying locations were subject to more or less warfare. A touching side to war - who would have thought?!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cryptography - Historical Ciphers - Trinity College, Hartford
Grades
6 to 12
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This presentation by students and faculty at Trinity College, Hartford includes discussions of some of history's more famous cipher and encryption machines, including the infamous German...more
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This presentation by students and faculty at Trinity College, Hartford includes discussions of some of history's more famous cipher and encryption machines, including the infamous German enigma machines. Along the way, there's a presentation on some of the basics of encryption.
Students interested in math or computer security will find this one an interesting introduction to a hugely complex topic.
In the Classroom
Use this site as a quick lesson during a history or statistics class, in an attempt to teach students about how some ciphers were solved and how it affected history. Peruse a few of the ciphers as a class on the interactive whiteboard, as a challenge have students try to make or solve one on their own! Students can present their ciphers on the interactive whiteboard, and try to stump their peers!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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