Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This site offers digitized National Archives of the U.S. organized according to general category. You can finally explore and share primary source documents interactively through this site. Start from 13 popular topics for educators. For a more in depth look at each subject and its associated categories, search by Relevance, Title, Date, and Popularity. An added feature at the bottom of the opening page is the "Create Fun & Engaging Activities" tab. Be sure to check out the menu on the left. Especially interesting for students and educators will be the Activity Tools with items like Analyizing Documents, Discussion Topic, Compare and Contrat and several more. Students can also create their own pathways, writing about connections they find between certain archived items. In another section, students can create their own historical posters and movies from the archives. You can create a collection of items from the archives to retrieve or look at later, as well. This feature requires a free membership created by email address.

tag(s): civil rights (200), congress (38), courts (20), first ladies (4), immigration (68), inventors and inventions (77), Juneteenth (22), lewis and clark (14), presidents (133), primary sources (119), slavery (78), womens suffrage (46), world war 1 (78), world war 2 (161)

Learn about specific time periods in America's past through the lens of women's history. This site provides a chronology of women's contributions in the United States from the nineteenth century through the twentieth century. Students can learn more about the topic by following links to relevant web sites for each event, or explore helpful research sources (newspapers, diaries, etc.) for each specified area.

tag(s): history day (39), women (142)

American society experienced a tremendous amount of change and growth during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This site is filled with primary source images from the Library of Congress and interactive exercises that bring the era to life. The "Image Detective" activity is especially impressive. After selecting a picture from the collection, students are presented with a critical question and guided through the process of gathering clues, reading background information, and drawing conclusions. The Investigations link challenges students to interact with visual sources to gain perspective and understanding. This is an outstanding resource for strengthening skills in historical research and critical thinking! The Exhibit Builder link apparently no longer functions, but students can copy images under Fair Use (check the collection information) to create a slide show or exhibit using images from the site and their own explanatory text.

tag(s): 1900s (73), 1920s (15), history day (39), immigration (68), industrialization (11), womens suffrage (46), world war 1 (78)

Observations of foreigners (especially Alexis de Tocqueville) have long been a staple of secondary American history classes. This Library of Congress resource offers a searchable collection of reflections by other authors, including Hector St. John de Crevecoeur and Charles Dickens. While their observations are not always flattering, these writings can be a great way to get students to "think outside the box" when discussing American institutions.

tag(s): dickens (9), history day (39), states (122)

George Mason University has created what is almost a one stop shopping site for American History. This is a rich resource of primary source materials, introductions to historical analysis, factual material, and much more. The site concentrates on both historical content and the craft of teaching history. This makes it an ideal starting point for social studies or history teachers interested in a fresh approach to their curriculum.

tag(s): history day (39), states (122)

Cornell University created this site based on a collection of magazines and other printed materials covering the period from roughly 1840 - 1890. The listings show images of the actual pages from the journals, so students can see images and text as they originally appeared. This makes the site a great way for students to understand just what people of the period were seeing and reading.

tag(s): history day (39), journals (16)

Early Congressional Journals - From the Library of Congress. This site offers access to journals of the first U.S. Congresses. These journals were the precursor to today's Congressional Record. Primary source material for study of the Federalist period.

tag(s): congress (38), constitution (89), history day (39), politics (114)

American History teachers everywhere will appreciate this site with its great coverage of all topics about American history. Although it's designed to be used with history day projects, it's a great general resource.

tag(s): history day (39)