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History of Halloween - History Channel
Grades
5 to 8In the Classroom
This is a great site to show students how history can impact their everyday! One good project would be to use this site as an introduction to Halloween activities. Introduce the site on the interactive whiteboard or projector. There are several different "histories" on the site, such as the history of the Jack o'Lantern, or the origins of Halloween, or the origins of several ghost stories. Have students look at the site in pairs, and create a poster of what they thought were the most interesting facts. We recommend a site such as Padlet (reviewed here). Have students display their posters, and then use the free craft ideas offered to celebrate the holiday in your class!You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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State and Regional Folk Tales - S.E. Schlosser
Grades
5 to 7tag(s): states (124)
In the Classroom
Introduce this site on the interactive whiteboard or projector, before allowing students to explore the site independently. Use the stories as a writing prompt - after students have explored for a set amount of time, have them write their own ghost stories about areas in the state. To tie it into history, teachers can make them time-pieces, with the stories required to be related to a certain unit or period of time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Thomas Edison's Inventive Life - Smithsonian
Grades
3 to 8tag(s): inventors and inventions (80)
In the Classroom
Share this site at the beginning of a unit on inventors and inventions using your whiteboard or projector. Create a Padlet, reviewed here, with columns for students to list and describe Edison's inventions. Enhance learning by asking small groups of students students to look through the tag Legendary inventors to find another inventor to read about and research. Then challenge the groups to choose one of the following tools to create a presentation about what they learned to share with their peers: a multimedia presentation using Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, a video using Typito, reviewed here, a podcast using Buzzsprout, reviewed here, or a blog post using Edublog, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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African American Women Writers of the 19th Century - NY Public Library
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): africa (147), african american (111), authors (106), poetry (192), women (148)
In the Classroom
Use the poems by Phyllis Wheatley to complement a lesson on supporters of the American Revolution. Wheatley is often a studied character in American History, and her poems often confront American Independence and slavery. Share the poems with students at the end of a lesson, and have them analyze as a class what she is trying to say about either subject. Enhance student learning with a digital classroom discussion (where everyone gets a chance to contribute) using YoTeach, reviewed here, or by digital journal writing using Penzu, reviewed here, or edublog, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Benjamin Franklin: An Extaordinary Life, An Electric Mind - PBS
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and activities hosted on this site! This would be a great resource for an early American history class, be sure to save it as a favorite on your computer!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Maps - Google
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (147), directions (11), maps (219)
In the Classroom
If you teach geography, this one's a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. In lower grades, use it to show students basics of their community. Teach map skills by showing students their own community. Zoom in on their street or on the school. This site and its more sophisticated cousin, Google Earth, are great on an interactive whiteboard. Set up a class Google account (or use student accounts if permitted). Have students create their own custom route plans to tour historic sites. Challenge math students to plan the most economical route to visit several vacation destinations, including gas mileage and gas prices. Have students create placemarker files of the important places in the life of a famous person or the route traveled by a particular unit during the Civil War. Have student groups create placemarker files to show environmental sites, habitats, landforms, or anything you can place on a map. Embed projects in a class wiki using the handy embed code offered as a sharing option. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Decisive Day is Come - Massachusetts Historical Society
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): colonial america (95), massachusetts (8)
In the Classroom
Use the maps and timeline on the interactive projector as supplement to text during an introduction to the American Revolution. The images can be incorporated into a slide show and can help guide students along the events of Bunker Hill. This is a great resource for a US history class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Watergate Revisited - Washington Post
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups. Have students explore the site with the intentions of creating a summary of the most important events. Have cooperative learning groups create online books using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. Students can write the book from the perspective of Nixon or Deep throat...a great way to introduce the topic in a non-lecture format.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Monticello Explorer - Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): american revolution (82), evolution (89), jefferson (19), virginia (15), virtual field trips (122)
In the Classroom
Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or with a projector to the class. Then have students break into small groups and use the Jigsaw strategy to divide up the task of exploring the site. Need a refresher for the Jigsaw approach? See Jigsaw Classroom, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Discovering Lewis and Clark - VIAs Inc.
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): jefferson (19), lewis and clark (14), louisiana (6), louisiana purchase (5)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a learning center or station during a unit on the two explorers and western expansion. Based on what they read, have students create a multi-media presentation summarizing the main points. Have students create a presentation using PowerPoint Online, reviewed here. This site allows users to narrate a picture. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report. To find Creative Commons images for student projects (with credit, of course), try Pikwizard, reviewed here. Have students report the exploration as though it were a current event, using images from the site or other approved sources.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Memorial Day Activities - David Merchant
Grades
3 to 10tag(s): holidays (187), memorial day (11), puzzles (149)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and activities on this site! There are also some practice quizzes and puzzles that would be fun ways to assess students, or have them use the tools to help review the content.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History Explorer - Smithsonian
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): agriculture (47), american revolution (82), famous people (19), japan (57), japanese (47), jazz (16), lincoln (66), politics (118)
In the Classroom
Use this site as the starting point for individual or group projects. There is enough information in "exhibit" details to provide a starting point for students trying to decide what to base a research project on. Recommend the site to students who are having difficulty picking a project subject.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MoOm: The Museum of Online Museums - Coudal Partners
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): artists (83), inventors and inventions (80), museums (51), trivia (19)
In the Classroom
Select a display that fits your classroom needs and share it on the interactive whiteboard or projector. A lot of the art displays based on the site focus on creativity and the ingenuous of design, easily motivating students to create their own original art pieces.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Child Labor in America - Library of Congress
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): evolution (89), industrial revolution (22)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plan hosted on this site! Save this one as a favorite on your classroom computer, to allow for easy retrieval later on.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Salem - National Geographic
Grades
7 to 9tag(s): massachusetts (8), salem (5)
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Interactive Tour of Ellis Island - Scholastic
Grades
6 to 8tag(s): ellis island (6), immigration (68), migration (45)
In the Classroom
On its surface, this site appears to be simply a "virtual tour" of Ellis Island. However, the Teacher's section contains a good deal of information on how to create an on-site, interdisciplinary immigration experience for students. There are tips on content, involving parents, and other aspects of the project. Well worth a look if you're studying this time period or immigration in general.Use this site as a learning center or station. Open the site on the interactive whiteboard or projector to introduce it to students, before allowing them to explore the site in groups. Note: portions of this site have audio, so be sure to include headphones.
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Civil War Lesson Plans: Elementary - American Battlefield Trust
Grades
3 to 7tag(s): civil war (139), Juneteenth (22), lincoln (66), slavery (78), states (124)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plan ideas and activities in this site. There are printables and PowerPoints to download. Refer to this site if ever looking for activity ideas in a Civil War unit.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Painless Guide to the Branches of Government: Judicial Branch - United Learning
Grades
5 to 8tag(s): courts (20), supreme court (27)
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The Underground Railroad - National Geographic
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): abolition (7), slavery (78), underground railroad (15)
In the Classroom
Introduce the site on the interactive whiteboard or projector before allowing students to complete it in pairs or individually. Enhance learning using Read Ahead, reviewed here, as a guided reading activity at a learning center or station during a unit on slavery in the colonies. This article provides good background information on slavery and the Underground Railroad.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Slavery and the Making of America - WNET
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): africa (147), african american (111), slavery (78)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and activities hosted on this site within "K-12 Learning." Save this site as a favorite to allow for easy retrieval for a unit on Slavery leading up to the Civil War.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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