This site archives early American documents, including the Declaration, Constitution, the first annual almanac, and maps. The part I like the best is a section called "How to Read a 200 Year Document." It has all kinds of frequently asked questions, such as why "s" looks like "f" in old documents. These could be really helpful for not only teachers, but students who are not used to the 17th century language.

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.

This site features 100 documents from American history from 1776 to 1965. The list includes public laws, Supreme Court decisions, inaugural speeches, treaties, constitutional amendments, and others. They were chosen because of their role in shaping our country. I would use this site with 5th graders learning American history, but it could also be useful for middle or high schoolers. I like that they have narrowed down the documents to only those that were most influential.

This site provides recordings from important figures in American history. Most are from 1899-1945, and deal mainly with World War II. This would be a wonderful resource for anyone studying this era of history, especially for auditory learners. Other parts of the site share written primary source documents and photographs as well.

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This website is set up so you can click on a picture of a historical document, event, or landmark, and it pulls all kinds of related articles, in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement. The main document is in the center of the screen, with everything else surrounding it. It is totally visual, and would be great for middle school to high school students.

This is an "online museum of historic newspapers" and other historical documents. It provides users a chance to peruse documents dating back to the 15th century. It includes eyewitness accounts, letters, government documents, and of course, newspapers. This would be a great resource for any upper elementary through high school student studying any part of American history.

This would be a great resource for high school students studying American history. It is a program that is putting secret recordings from presidential meetings online for public access. They are from 1940-1973, and could be useful for students doing projects on any president or historical event during that time.

This is a website created by the U.S. Energy Information Administration to educate kids on anything and everything having to do with energy and electricity. It would be a great resource for the sixth grade energy unit. It has a teacher section with activities for classrooms as well.

This site, created by the Smithsonian museums, offers information and activities on a variety of topics in history, science, and the arts. It has activities for teachers to do with their class as well as ones students can do on their own.