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Historical Thinking Matters - Center for History and New Media
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): critical thinking (153), evaluating sources (31), primary sources (119)
In the Classroom
This site can be used in several different ways. View the introductory movie from the the site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then use some of the teaching strategies to prepare students for an upcoming history lesson. Use the student section with individual or pairs of students in a lab or as a center. Have them use their new skills to review historical documents. Break students into four groups and assign them one of the four student investigations to complete. When done have groups share what they learned with the rest of the class. Challenge students to create a video and share using a site such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Youth Leadership Initiative - Center for Politics - University of Virginia
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Use the site with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students work in cooperative groups and take part in the mock congress. They will develop critical thinking and collaboration skills as they research, draft, and pass original legislation. Use the downloadable campaign simulation software (free), and have your students role play and run a senatorial campaign. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Teachable Moment Lessons - Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility
Grades
K to 12tag(s): black history (126), democracy (24), politics (120), social and emotional learning (133)
In the Classroom
This site will fit perfectly into any social studies, history, or current events class. Use the lessons to discuss important events that are happening right now. Several of the lessons have links to video so use them with an interactive whiteboard or projector. In addition to lessons on current events, use the essays and ideas on teaching strategies to improve your teaching skills. Teachers of gifted will appreciate this site to help their students who are often well beyond their years in their concern over news events.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Underground Railroad Freedom Center - National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): genealogy (8), slavery (79), underground railroad (13)
In the Classroom
Use the lesson plans (found under Learn and Educator Resources) in your own preparation, and make this site available to students who are doing research on the Underground Railroad. If your class is doing any family tree research as a part of a discussion on immigration, this site may be useful to students who have ancestors who were enslaved. Have students create a family tree using an online tool such as Family Tree Creator, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Lincoln Log - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Grades
4 to 10tag(s): lincoln (66), primary sources (119)
In the Classroom
This site will fit perfectly into any social studies or history class. Have students explore this site independently or in small groups. If used independently put the site on a classroom computer and use as a center. Create a class job for a student called Historian. They can check the website to see what was happening that day and report it to the class. Have students choose an event from the site, find an image of Lincoln and upload it to Blabberize, reviewed here. They can then have Lincoln "talk" about an important day of his life.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Shmoop: Biographies - Shmoop
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): biographies (93), famous people (35)
In the Classroom
Introduce any of the authors biographies before reading a literary work or studying that famous leader or scientist. You could have the students go through the tabs and take notes on interesting facts, trivia, etc. Then have a class game where all students stand and the first student reads a fact from their notes and crosses it out. All other students have to cross that fact out, too. Then the next person states a different fact and every one else has to cross the fact out. Proceed in this manner until there is only one (or however many you want) students left standing. They are the winners. Another idea: Have your students create an interactive online poster about an individual using Lucidpress, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Digital Karnak - University of California, Los Angelos
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): egypt (59)
In the Classroom
This site is so extensive, you'll want to go through it and pick out the concepts you think are important to your studies or you might want to have your students see how the temple developed over time during different dynasties. Have small groups of students look at the areas you choose for them to study, and then have them make presentations using your interactive whiteboard or projector and "Fine Tuna" reviewed here, highlighting the interesting and important facts about the temple and it's history. The timeline portion is not viewable due to the elimination of flash; however, the site contains other valuable information including the videos and images available.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Remembering 9/11 - CBS News
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site as a cooperative learning activity during a lesson or unit on the events of September 11th or as part of a broader discussion on international relations, terrorism, or the role of government in balancing personal liberties and national security. Create a graphic organizer to guide students through the site (or have them create their own in small groups), highlighting what's most important and the important facts and details. For help creating easy graphic organizers, try using Holt Interactive Graphic Organizer, reviewed here, or bubbl.us, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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While America Slept - The True Story of 9/11 - CBS News
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): sept11 (18)
In the Classroom
Use this site on the interactive whiteboard or projector to show students the context of the day. During a class discussion, display the timeline on a projector or interactive whiteboard for students to see and navigate together. Read the details aloud, or have student volunteers take turns reading the events aloud. Make sure that between each event you provide some sort of explanation, i.e. who the people mentioned are and what the significance was of each action. Include this discussion as you study the role of government in the protection of its citizens and balancing individual liberties with national security. Assign students to create multimedia posters using marq, reviewed here, or an infographic using Visme, reviewed here, showing the conflicting roles of government.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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September 11 Teacher Awards - Tribute World Trade Center Organization
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use these award-winning ideas to commemorate September 11 in a lesson to demonstrate unity or build worldwide understanding. Use the concepts as a springboard to a collaborative project. Ideas vary from sending chains of origami cranes as a wish for peace, composing and singing a song for unity with an online tool such as Zeemaps, writing letters to local politicians, creating poems and transforming them into digital videos or multimedia presentations using Adobe Express for Education, or taking responsibility for the environment while creating a sense of community by planting gardens. Choose from many ways to inspire students to recognize the importance of September 11 and to involve them in working together to become a more tolerant society. You might be so amazed with the results that you will want to submit your students' projects to be considered for next year's Tribute Center September 11th Teacher Awards. The annual award ceremony takes place on February 26, to commemorate the 1993 first attack on the World Trade Center.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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September 11 Timeline of Events - Tribute World Trade Center Organization
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Display this pictorial interactive September 11th timeline of the attack on the World Trade Center on your classroom projector or interactive whiteboard. After reading real accounts of what happened, have students work with a partner to create podcasts (news broadcasts, mock interviews with survivors and others involved, or even a student perspective of how that day changed the United States forever). Have students create podcasts using a site such as Acast, reviewed here. Alternatively, have them annotate an image using Image Annotator, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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September 11 Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Include one or more of these sites as your observe September 11 in your classroom or make the link available on your class web site for students who ask about the events of this pivotal day. You will find many specific project or class activity ideas within the reviews themselves.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Quiznator - Quiznator
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): worksheets (70)
In the Classroom
Upload your test questions during the summer and feel free to add more as your school year progresses, but use this tool to save a bundle of time on test and quiz creation. Put your worksheet or activity sheet questions into the program and use the questions on quizzes.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Jamendo - Sylvain Zimmer
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Music teachers and content area teachers alike have a perfect opportunity to explicitly teach ethical use of internet materials and especially music. This discussion could spark a debate about plagiarism, patents or inventors rights depending upon the course that is being taught. Also, older students who are talented musicians could be encourage or just inspired to use Jamendo to post their own music from home for sale. Depending on district policies, this could be used as a take home lesson for upper level music classes.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A New Way to Lecture - Michael Zimmer
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): chat (38), comics and cartoons (53), digital storytelling (150)
In the Classroom
Surprise your students and yourself with how effective any one of these programs can be with your material or THEIR presentations. Create a comic strip to replace a traditional grammar lesson. Use a class wiki to discuss and debate topics in history class. Once you see a tool that sounds interesting, read its full review on TeachersFirst to find even more ways to use it.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Pullfolio - pullfolio.com
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): flickr (2), images (255), photography (129)
In the Classroom
Users must be able to add pictures to a set on flickr or use a specific tag for particular pictures. Be sure to choose your username carefully as it becomes part of the url of your portfolio. Follow the directions to identify your flickr account with Pullfolio.Have students create their own pullfolio, but why not create a class pullfolio that showcases student work? If using as a class pullfolio, pictures will not be attributed to the individual students. Create some way of identifying pictures to various students. Require students to tag their pictures with their initials as well or create a comment with their initials in the picture's description.
This tool would be a great asset to a photography or art class but can be used in any subject area. Create a pullfolio of pictures that showcase life around us, or in a Math class to show various Math functions in man made structures and nature. Use this site to take your geography class around the world (virtually). Have students create presentations in any subject area and narrate the pictures rather than doing a traditional oral report. Speech and language on lower grades or ESL/ELL teachers could create pullfolios for vocabulary development, tagging them for positions, feelings, etc. Involve students in taking the pictures, then share the resulting pullfolios for them to practice their new words.
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The new $100 Note - Dept. of Treasury
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): currency (13)
In the Classroom
Take the quiz together as a class to learn about the features of the $100 bill. Research the reasons for changing from the old bill to the new style. Create and design a new bill that incorporates various security features and relevant symbols. You could also include this in your unit on national symbols and how they are used.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Flag Day Resources - Fact Monster
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): american flag (8), american revolution (84), evolution (88), flag day (5)
In the Classroom
Use the U.S. flag quiz on this site as a learning center or station during a Flag Day celebration or national symbol unit. Have students complete the quiz in cooperative learning groups, allowing them to assist each other when there is confusion.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Star Spangled Banner - Smithsonian Institue
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): american flag (8), american revolution (84), evolution (88), flag day (5), national anthem (2)
In the Classroom
Use the interactive quiz on this site as a review tool before an assessment or to introduce a mini-unit on the flag. Introduce the site on the interactive whiteboard before allowing students to complete the quiz individually on classroom computers. Because of the amount of reading on the site, be sure to provide lower achieving readers with the vocabulary beforehand or a tool to help them look up complex words. Younger students would do better with partner readers or whole-class reading on an interactive whiteboard where they could highlight new words.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History of the American Flag - FoundingFathers.info
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): american flag (8), american revolution (84), evolution (88), flag day (5)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a resource during Flag Day celebrations or a unit on national symbols. Use the site as an activity to help students better understand the significance of Flag Day, as well as the American Flag. Introduce the site on the interactive whiteboard or projector before allowing cooperative learning groups loose on the site. Have students investigate the "story" of the flag, presenting the information in a multimedia presentation. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education and Acast, reviewed here, Google Slides, reviewed here, and Microsoft PowerPoint Online, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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