269 history-culture-americas results | sort by:
return to subject listingWith Liberty and Justice for All - The Henry Ford Museum
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): branches of government (63), civil rights (200), constitution (89), freedom of speech (13), womens suffrage (46)
In the Classroom
While the site is focused on preparing students for a visit to the Henry Ford Museum, the site provides good resources and lesson plans for the study of both the Women's Suffrage Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. The video tour of the exhibit also provides a "virtual field trip" experience.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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American Indian/Alaskan Native Book List - Talk Story
Grades
K to 12tag(s): alaska (21), cross cultural understanding (167), independent reading (86), native americans (95)
In the Classroom
Encourage students to select books about a culture that interests them. Include this list during a multicultural unit. Have students collect ideas to create a book for their target culture using a digital tool like Story Map, reviewed here, then enhance student learning with a challenge to students to create an online book of images and captions about their target culture using Ourboox, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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21 Must-Read Books - Asian Pacific American Heritage Month - Amer. Indian Lib. Assn & the Asian/Pacific American Lib. Assn.
Grades
K to 12tag(s): asia (72), book lists (165), chinese (44), cross cultural understanding (167), hawaii (7), independent reading (86), japanese (47), korea (20), vietnam (38)
In the Classroom
Refer your class to this list for multicultural reading and reports. If you have any ESL/ELL students from these areas, they may enjoy reading literature from (or about) their homeland. Challenge students to read one of the books on this list and research the location. Have cooperative learning groups create a mash-up map using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge Tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Google My Maps, Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, StoryMap JS, Renderforest, and Genially.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Critical Past Stock Footage Archive - Jim and Andy Erickson
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): 20th century (62), afghanistan (8), africa (142), american revolution (82), china (62), europe (77), north america (14), south america (39), video (262)
In the Classroom
Use photos or videos on Critical Past to help illustrate what students are learning in history. Ask students to be "eyewitnesses" of history and watch a video before they have context for it. Students can write or blog about what they think they are witnessing. Afterward they can research the event in more depth and write a follow-up reflection on what was actually happening in the clip. Challenge your students to use a site such as Sutori, reviewed here, to create timelines of topics researched on the site. Use images from public domain sites, such as the collections, reviewed here, to illustrate the events.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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edublogs - edublogs.org
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (65), communication (138), writing (323)
In the Classroom
Save this site as a favorite for all of your blogging needs. Find very informative instructions on blogging, and follow the student blogging challenge lesson plans. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have. Peruse through the various subjects and discover how other teachers use blogging in their classrooms. Using the given PDFs on blogging start up, parent guidelines, incorporating into subject areas, and adapt to make them suitable for you. Look at a variety of examples to help devise your own unique style to meet your students' needs.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes social features, such as "friends," comments, ratings by others
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be shared by URL
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
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Oh Freedom! Teaching African American Civil Rights Through American Art at the Smithsonian - Smithsonian American Art Museum
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): african american (110), art history (89), artists (82), black history (130), civil rights (200)
In the Classroom
This site is a must for any Art, Art History, or Social Studies classroom. The program really lends itself to having a discussion. Visit the Artists area, choose an artist, and project the artwork on an interactive whiteboard. Using the "looking questions," have a class discussion. Assign groups and give each group a different picture. Let them discuss using the questions and then jigsaw them so they can share each other's answers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Picturing US History - American Social History Project at CUNY
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): african american (110), civil war (136), colonial america (94), slavery (78)
In the Classroom
The site offers several "lessons in looking." Project the site on an interactive whiteboard and use the discussion questions to guide students through a look at history. The site provides a way for you to zoom into the artwork so students can get up and personal as if they were in a museum. Use the zoom tool to assist you with your classroom discussion.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American Indian Response to Environmental Changes - National Museum of the American Indian
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): environment (246), native americans (95), natural resources (38)
In the Classroom
Project this site on an interactive whiteboard and watch the videos on each of the tribes. If you have laptops available, have students navigate on their own. Have the class take the included interactive quizzes to see what they've learned. Group students and have each group read about a different tribe. Then using the online story project planner, have students create a presentation about their tribe that can be uploaded to the site. Be sure to visit the teacher area for lesson plans, links and other resources.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Learning Network - The New York Times Company
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): news (227), vocabulary (238), writing prompts (58)
In the Classroom
Share this site on your class web page for students to find challenges or activities. Substitute teachers can always find an appropriate current events or vocabulary/writing activity if there are no lesson plans. English, social studies, and gifted teachers will want to explore the many lesson ideas that draw on current news stories. Find many prompts for student opinion blogs at this site. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, replace pen and paper and have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Weebly, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Re-Living the Wright Way - Tom Benson - NASA
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): aviation (38), flight (31), gravity (42), inventors and inventions (77), motion (50), newton (21), scientists (63), wright brothers (16)
In the Classroom
This site provides teachers with resources on the topics of Newton's Laws of Motion, The Four Forces of Flight, Lift, Drag, Thrust, Weight, Center of Gravity, Roll, and Pitch. View the videos using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Download the simulations to your classroom computers and have students work in groups to solve them. Have students work cooperatively to complete one of the many activities found on the site like building a model airplane. Students can then conduct an investigation to see whose plane can fly the farthest.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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John F. Kennedy Presidential Library - JFK Library
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): history day (39), kennedy (20), presidents (133), vietnam (38)
In the Classroom
All of these topics are of interest to students doing research into 20th century US and international history, and might be particularly useful to students working on in depth projects for National History Day. After researching a specific topic, have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Presentation tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Microsoft PowerPoint Online.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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TimeSearch History - HistoryWorld
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): search engines (49), timelines (56)
In the Classroom
Make this one of your bookmarks on classroom computers used for research, and suggest that students add it to their own research repertoire. Consider a classroom activity that begins with a common starting place (a date, an event, a character), and has groups of students follow their own self-guided path through the links. Where does each group end up? Why are the paths different? After having student explore on their own, have them "teach" how they found the information most important to them. A projector or interactive whiteboard is ideal for such a demo.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Running for Office--Cartoons of Clifford K. Berryman - The National Archives
Grades
7 to 12As an important primary source, political cartoons provide an important insight into the issues and controversies of their time period. More than simply who did what, and what happened where, these drawings show us the emotions and conflict involved in the ugly and messy business of politics.
tag(s): comics and cartoons (53), elections (82), politics (114), presidents (133)
In the Classroom
Students can gain insight into the events of the first half of the 20th century as well as draw parallels between the issues of that time and today. How are Presidential campaigns different and how are they similar? Enhance student learning by challenging them to create their own political comics. Have students create a rough draft of their comic using Canva's Printable Comic Strip Templates, reviewed here. Then, students can create and share their comics online using a tool like ToonyTools, reviewed here, for a single frame comic, or Make Beliefs Comix, reviewed here, for multiple frames.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Digg.com - Digg Inc.
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): debate (40), news (227), social networking (64)
In the Classroom
Try using Digg as a warm up Internet activity in the beginning of the school year by having older students sign up for their own account. Have them scan and read as part of current events teaching. The articles can be controversial which provides a great place to start debates. Are you beginning to integrate technology into your classroom? Use a tool such as WeJIT, reviewed here, or if you are a more experienced technology user try Virtual Debate, reviewed here, which has online examples and resources for conducting virtual debates, to formalize a debate topic. Digg also provides an excellent resource for research. Have students make a multimedia presentation using Genial.ly, reviewed here. Genial.ly allows you to add polls, videos, embeds, web links, PowerPoint, PDFs, and you can create a variety of formats like interactive posters, images, infographics, charts, presentations, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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IndyKids - IndyKids
Grades
3 to 8tag(s): creative writing (122), expository writing (31), journalism (72), persuasive writing (57), writing (323)
In the Classroom
Share this site with students and have students choose an article to read, summarize, or expand upon. After reading articles on the site, have students choose a current topic that interests them and have them write an article as practice of informational writing. In science or social studies, study the newspaper format as students write articles reporting on scientific discoveries or famous people. Use the format of this newsletter as a resource for extending learning and creating and publishing your own classroom newsletter online. During newspapers in education month, use this site to find accessible articles for any age. Create a newspaper using a site such as Printing Press,reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Smarthistory Art History Conversation - Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker with Khan Academy
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): art history (89), medieval (32), renaissance (38)
In the Classroom
A must for any art classroom, Smarthistory adds an extra dimension and deeper understanding to any history, social studies, or cultural studies classroom. Use the Smarthistory videos on YouTube to engage and enhance student learning. If the videos aren't viewable in class assign students to watch them at home; that's perfect for the flipped or blended classroom. If you are going to require students to watch the videos from home, consider using edupuzzle, reviewed here, to add your own voice or add questions within the video. Use in writing workshops to provide insights to art and culture and to into thoughts and feelings. Study written works alongside the art of past time periods. Bring unlimited, world-class resources to each class. Gifted classes will devour this website. Provide this link on your class website to offer students extra challenge and exploration.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Docs Teach - The National Archives
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): american revolution (82), civil war (136), digital storytelling (152), great depression (30), industrial revolution (22), primary sources (119), Teacher Utilities (159), westward expansion (39), world war 1 (78), world war 2 (161)
In the Classroom
If you teach history or social studies, you know what a great emphasis is being placed on the use of primary documents in helping students develop an awareness of the perspectives of those who lived during a particular era. Use this site to develop sophisticated lessons using primary documents on US History with the activity builder. Use the ready-made activities (the majority of which are available once you've registered), on an interactive whiteboard or projector for the whole class or assign groups of students to work independently at a computer workstation or at home. These activities encourage higher order thinking among students rather than simply the memorization of facts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Jukebox - Library of Congress
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): composers (14), listening (92), lyrics (15), sound (73)
In the Classroom
Introduce a class novel, a unit in the 20th century, the Great Depression, or WWII by having the class listen to music from that time period. You can also couple this site with the Old Radio World site, reviewed here, to help students get an overview of what life and entertainment was like.Challenge students to create an interactive timeline of artists during a specific musical era. First, show them how to embed media transforming their findings and then challenge them to use a site such as Timeline JS, reviewed here. Timeline JS offers the option to upload and add photos, videos, audio, Tweets, and Google Maps making it interactive.
Have your students create an online "scrapbook" of a specific composer using Smilebox, (reviewed here.) Throw out the tests and have students demonstrate what they have learned by creating a scrapbook full of information!
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Lyrics Gaps - lyricsgaps.com
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): cross cultural understanding (167), cultures (145), french (75), german (47), greek (32), italian (29), japanese (47), portuguese (22), russian (25), songs (44), spanish (106)
In the Classroom
This is a wonderful find for ENL/ESL and world language teachers. Teachers may prefer to do a class registration and use the offerings of the site with the entire class. Challenge your students to create (and submit) their own songs/activities in a new language. If school policy does not allow students to share songs on a site, have students create their own in-class presentations of songs and similar exercises using one selection from this site as a model.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Keeping Score - San Francisco Symphony
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): composers (14), music theory (45), musical instruments (49), songs (44)
In the Classroom
Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Allow students to explore specific composers on their own (or in cooperative learning groups). Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Animatron, Sway, and Microsoft PowerPoint Online.U.S. and world history teachers will love this site! (As well as music teachers) Use interactives to integrate music into history classes, math classes (for timing and fractions), and English classes (reading and writing about music). All teachers can check out the thematic links for their subject to music. Take advantage of the FREE lesson plans. Chances are good that you could incorporate music into every type of class. Simply check out the education link, and your imagination and educational wheels will start spinning!
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