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The Gettysburg School Bus: The Civil War in the Classroom - Barbara Sanders
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
This is an excellent site to bookmark and save for many Civil War resources including lesson plans, first hand information on Gettysburg, and Civil War articles. Have students choose one of the blog posts from the site then create magazine covers of information included using Magazine Cover Maker reviewed here. Have students create an online presentation on the Battle of Gettysburg using Prezi (reviewed here). Use lesson plans included on the site to supplement your current Civil War unit.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Visualizing History - Clio Visualizing History
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Engage your students in learning about history with interactive maps, multimedia resources, and primary and secondary sources. All students, especially visual learners, will find these resources help them connect with historical events and figures more personally to make history feel more relevant and engaging. Enhance learning by having students create a timeline of historical events using Padlet, reviewed here. Use the exhibits as writing prompts to analyze historical information. Have students explore an exhibit as a resource for a research project, then create a multimedia presentation of their findings using Genially, reviewed here, where students will have a choice for their presentation format.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Close Up - Close Up Foundation
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use materials from Close Up to supplement your current civics lessons. Assign groups of students different articles or podcasts to analyze and share with peers. Enhance learning using Edpuzzle, reviewed here, to add comments and questions to videos for student consideration. Use Wakelet, reviewed here, to curate resources including articles and podcasts to share with students. Upon completing your teaching unit, ask students to use Wakelet as a multimedia presentation tool to create and share their learning by including written work, images, and links to reference materials.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Paramounr
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Are you studying Black history or the Blues? Then your students need to know about Ma Rainey. Have them read Ma Rainey's biography, reviewed here, and then listen to one of Ma Rainey's most famous songs. Ask pairs or small groups to listen carefully and pick out phrases that would still apply to Black Americans today. Use a tool such as Padlet, reviewed here, to list the example phrases and research current topics that are relevant. With Padlet, students can post various resources such as videos, primary sources, and books.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Freedom Riders - PBS
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This film is almost two hours long; however, it includes dividing points that break the video into several shorter chapters. Consider sharing this film with students for several days not only as a means for adapting to time constraints but also to allow time to process and discuss the information in shorter chunks. Consider including this video as part of a Symbaloo Learning Path, reviewed here. Include additional resources as part of the learning path for students to read and view, along with short quizzes or opportunities to share their reflections on the information. As an opportunity for reflection use PodcastGenerator, reviewed here, to encourage an ongoing conversation about the events shared in this film. Create a channel to discuss each chapter, including a prompt to initiate student discussions. For more ideas on facilitating difficult conversations in the classroom, visit the TeachersFirst Special Topics Page, located here, that is devoted to resources for difficult conversations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List - Real Life in Wartime - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Add a layer of human reality to the "facts" students study about wars that to them seem "long ago and far way." Go beyond the textbook by encouraging students to choose a book to make connections. Encourage them to share what they learn through writings, fictitious blog posts, or creative presentations using tools from the TeachersFirst Edge.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CIS: Kids' Zone - Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth
Grades
2 to 8In the Classroom
Challenge your students to go past PowerPoint and make an online presentation using Animoto (reviewed here) or another reviewed presentation tool from the TeachersFirst Edge. Share the site with students as a resource for state research projects. Use The Ladybug Story with younger students to demonstrate the bill-creation process, then compare with your state's procedures.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Young Ben Franklin - Gen-Z Media
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of the many free materials available on this site to engage students when learning about Benjamin Franklin, American History, or inventors. Adapt the choice and explore boards to fit your student's interests and abilities. For example, replace the timeline on the choice board with one created using MyLens, reviewed here. If time isn't available to complete the entire listening guide, copy individual slides to use as part of a listening or writing center. As a culminating activity, extend learning by asking students to use the podcast as a model for researching and learning about other famous Americans. Have them share their learning as part of a multimedia presentation created using Canva Docs, reviewed here or by creating a comic strip presentation using Canva's Comic Strip Templates, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Frontline: The Gulf War - WGBH Educational Foundation
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
War in the Middle East has been a fact of life for today's students. Use the resources here to help students understand the current conflict in the context of the Persian Gulf crisis of 1990. Many of the major decision makers involved in the Gulf War are still politically active today. Challenge students to explore their influence over time. How have attitudes toward this conflict changed as the violence has persisted?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cowboys - History Channel
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this History Channel site for use when teaching about the American west. Ask students to include it with their other resources and share using a bookmarking site like Papaly reviewed here. Papaly is a collaborative bookmarking site and allows you to share information and add comments. Copy portions of the article into Wordsift, reviewed here, to create a word cloud to highlight and visualize often-used words and terms. Use this information as a basis for further research. After completing research, have students create explainer videos using Clipchamp, reviewed here, or create a story map explainging western life using Odyssey, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The British Are Coming! Using Literature to Bring the American Revolution to Life - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this site with ideas about the American Revolution to engage students through literature. Some books and activities include links to lessons and teachers' guides that provide additional information and classroom support. Use Curipod, reviewed here, to quickly create engaging lessons and activities related to your book studies. For example, Curipod can create slides with themes such as lesson hooks, what do you infer? and exit tickets; use any of these options to generate ideas for discussion questions based on the theme of any books shared in this article. Enhance student learning by creating timelines based on information in the books read. ReadWriteThink Timeline, reviewed here, is easy for students of all ages to use for creating and sharing timelines.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Museum of Modern Art - Khan Academy - Khan Academy and The Museum of Modern Art
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Display and use these very short videos on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to introduce and explore the world of art to students. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create videos based on other famous works of art and share them on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here. Do a collaborative project with your school's art teacher, having students write in English/LA class and discuss art in that class. Have older students explore areas of this site to find artwork from time periods studied in Social Studies classes. Display one of the works of art and view the short video. Use the art piece as inspiration for a creative writing project. Use videos during career exploration units to demonstrate the different career options available within the field of art. Create a link to videos on classroom computers for students to view on their own or use the embed code to add a video on your class website or blog for additional exploration. Teachers of gifted who have students interested in visual arts can use this site to take them further, even if art is not your expertise!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Mind is a Metaphor - Brad Pasanek
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
High school AP literature and history teachers or IB capstone classes will especially love this site. Share a metaphor a day as students are entering the class or on your class web site. Allow a student to choose one as today's Metaphor Master! Discuss the meaning together or use it as a quick writing prompt. Use the time period to discuss the historical context of the metaphor. Use these in your own presentations or require students to create a presentation explaining the metaphors you assign. Younger students just beginning to study metaphors can benefit from trying to interpret the metaphors as a group and presenting them to the class. Challenge students to try to create their own metaphors. Develop a class Metaphor Wiki for students to share metaphors. Not familiar with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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White House Tapes - The President Calling - American Radio Works
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Include the tapes and transcripts as part of any unit involving the 1960's, Vietnam, presidents, and more. Have students create timelines with music, photos, videos, and more using Timeline JS, reviewed here, and include information gathered on the audio tapes. Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about characters involved in the audio tapes.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Peek: Create Your Perfect Day - Ruzwana Bashir and Oskar Gruening
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Although this is not a typical "educational" site, the possibilities for classroom use are unlimited. Have students create their perfect day using the site as a story starter or creative writing prompt. Use the site to plan a virtual field trip anywhere. Have students create a day in the life of a story character, famous person from history, or in the career of their choosing. Retell any important date in history using Peek as a guideline. Teach budget planning by having students research and plan a perfect travel day. World language or world cultures classes can use this to create a day focused on the cultural riches of the country they are studying. Language students can write about it in their new language. After students create their perfect day, create an online folder or wiki page with links to all of the "perfect days" for other students to use as writing prompts (creative or informational). Share all students' perfect days on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use this site to create a perfect day for visitors to your school or community.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
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What is Juneteenth, and Why is it Important? - Ted-Ed
Grades
2 to 8In the Classroom
Share this lesson with students to complete at school or as a flipped learning lesson. On their own or with a partner, have students answer the multiple-choice and open-answer questions by clicking on "Think." Then, consider having small student groups read the additional information inside the Dig Deeper section and investigate the links with the information. Following that, have groups share the information with other class members. For a mini project like this, consider using the tools available at Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here for students to create presentations, infographics, and other visual media. Another project suggestion would be to have small groups of students investigate the story of Juneteenth further through different perspectives, such as that of a soldier, Texas citizens, or children. You could have them produce an animated video using a program like moovly, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Great Lakes States - Past and Present - Century Past Library
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Be sure to bookmark this site to use as a resource if you teach the history of the Great Lakes Region; however, any American History teacher will also appreciate the information found on the site. Explore information on your interactive whiteboard or assign ebooks for student reading. Use a tool such as bubbl.us, reviewed here, to create and share concept maps to connect information learned during your teaching unit. Have students create maps using Zeemaps, reviewed here. Zeemaps allows students to create audio recordings AND choose various locations on a map where the report takes place. Use Zeemaps to modify technology use by creating animated maps featuring various location stops with text, video, audio, and featuring events in the Great Lakes Region. Instead of a book report or oral presentation, ask students to use a tool like Odyssey, reviewed here, to share information. Odyssey allows you to create interactive maps including text, images, and multimedia to tell stories in a powerful way.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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WisdomMaps - Terrence Monroe
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Share WisdomMaps with students as a blended learning activity by allowing students to explore a shared map before discussing ideas together as a class. Provide a collaborative Google Jamboard, reviewed here, and ask students to add sticky notes with information discovered through their exploration. Consider either creating columns for information found and another for questions that need further exploration. Use the WisdomMaps found on this site as a model for students to create maps using MindMeister, reviewed here, that correlate with your current classroom curriculum.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Useful Charts YouTube Channel - Matt Baker
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Include links to videos found on this channel to help students understand the complicated family trees found throughout history. After watching the videos, ask students to use an organizational tool such as Genially, reviewed here, to diagram family trees for American Presidents, European Royalty, Asian Dynasties, or other ruling families. When finished, use a timeline creator such as Vizzio, reviewed here, and find the "layered timeline" to view information in chronological order that includes additional information such as text, images, and primary documents.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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100 Years of Parcels, Packages, and Packets, Oh My! - Smithsonian National Postal Museum
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
The ability to mail packages across the country is an important factor in the growth of the US and has contributed to an ever-more-mobile society. Incorporate some of the historic images here into a discussion of changes in transportation and communication over the 20th and early 21st centuries. Ask students to brainstorm the items in their own bedrooms that might have arrived via Parcel Post. How would their lives be different without package delivery? Why is it important for the US Government to be involved in package delivery? Have students share their findings and thoughts by creating online posters individually or together as a class. Use a tool such as Web Poster Wizard (reviewed here) or PicLits (reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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