Make History Come Alive: Teaching the 2025 Presidential Inauguration

The 2025 Presidential Inauguration, set for Monday, January 20th at noon ET, offers a powerful teaching opportunity that bridges past and present. More than just a ceremony, inaugurations serve as living snapshots of American politics, culture, and society throughout our nation’s history. While the political nature of this event may create sensitive moments in the … read more »

Presidential Inaugurations Through A Primary Source Lens

Presidential inaugurations are one of the United States of America’s oldest traditions. They are a founding ceremony of our democracy. Studying inaugurations through a primary source lens is an engaging and at times fascinating classroom activity.  General resources for inaugural primary sources abound. The Library of Congress contains a wealth of resources on every presidential … read more »

Virtual Inauguration? Create a Virtual Lesson with Bitmojis!

The Constitution initially established March 4 as Inauguration Day in the United States. This date allowed enough time for an orderly transition of power and for all newly-elected candidates to travel to the capital. In 1933, after advances in communication and transportation made the long wait until March unnecessary, the date moved to January 20 … read more »

Everyone Is a Poet (Even If They Don’t Know It)

On March 26, 1874, one of America’s most beloved poets was born. Robert Frost, known for his New England settings and his colloquial poetic verses, created some of the world’s most well-known lines of poetry that continue to speak to readers today. Frost can tap into the emotions of the average person and leverage that … read more »

Tech Tool of the Month: Nearpod – Part 2

In Part 1 of this blog, we introduced you to Nearpod and discussed the application of both the SAMR Model and the Triple E Framework to help you integrate Nearpod into your instruction. Today’s post offers detailed instructions for how to use this tool and shares classroom use ideas by subject. Nearpod: If Nearpod is … read more »

Discover the U.S. Patent Office for Kids

Did you know that many of the very first government departments, established by our first President, George Washington, remain in place today? On April 10, 1790, just under a year after his inauguration, President Washington signed a bill placing the foundation for our current patent system. This law, for the first time, gave the rights … read more »