TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Apr 13, 2025
Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive
Virtual Tours - Presididential History in the Nation's Capital - Nationall Park Service
Grades
3 to 12
1 Favorites
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Join National Park Service employees on a virtual visit to presidential monuments and memorials in Washington, DC, and across the United States. Begin with 360-degree visits to presidential...more
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Join National Park Service employees on a virtual visit to presidential monuments and memorials in Washington, DC, and across the United States. Begin with 360-degree visits to presidential memorials for Dwight Eisenhower, Franklin Roosevelt, George Washington, and other former presidents, or listen to an audio tour of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. After virtual visits to memorials in Washington, travel across the country to visit the homes of former presidents, including John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Ulysses S. Grant.
tag(s): capitals (14), lincoln (67), presidents (151), virtual field trips (138), washington (33)
In the Classroom
Add this site to your resources when teaching about presidents, elections, or United States landmarks. Engage students in learning more about each president using chatbots found on SchoolAI, reviewed here. For example, search SchoolAI for a chatbot for Dwight D. Eisenhower that lets students "interview" Dwight D. Eisenhower to learn more about his life and thoughts. If there isn't an available chatbot for your choice of president, easily create and share a space that fits your needs. After students explore the lives and thoughts of presidents, ask them to create multimedia presentations to share with peers using Canva Edu, reviewed here to create unique presentations, videos, or websites.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Virtual Yosemite - Virtual Yosemite
Grades
K to 12
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If visiting Yosemite National Park isn't possible, a virtual visit is the next best thing! Virtual Yosemite offers interactive park visits to dozens of locations around the park. After...more
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If visiting Yosemite National Park isn't possible, a virtual visit is the next best thing! Virtual Yosemite offers interactive park visits to dozens of locations around the park. After selecting a location, use your computer's controls to move the viewing area around for a complete 360-degree look at the site. Click on the regions featured within each location to view a pop-up description of the featured area or to move to a new location. Find complete information on using the tools available on the site by selecting the Tour Instructions link at the bottom of each page. Visit the education link for examples of integrating Virtual Yosemite into classroom lessons.
tag(s): glaciers (18), landforms (37), mountains (10), national parks (28), virtual field trips (138)
In the Classroom
Offer students time to explore Virtual Yosemite on their own. After some exploration, use FigJam, reviewed here to encourage students to share information they discovered by adding notes to FigJam. Add categories to Jamboard slides to encourage students to think about different features of locations they found, or add the name of specific areas and ask students to share what is shown on the virtual tour at that location. Ask students to create interactive images containing information about Yosemite National Park using the free creation tools available from Genially, reviewed here. Find many other ideas for virtual field trips at the TeachersFirst Special Topics Page, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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25 Best Parks in the United States - Anna Smith, HTownBest
Grades
K to 12
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Do you have a favorite US national park? Did it make this list? This article shares the author's top 25 national parks and briefly introduces what makes them great. In ...more
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Do you have a favorite US national park? Did it make this list? This article shares the author's top 25 national parks and briefly introduces what makes them great. In addition to information about the top parks, this article also shares some general tips to follow when planning a visit to a national park. Be sure to scroll down to near the bottom of the page to find an interactive map of the parks created with Thinglink, reviewed here. Click the map image to open and access in Thinglink.
tag(s): geology (61), national parks (28), states (128)
In the Classroom
Share this article to engage students as they learn about the states and geographic features of the United States. Start with either the descriptions in the article or the interactive map as an introduction to your unit. Using the interactive map, take students on a virtual trip around the country by visiting the links shared to the national parks. If using the descriptions, use Google Earth, reviewed here, to locate each park. Many of the parks offer virtual tours provided by Google Earth. After introducing students to the parks, ask students to choose a national park that interests them as a starting point for a research project. Share resources with students on a curation tool such as Padlet, reviewed here. As students gather information, ask them to use Ideaboardz, reviewed here, to organize information. For example, have students create three sections on their Ideaboardz to organize information by animals, plants, and geography facts about the location. Extend learning by asking students to become national park project creators and share information from their research. Offer various multimedia options for student presentations, such as creating an interactive image using Genially, reviewed here, or video presentation created with Clipchamp, reviewed here. Once students' national parks projects are completed, use Google My Maps, reviewed here, to create a virtual class visit to the featured parks.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Flight 93 National Memorial - National Park Service
Grades
5 to 12
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The Flight 93 National Memorial serves as the final resting place for the passengers and crew who stopped a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The National Park Service provides...more
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The Flight 93 National Memorial serves as the final resting place for the passengers and crew who stopped a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The National Park Service provides visitor information and detailed information about the events of this tragic flight. Use this information to learn about the memorial site and the Tower of Voices monument dedicated to the flight's crew and passengers. The videos on this site reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.
In the Classroom
Include this site with your other September 11 resources to share with students. Use Padlet, reviewed here, to curate and share resources in one location. Additionally, Padlet includes a timeline feature. Enhance learning by asking students to construct a timeline of events leading up to and beyond the hijacking and subsequent crash of the airplane as a visual tool for understanding this chain of events concerning other attacks that took place on September 11. Include links to images, videos, newspaper articles, and more on the students' timeline. Extend learning using Google My Maps, reviewed here, to create a virtual map of September 11 events that provides a broader look at the different locations and outcomes of the terrorist attacks.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Park Service - National Park Service
Grades
5 to 12
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Celebrate and learn about America's national parks through the home page of the National Park Service. This site provides comprehensive information on planning a park visit, exploring...more
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Celebrate and learn about America's national parks through the home page of the National Park Service. This site provides comprehensive information on planning a park visit, exploring nature, and volunteering. Choose from a variety of lesson plans in the Eductors section of the menu. Lesson plans are sortable by subject, grade level, and Common Core Standards. Most lessons will have a download button to print the lessons using the link to the PDF file. The National Park Service also offers several resources to loan to classrooms, such as traveling trunks. Although traveling trunks ship for free, you pay for return shipping.
tag(s): animal homes (53), animals (273), habitats (103), national parks (28)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site to use with a wide variety of language arts, science, and social studies activities. Take advantage of the free lesson plans to include with your classroom activities. Include the section for kids with your other bookmarks on classroom computers for students to explore during science centers or during free reading time as a non-fiction selection. Share images from the media gallery with students as you study biomes, states, or historic areas of the United States. As students learn about different parks around the country, ask them to modify their technology use to create infographics using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to share facts and information. Transform student technology use even further by asking students to use Google My Maps, reviewed here, to create a virtual field trip to a national park or across different biomes found in the United States. Include this site with your history lessons, then ask students to use Google My Maps, reviewed here, to create an animated map telling the story of historic events, including text, images, historical maps, and more.
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The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks - Google Arts & Culture
Grades
4 to 12
2 Favorites
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Follow National Park Rangers on a remarkable journey in these 360-degree videos. Guides take viewers into the most interesting, yet unknown, places in six different park locations....more
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Follow National Park Rangers on a remarkable journey in these 360-degree videos. Guides take viewers into the most interesting, yet unknown, places in six different park locations. Choose a park to begin your journey, and explore locations by dragging the mouse or cursor around to view these sites from every angle.
tag(s): alaska (21), florida (12), hawaii (9), landforms (37), national parks (28), states (128), utah (2), virtual field trips (138)
In the Classroom
Share this beautiful site and images on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector, then have students explore on their own. This site can be included with many different geography units to teach landforms found around the United States. Use as a starting point to learn more about our National Parks and the National Park Service. Enhance learning by having students create an annotated image of other interesting geographic locations using a tool such as Google Drawings, reviewed here. Google Drawings allows you to annotate an image with links to videos, text, websites, and more. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create videos using FlexClip, reviewed here, of behind-the-scenes information from your hometown, then share them on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Geological Tour - National Park Service
Grades
6 to 12
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Explore the many different kinds of geology available for viewing at the United States National Parks with this online tour. Choose from various categories to find links to parks with...more
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Explore the many different kinds of geology available for viewing at the United States National Parks with this online tour. Choose from various categories to find links to parks with that geologic theme. Some also include a short description of geologic features. Although this site looks quite simple, there is an abundance of information available for learning about geographic features around the United States.
tag(s): caves (7), fossils (44), geology (61), glaciers (18), mountains (10), national parks (28), plate tectonics (29), rivers (15), rocks (44), soil (16), volcanoes (62)
In the Classroom
Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on geographic features on a projector or interactive whiteboard. After sharing, allow students to explore on their own. Share the locations using Google Earth, reviewed here, and have students add placeholders and information about each site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Maps Treks - Google
Grades
K to 12
5 Favorites
1 Comments
Never leave your easy chair as you journey beyond the road to faraway places using Google Maps Treks! Choose Gombe National Park, Pyramids of Giza, Angkor Wat, Colorado River, or ...more
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Never leave your easy chair as you journey beyond the road to faraway places using Google Maps Treks! Choose Gombe National Park, Pyramids of Giza, Angkor Wat, Colorado River, or the polar bears at Churchill. Tour Taj Mahal, Venice, Galapagos Islands, Eiffel Tower, Mt. Fuji, Everest, Great Barrier Reef, the Amazon Basin, and more. Click on the option and then click the open in Maps or Views button. On maps with multiple placemarks, click the placemark to view information about the location, and then click the title to go to the map. Choose from a variety of images taken at various locations found along the bottom. Some images are photospheres and can be manipulated using the sphere icon along the bottom right. Use the arrows in the sphere to rotate the image, giving a panoramic view of the location as you click. Use the familiar Google map tools to zoom in and out. Some Treks offer short videos that are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.
tag(s): cultures (292), environment (254), images (266), maps (225), photography (135), virtual field trips (138)
In the Classroom
If you teach geography, this one is a must. It is also helpful for showing students where a story or news event takes place. View these different places whether your content includes history, geography, literature, science, languages, and more. View places discussed in class, or in stories. Look at different cultural areas or environments in the world. Choose a trek as an inspiration for further research about the area, the inspiration for a student created poem or short story, artistic work, and many other projects. Encourage student groups to choose one of the places on this site to present to the class, highlighting various economic, recreational, historical, and cultural factors at each place. You may want students to use a tool such as Knoema, reviewed here, or Data - The World Bank, reviewed here, to make sure students get accurate information. Use this as a class "Where I visited in Google Maps" project! As students ask questions about the various places, encourage discovery in finding the answers together.Comments
Can't wait to use this after the Lit Trip session.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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Junior Rangers Online - National Park Service
Grades
3 to 8
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Join the National Park Service and become a Junior Ranger Online! Don your ranger hat and go on virtual tours and watch videos. Continue learning at home by visiting the ...more
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Join the National Park Service and become a Junior Ranger Online! Don your ranger hat and go on virtual tours and watch videos. Continue learning at home by visiting the Conservation At Home section. Learn how to complete activities and receive a Junior Ranger Badge and Certificate from the National Parks Service through their downloadable PDF. The National Park Service also offers materials for educators, although they are a little difficult to find. Select the Menu icon with three bars and click on Educators or go here. Find lesson plans and activities using a keyword search and filters by subject, grade level, and Common Core Standards.
tag(s): animals (273), landmarks (21), national parks (28), plants (142), virtual field trips (138)
In the Classroom
Use the Educator's resources to find many curriculum connections and alignment to Common Core. Introduce one of the WebRangers' multimedia resources to your class on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Use this site as a precursor activity to an actual trip to one of the parks or as you study states and their major landmarks. Use this in science class as you study animals and habitats. Explore the landmarks in your own city or town and create multimedia presentations about them like the ones shown here. In the Teacher's Resource Guide, find the link to their X (formerly Twitter) account. Even if students are unable to physically visit and explore parks, use the virtual visits to learn about the National Parks around the country and offer students the opportunity to earn Junior Ranger certificates. Create a map using Google My Maps, reviewed here, and add places visited by your class throughout the school year. In addition to labeling locations, add images, videos, and student text to share information about each location.
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Statue of Liberty Virtual Tour - National Park Service
Grades
K to 12
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Can't take a field trip to NYC? Visit the Statue of Liberty virtually! View the virtual tour and photo gallery for Lady Liberty. See the site for specific instructions on ...more
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Can't take a field trip to NYC? Visit the Statue of Liberty virtually! View the virtual tour and photo gallery for Lady Liberty. See the site for specific instructions on how to use this interactive.
tag(s): american revolution (88), art history (104), landmarks (21), virtual field trips (138)
In the Classroom
In the age of shrinking opportunities for field trips, jump right in! Find out about the partnership between the United States and France and how they collaborated together. Explore partnerships between countries. Add this amazing piece of art into a unit about American Revolution and determine its significance.
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Independence National Historic Park - NPS.gov
Grades
5 to 12
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Independence National Historic Park is the National Park which encompasses Independence Hall and the surrounding area. Visitors can tour Independence Hall, visit the Liberty Bell, and...more
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Independence National Historic Park is the National Park which encompasses Independence Hall and the surrounding area. Visitors can tour Independence Hall, visit the Liberty Bell, and learn about the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the drafting of the Constitution. This site provides directions, operating hours, and other information for those planning a visit. There are also pages which provide additional details on the history of the various buildings and the events that happened in them.
tag(s): colonial america (96), constitution (102), philadelphia (10)
In the Classroom
Share this and other sections of the TeachersFirst Colonial America tour as part of your study of the colonies so students can see what these historic locations look like today.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The National Parks: America's Best Idea - PBS
Grades
4 to 12
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Ken Burns has been busy again, this time creating a film about the US National Parks. This site carries many clips and even the full length film. There are many ...more
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Ken Burns has been busy again, this time creating a film about the US National Parks. This site carries many clips and even the full length film. There are many resources here about the US National Parks. To make the site more collaborative, you can submit a story and pictures about a visit to a national park. There is an extensive bank of other web resources as well. There are also lesson plans available at the "Educators Link."
tag(s): national parks (28)
In the Classroom
Share the film (or clips) on your interactive whiteboard or projector. One section of the site enables you to design a national park postcard to email to a friend. Groups of students might research individual national parks (links to the NPS site appear on this site) and circulate their own postcards to other groups. Students can also "collect" national park badges that can be cut and pasted into personal or class websites. You could also have cooperative learning groups create multimedia projects about various National Parks. Alter student learning by having students create online posters or do it together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, or PicLits. If you are near a park, your students could redefine their learning and create an online park tour to share with others far away! Try a tool such as Adobe Spark for Education.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching with Historic Places - National Park Service
Grades
4 to 12
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Do you have trouble finding suitable sites to teach state history for YOUR state? This site includes more than 130 "ready to go" lesson plans organized by state. You can ...more
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Do you have trouble finding suitable sites to teach state history for YOUR state? This site includes more than 130 "ready to go" lesson plans organized by state. You can also view the collection by states, social studies standards, U.S. History standards, specific skills, time period, or topic. This resource was pulled together by the National Park service. The specific topics vary from America's Space Program to Skagway: Gateway to the Klondike to Brown v. Board of Education to The Trail of Tears to Pearl Harbor to Lewis and Clark to the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and countless others. Check out what it highlights for your state.
tag(s): cities (17), inventors and inventions (87), landmarks (21), maps (225), states (128)
In 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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We Shall Overcome - Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement - National Park Service
Grades
4 to 12
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This is the National Park Service's guide to American sites that were important in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. It includes travel information as well as ...more
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This is the National Park Service's guide to American sites that were important in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. It includes travel information as well as background on the sites and their significance.
tag(s): 1950s (33), africa (162), african american (129), civil rights (214)
In the Classroom
Divide students into cooperative learning groups to explore the site. Have them explore the site with the intention of picking three to research further. The text portions are challenging, so you should pair weaker readers with a partner as they research on this site. Have students pick the three the think are most significant or symbolic, which will be presented in poster form. Have students create online posters on paper or do it together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here or PicLits, reviewed here. This activity will teach students about some of the major events of the Civil rights movements in a way that provides relief from lectures.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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