Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Native Voices takes an extensive look at Native Peoples' health and beliefs through pictures and descriptions. Begin with an introductory message from the Director of the National Library of Medicine. This explains content on the site and the background of the exhibition. Read interviews of health professionals, healers, and other community leaders organized by theme, name, or region. An extensive timeline highlights key events searchable by time period, tribe, or keyword. The resources area provides links to lessons, online activities, suggested reading, and more. Explore the exhibition to view Native American art and stories about healing. This site is a must-visit for anyone interested in learning more about Native American's beliefs in regard to health and healing.

tag(s): cross cultural understanding (173), medicine (57), native americans (108)

Learn about the U.S. Constitution and the amendments. See the documents and short biographies of each of the founding fathers. Click links to images of the Constitution on the right side of the home page. Although this site is short on original content, the founding father biographies make it a worthwhile visit when studying the Constitution and figures in American History.
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tag(s): bill of rights (33), biographies (94), colonial america (95), constitution (96), history day (39), philadelphia (10)

This blog follows the journey of Brett Kelley (Curator at the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA) as he spent two weeks recreating the life of a Civil War Picket Soldier. Daily posts include handwritten documents, images, and links to Brett's YouTube channel with videos from his time as a soldier. The blog displays in reverse chronological order, most recent first (as all blogs do). you will Scroll all the way to the bottom and work your way up to read entries in the order they occur. Another option is to choose "week 1" from the categories at the right of the blog and scroll to the bottom to begin, then choose "week 2" to finish.

tag(s): 1800s (75), civil war (139), gettysburg (15)

The Civil War Trust website is a comprehensive collection of all things related to the Civil War. Find battlefields by searching by state, year, or name of the battle. Each battle listed includes a short recap with pertinent information such as dates, union and confederate commander names, number of forces engaged, casualties, and end result. Links to maps and other articles are also included. There are lists of sites offering many lesson plans for elementary through high school level, a glossary of civil war terms, links to primary sources, coloring book and crossword puzzle pages, and overviews of the Civil War. The student section contains links to photos, books for kids, and websites geared towards kids. Be sure to also check out the links to photos, battle apps, news, and more located under the site title at the top of the home page. Another great portion of the site is the gallery of pictures in 3-D. Click the link provided to receive a free pair of 3-D viewing glasses! There is so much more to see on this site. It is a must-see for anyone interested in Civil War resources.
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tag(s): battles (18), civil war (139), emancipation proclamation (13), gettysburg (15), gettysburg address (12), Juneteenth (22), lincoln (66), slavery (79)

Look at political, national and international issues from all sides: left, right, and center. Colored banners identify the perspective. Current content focuses on political discussions, find other topics by clicking the Topics menu tab at the top. There you'll find health care, finances, parenting, abortion, gun control, and many others. Choose from different tabs to view issues, bias, and the site's blog. Especially interesting is the bias section. Readers rate their own bias on several issues to determine their bias toward left, center, or right. Don't miss the Schools tab. Email signup is available to become involved with the site but isn't necessary to access all of the articles and content.
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tag(s): elections (82), evaluating sources (29), media literacy (109), politics (118)

Looking for resources to use on your interactive whiteboard? If so, this site is a tremendous resource for all whiteboard users, not just those with a Promethean Board. View, search, and download from over 60,000 resources in all subject areas and grade levels. Use the Resources tab to search by state standard, content, grade level, or resource type. Register on the site to enable download ability as well as many other features such as saving favorites, reviewing resources, asking questions on the technical forum, following specific users, and uploading your own resources. Each resource includes a short description, grade level recommendation, file format, and size. Another great feature is the slide show included with each download for previewing different pages used on each chart.

tag(s): iwb (31), numbers (120), preK (270), resources (83)

Find lesson ideas and more for literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and culture, history and social studies at the reworked site that was once part of MarcoPolo. Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides, book articles, data bases, educational gaming, professional development events, sound, film, video resources, and resource website lists all aid teachers and learners. A calendar keeps you up to date with famous dates in history.

tag(s): art history (102), cultures (180), Juneteenth (22), literacy (122)

A Canadian site focused on five "first nations" central to Canada's history, Four Directions Teaching, uses technology to create a visually beautiful site about the Blackfoot, Cree, Ojibwe, Mohawk, and Mi'kmaq tribes. There are also extensive teacher resources, sorted by challenge level, to download, a photo collection, audio narration, and printables. These resources are appropriate not only for use by Canadians, but also for understanding the development of Native American culture throughout North America. (The Native Americans preceded any national boundaries!).

tag(s): canada (24), cross cultural understanding (173), cultures (180), native americans (108)

This site has strong content focused on the historical importance of the Negro Leagues Baseball teams. Clicking on Progams and About find the offerings of the NLB Museum, and a searchable archive of photographs and multimedia resources that can be used either in conjunction with the lesson plans (which include national standards benchmarks), or independently.
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tag(s): baseball (32), black history (133), civil rights (209), racism (79), sports (82)

With Liberty and Justice for All is a special exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan. The focus is on the American quest for equal rights, with a special emphasis on the Women's Suffrage Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. The site includes a video tour of the exhibit and lesson plans with standards for fourth through twelfth grade levels. The lesson plans presume a visit to the museum, but could be adapted fairly easily for groups who are unable to visit the museum itself.

tag(s): branches of government (65), civil rights (209), constitution (96), freedom of speech (14), womens suffrage (52)

Enjoy perusing this list of Asian American children's books, divided by age groups. The lists include a wide range of selections, from picture books to young adult books and poetry. There is also a list of recommended authors and illustrators. If you are interested in similar book lists, TeachersFirst's CurriConnects found here offers several other curriculum-related, leveled booklists.

tag(s): asia (116), book lists (167), chinese (45), cross cultural understanding (173), hawaii (9), independent reading (81), japanese (47), korea (21), vietnam (38)

Critical Past offers a collection of more than 57,000 historical videos and more than 7 million historical photos. All of the photos and videos are royalty free, archival stock footage. The site is in the business of selling these images and clips. "Royalty free" means that purchasing an image/clip will not require additional fees to the photographer, but it does NOT mean that the images/clips are "free" to download and use at will. Most of the footage comes from U.S. Government Agency sources. All of the videos and photos can be viewed for free online and shared with others via url, X (formerly Twitter), or Facebook. Search the site either by decade, topic, or keyword. Along the right side bar of Critical Past, you will find "related videos" that correlate to the current search.
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tag(s): 20th century (62), afghanistan (7), africa (148), american revolution (82), china (81), europe (84), north america (15), south america (47), video (266)

Blog your way into the latest social technology using edublogs. Use the free service to set up a blog as a student, teacher, or campus. This education friendly tool avoids some of the "public interaction" that can offer inappropriate content. Upgrade to more advanced features, to include more options. The additional information on blogging makes this site very valuable even if you already have a blogging platform. Find a plethora of advice, tutorials, PDFs, and lesson plans for blogging. This site is a great reference site for all who are beginning to use blogs, or even look for more varied and effective ways to blog with students, or even other classes. Compare this tool to other free blogging tools mentioned in TeachersFirst's Blog Basics for the Classroom . This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.
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tag(s): blogs (65), communication (129), writing (325)

Oh Freedom! is an introduction to the Civil Rights movement through the art of the Smithsonian. The site provides educators with new ways to visually teach about the Civil Rights movement. Students will learn in different ways through interactive timelines, artists, and lesson plans.

tag(s): african american (115), art history (102), artists (84), black history (133), civil rights (209)

This art based site uses "lessons in looking" as a way to view artwork to better understand U.S. History. Guided questions help walk students through the images. Topics include race, Colonial America, Civil War, and more.

tag(s): african american (115), civil war (139), colonial america (95), slavery (79)

This site documents how four Native American communities are responding to changes in the environment where they live. First click the link in the first paragraph or the picture on the right to find this unit. Through videos and primary sources, you can explore these four Native American cultures. Each tribe's section is broken down into the following areas: Getting Started, Meet the People, About Our Homeland, Our Environmental Challenge, Our Strategies, and Our Future.

tag(s): environment (252), native americans (108), natural resources (37)

This New York Times site addresses many classroom needs. Scroll down the main section to find current event articles, photos, polls, and more. Find lesson plans by category, a student opinion section, contests, a daily news quiz, and timely articles connecting current events to thinking questions. Find many opportunities for a quick learning game or to express your opinion. There is even a student crossword. This site is frequently updated and includes a wide variety of subjects.

tag(s): news (228), vocabulary (238), writing prompts (61)

This site provides information and resources about the Wright Brothers, their flights, and the science behind their work. The site was created to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Wright Brothers historic flight. Although the site may appear simple in design, scroll down the page - it has many nooks and crannies to explore.

tag(s): aviation (40), flight (34), gravity (43), inventors and inventions (80), motion (47), newton (21), scientists (67), wright brothers (16)

Recently, a large archive of material has been released by the JFK Library focused on the life of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline. This site provides contextual information about these newly released records, as well as transcripts of oral history interviews. For example, you can now download previously secret audio recordings that were made during White House meetings, transcripts of oral history interviews with Jacqueline Kennedy, and a rich archive of other materials related to the Kennedy Presidency. This newly released material gives us insight into Kennedy's brief time as President, including his involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis, his attitudes toward the Cold War relationship with the USSR and the build up of US troops in Vietnam. There are teacher resources and lesson plans that make use of the available archival material.

tag(s): history day (39), kennedy (20), presidents (135), vietnam (38)

What Happened When? This useful site allows you to aggregate a text timeline by date, theme or geographic area using links to Google searches, Google images and content from HistoryWorld (with which the site is affiliated). Enter a date or keyword(s) for the event(s). You will see a text list with icons that lead to related Google, images, and HistoryWorld info. Try exploring by themes such as performing arts and science and entering a year to see what occurred during the same year. While the overall visual impact is fairly bland, it's a great "quick and easy" utility for putting events into a chronological context. If you search two very diverse events, you can discover unusual convergences. Additionally, it can be the jumping off point for a more complex search by helping students make connections among ideas, characters and events that may seem unrelated. For example, this is a wonderful tool to explore decades of the twentieth century or periods in the arts.

tag(s): search engines (48), timelines (56)