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Florida Memory - The State Archives of Florida
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
In the classroom, integrate primary documents in addition to your text to get a broader picture of history, even if you are not teaching specifically about Florida. Take a closer look at history, through the multiple aspects of video, audio, laws, and land grants. Look at perspectives of Civil War from a southern state. Make biographies of Florida residents come alive with the culture of their time. Compare and contrast Florida and another state. Use an online tool such as the Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here. Examine the history of space through NASA. You and your students can discover how Civil Rights progressed in Florida. Look at the history of the Seminole tribe as you study native Americans. Enhance learning by challenging students to create an infographic using Snappa, reviewed here about a certain period in Florida's history or to compare Florida and other states. Before beginning the infographic, have students brainstorm or collect ideas on a collaborative bulletin board like Witeboard, reviewed here. Use this resource to meet Common Core standards about primary sources or writing. Challenge students to produce digital writing and interact with others online.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Hold the Fort! - National Park Service, Fort McHenry
Grades
4 to 10In the Classroom
This interactive requires the installation of the Unity Web Player, be sure to verify set up before students play the game. Create a link on classroom computers for students to play on their own or in groups. Have cooperative learning groups create podcasts describing events leading up to and during the Battle of Baltimore as if broadcasting a news event. Use a site such as podOmatic, reviewed here. Challenge students to create a fictional Twitter account (with bio and known associates) using the Twitter Fictional Account Template, reviewed here, or use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a soldier, commander, or British soldier during the battle.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching a More Complete Picture of MLK - Candra Flanagan, Eden Cho & Phoebe Hillemann
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Include this article that features various teaching ideas with your other resources for lessons about MLK. Use Padlet, reviewed here to collect and organize lesson ideas and information. For example, create a Padlet with columns to organize information by primary sources, books, saved lesson plans, etc., as a way to easily find content to use. Engage and extend learning as students watch videos using edpuzzle, reviewed here. Add comments and questions to the appropriate portions of videos as a way for students to focus on critical information. As students prepare to show their learning, consider using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here as a resource for students to create infographics about Martin Luther King and his contributions to civil rights.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Freedom on the Move - Cornell University
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Include this database with your other resources when studying Black history, the Civil War, or American History during the early to mid-1800s. Engage students by sharing this site and allowing them time to explore on their own by searching by your location. Each of the ads provides interesting details and descriptions that provoke class discussions and perspectives on the treatment of enslaved people. As students learn and research more information about fugitives from slavery, use Genially, reviewed here, to create interactive images that share additional information about the location, the role of enslaved people, and possible journeys to freedom. As an extension activity, ask groups of students to collaboratively create a map of the journey to freedom of some of the enslaved people found in the site's database using Google My Maps, reviewed here. In addition to mapping the journey, Google My Maps allows you to add links to additional information, videos, and primary source information to provide a complete overview of the difficulties encountered as a fugitive from slavery.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Immigration Nation - iCivics
Grades
5 to 8In the Classroom
Since the topic of immigration can be a sensitive issue in any American classroom today, you may want to use the lessons in From Provocative to Productive, reviewed here to introduce how to have a respectful discussion (and develop critical thinking skills along the way). Once you feel students are versed a bit in diplomacy, use Immigration Nation as an introduction making sure students know the facts about becoming a citizen in the United States. Share the game on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector. In order to assure your students know the requirements before participating in a discussion of this hot political issue, you may want to play with the entire class first, reminding students they need to learn the facts before they can effectively debate the issues. Then allow students to play on their own on the whiteboard or classroom computers, keeping a log of their actions and results. Once students know the facts, you could set up a discussion using Thinkalong, reviewed here to practice their discussion and argument strategies. With older students, a next step might be to take the debate public using Virtual Debate, reviewed here which has online examples and resources for conducting virtual debates.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Girl Rising Curriculum & Educator Tools - Girl Rising
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Use these free materials to supplement your curriculum and teaching units. When polling students for short-response questions, use a polling tool such as Answer Garden, reviewed here, to engage learners and encourage them to share ideas anonymously. Answer Garden posts short responses in a word cloud format that encourages students to focus on shared ideas and discover different views. Enhance learning by asking students to share their thoughts through writing blogs using Edublogs, reviewed here. Incorporate blogs into the process as a way for students to share ideas, research, and explore their thinking throughout the projects found in this curriculum. Extend learning by asking students to continue exploring and discovering the role of gender, politics, and other factors in the world around them in various ways. For example, some students might enjoy preparing and producing a podcast using Buzzsprout, reviewed here, others might create a video using Powtoon, reviewed here, and another group might prefer to focus on a specific topic using a timeline tool such as Vizzio, reviewed here, to present a visual timeline of world events.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Montana Kids - Montana.gov
Grades
4 to 8In the Classroom
Share this site on your interactive whiteboard then allow students to explore on their own. Create a scavenger hunt with information from the site for students to find. Brainstorm with Stormboard, having students enhance their learning by adding sticky notes of things they learn (or questions) about Montana on the online shared whiteboard. Use this site as part of a web exhibit collection about states using a tool to share all of the important links, information, and even brief descriptions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Useful charts - UsefulCharts Publishing
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share a visual overview of a topic on projector or IWB before teaching or as a reference before lessons that zero in on subtopics. Use this site to teach data and the graphic display of data. Allow groups of students to choose a graphic and report to the class on how the data was made more meaningful using the graphics that were chosen. You may also want to share this link as a research tool for debates or presentations on science or social studies topics. Share the timeline or graphic on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Discuss the science, history, or math behind the data collected. Discuss other information and ways of presenting the information in order to create a more interesting graphic. Have students try their hand at creating an infographic using a tool such as Snappa, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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U.S. Political Conventions and Campaigns - Northeastern University
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Although lesson plans are geared to high school, this site is also useful for students in lower grades. Go directly to the quiz portion of each section, display on your interactive whiteboard, and take the quiz as a class as an overview of what students know about the election process. View sections on your interactive whiteboard to help students understand the different facets of a campaign. Assign students (or groups) different sections; then have them present information learned to their classmates. Create posters about the American political process using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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What So Proudly We Hail: Making American Citizens Through Literature - Amy and Leon Kass
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This comprehensive program can be a bit overwhelming at first look. You might want to pick just one, high interest short story lesson, perhaps Jack London's "To Build a Fire." This lesson and many others lends itself to small group discussion and work. The introduction makes observations and asks questions to encourage active reading and deep discussions that you may want to use as a class. Whether you and your students complete the lesson as a class or in small groups, you may want to use a program like Today's Meet reviewed here to enable all students to have a voice. If using small groups, have students post what the group decided are the answers on Today's Meet so everyone can see all answers. Where answers differ, have students go back into the reading and cite evidence to support their answer on Today's Meet for all to see. Teachers of gifted and music can choose selected ideas from this site, as well. A teaching team could make this site the focus of a year-long effort with so much material available. Upper elementary teachers and higher can make holidays and patriotic songs far more meaningful through close reading and class discussionsAdd your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Boston Navy Yard - National Park Service
Grades
1 to 12Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Manifest Destiny - The Story of the US Told in 141 Maps - Michael Porath
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use Manifest Destiny as a resource for any American History unit. Share the maps on your projector or interactive whiteboard. The many maps are an excellent visual demonstration of the growth of the US. Use information from the site to have students create timelines (with music, photos, videos, and more) using Timeline JS, reviewed here. Include this site in lessons about information literacy and evaluating sources in your history course. Challenge students to verify the accuracy of the information depicted. Was Wikipedia right?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Encyclopedia Virginia - Virginia Humanities
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this site to use for lesson planning and student research if you teach Social Studies in any state. Take advantage of the virtual tours on the site to provide a real look at historic sites that go beyond the pages of textbooks. Instead of reading stories found in textbooks, ask students to browse the site to find interesting events during the period being studied. Use these ideas as the basis for student research projects. Encourage students to imagine themselves as a participant in events in history. Ask students to extend learning by using this Headline Generator, reviewed here, as a story starter to retell and analyze moments in history. Share the site's podcasts in listening centers or as an option for flipped learning. Use the podcasts as models for students to create their own podcasts for retelling events in history through the perspective of someone alive during that time. Podcast Generator, reviewed here, will enhance learning and provides free tools for creating and sharing podcasts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Untold History - Driving Force Institute for Public Engagement
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
These short videos are perfect to use in many different classroom settings to engage students in various history topics. Share a video at the beginning of a lesson, then use Google Jamboard, reviewed here, to gather student's questions for further investigation of the concept. Extend learning by asking groups of students to go further in-depth to learn more about the content of the shared video. Have students share resources by creating a collection in Wakelet, reviewed here. Use Wakelet's templates as a starting point for student presentations. Enhance student learning by creating short video presentations based on a different unknown event in history. Use Renderforest, reviewed here, to create animated videos, or Adobe Express Video Maker, reviewed here, as a resource for easily creating video explanations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Toporopa: Geography of Europe - Toporopa
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Create a link on classroom computers for students to explore these interactives. This site could be used in world cultures, world geography, world languages, science, government, and many other subjects. Have students try the games and then research further information. For example, after finding all European countries that have a reigning monarch, have students find further information on the monarchies. Challenge the students to use a tool like Slides, reviewed here to share their findings.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Civil War 150 - Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a Civil War soldier or important person from that time. Enhance learning by having students create timelines of Civil War events (with music, photos, videos, and more) using Timeline Infographic Templates, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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NobelPrize.org - Nobel Media AB 2011
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Inspire your students to strive for excellence! Show students original, creative, thinking. Let students know they can understand the ideas awarded by trying the educational activities offered. Follow each year's announcements and award ceremonies. Use as an inspiration when beginning your own Nobel Prize winning awards competitions. Encourage students to use critical thinking skills to form opinions based on facts. Substitute pen and paper in your class by having students blog about what they are learning and understanding using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration. Extend learning by inviting pairs or small groups to use a tool like NoteJoy, reviewed here, to take notes and share links, documents, and images to organize for an interactive poster. Use Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, for the poster. Gifted programs can easily incorporate many of the ideas into the curriculum. Lead your students to Nobel Award winning thinking.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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About Illinois - State of Illinois
Grades
4 to 8In the Classroom
Challenge your students to create a web exhibit collection about Illinois using a tool such as Pocket, reviewed here, to share all of the important links, information, and even brief descriptions. Share the site on your interactive whiteboard with your students to help them find portions useful for research, then allow them to explore on their own. Create a scavenger hunt for students to search the site to find facts about the state.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Civics in Real Life - Florida Joint Center for Citizenship
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Because this site offers weekly downloads, it is a great addition to use in any social studies classroom for civics lessons or providing ongoing civics discussions throughout the school year. Engage students by creating groups to explore concepts even further throughout the year. For example, divide your class into four or five groups, then have each group rotate throughout the month to take the information from a weekly update and conduct further research. Use Padlet, reviewed here, to curate and share each of the activities for students to revisit and review the content. Take advantage of tools such as Google Slides, reviewed here, to focus student groups on learning activities. Create a slide template that includes students' areas to answer questions, reflect upon finding, and share resources used. Extend learning using podcasts as a final project for students to discuss and share their researched topic. Buzzsprout, reviewed here, is an excellent option for podcasting in the classroom because of the free features that include adding links and lists to podcasts and the ability to schedule podcasts release for your chosen date and time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Unpublished Black History - The New York Times
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
This page is perfect for sharing with students to explore and find people and events of interest. The page is quite lengthy; if looking for specific information such as an event in a particular city or a person, use the search for text feature on your computer to find that information. On a Mac, use "Command+F"; on a Windows device, use "Ctrl+F"; another method for easier viewing is to click on the magnifying glass found on the bottom, left-hand corner of an image. This option allows viewers to scroll through a slide show of the images that include a short description of the activity. As students find information to research further, use the Wikipedia Timeline Generator found at Class Tools, reviewed here, to view a chronological list of events related to that person or event. Use other templates found in class tools to extend learning further. For example, use the Venn Diagram generator to organize and understand overlapping events and people involved or ask students to use the Fakebook generator to create a fictional social profile for one of the people featured on the New York Times page. Extend learning by asking students to become reporters and write news articles about current or past Black History events not found in this article. Consider using a simple web-publishing tool like Telegra.ph, reviewed here, to create and share articles that include student-created text along with images and web links.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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