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America's Story provides a great overview of American History in a simplified, easy-to-read manner.  The site is divided into five sections for easy navigation and to help users be able to identify what they need.  Students could use the See, Hear, and Sing section to understand the history of cartoons, children's songs, and various voice recordings.  The audio clips that are provided are directly from the Library of Congress and provide authentic learning experiences for students in second grade through 5th grade.

This site is a collection of songs from early American History, including the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and westward expansion after the war. This would be useful for a unit on any of those eras, especially for a music teacher, however it could be used by a classroom teacher or school librarian as well. I think listening to music from the past really helps students get a better feel for what it was like then. They may be able to picture that time and place in their mind a little clearer while listening to music they would have heard then.

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. 

This site is interactive with options to research famous Americans, learn about events in the past, learn about the different states, and even listen to old songs and video clips. I watched a video of a gymnastic routine in 1894. They called it "Early Break Dancing". This site has appealing visuals and is easy to maneuver. There are also questions that engage the learner. I think this would be a fun site for students.

The Library of Congress: America's Story from America's Library is designed to allow students to have fun with history while learning at the same time. The site provides five specific categories that allow the user to search by people, era, American pastimes and celebrations, and music and entertainment. The site promotes learning through games, trivia questions, true/false quizzes, and links that spark curiosity. It is easy to navigate and designed for all level of learners in elementary school.

I LOVE this website for my younger students - and older kids can have fun with it also. It is bright and active - but has tons of information on American history that is a little off the beaten path.

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!

This is one part of the site, "History Matters," and it is all about helping students and teachers understand and make use of primary sources. There are all kinds of activities to help learn how to read and analyze letters, photographs, songs, cartoons, etc. On other parts of the site, you can find primary sources documenting American past.

This website provides different audio clips year by year from the 20th century. The clips range from songs popular from a particular year to president's speeches. The site pairs the headlines of the year with audio. This website would be great for a look at history or a comparison of music over the years.