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This website has a multitude of primary sources for teachers to use in regards to world history. However, it is largely limited to the Cold War, North Korea, and nuclear history. There isn’t much of anything before that time period, such as World War I or World War II.

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Constructed and maintained by the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program, the Digital Archive contains newly declassified historical materials from archives around the world-much of it in translation and including diplomatic cables, high level correspondence, meeting minutes and more. The historical documents presented in the ever-expanding Digital Archive provide fresh, unprecedented insights into recent international history.

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This is another website with numerous primary sources for after WWII. There are several declassified documents for teacher to use in the classroom.

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Electronic Briefing Books: compilations of declassified documents

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National Security Archive's concise selections of key declassified records on U.S. national security, foreign, diplomatic, military, and intelligence policy

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This is one of my favorite primary source websites for world history. While the others provide documents for the post World War II era, this one contains sources ranging from before the French Revolution to the 21st Century.

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Home | Ancient History Sourcebook | Medieval Sourcebook | Modern History Sourcebook | Byzantine Studies Page Other History Sourcebooks: African | East Asian | Global | Indian | Islamic | Jewish | Lesbian and Gay | Science | Women's

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PBS has great resources for teacher to use. These sources include lesson plans, primary resources, videos, and much more. It’s also organized in a way that is very easy to use.

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Social Studies Resources for PreK-12 Teachers - PBS LearningMedia: PBS LearningMedia

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Choose from thousands of standards-aligned teaching resources for your social studies classroom, including lesson plans, videos, and more.

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This site is a great secondary source for teachers and students. It breaks world history into nine main eras, ranging from Neanderthals to 21st Century. The site includes curriculum and lesson plans, glossary of terms, PowerPoints, and much more.

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This is the default welcome page used to test the correct operation of the Apache2 server after installation on Ubuntu systems. It is based on the equivalent page on Debian, from which the Ubuntu Apache packaging is derived. If you can…

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World History Matters provides several primary sources and secondary sources for teachers and students. They tend to focus on figures that get left out in history, such as women and children. They provide primary sources for students to analyze, but then have strategies on how to go about analyzing them, and lesson plans for teachers to follow.

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World History Matters » A Portal to World History Sites from the Center for History and New Media

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World History Matters is a portal to world history websites developed by the Center for History and New Media

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This site has resources on how to teach students to organize information throughout world history. There are several graphic organizers with details on how to use them, why they work, challenges students may face, and much more. There are also book reviews so teachers have a better idea of what are good sources to learn from.

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This site at first sight can seem a little overwhelming, but it’s neat because it puts everything into timelines. This allows you to see how events, people, and places overlap throughout history. There are also maps to see the territories people conquered, book text to when you click on an event in the timeline, and much more.

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World History Online navigates through 3 000 years of world history, world timelines of civilizations (plus maps), people and world events.

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BBC History is a great resource for teachers and students. They have their broadcasts from BBC radio for teachers to use a primary source, or even secondary. There’s also History for Kids, with different activities, games, quizzes, and simulations for students.

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BBC - Programmes categorised as Factual: History

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Find BBC programmes categorised as "Factual: History".

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This is a great source for teaching American History. It provides a wide variety of resources including DBQ's, lesson plans, primary sources, videos, graphic organizers, and much more.

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The Library of Congress has a multitude of primary sources for teachers and students to access. They even have primary source sets, along with lesson plans for certain topics.

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The world’s largest library. View historic photos, maps, books and more. Contact experts for help with research. Plan a visit. Home of U.S. Copyright Office.

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This site provides a variety of ready-to-go lesson plans for teachers. These lesson plans including objectives, guiding questions, activities, assessment, and extensions.

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How does popular culture engage history? In this lesson plan, students will examine The Searchers, one of the most widely acclaimed Western movies of all time, to explore interpretations of race, gender, and family-both in the time period depicted by the film and the time period in which the film was produced.

This lesson plan uses A. A. Lamb's painting Emancipation Proclamation and resources from BlackPast to explore the successes and shortcomings of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Reconstruction amendments, as well as the roles played by Black people in securing their own freedom.

Use Aaron Douglas's mural Into Bondage to introduce the stories of famous Harlem Renaissance figures, including Langston Hughes, and to explore the history and importance of Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the end of Black enslavement in the United States.

Kerry James Marshall's painting Voyager, depicting two partially obscured Black figures standing aboard a ship, refers to an actual ship, Wanderer, which was among the last slave ships in the United States, illegally transporting more than 400 individuals from West Africa to Georgia in 1858-even though the importation of enslaved people had been banned in 1808. Use the painting as an entry point to discuss the Transatlantic slave trade and introduce students to the NEH-funded database Slave Voyages project.

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How does popular culture engage history? In this lesson plan, students will examine The Searchers, one of the most widely acclaimed Western movies of all time, to explore interpretations of race, gender, and family-both in the time period depicted by the film and the time period in which the film was produced.

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The National Archives has a wide range of primary sources for teachers and students. On top of that, they have worksheets that students can fill out to better help them understand primary sources.

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Request military records and learn about other services for yourself or a family member.

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The Smithsonian Learning Lab is a great resource for teachers and students. Teachers can create, modify, or use primary sources/sets, develop quizzes, share what they created with students and teachers, and much more.

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Smithsonian

Learning Lab

Discover the digital education platform that connects people to Smithsonian objects, resources, and stories.

Collections by Grade

Explore some of our most popular Learning Lab Collections. Use them as a springboard to continue your exploration of the many collections available on the site.

Talk with Me!
Learn about your community and neighborhood. In this Toolkit, leaners explore different homes, shops, and people in your neighborhood and have fun with related activities.

Talk with Me Toolkits provide you with chances to talk with your children to improve thinking, vocabulary, and language development. Talking with your child is great-and research shows that the quality of words children hear matters more than how much you talk.

Talk with Me Toolkits give you ideas to begin conversations that are organized around a theme. The Toolkits feature videos, photographs, paintings, and artworks along with questions to talk about with your child. At the end of each toolkit there are more activities to do and books to read together. Go through this toolkit with your child and see how many topics there are to talk about!
This toolkit was adapted with a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

Links to third-party websites and videos are included in this Toolkit for informational purposes only. They do not indicate the Smithsonian's endorsement, sponsorship of, or affiliation with the third party or content of the linked site, including any advertisements that might be posted.

Learn More

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

What inspires you? Get to know Alma Thomas, (b. Columbus, Georgia; lived and worked in Washington, DC, 1891-1978), an American artist and educator known for her signature painting style using bright colors and patterns inspired by nature. She became a full-time artist late in her life. Born in a time of horses and buggies, she lived through big advancements in technology, such as the space race and moon landing. Her art was inspired by the nature she saw outside her home studio, and awe for the exploration of our vast universe.
Get To Know Alma Thomas Use it in the classroom to teach:
is part of the Hirshhorn KIDS About the Artist series. About the Artist biographies are designed for kids under age 12. Modern and contemporary artists' lives reflect recent human history and events. Sharing these life stories and artworks can help kids see their own potential and better understand the world and their place in it. It is our goal to inspire future generations of artists, makers, and creative problem solvers-sharing artists stories is one way Hirshhorn KIDS realize this goal.
Art classroom: Color Theory, Pattern

Language Arts classroom: Biography

Social Studies classroom: 20th century

Learn More

National Museum of American History

In this playlist you will learn about how three of the first presidents shaped the executive branch of the United States government.

Start by clicking on the first tile in the upper left hand corner. Then move through the playlist by clicking on the ">" symbol at the bottom of the page. Look for the information and paperclip icons to provide more information about selected resources. There are 34 tiles in this collection.

Learn More

Educator Programs

Cultivating Learning is a professional development series where Smithsonian educators model teaching techniques for using digital museum resources to support student learning. This year's series celebrates America at 250. Programs are free and accessible to anyone.

Wednesday, April 15, 4:00 PM EST

Join Phoebe Sherman of the National Postal Museum to explore how postage stamps can be used in the classroom to encourage civic awareness and engagement. We'll examine how stamps can spark curiosity and deepen understanding of civics, American history, national identity, and commemoration by using thinking routines that focus on both subject matter and artistic design. You'll see how these approaches come to life with students and leave with classroom-ready resources and fresh ideas for incorporating postage stamps into your teaching practice.

Watch

Wednesday, May 20, 4:00 PM EST

Join Nyssa Buning of the National Museum of American History's Spark!Lab and Carol O'Donnell of the Smithsonian Science Education Center to explore strategies for cultivating an inventive mindset in your students. We'll discuss the history of STEAM innovation in America and try an open-ended invention challenge that uses object-based learning techniques to encourage creative problem solving and support curiosity and perseverance, skills essential to inventors throughout history. You'll leave with a set of facilitation tools to support students as they develop their own inventive identity and become future problem-solvers. You'll also receive access to a newly released e-book from the Smithsonian Science Education Center, STEAM Innovation: Celebrating Our Nation's 250 Years.

Register

Wednesday, June 17, 4:00 PM EST

As America turns 250 in 2026, young people are writing its next chapter. Join a group of educators who apply interdisciplinary approaches to learning to engage young people in civic dialogue tied to their communities.

Register

What will you find in the Smithsonian Learning Lab?

Resources

Millions of Smithsonian digital images, recordings, texts, and videos in history, art and culture, and the sciences

Collections

Thousands of examples of resources organized and structured for teaching and learning by educators and subject experts

Resources

Millions of Smithsonian digital images, recordings, texts, and videos in history, art and culture, and the sciences

Collections

Thousands of examples of resources organized and structured for teaching and learning by educators and subject experts

Browse individual resources by type

Browse model collections on different topics

Tips

Tips

Create collections of resources to engage learners, or freely adapt ones already made by Learning Lab users like you.

Use Learning Lab tools to customize and enhance your collections.

Browse ready-to-use model collections by educational use

Browse ready-to-use model collections by learning strategy or theme

Tips

Tips

Subscribe to our Bright Ideas newsletter

To learn more about the Smithsonian Learning Lab and to read about strategies, approaches, new features, and more, subscribe to the Bright Ideas newsletter. We'll be sending out a new issue every few weeks.

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Smithsonian Learning Lab: Discover, Create, Share

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Smithsonian Learning Lab Discover the digital education platform that connects people to Smithsonian objects, resources, and stories. Explore some of our most popular Learning Lab Collections. Use them as a springboard to continue your exploration of the many collections available on the site. Talk with Me! Learn about your community and neighborhood.

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This website contains resources for both teachers and students. There are primary source documents, along with biographies of different people and places throughout US history.

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The History Explorer provides a wide range of categorized lesson plans, along with reviewed websites, primary sources, lessons, and activities. It's neat because it also has interactive media activities for students to do.

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Welcome, Let's Do History!

Thank you for using Smithsonian's History Explorer! This page is designed to help you navigate the site and to provide you with additional teaching supports through our primary source guide, poster, blog posts, and information about the Museum's teacher professional development opportunities.

Tips for Using History Explorer

History Explorer is a full-featured search of all the educational resources from the National Museum of American History. For tutorials, tips for searching, and advice on subscribing to RSS feeds, visit How to Use this Site.

Guides to Teaching with Primary Sources

Engaging Students with Primary Sources, a guide for teachers, includes brief introductions to using documents, photographs, oral histories, and objects for classroom learning. The guide includes student handouts, sample lessons, recommendations for finding primary sources by type, and more support materials for teachers.

If You Walked in My Shoes This teaching poster introduces students to the who, what, where, when, why, and how of object investigation and the personal stories in history through six pairs of shoes in the Museum's collection.

Looking at Artifacts, Thinking About History, an essay developed for The Object of History, a partnership between the National Museum of American History and the George Mason Center for History and New Media, was written by Museum curators and introduces teachers to the variety of stories objects can tell. The site includes links to other resources for interpreting primary sources.

Archived Webinars

View 30 minutes archived webinars where we highlight key resources from the Museum's online materials.

Hear ideas for using the History Explorer podcast series in your secondary classroom. The series is designed for students in grades 6 and up and provides 10-20 minute interviews with museum experts and first person perspectives on important events in American history, as well as behind the scenes views of artifacts in the collection. Visit https://americanhistory.si.edu/podcasts to preview materials.

Civil War
Join us for an overview of the best of our Civil War online materials and a preview of resources in development. Designed for teachers of grades 5-8.

OurStory and Summer Learning
Join us to explore resources to support children's learning through the summer. Designed for elementary teachers and parents of children in grades K-4.

Star-Spangled 200
In honor of the bicentennial of the national anthem and just in time for Flag Day, join us to find resources for teaching about the Star-Spangled Banner and learn how to participate in the Raise it Up! Anthem for America project, the largest simultaneous singing of a national anthem in history. Designed for teachers of grades 3-8.

C3 Framework
Lead inquiry-based education throughout the school year using the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework! In this webinar, we will examine the Museum's best resources for teaching the inquiry arc in the C3. Designed for secondary teachers.

Research for National History Day
Are you and your students gearing up for this year's National History Day competition? Find tips on searching for primary materials from the Smithsonian, podcasts, blog posts, and other resources that students can use to learn about the historian's craft.
Additional Professional Development Opportunities
Or, find additional online resources on the following topics:
Suggestions for Planning a Visit
Are you bringing your class to the National Museum of American History? Consider
using the materials you find on History Explorer as pre- or post-visit activities, and
take a look at our Plan Your Visit page for tips and details on events at the Museum.

Staying in Touch

We love hearing from teachers, so be sure to keep in touch! You can find us...
On Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube

Use the links above or at the bottom of the page to find the History Explorer team and the National Museum of American History on our social media channels.
By Email

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Welcome, Let's Do History! Thank you for using Smithsonian's History Explorer! This page is designed to help you navigate the site and to provide you with additional teaching supports through our primary source guide, poster, blog posts, and information about the Museum's teacher professional development opportunities.

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Even though not all US history classes are AP, students and teachers can still benefit from this website. This site provides lesson plans, activities, etc. that teachers can use or modify for students that may not be enrolled in AP.

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AP United States History | AP Central | College Board

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Explore essential resources for AP United States History, and review teaching strategies, lesson plans, exam questions and other helpful information.

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The Kansas Historical Society has a wide variety of resources for teachers. They have lesson plans, information on tours, resource trunks, etc.

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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In history, we tend to focus on white males. This site helps to bring in primary sources that focus on African Americans throughout American history, thus bringing in a different perspective.

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A People’s Journey, A Nation’s Story | National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Lew Whitson presented to our class and his webpage has a multitude of resources for teachers. These include lesson plans, websites, activities, helpful books, etc.

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This animated sites is a great source for students to learn about the United States government. There are "Learning Adventures" for students to go on, and even games for them to play.

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This site is really cool because it provides auditory primary sources. There are several speeches listed, along with biographies of who gave the speech.

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Welcome to Wyzant's Audio History section! Here, you can listen to famous speeches
made by influential leaders of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We're offering
original audio tapes of how dealt with the
Cuban Missile Crisis. You can also hear Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Use these resources to bring history and politics alive! Listening to these historically
famous speeches out loud can be truly inspirational for both students and educators
alike. In addition to the original audio of the speeches, you will also find transcriptions
beneath the audio player, so that you can follow along as you hear some of the world's
greatest speakers address political issues of the 1900s and 2000s.

Do you want to learn more about United States History and Government? Use our service
to find a local history tutor
or a politics tutor.

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History & Politics Out Loud - Wyzant Lessons

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Welcome to Wyzant's Audio History section! Here, you can listen to famous speeches made by influential leaders of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We're offering original audio tapes of how dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis. You can also hear Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

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iCivics is a great for students and teachers. There are games for students to play to learn about politics, lesson plans, DBQs, webquests, and much more.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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The Center for Civic Education has a multitude of resources available to teachers. These resources include, but are not limited to, lesson plans, videos, and different programs for students.

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the center specializes in civic/citizenship education

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and international educational exchange programs for developing democracies. programs focus on the u.s. constitution and bill of rights; american political traditions and institutions at the federal

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and local levels; constitutionalism; civic participation; and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. 

today

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the center administers a wide range of critically acclaimed curricular

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and community-based programs. the principal goals of the center's programs are to help students develop (1) an increased understanding of the institutions of american constitutional democracy and the fundamental principles and values upon which they are founded

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(2) the skills necessary to participate as effective and responsible citizens

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and (3) the willingness to use democratic procedures for making decisions and managing conflict.

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The Center for Civic Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational corporation dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries.

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This site provides several resources for students and teachers. They have lesson plans on how to teach the Constitution, games, videos, timelines, and much more.

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The Bill of Rights Institute is an awesome resource for teachers and students alike. They have free lesson plans for teachers, homework help videos for students, and everything in between.

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Educating for Self-Governance. Established in September 1999, the Bill of Rights Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization that works to engage, educate, and empower individuals with a passion for the freedom and opportunity that exist in a free society.

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CNN 10, formerly CNN Student News, is a great resource to keep students up to date on what is going on in the world around them. They also provide a transcript of the news report, along with a weekly quiz.

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CNN 10 is an on-demand digital news show ideal for explanation seekers on the go or in the classroom.

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This site has a wide variety of resources for teachers and students. They have a Civics Education Contest, lesson plans for teachers, and my favorite is their case files presented in the form of graphic novels.

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Civics Education | National Center for State Courts

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The Judicial Learning Center has a section for teaching about civics for both students and teachers. Students are provided well-organized information, along with a quiz at the end to check their understanding. Teachers have access to lesson plans, pre/post tests, and web quests.

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Welcome to the Online Educator Center for The Judicial Learning Center in St. Louis, Missouri. You will find these pages very useful as you prepare to teach your students about the judicial branch of government, especially at the federal level.

In the sections that follow, you'll find lesson plans and resources you can use in your classroom. Some stand alone, and others require an internet connection and build on the content found in our Online Student Center. Many of the resources can be ready to use in a matter of minutes.

The Educator Center is divided into 4 main topic sections, to mirror the topics of the Student Center pages. You can go through in order, or pick and choose the subjects you need. Each section will have a table of contents directing you through all it has to offer, though there will be common elements found in each of the topic strands.
Click here for a Teacher's Guide Sheet
Or click one of the topics below. For each topic, you'll find:

Printer-ready Pre/Post tests
Printer-ready WebQuests
Classroom lesson plans

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Teacher Resources for the Judicial Branch | The Judicial Learning Center

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Welcome to the Online Educator Center for The Judicial Learning Center in St. Louis, Missouri. You will find these pages very useful as you prepare to teach your students about the judicial branch of government, especially at the federal level. In the sections that follow, you'll find lesson plans and resources you can use in your classroom.

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Through Kansas State University, the Kansas Geographic Alliance has many resources for teachers and students. There are lesson plans, maps, overhead transparencies, CDs, games, and much more.

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The Kansas Geographic Alliance maintains two offices (each has a resource library): one is located on the campus of Kansas State University and the other at Fort Hays State University. The KGA office/library in Hays serves western Kansas whereas the Manhattan office/library serves eastern Kansas.

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National Geographic provides teachers with articles, lesson plans, and activities to teach physical and human geography. They also have specific plans and activities for "Geography Awareness Week".

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The National Geographic Society is proud to invest in a global community of intrepid Explorers working to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Make a tax-deductible gift to support the Society today, and your support will help fund the next generation of changemakers.

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The National Geographic Society is a global non-profit organization committed to exploring, illuminating, and protecting the wonder of our world.

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My Wonderful World has a wide variety of resources for teachers, students, and parents. They have games, quizzes, make your own maps, geocaching, and much more.

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My Wonderful World -- Give Kids the Power of Global Knowledge

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My Wonderful World is a National Geographic-led campaign to increase geographic learning. Test yourself, get Action Kits, more.

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This website is tailored just for kids. They have well-organized articles over different places, games, and quizzes.

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This is very bubbly and well-organized website for students. There are games for students to play to help learn and review geography, videos, articles, music, etc.

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Welcome to Kids Geography!

Geography is the study of the Earth as it exists today, focusing on the surface, the atmosphere, the oceans, as well as the distrubtion of plants, animals, and people. Join our amazing network today and never miss out on the latest updates from Kids Geography!

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Geography is the study of the Earth as it exists today, focusing on the surface, the atmosphere, the oceans, as well as the distrubtion of plants, animals, and people. Join our amazing network today and never miss out on the latest updates from Kids Geography!

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This website provides a multitude of different maps for students and teachers. They're organized by place and have puzzle maps, interactive maps, and maps that teachers can print out.

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1100 varied and interesting questions about the United States. The questions encourage the player to think and make connections using a map.

Maps of all of the 50 U.S. states, labeled and unlabeled, for classroom and student use. Free.

Free online software to print outline maps - one page to 7 feet wide.

Megamaps - free maps large and small
Great for classroom maps.

Maps by Place:

World:

Print World Maps
Online Atlas Continents and Regions Maps
Continents Map Puzzle
World Features Map Puzzle
World Monuments Map Puzzle

Europe:

Online Map of Europe
Online Atlas Maps of the Countries of Europe
Europe Map Puzzle
Print Maps of Europe and European Countries

United States:

Online Atlas maps of the United States
Make Your Own USA
Online Map of the United States
Printable U.S. State Maps - labeled and unlabeled
United States Map Puzzle - States and Capitals
United States Features Map Puzzle
Print Maps Large and Small of the United States and all of the states

Asia:

China Provinces Map Puzzle
Online Map of Asia
Online Atlas maps of the countries of Asia
Asia Map Puzzle
Print Maps of Asia and Asian Countries

Africa:

North America:

North America Map Puzzle
Mexico States Map Puzzle
Online Atlas maps of North America
Print Maps of North America and North American Countries
Mexico States Map Puzzle

Central America and the Caribbean:

South America:

Middle East:

South East Asia and Australia:

Online Atlas maps of Australia and Oceania
Online Map of Southeast Asia and Australia
Southeast Asia And Australia Map Puzzle Print Maps of Asia and Asian Countries
Print Maps of Australia and Southeast Asia

Mexico:

Online Map of Mexico
Online Atlas Map of Mexico
Print Maps of North America and North American Countries

Canada:

For computers without an Internet connection.
Download and install - PC only. See links above for newer online Map Puzzles - no download and installation; PC or Mac.

U.S. States and Capitals Map Puzzle
U.S. Features Map Puzzle
Canada Provinces, Territories and Capitals Map Puzzle
World Continents Map Puzzle
World Features Map Puzzle
Europe Map Puzzle
Asia Map Puzzle
Australia and South East Asia Map Puzzle
South America Map Puzzle
Central America and Caribbean Map Puzzle
Africa Map Puzzle
World Monuments Map Puzzle
Middle East Map Puzzle

Maps that Teach take advantage of the fact that geography is spatial. They also utilize the way kids learn best, by actively participating in their learning; learning by doing. As students assemble the maps, they build a permanent mental picture of their world.
From Maps that Teach, a student will learn about the continents and where they are in relation to each other; the countries of the world, their capitals and major cultural landmarks, physical features; what is far and what is near.
For the United States, students will learn the states, their capitals, major physical features, and important historic routes that established connections between parts of the country. Students need more than a rote memorization of state names and capitals in order to make U.S. geography meaningful. They should have an understanding of where states are in relation to each other, and the physical characteristics of each region. U.S. students should have a permanent mental picture of their country in their heads, so that any thing they learn about their country can immediately be related to a place.
Maps that Teach are also a lot of fun. They are all played as games, individually or in a group, competitively or not. Can you point to Zimbabwe on a map of Africa? Do you know where the Vietnam war took place? Can you find the Spice Islands (on a map, not in a boat)? Done as a complete program, Maps that Teach will give a student a solid basis in both U.S. and world geography. It is an easy and fun way for your kid to know, "Where in the world am I?"
Maps that Teach have several different formats of learning maps, to be used in conjunction with each other: For each continent or major region of the world, we offer an on-line, interactive map. When the mouse cursor is moved over an area, its name and capital can be seen. These maps can be used to ask, and then check, correct identification of states or countries and their capitals.
For each of these areas, there is also an interactive map puzzle, in which a country or state appears, to be placed in the correct place on the map. Each map puzzle also has a similar program for learning the capitals. Because they are interactive, map puzzle help students learn a permanent picture of the map.
Further, there is a map puzzle of major cultural landmarks around the world, and maps of the major physical features of the world, and of the US. It is one thing to learn that the Appalachian mountains run from Maine down into Georgia; actually putting the Appalachians in the proper place on a map makes it memorable.
We also offer free US and world maps (outline maps) to be printed out on any PC printer, in sizes ranging from a single page to over 7 feet across. Since the maps are free, they can be used freely - tracing the route of Around the World in Eighty Days, or Magellan's Voyage, or the journey of Lewis and Clark; drawing pictures of the forts along the Oregon Trail; marking trade routes and explorations. Mark, trace, draw, color or write on them-they are meant to be used. By using the full range of maps in Maps that Teach-countries, capitals, monuments, mountain ranges, rivers - students will gain a permanent mental map of the US and of the world. They will have the basis of a life-long knowledge of geography, and a beginning to all the knowledge for which geography is the basis.

Suggestions for using the maps in Maps that Teach:

Each continent's Map Puzzle teaches the name and location of the countries and capitals. A country appears on the screen, with its name, and the student places it in the correct position on a map of the continent. In a similar game, the capital has to be placed in the correct country. A separate game has students place major mountain ranges (Andes, Himalayas, Alps), rivers, deserts and jungles on a map of the world. Learned this way, a basic knowledge of where features are becomes a permanent mental picture. Yet another map teaches the location and significance of major world monuments.
The United States map puzzle shows a state with its name, to be placed in the correct location. The capitals are then placed (in a separate game) within their state. Students can learn the location of the physical features-mountains, rivers, lakes, etc.-and their location in relation to the state boundaries, to form an enduring mental picture of the U.S.
On-line interactive maps show the countries and capitals of a continent or region-Asia, Africa, South America, Europe, Middle East or Central America-as the computer mouse moves over the country. Surrounding areas of land or water are also named.
With on-line interactive maps, students can give an answer, then check it by moving the computer mouse, or one student can label a country and its capitals (with a pencil or pointer), then another can use the computer mouse to check his answer. Another way to use these maps is to print them out, have the student write the country and capital on the map, and then check the answers with the computer.
MegaMaps will print outline maps on an ordinary PC printer from a single page to over 7 feet across. They can be used to compliment the study of any period of history where there was migration or movement-which is almost all of them. A large version can be printed and used as a puzzle for students to assemble, then the map can be hung on the wall. Younger students may want to cut out pictures and paste on the appropriate places on the map.
Students can trace anything from the journey of Lewis and Clark to the routes of the Underground Railroad to the main battles of the Civil War on the U.S. map. Any place it would be useful to have a map that can be changed or drawn upon, you can use these free maps. The world maps can be used similarly, to show voyages of discovery, migrations, the spread of empires, etc.

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U.S. and World Maps and Puzzles - Free Maps That Teach

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Learn United States and World geography with Maps that Teach. All of the free maps and map puzzles from Owl and Mouse.

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Geography IQ is a great resource for students learning about different countries. Students can click on a country on the map, and it then provides information on that country. Great for student research.

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Contains a world map organized by continent with links to additional geographic, economic, cultural and historical information.

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This is a great website for students to practice their geography skills in regards to locating places. There are jigsaw puzzles of all the continents, find the state/country games, and many more. It would be a great site for students who get done early with something.

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Teacher Vision a great resource for teachers of geography. There are printables, skill builder activities, lesson plans, cross-curricular activities, puzzles and quizzes, and much, much more.

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Foster global awareness in your class with U.S. and world geography printables, lessons and references. Teach students about oceans and landforms with science activities and mapping resources. There are plenty of crossword puzzles and quizzes to test your students' knowledge of the earth's surface. Map and geography skills may be used in many subject areas including language arts, math, and history. These social studies resources can enhance any curriculum for kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Printables for Grades K-5

Build your students map reading and identification skills with these various activities that cover maps of the entire world. These visual representations of parts of the world will help your students discover without having to leave the classroom! These resources are geared toward grades K-5.

Printables for Grades 6-8

Go deeper with your study with these printable maps of different parts of the world. Whether you are completing a comprehensive study of the United States or another country, or you just want to focus on a particular subsection, these worksheets will help students in the moment during your lessons as well as a resource to study for their quizzes as well.

Printables for Grades 9-12

Use these resources for a general study of different countries or modify them to target a specific historical period or political movement that you want to focus on with your students. These maps can be a useful resource or study guide as students move toward learning more higher order concepts and retaining more historical information throughout the upper grades.

Lesson Plans

Use these comprehensive lesson plans to fully develop an individual, geographical concepts, or historical periods of time that you want to focus on with your students. Within each lesson, you will be guided on how to complete the lesson with students as well as provided different questions, discussions, or activities to help students deeply understand the topic under study.

Printable Geography Quizzes

Tired of making your own geography quizzes? Who says you have to? Review the different quizzes in this section to use as the perfect complement to your lessons and activities. You can use these quizzes as is or can modify them to better meet your teaching style or the needs of your classroom.

Maps and Globes Resources

Use these printable map outlines or review the Practicing Map Skills activity to help your students learn about the different geographic features of various places around the world. These maps can be used again and again and are great resources to help student keep track of the constantly changing world.

Geography Games & Puzzles

Need an interactive game to help reinforce your students' understanding of a geographical unit? This section is the one for you. Whether you want to teach students initial map skills by creating your own map of your classroom, or help them remember the different features that can be used when viewing a map, these printable games will make learning fun for your students.

Technology Resources for Geography

Build your students inquiry, research, and discussion skills with these geographical technology resources. In this section, students will be responsible for investigating the world's wonders and reporting on their findings.

U.S. Geography Resources

Use these printable maps to teach a comprehensive study of the geographical makeup of the United States. Students can keep these maps as study tools when looking back on a full year's study of the U.S. or just as a quick reference during a topic or concept.

World Geography Resources

Use these printable maps to teach a comprehensive study of the geographical makeup of the the world. Students can keep these maps as study tools when looking back on a full year's study of the world. or just as a quick reference during a topic or concept.

Political Geography Resources

Help your students keep track of all the political affiliations during different historical periods with these resources. In this section, you can use printable maps, interactive books and slideshows, or just reinforce their understanding of geographical topic with various quizzes.

References

Looking to build your geographical resource library? This section can provide you a wealth of resources ranging from lesson plans, various charts and maps, or just some fun information or facts on the different parts of the world.

Geography Skill Builders

Uses these Skill Builder guides to help students learn research skills and discover fun facts about geography. Each guide divides into different activities according to your individual classrooms grade level so it can be a resource that you use for any classroom. It also is completed weekly so this be a great compliment to your daily lessons, review sessions, or even as homework activities for your students.

Geography Resources for History Class

Use these resources to help students learn about the geography from different historical periods or important events. In this section, you have access to different lesson plans, printable maps, interactive activities, and classroom guides for discussions. These resources can be kept as is or can be modified to be better for your individual teaching style or classroom needs.

Earth Science & Geography Connected

Planning a cross-curricular study with your fellow teachers? Or just trying to help students understand how geography is formed? This section will provide you for a little bit of both! In this section, you have access to different comprehension resources that outline the causes and effects of natural disasters and how that has developed the geography from the past to today.

Math & Geography Connected

Planning a cross-curricular study with the other teachers in various content areas? Or just trying to help students understand map reading and geography skills? This section will help you prepare for any objective or goal you have for your students. Use the different printable maps, lesson plans, or graphic organizers to build students comprehension and map-reading skills by focusing on topics such as time zones and latitude and longitude.

Language Arts & Geography Connected

Build your students reading comprehension and map reading skills with these different activities. In this section, students connect their understanding of different geographic features with their own previous knowledge and experiences. Each resource is a perfect complement to any part of your lesson, as a resource for students to use to remember key concepts, or as supplemental work to assess student understanding.

Art Activities for Geography

Use these activities to add an artistic spin to learning geography. Students can create their own geographical tools, create cultural artifacts of individuals from a different country, or design different geographic maps of countries around the world. These activities can be used as is or modified to better suit the needs of students in your classroom.

Earth Day Activities

Build your students understanding of this important day with different resources that highlights the importance of taking care of our Earth. In this section, students can review the different economic resources that are pivotal to human survival, the different ways we take care of resources, and much more!

Wildlife Week Resources

Use these literature/teacher guides to review with students the different types of wildlife that live in various places around the world. These guides can compliment any content area and will help your students improve their reading comprehension and geography skills. Use them as is or adapt them to best fit your classroom.

Columbus Day Activities

Use these lessons or activities in this section to help students learn about Christopher Columbus's voyage and exploration of America. These activities can be kept as is or modified to fit your individual teaching style or the needs of your students.

Native American Resources

Help students understand that studying geography means studying the individuals that live in those different regions as well. By reviewing the lives and culture of Native Americans, students can connect their geographical skills to deeper higher order thinking ones

Voyages & Travels Resources

Use these different resources with your students to discuss the concepts of voyages and traveling. In this section are different visual maps, lesson plans, reading comprehension activities, and much more! These activities can be used in their current form or modified to better serve the needs of your classroom.

Ocean Resources

Need some inspiration for teaching your students about the Earth's oceans? Well look no further! Whether it's full comprehensive lesson plans, printable map activities, game worksheets, or resource guides for geographical features, this is the section for you. These activities are great as they are or can be adapted to the characteristics of your classroom.

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Geography Printables, Lessons, & Quizzes for Teachers (K-12) - TeacherVision

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Foster global awareness in your class with U.S. and world geography printables, lessons and references. Teach students about oceans and landforms with science activities and mapping resources. There are plenty of crossword puzzles and quizzes to test your students' knowledge of the earth's surface.

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This is a great site for teachers. They provide games and activities for students, videos, and links to a wide variety of other resources that teachers and students may find helpful.

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​A collection of resources for teachers who are teaching Human Geography (Including Advanced Placement), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), International Studies, and World Geography. Located…

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This is a great website that Dan Kuester from Kansas State University created. He does a great job of providing and explaining relevant examples of economic terms through The Office clips.

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Video clips from the television show the office that illustrate economics concepts.

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Khan Academy is a great resource for students and teachers alike. They have numerous videos that explain key microeconomic and macroeconomic concepts.

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Learn all about the fields of economics, microeconomics, macroeconomics, finance, and capital markets with hundreds of videos, articles, and practice exercises. Content in this domain covers courses from high school to college and beyond.

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Econoclass is a cool resource for teachers. They provide games and simulations, activities, case studies, debate topics, prop ideas, and even brain teasers.

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Econoclass: Resources for Economics Teachers

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Games, activities, and resources for high school economics classes.

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Foundation for Teaching Economics is site that provides resources for teachers of Economics (as described in the title). There are a wide range of lesson plans for just about any economic topic out there.

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Home - Foundation For Teaching Economics

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COPYRIGHT 2023 * The Foundation for Teaching Economics * All Rights Reserved

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This site provides teachers with a wide array of lesson plans. There are also activities integrated into lessons, such as playing musical chairs and examining how it relates to economics.

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Teaching Economics As If People Mattered

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We're pleased to make these high-school economics lesson plans available, free of charge. Each one includes everything you need to get started and all are mapped into NCEE standards.

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This site has some really creative lesson plan ideas and activities for teachers. They have a handbook of games and simulations, data, idea bank, and much more.

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Common Sense Economics has a wide range of lesson ideas and activities for teachers. They also have PowerPoints that teachers can modify for their classroom.

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This website, its accompanying textbook and its course package provide tools to help make economics fun. This site provides speedy electronic resource guidance, quality supplements, economic examples, quick links to cool stuff, information on a full multi-media course package and workshop announcements on how to get trained to teach a course using the package in a seated or online setting. Compared to other websites, the Common Sense Economics website offers a substantially larger quantity of field-tested economics materials that focus on experience-based learning. Common Sense Economics connects to many of the 20 Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics and National Standards for Financial Literacy. Most importantly, this website contains materials that will help instructors fashion exciting and informative courses.
The 2016 edition is selling fast! BUY NOW!
Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know about Wealth and Prosperity
by James D. Gwartney, Richard L. Stroup, Dwight R. Lee, Tawni Hunt Ferrarini, Joseph Calhoun

ISBN: 125010694X The third edition of Common Sense Economics (2016) is power packed!

What you'll find here...

Information on how to adopt an exciting online economics and personal finance course

Information about the third edition of the book

Instructional tools and supplementary materials for Common Sense Economics

An overview of the complementary Common Sense: Economics for Life! course package and a complementary brochure

Learning tools and engaging ideas on how to learn economics

More information on economics in the movies, comics, fun activities, videos, games, and creative ideas

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Common Sense Economics | What everyone should know about wealth and prosperity

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This website, its accompanying textbook and its course package provide tools to help make economics fun. This site provides speedy electronic resource guidance, quality supplements, economic examples, quick links to cool stuff, information on a full multi-media course package and workshop announcements on how to get trained to teach a course using the package in a seated or online setting.

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This site provides multiple games for students to play to learn about economics. The teacher can enter the number of players and then see the results of their game/interact with students.

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The Industrial Organization Game.

Free, Ready to play, Nothing to install, No need to register!

Economics-games.com is a free educational games site for teaching microeconomics, industrial organization and game theory.

Choose the game you want to run, enter the number of players and that's it: You just have to communicate their logins to your students and have them connect to the site with their phones, tablets or laptops. You can then observe and debrief the game through your interface.

(COVID-19 Response) We are making the individual simulations of our other, commercial, website available for free until the end of July 2020 ( IO Game, Carbon Game and Airline Game).
Your students can directly hit the 'Play' button, on the game page. Or, if you want access to an administration interface, you can send an email to nicolas@lud.io (with subject 'Access to the admin interface', and mentioning the number of students and the simulation).

Generic Matrix Game (2 to 4 actions) More

Where our Games Apply

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

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The Industrial Organization Game. Choose the game you want to run, enter the number of players and that's it: You just have to communicate their logins to your students and have them connect to the site with their phones, tablets or laptops. You can then observe and debrief the game through your interface.

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Bright Hub Education is neat because it targets middle schoolers and economics. There are about ten lesson plans for teachers to teach middle schoolers the basic concepts of economics.

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10 Great Lessons
Introduction to Economics
Here's an excellent go-to lesson when you are starting at ground zero with your class and need to introduce them to the concept of economics. We've included a free list of some of the most commonly used economic terms, which you can use in class or send home as study guides. This can be a stand-alone lesson or easily combined with other lessons in this guide to create an economics unit.
Teaching The Concept of Resources
This is a great lesson plan to help students understand that resources can mean more than just the money in their pockets. In addition, while they may understand the concept of natural resources or cash money, do they really grasp the concept of capital or other types of resources? This is an easy to teach lesson that you can use as is or extend in a variety of ways.
What Is Scarcity?
Object lessons or hands-on activities are always good teaching tools because they engage students on so many different levels. After all, if you simply ask your students to define scarcity, they may or may not be able to do so, and even if they can define it, that doesn't mean that they really understand it. However, when they are confronted by a lack of resources, they not only get the concept, but they may discover that they don't like it.
The Economic Model
In this lesson, you will be teaching your students how to take the scientific method and apply it to economics. If you haven't already covered the scientific method, this is a wonderful hands-on exercise to introduce it. A plus here is the free economic model worksheet, which saves you the time of having to create one yourself.
The Foundations of Economics
Turn to this lesson plan when you need a way to review and to assess your students' understanding of economics. It includes a free economics quiz and a review activity. Use it as a standalone activity or combine it with one of the lessons above to create an easy unit study on economics.
Stock Market Crash
If time permits, this is an awesome lesson to combine with the one on stock market investments. After all, market bubbles and crashes are a fact of everyday life, and students need to understand the risks and rewards of playing the market. This lesson includes a fun class project that explores four great stock market disasters.
Understanding the Financial Crisis - Economic Terms
This lesson plan is designed for high schoolers and middle schoolers. They will learn the definitions of important economic terms such as the prime rate or real income. The beauty of this lesson is you can use it to introduce these terms to students, use it as a study guide or incorporate it with other economics lesson plans as an extension resource.
Ponzi Schemes: A Fun Lesson Plan That Doubles as an April Fool's Day Activity
Although this is designed to be used as an April Fool's Day activity, you can actually use it at any time of year. You'll start by explaining to students how the term "Ponzi scheme" originated and where it got its name. Then, you'll complete a fun class project to illustrate the concept of the Ponzi scheme.
Do You Need It or Do You Want It? An Economics Lesson
You may want a new Kindle Fire (or other high tech gadget), but do you really need it? These are the types of questions that consumers must answer each day as they decide how to balance their income with their outgo. In this class project, your students will get real world experience with working within a set budget to juggle their needs versus their wants versus their salary. Although this is designed as a class activity, you could modify it for small groups or individual projects very easily.
The Fundamentals of Writing Checks
As an adult, you understand why it is important to write checks in ink rather than pencil, but your students do not...until you teach them why! This is a fun lesson plan for middle schoolers to help them learn the proper way to write checks. You can use the lesson as presented here or modify for your specific class and as a nice bonus, we've included some free graphic examples of checks that have been written correctly.

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Teaching Economics: A Guide to Middle School Lesson Plans and Related Activities

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Introduction to Economics Here's an excellent go-to lesson when you are starting at ground zero with your class and need to introduce them to the concept of economics. We've included a free list of some of the most commonly used economic terms, which you can use in class or send home as study guides.

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This site has a wide range of resources for economic teachers. There are articles, data sets, and links to websites teachers may find helpful, all in one handy place!

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A guiding principle of the AEA mission is the dissemination of economics knowledge to all members of the economics community - primarily students, teachers, and professionals, but also to members of the general public who are curious about how economics is applied beneficially in the real world.

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Project Archaeology is an excellent resource for teachers. It provides teachers with lesson plans, shelter databases, and much more.

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Cultural Resources Division
Kansas State Historical Society
6425 SW 6th Ave
Topeka, KS 66615-1099
(785) 272-8681 Ext. 266
(785) 272-8682 (fax)

The Kansas Historical Society (KSHS) became involved in Project Archaeology in 2002, when the new national curriculum was being developed. The Pawnee earthlodge investigation in Project Archaeology: Investigating Shelter (2009) depicts the Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site (14RP1) in Republic, Kansas.

Project Archaeology in Kansas combines the national curriculum with Kansas-specific units on shelter, subsistence, and migration (http://www.kshs.org/project_archaeology).The Kansas-specific units were developed in consultation with national Project Archaeology, the Kansas Department of Education, a teacher advisory group, and the KSHS Education/Outreach Division.Funding was provided by the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office, and units are furnished to Kansas teachers free of charge.

KSHS Public Archeologist Virginia Wulfkuhle collaborates with the Education/Outreach Division of the Kansas Historical Society to present Project Archaeology to teachers at a variety of education conferences and in-service trainings.In addition, Wulfkuhle offers a teacher workshop each summer, partnering with regional education service centers and historic sites.Dr. Lauren Ritterbush and Dr. Brad Burenheide at Kansas State University in Manhattan introduce College of Education students to Project Archaeology curriculum materials.

Seven Kansas teachers are graduates of the national Leadership Academy in Bozeman.State Coordinator Virginia Wulfkuhle was honored to serve on the national Leadership Team from 2007 to 2011.Kansas was involved in two phases of the Honda Foundation grant, Archaeology as Culturally Relevant Science Education in 2007 and 2009.

Other Contacts for Kansas Project Archaeology
Dr. Lauren Ritterbush
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
(785) 532-6828
ritterb@ksu.edu
Douglas Roach roachd@haydenhigh.org Susan Schuckman sschuckman@bluevalleyk12.org
Dayton Arvidson
darvidson@usd259.net

Investigating a Pawnee Earthlodge teaches students about a Pawnee shelter called an Earthlodge, the history of their ancestors, and about the Pawnee tribe today through authentic archaeological and historical inquiry.

It includes a brief history of the Pawnee tribe, including details about their livelihood, traditions, and Earthlodge home. Quadrant maps from the archaeological site of a Pawnee Earthlodge in Kansas are provided for students to study and use.

Mr. Warren Pratt, a member of the Pawnee tribe, guides students through the investigation. Through archaeology and oral histories students learn how a site is interpreted, why it is important to today's communities, and the importance of preserving sites for future generations.
Download an investigating Pawnee Earthlodge

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Cultural Resources Division Kansas State Historical Society 6425 SW 6th Ave Topeka, KS 66615-1099 (785) 272-8681 Ext. 266 (785) 272-8682 (fax) The Kansas Historical Society (KSHS) became involved in Project Archaeology in 2002, when the new national curriculum was being developed.

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This is a great website for history teachers. The link that I have is for ancient history, but he also has American, World, Geography, and Government. There are videos, quizzes, lesson and activity ideas, etc.

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Ancient Civilizations for 6th Grade Kids and Teachers - Can be adjusted for any grade - Ancient Civilizations for Kids and Teachers

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Archaeologists and scientists look for ways to learn about ancient people by studying their geography, government, religion, inventions, and daily life, to discover how people lived and what they accomplished thousands of years ago. Archaeologists have learned a great deal about these early civilizations from the artifacts (man-made objects) they left behind. Come meet your ancestors. We think you’ll find them amazing!

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Ducksters provides teachers and students with a multitude of history information, including ancient civilizations. There are articles, quizzes, timelines, and much more included in the site.

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Ancient History

Ancient Mesopotamia

Ancient Egypt

Ancient China

Ancient Rome

Ancient Greece

Ancient Africa

Aztec, Maya, Inca

World History

Middle Ages

Islamic Empire

Renaissance

French Revolution

World War I

World War II

Cold War

Art History

US History

Native Americans

Colonial America

The American Revolution

The American Civil War

Westward Expansion

The Great Depression

Civil Rights Movement

United States Government

US History Pre-1900s

US History 1900s to Present

Biographies

Learn about the life story and history of some of our greatest leaders in the US President Biographies section.
Also see Biographies.

Holidays

Go here to learn the history of many holidays including Black History Month.

Practice History Questions

Want to learn more about history? Try here for practice history questions on historical events from the US Revolutionary War to Ancient Egypt.

US State History

Check out our US State history pages for a brief history and timeline for each state.

Back to Ducksters Home Page

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Kids learn about United States and world history. Social studies of American history and ancient civilizations for students and teachers.

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This site, established through PBS, provides teachers classroom activity ideas. There are also interactive activities for students to do.

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NOVA Online | Teachers | Anthropology/Archeology Classroom Activities | PBS

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NOVA Teachers Resources listed by subject and type of resource: Anthropology Classroom Activities

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TED-ED has a wide range of videos for teachers and students to watch about a variety of different anthropology topics. Most of them are around 5 minutes or less, which is great for students with short attention spans.

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Build a lesson around any TED-Ed Original, TED Talk or YouTube video

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This site has a multitude of information available to students and teachers. It has articles for just about every aspect of ancient civilizations one could think of.

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The history of civilization is a long one. This sites take you way back into history to see human civilization as it first looked.

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This is a very friendly kid site, where students have a multitude of activities to do. There are flashcards, quizzes, assessment tools, games, maps, and much more.

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This site has a wide variety of resources for students. There are quizzes, timelines, and facts on the website.

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Ancient civilizations quizzes and worksheets

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Ancient civilizations quizzes and worksheets for preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade and 5th grade kids

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History for Kids has a wide array of information for students and teachers. It is very well-organized and information on all the ancient civilizations, including detailed information, videos, activities, and much more.

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This website provides great resources for teacher from a teacher herself. She has categorized activities/assignments with links to her teachers pay teachers account, and huge lists of websites for each unit/topic.

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Below you will find links for each of the units covered in 6th grade Social Studies and fun pictures of my ACE elective class (Ancient Civilizations Exploration).

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Jean Garvey came and presented to our class and these are her 5 favorite strategies. These include the Frayer vocabulary model, story mapping history frame, primary source analysis, Stanford historical thinking chart, and Socratic circle discussion.

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Garvey, Jean - Garvey's Favorite 5 History Strategies

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Jean Garvey Social Studies Colloquium Resources

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Jean Garvey Social Studies Colloquium Resources

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This site of Garvey's has even more resources than her 5 favorite strategies. She has PowerPoints, lessons, handouts, websites, generic worksheets, and much more.

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Garvey, Jean - Social Studies Colloquium

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This website was recommend by Adam Topliff who came and presented to our class. She has a multitude of articles/blog posts detailing different strategies and ideas.

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When I mention stations in the classroom, does your mind automatically jump to the organized chaos of a Kindergarten classroom? Could I convince you to jump to a social studies classroom instead? Station Rotation is another Blended Learning model that promotes technology integration and differentiation, while enhancing learning in the classroom.

Stations are a great way to provide students with content through a variety of learning activities. Students can be working individually, with partners or small groups, with the teacher, and with or without technology all in the same class at the same time. Sound like organized chaos that could work in your classroom? Continue reading And Rotate! Blended Learning in the Social Studies Classroom

This week's contributor is Angela Howdeshell: I work as the Vice President for Programs and Administration for the Kansas Council for Economic Education, a non-profit organization housed at Wichita State University with a mission of helping Kansas K-12 schools integrate financial literacy and economic education.

While most of the United States is busy finishing up their last minute taxes or filing extensions, many are also taking advantage of this time to focus on K-12 financial literacy. April has been declared Financial Literacy Month (#FinLitMonth) and many groups have been busy hosting Financial Literacy Month special events, developing new educational resources, and taking advantage of this month to advocate for increased support for financial literacy.

Kansas is not alone in working to encourage youth to become more financially literate. The choices available to students today require them to be equipped with a strong understanding of economics and critical-thinking skills in ord er to increase their changes for a successful financial future. Just one bad decision can catapult them into a life full of unplanned challenges that can stay with them for a lifetime.

The Kansas State Department of Education is encouraging schools to offer more financial literacy so we can prepare our Kansas stu dents for life after high school. Not all parents are equipped to educate their children nor are they always great role models. Continue reading Financial Literacy Month Offers A Chance To Have "The Talk" With Your Students

Jill Weber teaches US History at Cheney Middle School and high schoolers in the Teaching Career Pathway. Today she shares how she incorporates the Blackout Poetry literacy and writing activity into her instruction.

Sometimes great ideas come to us, and we're so excited to try them, BUT the pace of the year come crashing in on us and we have to put those ideas on hold. I've had this idea on hold the the last three years, and we are FINALLY getting to it. Blackout Poetry.

Blackout Poetry is using text that has been printed (books, newspapers, magazines, etc...) and manipulating the text to convey a new poetic meaning. By selecting words from the text and then blacking out the remaining words.

Take a minute to Google it and check out the images. So cool!

I first ran across using this in the social studies classroom when Continue reading Blackout Poetry: Worth Waiting For

assessment, assessment, HATs, historical thinking, sam wineburg, sheg, stanford history education group best practice, Glenn Wiebe, historical thinking, lesson plans, primary sources, strategies

I'm not talking about an actual hat. Not a baseball cap. Or a visor. Or a bowler, beanie, beret, or bucket hat.

I'm talking about SHEG HATS.

As in Stanford History Education Group and History Assessments of Thinking.

I'm sure that you've been over to the very useful Stanford History Education Group's site with its three different tools, right? (If you haven't, mmm . . . go there now and be amazed at how your life will be changed.)

All of us at the KCSS have been pushing Sam Wineburg's work for years so I'm hoping you're already familiar with the work his SHEG group has been doing around the idea of reading like a historian. They've packaged their work into three chunks - instructional lessons that focus on training kids analyze evidence to solve problems, onlive civic literacy lessons, and wait for it . . . Continue reading SHEG HATs for the win

We should always be thinking about ways to improve - even in May. So I dug around in the archives and dug out a post written several years ago that shares some thoughts about student evaluations. Because your professional growth and student evals are a lot like chocolate and peanut butter - two great tastes that go great together.

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Billy Landes was probably the best teacher I ever had. Encouraging. Supportive. Tough. Demanding. Helpful. She let our study group leave to do "research" in the library when I'm pretty sure she knew that we usually headed to the donut shop instead. A learner. Smart. Knowledgeable.

And someone who always asked our feedback about how she could get better. It was the weirdest thing. A teacher asking Continue reading Chocolate & peanut butter. Professional growth & student evaluations

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When I mention stations in the classroom, does your mind automatically jump to the organized chaos of a Kindergarten classroom? Could I convince you to jump to a social studies classroom instead? Station Rotation is another Blended Learning model that promotes technology integration and differentiation, while enhancing learning in the classroom.

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The following is what Adam Topliff shared with us when he came and presented. It contains a large amount of graphic organizers and strategies to help middle schoolers learn and gain new skills.

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These are resources that Lew Whitson talked about when he skyped with our class. There are several resources on his site, including lesson plans, strategies, websites, and much more.

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This is the link to the PDF given to us by Ashley Reinert who taught 7th grade geography at Fort Riley Middle School. In this are different activities, lesson ideas, worksheets/graphic organizers, etc.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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This site has 5 pages worth of different strategies for teaching history, all of which are in alphabetical order. These strategies range from alphabetical brainstorm to wraparound.

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Find compelling classroom resources, learn new teaching methods, meet standards, and make a difference in the lives of your students.

We are grateful to The Hammer Family Foundation for supporting the development of our on-demand learning and teaching resources.

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Find compelling classroom resources, learn new teaching methods, meet standards, and make a difference in the lives of your students. We are grateful to The Hammer Family Foundation for supporting the development of our on-demand learning and teaching resources.

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Edutopia is a great resource for teachers to reference. It contains several strategies to help students with emotional well-being, academics, social, and much more.

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George Lucas Educational Foundation

The benefits of movement in the classroom aren't limited to younger students. Pairing new words and concepts with gestures or dance moves locks in understanding-and active brain breaks prime students to learn even more.

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A free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education.

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Teacher Vision is an excellent resource for teachers. They have strategies for teaching certain subjects, such as Ancient World History, that of which has worksheets, lessons, activities, rubrics, articles, etc. There are also resources on how strategies for classroom management which can be challenging for a first year teacher.

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You now have access to 999 free download credits. You do not need to select a plan or take a free trial in order to use your credits.

Simply search for and open the item that you want. A counter will appear when you view an individual item. Note: the counter will only appear on premium resources, not resources that were already free.

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You now have access to 999 free download credits. You do not need to select a plan or take a free trial in order to use your credits. Simply search for and open the item that you want. A counter will appear when you view an individual item.

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Teaching Channel has a wide variety of resources from a multitude of educators. What I have linked is a blogpost for "12 Fresh Ideas for Teaching Social Studies". There are some really great activities, and some really cool and interesting, like mummifying a chicken.

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When it comes to lesson planning, it can be a challenge to make information feel fresh and exciting (for both teachers and students). In an effort to mix things up, we're taking a look at some novel approaches to teaching a variety of subjects. In this blog, we're looking at resources for social studies.

You probably won't be able to incorporate all of these resources into your classroom, but hopefully they'll spark your creativity and inspire you to think about your curriculum in a different way.
Have more fresh ideas? We'd love to hear about them! Share your own classroom successes in the comments section below.
Best for Elementary School

Best for Middle and High School

Check out this video on the colonization of the United States:

It's suitable for all age groups and can be used to teach subjects like geography, history, languages, mathematics, and science.

Another excellent site related to civics is Generation Citizen, which encourages students to participate in the democratic process. Generation Citizen provides teachers with a Common Core-aligned, action-based civics curriculum, a trained college co-facilitator, and supplementary resources to help create meaningful, hands-on experiences for their classes.

6.The Smithsonian'sIdeaLabson Artifacts and Analysis: This site presents a strategy for incorporating historical artifacts and documents into the teaching of US history. Designed as a companion to the Advanced Placement Program US History course, it is also effective in any instructional setting that emphasizes analytical thinking and writing.

8.Simulations and Role-Playing: One way to bring history to life is to assign students the roles of historical figures and have them debate a unique issue from the time period. For ideas on specific scenarios, as well as an online tool to help develop arguments for the debate, check out the SCAN tool.

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When it comes to lesson planning, it can be a challenge to make information feel fresh and exciting (for both teachers and students). In an effort to mix things up, we're taking a look at some novel approaches to teaching a variety of subjects. In this blog, we're looking at resources for social studies.