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Civics Renewal Network - The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Univ of Pennsylvania
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): elections (92), electoral college (24), branches of government (69), constitution (111), media literacy (140), democracy (29), supreme court (37), politics (120), civics (142)
In the Classroom
Include the Civics Renewal Network with your other resources for teaching civics content. Include activities on this site as part of self-guided lessons created using Microsoft PowerPoint Online, reviewed here, or add to classroom lessons created with NearPod, reviewed here. Extend student learning by asking them to become creators using a digital storytelling tool such as Elementari, reviewed here. Elementari includes features that bring students' stories to life, such as animations, font choices, and drag-and-drop text.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Reading Treks: Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad - TeachersFirst
Grades
4 to 8tag(s): social justice (45), slavery (82), black history (132), civil rights (230), racism (85), african american (129), women (197), diversity (62), Reading Treks (62)
In the Classroom
Include some of the suggested classroom uses for this resource found in the Instructional Guide (PDF). This book and the suggested activities work well as part of lessons on racism, slavery, and African-American history. Consider using the historical information from the book and other primary sources to create timelines with your students showing the important events during the story. Find various free online timeline creation tools located here. Use Adobe Creative Cloud Express Video Maker, reviewed here, to have students create simple videos using just photos and their own voices.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Juneteenth Activities and Lesson Plans for Students - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Shaped Staff
Grades
K to 12tag(s): Juneteenth (32), emancipation proclamation (15), 1800s (90), civil rights (230), slavery (82)
In the Classroom
Include the teaching ideas and activities provided on this site with your other lessons on Juneteenth, Emancipation, or slavery. Engage students in learning about Juneteenth by sharing a timeline of events leading up to Emancipation and beyond, including the recognition of Juneteenth nationally. Create your timeline using the timeline creator Wikipedia Timeline Generator, reviewed here, provided by Class tools. Extend learning by asking students to share their understanding of Juneteenth using a presentation tool such as Genially, reviewed here, to create interactive images and presentations. Once you are signed in, members can search Genially's Inspiration area to find a reproducible template for a Juneteenth interactive image.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Felt - Interactive Map Creator - felt.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): maps (222), map skills (68)
In the Classroom
Visualizing data and creating maps just became easier for teachers and students. Help your students understand current events worldwide by creating a map and embedding it on your classroom website or learning management system. For example, use maps in science to track migration patterns, explore climates, or map weather events. Teachers of students aged 13+ years can have students create and edit maps in real-time from anywhere. Build upon your student's knowledge by adding layers to your maps to show new information. Teachers of younger students can create maps for student viewing to map a story or show animal habitats.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Museum of the American Indian - Smithsonian Institution
Grades
K to 12tag(s): primary sources (184), professional development (317), native americans (169), thanksgiving (25), explorers (64), westward expansion (42)
In the Classroom
Be sure to bookmark this site for use with lessons on Thanksgiving, using primary sources, or when teaching about Native Americans. Consider using curation tools such as Padlet, reviewed here, or Wakelet, reviewed here, to organize resources for easy retrieval. Padlet and Wakelet are also handy when sharing information and resources with students. As you begin your lessons on American Indians, begin with a formative assessment to gauge your students' understanding of the topic. Use an easy online quiz tool such as Baamboozle, reviewed here, to engage students in your learning activities. As you continue in your lessons, continue to motivate and engage students using Wooclap, reviewed here, to review information either in class or as a homework activity. Instead of testing to assess knowledge upon completing your unit, offer students the opportunity to share their understanding of content in various ways. Examples include creating an infographic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, an explainer video made using Clipchamp, reviewed here, and an interactive map built using Google My Maps, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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TEACHFLIX - Ditch That Textbook
Grades
K to 12tag(s): digital citizenship (113), engineering (136), STEM (387), problem solving (284), virtual field trips (154), social and emotional learning (235), coding (111), computers (101), computational thinking (44), noregistration (74)
In the Classroom
Use this curated collection of videos to engage students in lessons in all subjects. Use edpuzzle, reviewed here, to enhance the video content by adding comments, questions, and more within the video. Create interactive lessons with videos from this collection, formative assessments, and other interactive content using Pear Deck, reviewed here, to present material in a deeper, more robust manner. Upon completion of your lesson, extend learning by asking students to share their learning using a simple web page builder such as Straw.Page, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Indigenous Peoples of the Americas - The Kennedy Center
Grades
K to 8tag(s): native americans (169), north america (15), dance (40), stories and storytelling (82), cross cultural understanding (164), cultures (285), holidays (292)
In the Classroom
Print lesson plans during Native American Month, as a supplement to social studies lessons about cultures and states, or during geography lessons. Lesson plans are available in PDF format or as Google Documents; save any lesson to your Google Drive as a copy of the original document and edit it to fit your curriculum or adapt it as desired to fit current lessons. Use any or all materials found on this site as a personalized learning lesson for students to complete in person or remotely. For example, add a video, poem, and reflective activity, and additional materials to a SchoolStack, reviewed here, an activity that offers students a choice of learning materials and activities. Consider asking students to work in collaborative groups to research indigenous people based on their interests. For example, have a group explore dance, another their art and sculpture, and a group that researches geographic locations of the different tribes. Ask each group to share their learning by creating simple websites made with Telegra.ph, reviewed here. Telegra.ph provides simple website creation tools without all the distractions of backgrounds, templates, and other distractions. Easily add text, images, and links to any Telegra.ph site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Freedom on the Move - Cornell University
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): civil rights (230), civil war (148), slavery (82), primary sources (184), black history (132)
In 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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Educational Podcasts for Students - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): podcasts (190)
In the Classroom
Share these podcasts with your students to use when learning related material. Share a link to this collection on your school web page and in your school newsletter (or email). Find podcasts to incorporate into your lessons.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.
tag(s): martin luther king (42), civil rights (230), black history (132), primary sources (184)
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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Patriotic Music for July 4th and Memorial Day celebrations! - Celebrations Sounds
Grades
K to 12tag(s): holidays (292), veterans (38), memorial day (26), july 4th (20)
In the Classroom
Use this music as background when students work on projects, especially those for Memorial Day, July 4th, and Veterans Day. Share this one on your teacher web page just in time for summer so students and parents can enjoy patriotic background music during their holiday celebrations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Top 10 American Patriotic Songs | Iconic American Songs - U.S. Entrepreneur TV
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): july 4th (20), sept11 (19), veterans (38), memorial day (26)
In the Classroom
Choose a few of the more recent songs, and discuss why they are considered patriotic as a class. Then, use as background music when students work on projects for Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Veteran's Day.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Reading Treks: Henry's Freedom Box - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 6tag(s): Reading Treks (62), civil war (148), slavery (82), diversity (62), civil rights (230)
In the Classroom
Discover the many lesson ideas and activities found in this Reading Trek as an accompaniment to your current lessons for this novel. Incorporate Henry's Freedom Box into units when studying the Civil War, American history, civil rights, or diversity and justice. Include the shared activities along with others of your choosing to create an interactive online lesson using Curipod, reviewed here. Include videos, quizzes, links to learning activities, and much more in your interactive lesson.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Swing Your Partner: The Basics of Square Dancing - The Kennedy Center
Grades
3 to 6tag(s): process writing (33), dance (40)
In the Classroom
Use this lesson as an alternative to typical informational writing prompts. Engage students in learning about square dance as you introduce the first activity that asks students to share what they know about square dancing using an interactive whiteboard tool such as IdeaBoardz, reviewed here. For example, create a board with two sections - use one section for students to share what they know and the second section for sharing what they would like to learn. Use Padlet, reviewed here, to organize resources for students to use when researching the guide to square dancing. Include a column for videos, another for music, and another with tips on how to write an instructional guide. Enhance the video portion of lessons using WeVideo (formerly playposit), reviewed here, to add comments that highlight specific portions of the video such as types of dance steps or choreography.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teaching Hard History in Grades K-5 - Learning for Justice
Grades
K to 7tag(s): difficult conversations (53), civil rights (230), slavery (82)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of this free professional development to learn new strategies and access resources for teaching about slavery to students in elementary school. The information in the webinar provides ideas for teaching difficult history topics using current classroom materials and suggesting additional resources and teaching strategies. Consider viewing this webinar with other elementary teachers across grade levels as part of your professional development and understanding scaffolding of information throughout the elementary grades and preparing for middle and high school content. Although this webinar is for elementary teachers, it is also a helpful tool for upper-level educators to understand methods for teaching young students and applying them to middle and high school lessons. As you participate in the webinar and discuss the content, use Screen Pal reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Do's and Don'ts of Teaching Black History - Learning for Justice
Grades
K to 12tag(s): social justice (45), civics (142), martin luther king (42), cultures (285), black history (132), racism (85), politics (120), difficult conversations (53), civil rights (230), cross cultural understanding (164), rosa parks (9)
In the Classroom
Bookmark the article and use its information as a guideline for teaching Black history, not just during Black History Month, but throughout the year. Find many Black History resources at the TeachersFirst Black History Special Topics page, found here, or within many of the Reading Treks, found here. The Reading Treks share virtual field trips of resources based upon literature and include many Black history selections. Celebrate your students' learning throughout the year using digital tools to create virtual field trips using Google My Maps, reviewed here, or creating interactive infographics using Canva Timeline Infographic Templates, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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20th Century America (1945-2000) Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): martin luther king (42), segregation (22), rosa parks (9), vietnam (41), civil rights (230), korea (21), middle east (47), cold war (40), black history (132), 20th century (170), 1900s (87), 1940s (69), 1950s (36), 1960s (54), 1970s (30), 1980s (21)
In the Classroom
Use these resources as you prepare social studies lessons related to American History 1945-2000. Each review includes technology integration ideas. This list includes resources for elementary and secondary students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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20th Century America (1900-1945) Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): holocaust (41), stock market (13), immigration (85), 20th century (170), japanese (54), world war 1 (88), segregation (22), world war 2 (168), great depression (33), 1900s (87), 1910s (31), 1920s (17), 1930s (39), 1940s (69)
In the Classroom
Find resources to educate yourself and your students about various topics related to American history during the years of 1900-1945. This collection includes lesson plans and interactives too. Share these resources with your colleagues and families.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Resources Related to Colonial America - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): 1600s (20), colonial america (86), colonization (22), 1700s (39)
In the Classroom
Use these resources as you prepare social studies lessons related to Colonial America. Each review includes technology integration ideas. This list includes resources for elementary and secondary students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American Civil War Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): civil war (148), lincoln (65), slavery (82), 1800s (90)
In the Classroom
Help to deepen your students' understanding of Civil war times using this curated collection. Share these resources with your colleagues and students by emailing the page or sharing the link from your school web page and in your school newsletter. Find resources to incorporate into your lessons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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