# data[].attributes.body
NISD libraries (now with SAPL libraries included!)

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District subscription, use Google login, has entire print and video based lessons with activities that you can assign via Classroom.

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PBS LearningMedia | Teaching Resources For Students And Teachers

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Inspire your students with thousands of free teaching resources including videos, lesson plans, and games aligned to state and national standards.

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Quick polls.

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It's how you include everyone
in your meetings

Slido gives you everything you need to engage your participants, capture their views and make everyone feel connected - whether you're running a team call, training or an all-company meeting.

Intuitive and easy

The attendees can join without any logins or downloads, and the setup for hosts takes only minutes.

5+ polling options

With Slido's 5 types of polls, Q&A, quizzes and surveys, you can engage your participants in a variety of ways.

Get started for free

Start with our forever-free Basic plan, or get more from Slido for only €10 per month.

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Slido is the ultimate Q&A and polling platform for live and virtual meetings and events. It offers interactive Q&A, live polls and insights about your audience.

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Quick assessment, like Gimkit or Kahoot.

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Easy mind-maps

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Forky is a simple interface to create beautiful diagrams and mindmaps. You can collaborate in real-time with your friends or team! Come and see!

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Find a popular movie clip to introduce your content.

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"ClassHook is the creative piece I've been looking for YEARS!! Anytime I see a clip in a movie that I could use, I try and make a mental note but usually have a hard time accessing the movie. Because I teach anatomy, there are SOOOO many possibilities. This is a fantastic site."

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ClassHook | Educational TV and Movie Clips

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Make learning relevant with educational scenes from TV shows & movies.

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On the Screen Capture tool, select whether you want to capture all of your screen, a single window, or a specific part of your screen.

You can also choose to record some or all of your screen.

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How to Take Full Screenshots - Google Chromebooks

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On the Screen Capture tool, select whether you want to capture all of your screen, a single window, or a specific part of your screen. You can also choose to record some or all of your screen.

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Whiteboard.chat - Interactive Online Whiteboard for Teachers and Students

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Whiteboard.chat is a free interactive internet tool that helps you to communicate with your students. Visit our website for a Free interactive online whiteboard.

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Portfolios, unit previews, self-paced courses, digital notebooks, multimedia lessons, timelines... and much more!

For social studies teachers

The structure of timelines, the simplicity of slides.

Inspire curiosity

The perfect format for inquiry-based instructional strategies. Motivate discussion and spark new ideas.

Critical thinking

Upload primary and secondary sources to train students' eyes to analyze and make connections.

Collaboration

Students work together as they address problems and make decisions as a team to reach a common goal.

Perfect for History, Geography and Sociology

For English, Language and Arts teachers

Writing and multimedia assignments have never been better.

Enhance literacy

Rich-editing features make Sutori a valuable companion for continued reading and writing development.

Creativity

Just the right amount of options to see creativity flourish for all types of learners.

Communication

Sutori's visual nature show the breadth of ways to convey ideas and knowledge.

Templates, lesson plans and more!

For STEM teachers

Showing the process of learning

Structured learning

The canvas to organize content. Set up templates for a cohesive learning experience.

Self-reflection

Students demonstrate their approach, outline their learning and reflect along the way.

Engage

Add formative quizzes, polls and any type of media to build fun activities with your students.

Some ready-made lessons to inspire you

Growing in classrooms across the world.

2,359,762Teachers & students

"With a super-simple design and tons of flexible features, this is an appealing and intuitive way for teachers and students to organize and share class content."

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Sutori 💙 Cares

Education is the key to a better world and we want to play our part in supporting educators.

Check out our ambassador program and the meaningful and impactful learning initiatives Sutori supports.

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Who we are

We're a tight knit team of three friends (including two brothers) who have come a long way from recreating historical events on Twitter.

Learn more about our story and how we seek to empower educators in their teaching and keep students' data secure.

Learn about us

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Sutori is a collaborative tool for classrooms, ideal for multimedia assignments in Social Studies, English, Language Arts, STEM, and PBL for all ages.

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Give grading and paperwork the boot

Eliminate student logins with Google Classroom sync

Syncing with Google Classroom allows you to share your Edulastic assignment right in students' Classroom feed, cutting out several steps and passwords for them and you.

Technology-enhanced questions

Choose from our high-quality free question banks, create your own technology-enhanced questions, or mix and match!

Built-in authoring tool

Assessments from sources you can rely on

High-quality questions aligned to common core, NGSS, and state standards at all DOK levels, including performance tasks.
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Help students understand and retain more

Give students the tools to extend their thinking and explain their reasoning with Edulastic's ScratchPad.

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Free Formative Assessment Tools for Teachers

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Get easy, instant data to differentiate your instruction. Engage students and save time with common core and state standards aligned formative assessments

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The Easiest Way for Teachers to Share Online Resources with Students

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Welcome to Tizmos for Teachers! A personalized page for teachers that allows them to easily share online resources with students and other teachers.

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Digitize PDFs and worksheets, with editable/fillable segments.

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Buncee | Create, Present and Share Engaging Multimedia Lessons

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Buncee is an easy-to-use tool for your school’s creation needs. Empower student voice, create engaging class materials, enhance school communications, and more!

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Distance Learning resources for all content, including electives!

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Wide Open School's mission lives on at Common Sense

With schools back in person, we have closed this dedicated distance-learning site designed to guide families and educators through the sudden shift to remote learning.
Discover More Great Resources for Families & Educators
Common Sense is dedicated to providing teachers and families with free resources to help kids learn, grow, and thrive with media and technology. Join our community for more tips and resources to support kids' learning and healthy development.

More Resources You'll Love

Get more free content like what you found on Wide Open School.
For Families For Educators
Thank You to Our Supporters & Partners

We are grateful to our supporters and partners for helping to bring these resources to kids, families, and educators everywhere during a global crisis. It is a testament to the power of creativity, collaboration, and a shared commitment to education and digital access for all.

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Wide Open School's mission lives on at Common Sense With schools back in person, we have closed this dedicated distance-learning site designed to guide families and educators through the sudden shift to remote learning. Discover More Great Resources for Families & Educators

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Background for all the things.

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Put PDFs, video, links, pics, etc. in one place, and collaborate.  Also Google extension.

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Wakelet | The All In One Content Platform

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Wakelet allows you to bookmark, organize, collaborate and present on content all in one platform. Harness your content to build remarkable things.

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Interactive worksheets.

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Amaze your students with smarter worksheets. Wizer.me is a platform where teachers build beautiful, engaging online worksheets!

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STOP THE ADS!

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Finally, an efficient blocker. Easy on CPU and memory.

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Like autotune, but for sentences!

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Is EasyBib starting to tick anyone else off?

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Bibcitation - Automatic Citation Generator

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Cite websites and journal articles in one click. MLA, APA, Chicago, and more.

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Removes the annoying stuff at the end.

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Allow yourself to focus while using YouTube™ for work, recreation or education.

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This helps many different kinds of readers.

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Format pages using the OpenDyslexic font and low contrast help

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Make a clicksheet or video how-to of any website.

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Tutorial creation made easy. Instantly make guided, step-by-step directions for any website. Directly in the browser.

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Study anything. Chrome extension.

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Quizlet makes simple tools that let you study anything, for free

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Chrome extension.  Great for SE or ELL kids.

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Read Aloud uses text-to-speech (TTS) technology to convert webpage text to audio.  It works on a variety of websites, including news sites, blogs, fan fiction, publications, textbooks, school and class websites, and online university course materials.

Read Aloud allows you to select from a variety of text-to-speech voices, including those provided natively by the browser, as well as by text-to-speech cloud service providers such as Google Wavenet, Amazon Polly, IBM Watson, and Microsoft.  Some of the cloud-based voices may require additional in-app purchase to enable.

Read Aloud can read PDF, Google Docs, Google Play books, Amazon Kindle, and EPUB (via the excellent EPUBReader extension from epubread.com).

Read Aloud is intended for users who prefer to listen to content instead of reading, those with dyslexia or other learning disabilities, and children learning to read.

To use Read Aloud, navigate to the web page you want to read, then click the Read Aloud icon on the Chrome menu.  In addition, the shortcut keys ALT-P, ALT-O, ALT-Comma, and ALT-Period can be used to Play/Pause, Stop, Rewind, and Forward.  You may also select the text you want to read before activating the extension.  Right clicking on the selected text will provide you with yet another option to activate Read Aloud via the context menu.

To change the voice, reading speed, pitch, or enable text highlighting, go to the Options page either by right clicking on the Read Aloud icon and choose Options, or by clicking the Gear button on the extension popup (you'll need to stop playback to see the Gear button).

Read Aloud is an open-source project.  If you wish to contribute bug fixes or translations, please visit the GitHub page at https://github.com/ken107/read-aloud.

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Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader

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Read aloud the current web-page article with one click, using text to speech (TTS). Supports 40+ languages.

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I'm sure you know the site, but the extension just makes ELL kids' life easier.

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Highlight or right-click on a section of text and click on Translate icon next to it to translate it to your language. Or, to translate the entire page you're visiting, click the translate icon on the browser toolbar.

Learn more about Google Translate at https://support.google.com/translate.

By installing this extension, you agree to the Google Terms of Service and Privacy Policy at https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies.

UPDATE (v.2.0): Now you can highlight or right-click a text and translate it vs. translate the entire page. You can also change extension options to automatically show translation every time you highlight text.

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View translations easily as you browse the web. By the Google Translate team.

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Insert questions in any website.  Chrome extension.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Insert instructional content into any web page

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District subscription - use Google SSO

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Weekly News Quiz for Students

See what you remember about this extraordinary year by taking our special 2021 news quiz.

Compiled by Jeremy Engle and

student opinion

Last week, a Michigan prosecutor took the rare step of charging the parents of a school shooting suspect.

current events

In this lesson, students will learn about a tennis star's #MeToo allegations against a powerful Chinese official and the international outcry after her disappearance from the public.

Educators: We want to hear how you incorporate Science Times and other STEM coverage into your curriculum.

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See what you remember about this extraordinary year by taking our special 2021 news quiz. Compiled by Jeremy Engle and Last week, a Michigan prosecutor took the rare step of charging the parents of a school shooting suspect.

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Student friendly search engine

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Infotopia-A Safe Google Alternative Search Engine for Students

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A Google alternative safe search engine for students offering information and reference sites: art, social sciences,social issues,social problems, history, biography, magazines, newspapers,encyclopedias,science, chemistry, biology, lesson plans, and dictionaries.

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Science Fair Project Ideas, Answers, & Tools

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Free Topic Selection Wizard, science fair project ideas, step by step how to do a science fair project, Ask an Expert discussion board, and science fair tips for success.

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Science News Explores publishes news from all fields of science for students from middle school and up, with resources for parents and educators.

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Human Anatomy and Disease in Interactive 3D | BioDigital Human Platform

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The BioDigital Human is a virtual 3D body that visualizes human anatomy, disease and treatments in an interactive 3D web platform

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Boeing: Educational Inspiration by Theme

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Browse lesson plans, videos, interactive media and design challenges intended to increase students' interest and aptitude for 21st century skills.

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The Periodic Table of Elements

Download a printable version of the Periodic Table of Elements in PDF format:

- Black and White: Basic / Advanced

The following on-line games based on the Periodic Table of Elements are available:

- Element Flash Cards

- Element Hangman

- Element Matching

- Element Math

- Element Crossword Puzzles

- Element Concentration

- Element Balancing

- Element Word Scramble

The following paper-based activities are available:

- Element BINGO

- Element Word Search

In addition to the information contained within the Periodic Table of Elements, the following articles may be helpful if you are writing a report about an element or if you are making a model of an atom:

- How to calculate the number of protons, neutrons and electrons in an atom of an element

- How to make a model of an atom

- How to draw an atom (video)

- How to read an electron configuration chart

- A list of who discovered each element

The information on this site has been compiled from a number of sources.

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The Periodic Table of Elements Download a printable version of the Periodic Table of Elements in PDF format: - Black and White: Basic / Advanced The following on-line games based on the Periodic Table of Elements are available: - Element Flash Cards - Element Hangman - Element Matching - Element

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Metals || Metalloids || Non Metals

How to Read the Periodic Table for Kids

The top number for each element is its atomic number. This is the number of protons in each atom of that element.

The one-letter or two-letter symbol in each tile is the element symbol. The symbol is an abbreviation for the full element name. Element symbols make it much easier for chemists to write chemical formulas and equations.

The bottom number in each element tile is the atomic weight or atomic mass. This value is the average mass of atoms of that element that occur naturally.

The periodic table arranges the chemical elements into a pattern so that you can predict the properties of elements based on where they are located on the table. Elements are arranged from left to right and from top to bottom in order of increasing atomic number or number of protons in the element.

Periods and Groups on the Periodic Table

Rows of elements are called periods. The period number of an element signifies the highest unexcited energy level for an electron in that element. The number of elements in a period increases as you move down the periodic table because there are more sublevels per level as the energy level of the atom increases.

Columns of elements help define element groups. Elements within a group share several common properties.

Metals, Metalloids, and Nonmetals

Elements fall into one of three main categories: metals, metalloids, and nonmetals.

Most of the elements of the periodic table are metals. These elements occur on the left side of the periodic table. Because there are so many metals, they are further divided into alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, basic metals, lanthanides (rare earths), and actinides. In general, metals are:

usually solid at room temperature (except mercury)

metallic-looking

hard

shiny

good conductors of heat and electricity

On the right side of the periodic table are the nonmetals. The nonmetals are divided into nonmetals, halogens, and noble gases. In general, nonmetals are:

often form brittle solids

lacking in metallic luster

poor conductors of heat and electricity

Elements with properties intermediate between those of metals and nonmetals are called metalloids or semimetals. Metalloids:

have some properties of metals and some of nonmetals

act as either metals or nonmetals in reactions, depending on what they are reacting with

typically make good semiconductors

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Look Up Element Facts With the Periodic Table for Kids

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Click an element symbol in the periodic table for kids to get detailed facts. Learn how the periodic table is organized and about major element groups.

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Science >> Chemistry for Kids

The Periodic Table is a way of listing theelements. Elements are listed in the table by the structure of their atoms. This includes how many protons they have as well as how many electrons they have in their outer shell. From left to right and top to bottom, the elements are listed in the order of their atomic number, which is the number of protons in each atom.

Periodic Table of Elements
Click for larger view

Why is it called the Periodic Table?

It is called "periodic" because elements are lined up in cycles or periods. From left to right elements are lined up in rows based on their atomic number (the number of protons in their nucleus). Some columns are skipped in order for elements with the same number of valence electrons to line up on the same columns. When they are lined up this way, elements in the columns have similar properties.

Each horizontal row in the table is a period. There are seven (or eight) total periods. The first one is short and only has two elements, hydrogen and helium. The sixth period has 32 elements. In each period the left most element has 1 electron in its outer shell and the right most element has a full shell.

Groups

Groups are the columns of the periodic table. There are 18 columns or groups and different groups have different properties.

One example of a group is the noble or inert gases. These elements all line up in the eighteenth or last column of the periodic table. They all have a full outer shell of electrons, making them very stable (they tend not to react with other elements). Another example is the alkali metals which all align on the left-most column. They are all very similar in that they have only 1 electron in their outer shell and are very reactive. You can see all the groups in the table below.

This lining-up and grouping of similar elements helps chemists when working with elements. They can understand and predict how an element might react or behave in a certain situation.

Element Abbreviations

Each element has its own name and abbreviation in the periodic table. Some of the abbreviations are easy to remember, like H for hydrogen. Some are a bit harder like Fe for iron or Au for gold. For gold the "Au" comes from the Latin word for gold "aurum".

Who invented it?

The periodic table was proposed by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. Using the table, Mendeleev was able to accurately predict the properties of many elements before they were actually discovered.

Fun facts about the Periodic Table

Carbon is unique in that it is known to form up to 10 million different compounds. Carbon is important to the existence of life.

Francium is the rarest element on earth. There are probably no more than a few ounces of it on earth at any given time.

The only letter not in the periodic table is the letter J.

The country Argentina is named after the element silver (symbol Ag) which is argentum in Latin.

Although there is helium on Earth, it was first discovered by observing the sun.

Activities

Take a ten question quiz on this page.

Listen to a reading of this page:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Full Periodic Table

Periodic Table with detailed information
(click for larger view)

More on the elements and the Periodic Table

Elements

More Chemistry Subjects

Science >> Chemistry for Kids

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Science >> Chemistry for Kids The Periodic Table is a way of listing theelements. Elements are listed in the table by the structure of their atoms. This includes how many protons they have as well as how many electrons they have in their outer shell.

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Legends of Learning | Math and Science Games

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Math and science games for grades K-8 that increase engagement and test scores. Curriculum aligned. Backed by Research. Teacher Reviewed. Fun for Students.

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Most Recent Episode

In an interview from 2002, Jane Goodall gave Ira a lesson in how to speak with chimps. Plus, highlights from the 33rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, which celebrate the silly side of science. And, stories that share the research of a few Ig Nobel winners.

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Science Friday is your trusted source for news and entertaining stories about science. It's brain fun for curious people

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About National Geographic Kids

Explore amazing adventures in science, nature, culture, archaeology, and space. Best for children aged 6-14.

Don't know how to login?

Depending on this location's preferences, the log-in process could include your library card number, a student or user ID, or another provided password. If you don't know how to log in, please contact your library or school directly.

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About National Geographic Kids Explore amazing adventures in science, nature, culture, archaeology, and space. Best for children aged 6-14. Don't know how to login? Depending on this location's preferences, the log-in process could include your library card number, a student or user ID, or another provided password.

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About Gale In Context: Science

Understand context for hundreds of science topics through overviews, journals, news, interactive experiments, and more.

Don't know how to login?

Depending on this location's preferences, the log-in process could include your library card number, a student or user ID, or another provided password. If you don't know how to log in, please contact your library or school directly.

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About Gale In Context: Science Understand context for hundreds of science topics through overviews, journals, news, interactive experiments, and more. Don't know how to login? Depending on this location's preferences, the log-in process could include your library card number, a student or user ID, or another provided password.

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Search through collections curated by our digital librarians

Collections

Browse an alphabetical list of all participating providers

Providers

Search our extensive library and find exactly what you need

Advanced Search

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Search through collections curated by our digital librarians Collections Browse an alphabetical list of all participating providers Providers Search our extensive library and find exactly what you need Advanced Search

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Education Resources & Programs - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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Explore education activities, lessons and resources for teachers and students, plus internship opportunities from NASA-JPL in Pasadena, California.

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The official website for NOVA. NOVA is the most-watched prime time science series on American television, reaching an average of five million viewers weekly.

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At the heart of our work is the idea that all youth-regardless of gender, sexual orientation, geography, race, native language, ability, or socio-economic status-should be given the opportunities to learn about the socio-scientific issues that challenge us.

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Like Newsela!

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Free grade leveled reading passages for use in the classroom or at home. Filter by genre, grade, topic, skill, and more. Click here!

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Share what you are reading with your class

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TeachingBooks | Author & Book Resources to Support Reading Education

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TeachingBooks strives to enrich everyone's experience reading children's and young adult books with our original and curated literary resources.

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Will your language skills blossom or wilt? It's up to you as you control the flight of the Robo-Bee through a garden of synonyms, antonyms, spelling, and usage puzzles!

Feed the BIGbots! These word-automated machines have quite an appetite, so come prepared with a voracious vocabulary! Good hand and eye coordination is a definite plus!

It's the original, the classic, the long-time favorite! Unscramble a list of words, then use the circled letters to unscramble the bonus solution.

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Will your language skills blossom or wilt? It's up to you as you control the flight of the Robo-Bee through a garden of synonyms, antonyms, spelling, and usage puzzles! Feed the BIGbots! These word-automated machines have quite an appetite, so come prepared with a voracious vocabulary!

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ReadTheory | Reading Comprehension Exercises

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Reading comprehension exercises — online, free, & adaptive. Fits K-12, ESL and adult students. Easily track progress for the entire class.

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It can be a challenge to get middle schoolers interested in reading. The thought of tackling a thick novel can be overwhelming, especially toward the end of the school year when attention spans and patience for reading are often running short. Short stories are always a great choice. In addition to requiring less of a time commitment, they are an easy way to expose your students to new authors and genres. Also, the best short stories are every bit as engaging and meaningful as the best novels. Here are some of our favorite short stories for middle schoolers to share with your students.

If you're searching for more short stories, check out these recommendations compiled by the Seattle Public Library, the ShortStoryGuide, and Barnes and Noble.

Plus, we love these anthologies: A Thousand Beginnings and Endings compiled by We Need Diverse Books's Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman, and Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet by Sona Charaipotra, Dhonielle Clayton, Nicola Yoon, Ibi Zoboi and others.

Don't miss our list of favorite middle school poems, too.
What are your favorite short stories for middle schoolers? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

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36 Great Short Stories to Teach in Middle School

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It can be a challenge to get middle schoolers interested in reading. The thought of tackling a thick novel can be overwhelming, especially toward the end of the school year when attention spans and patience for reading are often running short. Short stories are always a great choice.

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

World-class content

Access thousands of reading lessons and our comprehensive ELA curriculum, CommonLit 360.

Accessible for all learners

Tailor instruction to students' needs with text-to-speech, translation, and digital note-taking.

Actionable data

Track students' reading performance, set goals, and plan instructional next steps.

CommonLit
Digital Library

Discover thousands of free, supplemental lessons and quizzes in English and Spanish - all featuring great authors.

CommonLit
Assessment Series

Measure growth in reading comprehension with three benchmark assessments when you unlock our premium packages.

CommonLit 360 &
Professional Development

Support a successful rollout of our research-backed ELA curriculum with personalized webinars and on-demand trainings.

"

CommonLit has made a tremendously positive impact on my teaching practice. I'm very proud to teach CommonLit!

Jennifer Lane ELA Teacher

"

CommonLit definitely keeps me organized. It's easy for me to grade and it's easy for me to see students' reading growth increase throughout the year.

"

The CommonLit assessment questions are aligned to our ELA standards, which is extremely helpful when prepping for the state exam.

Teachers trust CommonLit to foster students' reading comprehension

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CommonLit | Free Online Reading Passages and Literacy Resources

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CommonLit is a comprehensive literacy program with thousands of reading lessons, full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and standards-based data for teachers.

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America’s reading comprehension crisis.

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FREE, awesome for narrative writing

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PIECING TOGETHER A STORY WITH AUTHOR ALANE ADAMS Register Today for Between the Pages with Alane Adams For the past several years, children's author and literacy advocate Alane Adams has traveled the country visiting over 300 schools, speaking over 600 times

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Storybird - Read, write, discover, and share the books you'll always remember.

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Become a better writer with Storybird's creativity tools. Online courses, challenges, and reader feedback will help you improve your writing.

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NYT Learning

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Learning activities based on Times articles, photos, videos, graphs and more.

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Set up your classroom, without IT

You can quickly and easily set up your classroom in Quill by inputting student names or providing students with a unique code. If you use Google Classroom or Clever, you can automatically set up your classroom with one click.

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Quill.org | Interactive Writing and Grammar

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Quill provides free writing and grammar activities for middle and high school students.

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Mini-lessons on writing, from narrative to informative, with video prompts.

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Sparks are innovative, adaptable mini-lessons and activities. They help hone a specific skill or inspire big ideas.

Level(s)

Writing Type

1. All

2. Informational

3. Narrative

4. Persuasive

5. Poetry

6. STEM

7. Social-Emotional Learning

8. Visual, Performing, and Media Arts

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826 Digital - Inventive Resources to Ignite a Love of Writing

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Sparks are innovative, adaptable mini-lessons and activities. They help hone a specific skill or inspire big ideas. Level(s) Writing Type All Informational Narrative Persuasive Poetry STEM Social-Emotional Learning Visual, Performing, and Media Arts

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Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.

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Today, November 28th, 2005, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
I am staring at my hands in the common pose
of the hungry and penitent. I am studying again
the emptiness of my clasped hands, wherein I see
my sister-in-law days from birthing
the small thing which will erase,
in some sense, the mystery of my father's departure;
their child will emerge with ten fingers,
and toes, howling, and his mother will hold
his gummy mouth to her breast and the stars
will hang above them and not one bomb
will be heard through that night. And my brother will stir,
waking with his wife the first few days, and he will run
his long fingers along the soft terrain of his child's skull
and not once will he cover the child's ears
or throw the two to the ground and cover them
from the blasts. And this child will gaze
into a night which is black and quiet.
She will pull herself up to her feet
standing like a buoy in wind-grooved waters,
falling, and rising again, never shaken
by an explosion. And her grandmother
will watch her stumble through a park or playground,
will watch her sail through the air on swings,
howling with joy, and never once
will she snatch her from the swing and run
for shelter because again, the bombs are falling.
The two will drink cocoa, the beautiful lines
in my mother's face growing deeper as she smiles
at the beautiful boy flipping the pages of a book
with pictures of dinosaurs, and no bomb
will blast glass into this child's face, leaving
the one eye useless. No bomb will loosen the roof,
crushing my mother while this child sees
plaster and wood and blood where once his Nana sat.
This child will not sit with his Nana, killed by a bomb,
for hours. I will never drive across two states
to help my brother bury my mother this way. To pray
and weep and beg this child to speak again.
She will go to school with other children,
and some of them will have more food than others,
and some will be the witnesses of great crimes,
and some will describe flavors with colors, and some
will have seizures, and some will read two grade
levels ahead, but none of them will tip their desks
and shield their faces, nor watch as their teacher
falls out of her shoes, clinging to the nearest child.
This child will bleed
and cry and curse his living parents
and slam doors and be hurt and hurt again. And she will feel
clover on her bare feet. Will swim in frigid waters.
Will climb trees and spy cardinal chicks blind
and peeping. And no bomb will kill this child's parents.
No bomb will kill this child's grandparents. No bomb
will kill this child's uncles. And no bomb will kill
this child, who will raise to his mouth
some small morsel of food of which there is more
while bombs fall from the sky like dust
brushed from the hands of a stupid god and children
whose parents named them will become dust
and their parents will drape themselves in black
and dream of the tiny mouths which once reared
to suckle or gasp at some bird sailing by
and their tears will make a mud which will heal nothing,
and today I will speak no word
except the name of that child whose absence
makes the hands of her parents shiver. A name
which had a meaning.

As will yours.

                                                  -for Mikayla Grace

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Today, November 28th, 2005, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I am staring at my hands in the common pose of the hungry and penitent.

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On the one hand, the article gave voice to much of what students had heard ("cell phones are health hazards') though had perhaps never truly considered in any meaningful way. They connected with the article as evidenced by the wide range of contributions from a variety of students in the discussion.

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Free math help! Tutorial videos on topics including arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, and calculus.

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Virtual Nerd: Real math help for school and home

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Virtual Nerd's patent-pending tutorial system provides in-context information, hints, and links to supporting tutorials, synchronized with videos, each 3 to 7 minutes long. In this non-linear system, users are free to take whatever path through the material best serves their needs. These unique features make Virtual Nerd a viable alternative to private tutoring.

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Assessments, Homework, Videos, Games, Lesson Plans. Over a million items aligned to Common Core, PARCC, SBAC

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Teach, Assess, and Analyze with the largest K-12 Resource Library

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Imagine Learning’s digital-first core curriculum for grades K-12 is proven to help students master grade-level standards in ELA, math, and science. Learn more.

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Legends of Learning | Math and Science Games

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Math and science games for grades K-8 that increase engagement and test scores. Curriculum aligned. Backed by Research. Teacher Reviewed. Fun for Students.

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Elections have been a constant feature of civic life in the United States, and yet they have changed and evolved ever since the first presidential election. This presentation explores the past and present of American parties, issues, and the right to vote.

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Elections - Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress

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Elections have been a constant feature of civic life in the United States, and yet they have changed and evolved ever since the first presidential election. This presentation explores the past and present of American parties, issues, and the right to vote.

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Lesson: Home, Sweet, Home!
Grades: 6-12
Subject: Language Arts/History/Math/Technology/Art
Estimated Time of Completion: Five to six fifty-minute class sessions

I. Summary

Every city has buildings. Their architecture reflects the values and culture of people. The Greeks created simplistic, orderly architectural designs to reflect their desire for a disciplined life. Castles of the Medieval Ages were constructed with moats out of necessity for protection. The cathedral of the Renaissance era points to heaven and inspires reverence. Methods of building and the materials used provide important clues to when, where and why a particular building was built. Use this lesson to make students aware of the connection between history and architecture and to be inspired to learn about their own town's history.
II. Objectives

Students will become aware of the economic, cultural, and environmental issues that make their town unique.

Students will practice and improve problem-solving skills.

Students will collect, research and record data that will organize thinking and enhance historical thinking.

Students will be able to hypothesize what past life was like in their community.

Students will be able to discuss the history and architecture of their community.

By studying their town, students will develop ownership in the place they live.

III. Materials Needed

PBS History Detectives site

Optional: Computer with Internet access with a presentation device or available computers for groups of students and Internet access to the History Detectives site.

Equipment for recording history: cameras, camcorders, tape recorders, software such as PowerPoint and/or Excel.

Paper, pencil, and graph paper

IV. Procedure

1. (Class 1) The teacher will ask students to draw a map of their neighborhood, complete with a legend. Use graph paper and encourage students to use an approximate scale.

2. Ask students if they have ever put their handprints in cement or written their initials in a tree. Have them think of times that they have left their "tracks" in their neighborhoods. Ask them about their thoughts on graffiti and history. Have them write a paragraph under their drawn neighborhood map. Ask students to imagine the history of their house and include in the paragraph an educated guess of their home's age and history and provide reasons to back up their ideas of their home's history.

3. Next, talk about what and how records could help confirm owners' and age. Some students may find it beneficial to visit the History Detectives grown-ups site. Click on the story from Episode 9 of Season 1 about Philip Sheridan's House.
The description reads "To Grand Ronde locals, an abandoned Dutch Colonial Style home was of little interest. But new research suggests this house may originally have been built as Union Army officer quarters by a young Philip Sheridan, the famous General." Explain to students that documented history could live at many houses in their town.

4. Then go to the Building Background Checklist or you might find the tips for Tracking People helpful. Past owners and locating deeds to land will provide more information for determining the history of a house.

5. Have students imagine life long ago and write a journal entry from a 16th or 17th century dwelling and then one from the future comparing and contrasting living styles.

6. Provide background information about architecture. Have students bring in examples of different architecture to discuss in class. Ask students to elaborate on common clues they can look for such as the style of doors and windows. Ask students about ideas they have on historical time periods and materials used. What did culture or weather have to do with architecture?

Take a Web tour and discuss some different types of architecture:

See My Design has various pictures of architectural design through history
How house construction works Various House Styles
7. If the specialized architectural vocabulary is a problem, direct students to an Architectural Glossary

8. (Class 2) Discuss the town together. Visit its Web site if it has one. It would be great if a guest speaker could come to talk with the students about their town's history.

9. (Class 3) Explain to the students that they will be taking a tour of their town. Students will be assigned a team comprised of four members. They will be given team jobs. One student will be the architect who will be the expert on architecture. One will be the genealogist and will be the expert on the town's ancestry. This person will make notes on reflections of culture or values of the town. Another student will be the economist making notes on reflections of the affluence or poverty of the town. The fourth student will be the researcher that will note and then follow up with any documents that could be helpful in their research.

10. Explain that students will collect data:

By participation in a class walking tour of a nearby residential area

By interviewing citizens

By searching out documents that will provide insight to the history of the town

By dividing topics of concern among the members of the members (architecture, documents, citizens, and businesses)

By exploring helpful primary and secondary sources from the library, History Preservation Organization, Internet records, tourist facilities, and local Chamber of Commerce.

11. The students and teacher will work together to plan how the town's history will be recorded. Each team will be given a choice or choices of how they will present their data:

Still pictures can be placed in a PowerPoint slide show with documentation included.

A tape recorder can be used to create an oral history

A digital video camera could be used to create a taped documentary of the town's history

Published historical information could be written in a narrative which is typed, edited, and printed

Information could be organized and put into an Excel spreadsheet

12. Review the procedures for the choices for data presentation. Students will review procedures for conducting interviews. Procedures for using any equipment must also be reviewed (cameras, video recorders, tape recorders, etc.). Any unfamiliar software may have to be taught or reviewed (Excel, Word, or PowerPoint).

13. Before the walking tour, encourage students to share with the class what has brought them to the area. If students do not know, allow time for students to ask parents and/or relatives about this.

14. (Class 4) Take the class on a tour of the residential area. Talk to students about information that is noteworthy for their project.

15. Using this tour as an opportunity to introduce their project, make some suggestions: Find architecture that reveals some history of the town. Are there many old houses or just a few? What is the tallest building in the town? Estimate the oldest building in your town. Interview an older friend, neighbor, or relative about your town. How has it changed? How did it affect the town? Does your family have original documents? What do they tell you?

16. (Class 5) Explain to the students that they will be investigating the history of their hometown to complete their team town project.

17. Tell students to discuss town history with parents, teachers, and relatives. When completing their project, have students include items that tell about the town's history: old photographs, postcards, artifacts, or paintings of past life in the town.

18. Suggest students visit the local Chamber of Commerce, library, or the local Historical Preservation organization to further research the history of the town. How and when was it founded? Where did its name originate?

19. Explain to students that the primary source for researching homes is the deed. Have students check out other tips in locating a building's history with the Building Background Checklist.

20. Remind students to look around the town for any memorials that might provide hints to the history (a statue, a street name, or the town's name). Also, have students visit the local museum if the town has one.

21. Students will share their activity with the other students in the class. This is also a great opportunity for inviting parents to share in this presentation of town projects.

V. Classroom Rubric for Assessment of a Town Project

Organization

Excellent organization

Fair organization

Lack of organization

Subject Knowledge

Demonstrates much knowledge of subject matter

Demonstrates some knowledge of subject matter

Demonstrates a lack of knowledge of subject matter

Provides Sources

Provides and identifies reliable sources

Provides or identifies sources

Provides no sources

Demonstrates effort
Has worked throughout unit to master material, seek information, clarify sources, and to produce a final project that is original, neat, and interesting

Has mostly attempted to master material, seek information, clarify sources, and to produce a final project that is original, neat, and interesting

Could have shown more interest in mastering material, seeking information, clarifying sources, and producing a final project that is original, neat, and interesting

VI. Extensions and Adaptations

Some students might enjoy playing the "Date the House" game found on the PBS History Detectives Kids site. There is also a sequencing architecture activity found in the 'It's Not Conjecture, It's Architecture" lesson plan.

Encourage students to identify types of architecture in their own community. Have students take pictures of local architecture, name it and its characteristics, and display these for the class.

Invite a local antiques dealer to speak to the class about how she identifies and/or researches items from the past.

Students can create copies of their oral, published, or slideshow documentation of the town history and actually sell these in a simulated business endeavor.

Set up a temporary "town museum" displaying collected town photographs and artifacts.

Visit the local museum to learn more about your town.

Create a timeline representing the history of your town.

Move from a study of the history of your town to a study of the history of your state.

Design a town history brochure to inform others. Encourage the local Chamber of Commerce to make these available to the public.

VII. Standards From McREL Standards

Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process

Gathers and uses information for research purposes

Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the reading process

Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of literary texts

Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts

Will write expository compositions (e.g., synthesizes and organizes information from first- and second-hand sources, including books, magazines, computer data banks, and the community; uses a variety of techniques to develop the main idea {names, describes, or differentiates parts; compares or contrasts; examines the history of a subject; cites an anecdote to provide an example; illustrates through a scenario; provides interesting facts about the subject}; distinguishes relative important facts, data, and ideas; uses appropriate technical terms and notations.

The student will use strategies to adapt writing for different purposes (e.g., to explain, inform, analyze, entertain, reflect, and persuade)

The student thinks chronologically; therefore the student is able to distinguish between the past, present, and future time and interpret data presented in timelines. Students can create timelines by designating appropriate equidistant intervals of time and recording of events according to the temporal order in which they occur.

The student thinks chronologically, therefore, the student is able to describe the past on its on terms, through the eyes and experiences of those who were there, as revealed through literature, diaries, debates, arts, artifacts, and primary and secondary documents.

The student conducts historical research; therefore, the student is able to formulate historical from encounters with historical documents, eyewitness accounts, letters, diaries, artifacts, photos, historical sites, art, architecture, and other records from the past

Understands connections among the various art forms and other disciplines

Knows the characteristics and uses of computer hardware and operating systems

Knows the characteristics and uses of computer software programs

Understand the nature and uses of different forms of technology Math

Understands and applies basic and advanced properties of the concepts of measurement

Go to PBS Teachers for more than 3000+ lesson plans and activities.

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Home Sweet Home | History Detectives | PBS

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Lesson: Home, Sweet, Home! Grades: 6-12 Subject: Language Arts/History/Math/Technology/Art Estimated Time of Completion: Five to six fifty-minute class sessions I. Summary Every city has buildings. Their architecture reflects the values and culture of people. The Greeks created simplistic, orderly architectural designs to reflect their desire for a disciplined life.

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The Handbook of Texas is a digital state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) that is free and accessible on the Internet for students, teachers, scholars, and the general public. The Handbook consists of overview, general, and biographical entries focused on the entire history of Texas from the indigenous Native Americans and the Prehistoric Era to the state's diverse population and the Modern Age. These entries emphasize the role Texans played in state, national, and world history.

We need your support because we are a non-profit organization that relies upon contributions from our community in order to record and preserve the history of our state. Every dollar helps.

Today's Popular Entries

Promotion

This Week's Popular Entries

The Texas State Historical Association and the Houston History Alliance (HHA) are proud to announce the launch of the Handbook of Houston, which contains more than 1,250 new and existing entries highlighting the significant impact Houston has had on the state, the nation, and the world. Launched on March 2, 2017, the Handbook of Houston is the culmination of many years of historical research.

African Americans have been part of the landscape of Texas for as long as Europeans and their descendants. Spanning a period of more than five centuries, African American presence began in 1528 with the arrival of Estevanico, an African slave who accompanied the first Spanish exploration of the land in the southwestern part of the United States that eventually became Texas. While African Americans have been subjected to slavery, segregation, and discrimination during this long history, they have made significant contributions to the growth and development of Texas. They have influenced Texas policies and social standards. Living and working with other ethnic groups, they have helped create a unique Texas culture. Historians have not always acknowledged the role that African Americans have played in the Lone Star State. Although numerous studies of Texas's past appeared in the twentieth century, until 1970 there remained too many empty pages in the history of the state concerning the black population. This situation has changed since the 1970s, but the need to capture more of the African American experience still exists. For this reason, we are happy to launch the Handbook of African American Texas.

The Handbook of Texas Women project strives to expand on the Handbook of Texas by promoting a more inclusive and comprehensive history of Texas. Texas women make Texas history, and TSHA wants to significantly recognize the various ways women have shaped the state's history at home, across the state, nationally, and abroad. The impacts of women on Texas history are often overlooked, and as more and more people are accessing information using smartphones, tablets, and other mobile technologies, this project will seize upon the unprecedented opportunities of the digital age in order to reshape how Texas women's history will be understood, preserved, and disseminated in the twenty-first century.

At 4:30 on the morning of April 12, 1861-one hundred and fifty years ago this spring (2011)-Confederate States of America artillery opened fire on United States troops in Fort Sumter, South Carolina, beginning the American Civil War. Texans, who had voted overwhelmingly in February 1861 to secede from the Union and then watched their state join the Confederacy in March, thus became involved in a four-year conflict that would take the lives of many and leave none untouched. Texas escaped much of the terrible destruction of the war for a simple reason-United States troops never managed to invade and occupy the state's interior. In sum, the Civil War exacted a huge price, primarily in terms of lives lost and ruined in the Confederate Army and in the privations of those left at home. However, the conflict had two vitally positive results for Texas: It freed the state's more than 200,000 enslaved people, and it destroyed the curse of the 'Peculiar Institution' for the entire society of the Lone Star State.

Texans lay claim to a dynamic medical history. The state has borne witness to deadly disease outbreaks, the establishment of world-renowned medical institutions, and the discovery of new therapeutics and cures. From the first documented surgery on Texas soil by Cabeza de Vaca in the sixteenth century to the innovative research spearheaded by university laboratories to develop vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19, the medical story of Texas is reflective of the many ways Texans have engaged to protect and promote their health and well-being. Today, the healthcare industry represents a significant share of the Texas economy, contributing more than $108 billion to the state's GDP, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Yet, despite the fundamental role medicine has played in shaping the growth and development of the state, a comprehensive and authoritative medical history of Texas remains unfulfilled. With the development of the Handbook of Texas Medicine, TSHA proudly presents a unique opportunity to address this disparity.

What is it about Texas music? Trying to define it is like reviewing a dictionary. There is way too much detail to try to pin it down. However, this much is clear: Texans have given American music its distinctive voice, and that's no brag, just fact.

The tremendous growth of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex from the 19th through 21st centuries far outpaced the recorded history of this economically vital area. Texas is often associated with its rural ranching history, yet as the decades passed, the cultural and economic identities of Lone Star State evolved to reflect the increasing importance and influence of the urban areas. No area in Texas illustrates this transformation better than DFW-a well-traveled location during the cattle trailing and early railroad eras that blossomed into a modern financial and cultural hotspot in the present day. We need a more complete documentation of the DFW metroplex, and the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) seeks to correct this imbalance in the historical record.

The TSHA is proud to announce the launch of the Handbook of Tejano History, which contains more than 1,200 entries, including 300 new entries, detailing the critical influence of Tejanos on the Lone Star State. Released on March 29, 2016, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Tejano Monument unveiling on the Capitol grounds in Austin, the Handbook of Tejano History is the culmination of a two-year effort involving dozens of researchers, educators, students, and Texas history enthusiasts committed to capturing and sharing Tejano contributions to Texas life and culture. Originally conceived in partnership with the board of directors of the Tejano Monument, Inc., the Association's Handbook of Tejano History joins a number of other important initiatives born out of the legacy of the Tejano Monument, including the Tejano History Curriculum Project and Austin Independent School District's Cuauhtli Academy/Academia Cuauhtli.

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About the Handbook of Texas

The Handbook of Texas is a digital state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) that is free and accessible on the Internet for students, teachers, scholars, and the general public. The Handbook consists of overview, general, and biographical entries focused on the entire history of Texas from the indigenous Native Americans and the Prehistoric Era to the state's diverse population and the Modern Age. These entries emphasize the role Texans played in state, national, and world history. The TSHA continuously expands the Handbook through multi-year special projects that focus on diverse topics to preserve all Texans' history. In 2016 the Handbook website experienced 10,454,137 page views with 4,657,707 unique users from 201 countries and territories, making it not only a Texas resource, but a global one.

The Handbook of Texas project began in 1939 as an effort led by University of Texas Professor Walter Prescott Webb to preserve Texas history and create "the most useful book that has ever been published in Texas." Webb admitted that his goal might be "an impossible dream," but his leadership facilitated the funding, staffing, and publication of the original two-volume Handbook in 1952 with a supplemental third volume in 1976. The University of Texas at Austin supported scholarship focused on Texas history and maintained a continuous relationship with the TSHA by providing office space and employing staff members as University faculty. In 1996 the six-volume Handbook included 23,640 entries and 687 illustrations within 6,945 pages. Leadership at the TSHA recognized the growth of personal computers and chose to bypass an interactive CD-ROM in favor of digitizing the entire Handbook for release on the Internet. The Handbook of Texas Online launched in February 1999 and was among the first digital encyclopedias accessible for free on the Internet to the general public.

The Handbook currently includes 27,576 encyclopedic entries. These entries are written by volunteer historians and professionals, reviewed by TSHA staff, vetted by scholars, and approved by the TSHA Chief Historian before appearing online. The development of new entries is driven by current events, user suggestions, and internal identification of missing topics, which are reviewed by the Chief Historian for consideration. Existing entries are continuously revised or updated according to user suggestions and a routine revision schedule. Authors utilize secondary and primary sources such as books, census records, newspapers, military service records, obituaries, diaries, and letters to craft historically accurate entries. The sources are compiled into a bibliography and updated regularly to provide readers with the most current scholarship. The Handbook editors fact-check, copyedit, and format entries using appropriate language for users ranging from middle school to college.

The Handbook began as a printed reference resource without images, but the expansion to six volumes included the addition of photographs and other illustrations. The Handbook staff recognized the need to update the digital Handbook with appropriate media, such as images, videos, audio, and interactive maps. The staff now includes media with every new entry and has added media to the most viewed entries. As a result, the Handbook now includes thousands of images, hundreds of audio samples, and dozens of video clips from the TSHA Texas Talks webinars. The media captions identify the title, copyright owner, and location of the media, as well as link to the original source. The staff disabled the right-click feature within the Handbook website to limit reproduction of the images and encourage users to visit the participating digital repositories and archives for access and republication. The TSHA has compiled promotional eBooks composed of Handbook entries focused on a variety of topics including: African Americans, Civil War, Tejanos, Texas Revolution, Women, and Music in Texas. Furthermore, Handbook content facilitated the development of Texas Day By Day, a program that provides daily updates to users' computers, tablets, and smartphones on notable people, places, and events Texas history.

After more than 70 years the Handbook project continues to promote scholarship and encourage the study of Texas history. The TSHA and Handbook staff collaborate with historical associations within Texas and across the United States to promote the study of state and local history. The Handbook project provides opportunities for graduate students, lay historians, scholars, and professors to preserve history by researching and authoring concise entries for educational purposes and the betterment of society. The Handbook entries are cited in thousands of books, articles, documentaries, and webpages such as Wikipedia, Legislative Reference Library of Texas, Find-a-Grave, and Ancestry. Professor Webb could not have possibly imagined the ways in which the Handbook has grown and changed over time, but he certainly would be pleased that the public demand for scholarship remains so strong. We strive to assure the Handbook remains accessible, inclusive, accurate, and meets current scholarly standards.

Handbook Help Topics

See Also

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The Handbook of Texas is a digital state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) that is free and accessible on the Internet for students, teachers, scholars, and the general public. The Handbook consists of overview, general, and biographical entries focused on the entire history of Texas from the indigenous Native Americans and the Prehistoric Era to the state's diverse population and the Modern Age.

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The Civil War is the central event in America's historical consciousness. While the Revolution of 1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation it would be. The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution: whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether this nation, born of a declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the largest slaveholding country in the world.

Northern victory in the war preserved the United States as one nation and ended the institution of slavery that had divided the country from its beginning. But these achievements came at the cost of 625,000 lives--nearly as many American soldiers as died in all the other wars in which this country has fought combined. The American Civil War was the largest and most destructive conflict in the Western world between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the onset of World War I in 1914.

The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states. When Abraham Lincoln won election in 1860 as the first Republican president on a platform pledging to keep slavery out of the territories, seven slave states in the deep South seceded and formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America. The incoming Lincoln administration and most of the Northern people refused to recognize the legitimacy of secession. They feared that it would discredit democracy and create a fatal precedent that would eventually fragment the no-longer United States into several small, squabbling countries.

The event that triggered war came at Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay on April 12, 1861. Claiming this United States fort as their own, the Confederate army on that day opened fire on the federal garrison and forced it to lower the American flag in surrender. Lincoln called out the militia to suppress this "insurrection." Four more slave states seceded and joined the Confederacy. By the end of 1861 nearly a million armed men confronted each other along a line stretching 1200 miles from Virginia to Missouri. Several battles had already taken place--near Manassas Junction in Virginia, in the mountains of western Virginia where Union victories paved the way for creation of the new state of West Virginia, at Wilson's Creek in Missouri, at Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, and at Port Royal in South Carolina where the Union navy established a base for a blockade to shut off the Confederacy's access to the outside world.

But the real fighting began in 1862. Huge battles like Shiloh in Tennessee, Gaines' Mill, Second Manassas, and Fredericksburg in Virginia, and Antietam in Maryland foreshadowed even bigger campaigns and battles in subsequent years, from Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to Vicksburg on the Mississippi to Chickamauga and Atlanta in Georgia. By 1864 the original Northern goal of a limited war to restore the Union had given way to a new strategy of "total war" to destroy the Old South and its basic institution of slavery and to give the restored Union a "new birth of freedom," as President Lincoln put it in his address at Gettysburg to dedicate a cemetery for Union soldiers killed in the battle there.

For three long years, from 1862 to 1865, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia staved off invasions and attacks by the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by a series of ineffective generals until Ulysses S. Grant came to Virginia from the Western theater to become general in chief of all Union armies in 1864. After bloody battles at places with names like The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, Grant finally brought Lee to bay at Appomattox in April 1865. In the meantime Union armies and river fleets in the theater of war comprising the slave states west of the Appalachian Mountain chain won a long series of victories over Confederate armies commanded by hapless or unlucky Confederate generals. In 1864-1865 General William Tecumseh Sherman led his army deep into the Confederate heartland of Georgia and South Carolina, destroying their economic infrastructure while General George Thomas virtually destroyed the Confederacy's Army of Tennessee at the battle of Nashville.

By the spring of 1865 all the principal Confederate armies surrendered, and when Union cavalry captured the fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia on May 10, 1865, resistance collapsed and the war ended. The long, painful process of rebuilding a united nation free of slavery began.

Learn More: This Day in the Civil War

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A Brief Overview of the American Civil War

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The Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation the United States would be.

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The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service)

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From 1861 to 1865, the American union was broken as brother fought brother in a Civil War that remains a defining moment in our nation’s history. Its causes and consequences, including the continuing struggle for civil rights for all Americans, reverberate to this day. From the battlefields to the h…

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What's inside . . .

Welcome to the Texas Almanac, the premier reference for everything Texas.

On our site you can find information on various topics, including election results, records of extreme weather in the state, and facts about all of our 254 counties.

We've been a part of the Texas State Historical Association since 2008, but our roots go back to 1857. Visit our archives to see our earliest works, published by the Galveston News. The Texas Almanac print edition is published biannually. Our latest edition, Texas Almanac 2020-2021, is the 70th volume and contains feature articles about our evolving state demographics and Asian Indians in Texas.

Dazzle your friends with your Texas knowledge by downloading the 2018-2019 print edition for free, or purchasing a hardback or flexbound book for your personal library.

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Welcome to the Texas Almanac, the premier reference for everything Texas. On our site you can find information on various topics, including election results, records of extreme weather in the state, and facts about all of our 254 counties. We've been a part of the Texas State Historical Association since 2008, but our roots go back to 1857.

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Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is one of the most important documents in the history of the United States.

Fast Facts

It took Thomas Jefferson 17 days to write the Declaration of Independence.

On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to declare independence from Great Britain.

On July 4, 1776, Congress voted to accept the Declaration of Independence, marking July 4 as Independence Day.

To learn more, you may want to:

U.S. Constitution
The foundation of the American government, its purpose, form, and structure, are in the Constitution of the United States. The Constitutional Convention adopted the Constitution on September 17, 1787.

The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. It guarantees greater constitutional protection for individual liberties and lists specific prohibitions on government power. There are 27 Constitutional Amendments in all. The 27th Amendment, which was originally proposed in 1789, was not ratified until 1992.

Where to View the Constitution

You can view the original, parchment copy of the U.S. Constitution at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. You can also view an online copy of the U.S. Constitution or order a printed copy of the Constitution.

The U.S. National Anthem
The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States. To celebrate a victory over British forces during the War of 1812, U.S. soldiers raised a large American flag at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 14, 1814. Inspired by those events, Francis Scott Key wrote a poem called "Defence of Fort M'Henry," which eventually became the Star Spangled Banner and the United States national anthem.

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U.S. History and Historical Documents | USAGov

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Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence is one of the most important documents in the history of the United States. It took Thomas Jefferson 17 days to write the Declaration of Independence. On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to declare independence from Great Britain.

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The word history comes from the Greek word historía which means "to learn or know by inquiry." In the pieces that follow, we encourage you to probe, dispute, dig deeper - inquire. History is not static. It's fluid. It changes and grows and becomes richer and more complex when any individual interacts with it.

Knowledge of history is empowering. An event is but the furthest ripple of an ever-expanding wave that may have started eddying outward hundreds of years ago. One who "sees" history is able to harness the power of that wave's entire journey.

Finally, the best history has at its foundation a story. A printer challenges a King and so is laid the foundation of the first amendment; a New Jersey miner finds gold in California and sets off a torrent of movement westward; a woman going home from work does not relinquish her seat and a Civil Rights movement explodes.

These stories all help to ask the question, "What is an American?" You'll help to answer that question.

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What is geography, why is it important, and what can you do to learn or teach more about it?

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Human geography concerns the understanding of the dynamics of cultures, societies and economies, and physical geography concerns the understanding of the dynamics of landscapes and the environment. Geography puts this understanding of social and physical processes within the context of place - recognising the great differences in cultures, political systems, economies, landscapes and environments across the world, and exploring the links between them.

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Block all Youtube Ads! Augment your YouTube experience with Fullscreen Theater Mode, Video Screenshot, Volume Booster and many more

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To print these free coloring pages, make sure you download the PDF to ensure the best quality!

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To print these free coloring pages, make sure you download the PDF to ensure the best quality!