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Ben's guide is a gov doc that teaches about the US government. I accessed the section for 3-5 grades. This included information about historical documents, branches of the government and the election process. There is a glossary of terms and a list of other government websites. It is "narrated" by Ben Franklin

Resource to learn more about branches of government and the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Lincoln Public Schools - Social studies - 5th grade * The Constitution became and is still the supreme law of the land * The Constitution established separation of powers between the branches of government * The Bill of Rights was added to protect individual freedoms (for some people)

This site is full of information that can be used to teach about the Constitution on Constitution Day, or any day when referring to the U.S. Constitution. There are lesson plans that can be used and other valuable ideas to help students learn about this important document.

This gov doc outlines the Charters of Freedom, the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. It describes the process leading up the the document and the impacts of the documents once they became law.

This site contains a wealth of resources for teachers. They have primary source sets that include teacher resource booklets and lesson plans. One of the sets I found useful was one on the Constitution that included newspaper articles and original documents that trace the drafting and adoption of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. This set would be useful for all grade levels for Constitution day materials in September. There was also an interesting primary source set on Thanksgiving that had paintings and photographs showing historical perspectives on American Thanksgiving traditions.

While the Library of Congress website is vast, I found the Classroom Resources section under the Teachers heading to be beneficial for my current position as a third grade classroom teacher; although many of the items I saw could be used at any elementary grade level. I found the Primary Sources by State and Immigration Challenges to be beneficial to my current unit in my district's SS program. The Thanksgiving link would be interesting for the students to see and discover things they didn't know before celebrating this holiday. I'll definitely use this site with my students, because it goes so well with what we're studying. Plus, it creates a more 'real' experience than their textbook allows.

The National Archives' digital classroom for using primary sources. Activities and training for students and teachers. Link to another site for using primary sources, Docs Teach.

The exhibits on this site were awesome! From the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence to the Deadly Influenza Virus or Electing a President and Democracy; these were just a few among many that met indicators on my specific grade level, so I'm sure others would work for different elementary grades. My favorite part was the Eyewitness exhibit. It has links to all important moments in US History and has video, songs, and voice recordings to bring students into that very moment in time.

This is the home page of the USA executive branch of government. Use this page to link to biographical data on the leaders, The White House 101 (site for kids), The White House Blog, policies & issues, the constitution, executive/legislative/judicial branches.

To find original historical documents this is the site to visit. It contains the most famous Bill of Rights and US Constitution as well as famous letters such as one written by Elvis to President Nixon and speeches like the WWII Infamy speech given by FDR. Students viewing these actual documents will help bring reality to the people and events in history.

This website is another portal with many links that are organized very well. This website has 2 links that I would use most often and they are the Ben's Guide to the Government link, which is a very kid-friendly website that talks about the U.S. government, and it has a link to primary early government documents like the Constitution and Bill of Rights, etc. This site may not be as useful in the elementary grades as it would in high school, but the links I mentioned above would be good for 5th and 6th grade students.

This site is a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office has hundreds of U.S governmental documents sorted into the following categories: cornerstone documents, Congressional, presidential, judicial, regulatory, demographic, economic and miscellaneous. This site would be great for social studies students who are studying U.S. history, or those who are comparing our government to other countries.

This website has a list of the "cornerstone documents" from our government. Many of these documents like the Bill of Rights, Constitution, and declaration of independence are the documents our country's laws were founded on. Very easy for students to access the most important documents.

From the Government Printing office... a fabulous and most interesting collection of links to primary and "Core" government documents -- the Declaration of Independence, Presidential Papers, Supreme Court decisions, and more! Great basic resource to help you "GET TO THE SOURCE!"