2-20-2012 - Washington's 280th Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGE WASHINGTON!

Lessons

1. Lesson Plan on Education World
2. Rediscovering George Washington
3. George Washington: First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen
4. Comparison to Lincoln
5. George Washington: Lessons in Leadership
6. George Washinton: The Precedent President

Resources, Articles, and Videos

1. George Washington: A National Treasure
2. Enchanted Learning
3. White House.gov
4. Biography on Ames lab
5. Biography.com
6. Mount Vernon
7. America's Story
8. The Miller Center
9. Rediscover George Washington
10. Washington Timeline
11. The Papers of George Washington

Electing a President

1. Election 2012 from Scholastic
2. Campaign 2012 from CSPAN
3. The Living Room Candidate
4. The Road to the Capital
5. Activities from Channel One
6. President for a Day
7. Are You Presidential Material?
8. All About Electing A President of the United States
9. Election of the President
10. 270 to Win
11. Campaign 2012
12. eLections
13. Discovering Democracy on Scholastic
14. Eight Steps to the White House
15. Ask our Heads of State
16. Glass Booth
17. BrainPop Election '08
18. Voting Machines of America
19. Vote Simulator
20. Running for Office - Political Cartoons

Please post a comment below if you have a site or lesson idea to share for teaching these concepts.  I would love your input!

2-12-2012 Lincoln's 203rd Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABRAHAM LINCOLN!!

Suggested Activities for Lincoln's Birthday

1.     Lincoln Unit from Great American History

2.     Listen to and discuss the Gettysburg Address

3.     Read and discuss the Emancipation Proclamation 

4.     Read and discuss Lincoln's View of Government

5.     The Presidential Election of 1864 political cartoon

6.     Will the real Abraham Lincoln please stand up?

7.     Lincoln Lessons

8.     CSPAN Video Lesson Plan

9.     Lincoln was 6'4", how do your students measure up, other presidents, or his contemporaries?

President's Day Activities

1.     Write "If I Were President" poetry or essays

2.     Construct acrostic poems using the words American, Lincoln, or President

3.     Create a timeline of a President's life.

4.     Write letters to the President

5.     Have students create Presidential Trading Cards

6.     Produce commercials to earn votes for their President being elected Best President Ever.

7.     Create biographical Glogs on Presidents

8.     Compare/Contrast to our current President

9.     Brief description of how the President is elected from Enchanted Learning

10. President's Day on Primary Games

11. President's Day Crossword Puzzle

12. President's Day Web Quest

Resources, Articles, and Videos

1.     Abraham Lincoln's On-Line Library

2.     Presidential Library and Museum

3.     White House .gov - Lincoln

4.     Biography.com - Lincoln

5.     Miller Center - Abraham Lincoln

6.     The History Place

7.     Spartacus Educational

8.     Lincoln's Assassination 

9.     BrainPop jr.

10. A great site created by Mrs. Payton's Class

Please post a comment below if you have a site or lesson idea to share for teaching these concepts.  I would love your input!

12-16-2011 Boston Tea Party Occurred 1773

THE BOSTON TEA PARTY

History:

This Day in History - http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-boston-tea-party

The Boston Tea Party Historical Society - http://www.boston-tea-party.org/facts-numbers.html

Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum - http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/boston-tea-party-dec-1773 

Eye Witness to History - http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm

The Tea Act and Parties - http://www.ushistory.org/us/9f.asp

Voices of the American Revolution Thinkquest - http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312848/timeline.htm

Brainpop - http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/americanrevolution/preview.weml

Public Protests Around the World - Today would be a great day to talk about current events and the history of people protesting peacefully.

Games:

Trivia Quiz - http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz119808db9508.html

Jigsaw Puzzle - http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/boston_tea_party-js.htm 

Have Fun With History - http://havefunwithhistory.com/activities/btp.html

Liberty: The American Revolution - http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/ 

Boston Tea Party Escape - http://www.gazzyboy.com/gamedisp/542/bostonteapartyescape.htm

Lessons:

American Revolution Lessons and Activities - http://www.proteacher.com/redirect.php?goto=4631

My Brother Sam is Dead - http://mybrothersamisdead.historyofredding.com/

Political Cartoons:

http://www.history.org/History/teaching/images/tchcrpc1.jpg

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/british/images/vc38.jpg

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/images/tarfeather.jpg

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/images/icons/joinordie.jpg

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/themes/political-cartoons/

Comic Creators:

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/index.html

http://chogger.com/

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

http://stripgenerator.com/strip/create/

12-15-2011 Today is Bill of Rights Day

Civics for ESL Students offers some great resources to get started - http://www.elcivics.com/bill-of-rights-esl.html
The National Constitution Center invites students on a mission to rebuild the Bill of Rights - http://constitutioncenter.org/BillOfRightsGame/Final.swf
The Bill of Rights Institute shows students what life would be like without the Bill of Rights - http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/page.aspx?pid=492 The same site also offers plenty of resources for teachers - http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/page.aspx?pid=598
Students can play a Bill of Rights Match Game - http://www.texaslre.org/BOR/billofrights.html
From the Annenberg Classroom,  as students play this game, they will discover surprising facts about the stroy behind the Bill of Rights and gain a clearer understanding of these important amendments.http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/the-bill-of-rights-game
Your Bill of Rights from Time gives a great break down of each of the first 10 Amendments - http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2080345,00.html

11-18-2011 Not the Same Old Social Studies Text

SS Text Book Sites that offer 

a plethora of information and activities!

a.      Pearson Ancient Civilizations Home Page - http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?wcprefix=mwk&wcsuffix=9999&area=view

b.      Pearson America History of Our Nation - http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.gotoWebCode
&wcprefix=lqk&wcsuffix=9999

c.       http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/arbiter/pRedirect?project=hrwonline&siteId=2901&pageId=15995 – Holt Ancient Civ.

d.      http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/arbiter/pRedirect?project=hrwonline&siteId=2901&pageId=15996 – Holt World History

e.      http://www.kidspast.com/world-history/index.php - Kids Past - Prehistory to French Revolution

f.        http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.gotoWebCode&wcprefix=nak&wcsuffix=9999 – Prentice Hall World History

g.      http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/ - BBC Primary History

h.      http://www.glencoe.com/sites/ss_modules/videos/tavmt_08/tavmt_08.html - American Vision, Modern Times

i.        http://www.glencoe.com/sites/california/student/socialstudies/index.html – Glencoe MS SS

j.        http://www.phschool.com/social_studies/ - Pearson Textbook resources

k.       http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior:Ancient_Civilizations – Links to info on ancient peoples, writing on a lower reading level.

11-8-2011 SS Virtual Field Trips and More

1.      Social Studies:

a.      Lewis and Clark’s Journey - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/journey_intro.html

b.      SS VFTs - http://www.calvertnet.k12.md.us/departments/instruction/socialstudies/virtfieldtrip.asp?THEBIGDEALBOOK=634115225043591250

c.       CyArk Heritage sites - http://archive.cyark.org/project-world 

d.      Resources on protests through history from Larry Ferlazzo - http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2011/02/06/the-bests-for-learning-about-protests-in-history/

e.      Hunt for the Noor Stone - http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/wham-bam-islam/game.html

f.        UNESCO places map – discover more than 900 beautiful places to see. - http://unescoplaces.org/features

g.      Sail aboard the Titanic as one of 5 passengers on that fateful trip - http://www.discovery.com/guides/history/titanic/Titanic/titanic.html

h.      Practice world geography with Geosense - http://www.geosense.net/

i.        Explore Europe’s cultural collections - http://www.europeana.eu/portal/