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Constitutionfacts.com - Oak Hill Publishing
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
This is a great site for both introducing and reinforcing topics about the Constitution. Teachers can print out crosswords puzzles for a "What Do I Know" activity. Students could find out which founding father they are in the interactive portion (under IQ Challenges) and create a multimedia project on the result. Challenge students to use Image Annotator, reviewed here. Image Annotator site allows you to add text and links to a picture. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo. What a new twist to an oral report! Students could create a Photostory on their own version of the Story of Fourth of July. The possibilities are endless. For fun, teachers can present the Real or Fake Quiz on the projector or interactive whiteboard as whole class instruction or have discussions after each answer.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Invasion of Normandy - Naval History and Heritage Command
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Be sure to help your weaker readers and ENL/ESL students by sharing the vocabulary words prior to reading, either in a handout or by using Read Ahead, reviewed here, and projecting the reading on an interactive whiteboard. The text portions are challenging, so you should pair weaker readers with a partner as they research on this site. Divide students into cooperative learning groups to explore the site. Have them share their findings with a simple infographic using Venngage, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mr. President - Smithsonian Institution
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site as a starting point for research projects. If you are teaching about the presidents, this site would be great on your projector or interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Presidency of the United States of America - Encyclopedia Britannica
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site to research candidates in the upcoming elections, and presidents of the past. Have students create a wiki to discuss the candidates viewpoints and if the students agree or disagree. Challenge students to create a political "blog" as a mock candidate. Have a "mock" presidential race in your class (using the mock candidates created by your students). Have the "candidates" go on the campaign trail, research the issues, and provide their solutions to America's problems.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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U.S. Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud - Chirag Mehta
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Share the tag cloud on a projector-- or ideally interactive whiteboard-- as you ask students to hypothesize about the words that appear at key times: the start of a war, after Sept 11, etc. Then include the link on your teacher web page so you can assign them (in or out of class) to write an essay or prepare a visual presentation explaining why certain terms were vital in the political and policy landscape of the times. Using primary sources from the Library of Congress American Memory Collection, students can create multimedia (PowerPoint or video) shows "portraying" a year, decade, or era and the importance of its tagged words (Word art would make a great way to show the words on screen).With the 2008 presidential election quickly approaching, have students analyze presidential speeches and create their own Speech Tag Clouds about the message. Or have students create a "mock" candidate and then design a "tag cloud" about the candidate.
Note that this tag cloud site DOES identify its sources-- something you want to be sure to highlight to your students. Then ask if students think the choice of sources is the best possible--should it include others?
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Alaska - Alaska.gov
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Share this site with students researching information for state reports. Rather than having students create traditional reports, replace these by making them online! Use PicLits, reviewed here. Take student learning a step further by modifing their learning and having students use a tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here. This tool allows students to create audio recordings AND choose a location on a map (Alaska) where the report takes place. Explore the site with students when learning about different states, ask students to tell what they know then compare to information provided on the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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To Clone or Not to Clone: Hello Dolly Webquest - Keith Nuthall of the Poway Unified School District
Grades
11 to 12In the Classroom
Save this site as a favorite, and use the webquest during a discussion of government oversight, and how it has affected areas such as science. (This could also be used in a biology classroom during a lesson on cloning)Consider alternate product options for today's students, such as using Google Docs during planning and writing phases reviewed here or one of many creative. collaborative web 2.0 tools reviewed in the TeachersFirst Edge. Your students can work collaboratively without even being in the same place, and their projects can be shared easily on the web.
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Teaching with Historic Places - National Park Service
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Search for your state and see what this site has to offer. Looking for a specific topic (i.e. Civil War or Pearl Harbor), search using topics. Take advantage of these ready to go lesson plans. Infuse your lessons with technology by creating a class wiki about the lesson/topic being discussed. Maybe make a wiki guidebook to your state. Not comfortable with wikis? Have no wiki worries - check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through. Save this site in your favorites, and check back as you plan throughout the year.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Oil Spill Lesson Plans and Resources - NOAA
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and classroom activities on this site! Be sure to save this site as a favorite to allow for easy retrieval later on. Students can select different aspects of oil spill cleanup and mitigation and play the role of experts in a mock blog post playing their role. Use Blogger, reviewed here or Straw.Page, reviewed here for your students blogging tool. Have students continue their role play by commenting on each other's posts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Nevada
Grades
4 to 12Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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NewsHour Extra Lesson Plan: Immigration Reform - PBS
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
The essential questions (labeled "My Point of View, parts 2-3") are a nice guide for helping students see this issue from multiple backgrounds.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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When the Personal Becomes Presidential - New York Times Learning Network
Grades
6 to 12The lesson plan starts with the familiar "read the story and discuss" format, but there are a number of good essential questions and extension activities provided that could be tailored into a strong classroom plan. The lesson plans have cross-curricular suggestions, and are tied to standards.
In the Classroom
Be sure help your weaker readers and ELL students by sharing the listed vocabulary words prior to reading, either on a handout or by projecting on an interactive whiteboard and highlighting them in the text as you come to them.Use this lesson to discuss current events in politics (which changes daily). Have students discuss and debate the current issues. Have the students write a wiki about a current event in politics (for example, Governor Palin being the first woman VP on the GOP ticket).
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NPR: Election 2008 - National Public Radio
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Of course, civics and government teachers focus on Presidential elections past and present and will find this site quite useful. Other teachers who regularly do "current events" discussions can also find simple, direct, and up-to-date information that can be used to inform, debate, or share on an interactive whiteboard. Make this site a Favorite and share it on your teacher web page for students to use for research on individual candidate platforms. Encourage students to check the site regularly for updates. Use it to help students stage a mock debate or mock election.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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State of Alabama - Alabama.gov
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Share this site with students researching information for state reports. Rather than having students create traditional reports, replace these by making them online! Use PicLits, reviewed here. Take student learning a step further by modifing and having students use a tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here. This site allows students to create audio recordings AND choose a location on a map (Alabama) where the report takes place. Explore the site with students when learning about different states, ask students to tell what they know then compare to information provided on the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Newsy - newsy.com
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
This site is ideal for your interactive whiteboard or projector, learning station, or on individual computers (with headsets). Use this site to keep your students up to date on current events. Have students compare the different versions of the same news stories to try and ferret out the facts and the way points of view affect reporting. Project the scripts on an interactive whiteboard to have students highlight language choices that provide a certain slant. ESL/ELL students will benefit from listening to the short news clips and being able to see the transcript of the report. Have your ESL/ELL students write their own comprehension questions and answers based on the podcast to check their own comprehension and to exchange with classmates. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here) to compare the differences in two newspapers' versions of the same news. Have ESL/ELL students present the news from a newspaper familiar to them if possible by having them prepare an introduction and questions. Learning support students can use the transcripts and videos in combination to understand and report weekly current events assignments for social studies class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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After 9/11 - SSRC Teaching Resources - Social Studies Research Council
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Use these teaching guides and lesson plans in your classroom. The site also has lists internet sources that could be good resources for any students working on a research paper or project. If applicable, list the site on the class wiki or web page to allow students to explore the resources listed on their own.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Shmoop US History, American History - Shmoop
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Students will love this site for reviewing and preparing for exams. Share this link on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom. Take advantage of the FREE study guides. Why not have cooperative learning groups investigate specific topics relative to your current unit of study and create multimedia presentation. Create podcasts, using a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here). Have students create a Have students create an annotated image including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report about the event or topic. To find Creative Commons images for student projects (with credit, of course), try Vecteezy, reviewed here. Teachers can also use this site to differentiate between the typical lectures used to teach a US history project. Use the images on this site to create a "picture walk" in your classroom, introducing any one of the topics offered. Select 10-15 of the more powerful and diverse images, hanging them up in different locations around your classroom. Have students rotate around the classroom every 30-45 seconds, jotting down what they observe and infer about each image until the entire class has completed the circuit. After the class is back in their seats, have a class discussion based on what they observed and what this says about the topic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Prezi - Prezi
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
You could map your entire lesson, chapter or unit in one Prezi. Once you introduce the concept with this tool, you can go back to it often with your students as you move to different parts of the unit. It would provide a great way to connect prior knowledge with the next step if you share this on your interactive whiteboard or projector throughout the unit. Or you could post it to your web page or give kids the URL so they can review as often as they need it. Try having the students map a concept or chapter with this tool. In history class, create timelines of relevant events, or in science or math class have them map steps in a process. Have students create Prezis for different events, and then have them post the link to their product on a class blog or wiki. Add a peer review component and require students to comment on at least two other Prezis. The possibilities are endless!If you have gifted students n your class, offer Prezi as one alternative for sharing extensions to the regular curriculum. If they already know the material, have them investigate a related process or example and share it in the form of a Prezi.
Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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Civil War Time-Line - A Nation Divided - The History Place
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site for research about the Civil War. Have cooperative learning groups research various battles of the Civil War. Or have students create their own interactive timelines using a tool such as Preceden, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Grading on a Curve - New York Times
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Though a bit outdated for a current events class, this would be a great lesson in a US government class looking at the Presidency of George H.W. Bush. Save this lesson as a favorite on your desktop to allow for easy retrieval later on - though be sure to look closely at the lesson and make sure that students have learned enough of the contextual information to be able to make sense of the article. For differentiation, peruse the article before-hand, creating a list of words that students may have trouble with or may not be familiar with. Create a follow-along for the article, defining those words selected to help students as they read. This will allow lower achieving readers to be able to process the information more efficiently and with more comprehension.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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