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This website's main focus is centered on the history and culture of California and the role it played in national and world history. Calisphere includes photographs, diaries, recorded oral history, cultural artifacts, documents, etc. I feel this is a great resource, even for teachers not living in California, because of the variety of information presented and the prevalence of primary and secondary sources of our nation's history. 

This website has many different topics.  I like that they include topics like assembly lines and other important pieces of history that are not always featured on other sites.  Most topics that I look at included many images which students will love.

This website allows students to search images and information related to a theme, such as the Civil Rights Movement, or of a specific subject, such as Rosa Parks.

This site is a department of the Library Congress that consists of online collections, virtual exhibits, and webcasts of American history and culture. This would be a great resource for students to explore America's past. 

I have this site on my school webpage. It is full of biographical, historical, and primary source documents from the Library of Congress. It is a great all-purpose research tool for students.

Great site for government class at all levels. The text and history of the documents make it an in depth study of whatever topic is picked. Our American Government teachers could make use of this site for serious sources and for preparing trivia follow up. Lots of possibilities with this site.

This website can be used for students of all ages. Information is grouped by grade levels, and aligns with many standards. Students can learn about citizenship, our rights, branches of government, historical documents, among many other government related topics.

This website offers a variety of primary source material from 18th Century America. Scenes and portraits from original newspapers, magazines, maps and writings are just as they appeared more than 250 years ago. Also a scrolling of "what happened on this day in early America" for upper elementary to 12th grade.

This site has lots of primary sources including pictures, maps, etc. that pertain to early America. This site would be great for teaching history.

This site is organized in a student-friendly format. The text is large, descriptions are concise, and the toolbar on the left side of the page helps students navigate easily. I love the inclusion of "Freedom Documents" as well as "Rare Images." The "Join or Die" propaganda from the "Rare Images" tab is also featured in our social studies text (students can make a text-to-media connection). "Pages from the Past" gives students a glimpse into colonial-era printing and publication. What an authentic experience!

Group of primary sources put together by the College of Education at the University of Florida.   Made for educators who value the use of primary sources in their classrooms.

This website, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, has a plethora of resources available to help parents and teachers looking for resources.  One of my favorite parts to use in the classroom was the section of videos from many different authors.  These would be great to use for an author study, lesson, or just to enhance a book the students enjoyed.

This is a collection of documents on law, history, and diplomacy. In World History we talk about many of these documents, so it would be interesting to have students read them and try to imagine how it felt to be a part of that event or history. For example, students can read the Balfour declaration to decide how Jews might react to it, and how Palestinians might react to it.

This site provides digital copies of historical documents which can be searched by century or by topic. The Avalon Projects collects records in the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government. Records include information from the ancient civilizations to the 21st century.

I love this website for its primary sources and because they are listed by time period. It makes narrowing down a subject or selecting a time period easier for students. It also allows students to browse through different time periods if they aren't sure what topic they want to research.

This Bureau of Labor Statistics page provides information on different occupations based on national numbers, regional, state, and a number of different metropolitan areas. There are also a number of links to other related sites that can be accessed regarding employment trends.

This site provides statistical data that can be used in preparing research papers as well as for students looking at careers based on geographic location as a source for determining their career future.

Ellis Island is an extremely important part of American History because our nation is founded on immigrants.  This site allows users to search the Ellis Island records for people who entered the country and discover more information about our own families.  Genealogy is something that isn't discussed much with students, but it is imperative for students to know our history.  Because we are a nation if immigrants, we all have relations to other countries and making that connection can be very important.  I would love to see high schoolers use this site to help investigate family origins.  Even if there were no connections to Ellis Island, they could choose from the list of more famous people to arrive.  The original documents that are captured on this site are a definite piece of our history that is worth investigating and sharing with others.

"Advance freedom for the benefit of the American people and the international community by helping to build and sustain a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world composed of well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty, and act responsibly within the international system." --From the FY 2010 Agency Financial Report, released November 2010

The Library of Congress website is an outstanding resource for anyone looking for any kind of imformation. Its outstanding in giving you numerous engines to use without having to leave the comfort of your home or classroom. It's important for all educators to be aware of the amount of useful primary sources and information that can befound throughout the website.

This is from the Library of Congress's main page. It is a collection of historical newspapers from 1836-1922. It would be a great source of information on what else was going on during main events, such as the civil war. It would also be a great way to show people reacted to events during that time period.

Even though this is not an American affiliated site, the British Library has excellent resources for educators.  I enjoyed the variety of tools and resources it had to offer.  One particular area that I enjoyed exploring was their "Timelines: Sources from History" that allows you to explore collection items from ancient civilizations to the present day.  There was also this one section pertaining to a century of children's songs, rhymes and games, which presented children's culture in Britain over the years. I found this to be very intriguing because I did not expect to see a special area designated only for children's games of the past. In addition to explaining these games there were also curriculum links highlighting drama, history, art, citizenship, etc. 

The Smithsonian Collections has a vast collection of objects, documents, photos, etc. ranging from ancient civilizations to current historical events. According to the Smithsonian website there are "7.4 million digital records available online through the Collections Search Center." This site would be a great resource for students when searching for primary documents. 

The Smithsonian is the world's largest museum and research complex that provides materials for educators, students, and researchers and allows the user to make connections while providing a multitude of activities and instruction to learn from. This site allows its users to access a plethora of information from different tabs and links allowing its users to explore research centers, exhibitions, events, cultural programs, collections, museums and zoos through interactive tools, links, videos and websites. Smithsonian also provides a newsroom that feeds updates and information about the Smithsonian.

One of the greatest museums in the entire world. The website is great for middle school-high schools. It brings history to each and every person who accesses it. No longer do you have to travel so far to learn so much. It would be a great use to students looking for primary resouces.

Great website for elementary students about weather. Many activities to engage students as well as teachers.Stories and games make it a fun site to visit and learn at the same time. It also addresses one of the Nebraska State Standards for Science in 2nd grade. This primary site has a teacher guide for ideas to teach about many different kinds of weather related information.

This site has lots of information about weather. Students can learn about lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes,blizzards, and floods. There are links to safety, games, activities, stories, and more. One of the games is cloud concentration in which students click on cards to find matching clouds. The stories looked very interesting and were all about severe weather.

This site is fun, friendly and easy to navigate. Students can research a topic such as clouds. After students have read about the layers of the clouds they have the options of playing a related game or related activity that could be done in the classroom or at home. Students can learn what makes weather, do activities and learn to predict the weather.

I thought this was a good resources for documents dealing with the Holocaust. The online exhibitions are on many different topics and cover a lot of information. They include photographs, video, audio, maps, and transcripts of interviews. Each subject topic also has listing of related publications and websites for each subject. There is also a Holocaust Encyclopedia and a learning site for students specifically where you can browse different subject areas or by document type. One that I found interesting was browsing by ID cards where you can look at different individuals and it would give their photo and story and background information.

This is the history page for the local branch of the Weather Service. It has photos of the various locations throughout the area, both current and past. Then there are some links and information at the bottom of the page. This would be great for the fourth grade when they begin their tornado units in the Spring.

Through audio files, this website is a collection of speeches in United States History from various political figures and activists . These sources give a glimpse into events and viewpoints in our history such as the Civil Rights Movement or the Challenger's disastrous flight. Middle School students will be able to listen to what was really said by that individual and what it meant for that time period.

American Rhetoric allows students to take a step into the past and feel as though they are living in a particular time period. I can imagine a class closing their eyes and listening to the powerful words of JFK in his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, or the determination in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Transcripts of each speech are also available on the site, as well as photos that help the students visualize the speaker and the time period. Extremely motivating!

shmoop claims to "speak student."  I think this is a great site for kids who are trying to understand their topic of choice.  There are some primary source links embedded within the text of each subject.  The high interest topics of study makes this site usable for students doing research.

This is so amazing and moving. There are links to various types of artifacts concerning 9/11. There are audio recordings of people who have lost loved ones or who lived in the area and all types of things. I think this would be a great way to bring 9/11 alive for students. By listening to what life was like before and how it felt after 9/11.