Group items tagged

In April 1847, a group of pioneers left Omaha, Nebraska and headed west. Their group consisted of 147 men, three women, and two children. Their journey would cover more than 1,000 miles, and cross the Rocky Mountains. This small group would pave the way for more than 70,000 people to make the same journey. On Monday, April 5, 2010 you can start following the same journey as volunteers reenact the 1847 Pioneer Trek via Twitter. More info at http://twhistory.org/1847-pioneer-trek/. The TwHistory project began in early 2009 with the first Twitter reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg over a period of several weeks. Later that year a high school class reenacted the Cuban Missile Crisis. TwHistory is based on the idea that historical reenactments can take place online and have positive effects for all involved. In school settings these virtual reenactments can increase engagement while providing opportunities for students to research personal journals and other primary source documents. In order to organize, study, and preserve these online reenactments we have created http://TwHistory.org

" China is a majestic* country (note: links followed by * go to a dictionary definition) with a long and interesting history. If, like most people in the Occidental* world, you've never been to this fascinating land, you might want to take a brief tour. Go ahead and walk a few kilometers of The Great Wall or step foot into The Forbidden City or voyage to the Yellow Mountains. But beyond these tourist stops lives another, more complex, China. Currently, the people of China are experiencing great economic and social upheavals*. Such things as the situation in Tibet, Tiananmen Square massacre, and a scandal about treatment of orphans have brought some people to call for boycotts against China. Being faced with the task of understanding something as complex as a nation, you might want to give up. Sometimes in life you have that choice. But to give up trying to understand the China would mean giving up chances to benefit financially, to help people, to save some of the world's natural and artistic treasures, to protect the safety and security of millions of people, or to enlighten people's lives with greater religious insight. You see, you can't give up. So, if you're ready to begin, you might want to read a Travel Advisory before embarking* on our journey."

Recommended for grades 5-8, this site offers an interesting overview of states and Native American tribes. Students learn about states, rivers, mountains, regions, tribes and then practice locating these on maps with a timer.

"American Journeys contains more than 18,000 pages of eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from the sagas of Vikings in Canada in AD1000 to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later."

Based on a proposal by a school principal from Saratoga, NY, U.S. railways created the Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones, plus the Intercolonial time zone in Atlantic Canada. It was agreed upon by the railways in October 1883 that they would adopt Standard Railway Time, on Nov. 18, 1883.