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This site uses resources housed by the New York State Library. It is a lesson plan using newspaper articles from two New York newspapers from the late 1800s. The lesson plan includes the documents as well as activities using them. In addition to being a useful lesson plan for the Gilded Age and labor movements, it also serves a model for those wondering how to set up a unit using primary documents.

This site is a WEALTH of information on the history of the United States. It includes letters, documents, photos, audio and video that are all in the public domain (and there fore also legal to use) since they are all owned by the U.S. government. Using the search box will yield many results. My favorite search on this site is to find primary sources about the great depression. A search tip: be sure to click "gallery view" when you look at your search results. It helps you know what type of source you are looking at.

search: Oregon Trail first person accounts and maps that help to explain trails and settlements Lincoln Public - grade 4 - Social Studies * Major rivers and terrain determined trail paths and settlement sites * Motivation varied (Oregon = land, California = gold, Mormon = religious freedom)

There are some great sites at this source. Their topics run from Women's history to Native American history. There are even maps. This would be a big help for upper elementary to 12th grade.

This site would be useful in the American Literature classroom because there is a ton of information on various literature. Students could find information about early American Literature, women authors, as well as poetry. I have actually used Paul Reuben's site (which is included in a link on this page) for my American Literature classes. There's a lot of background information teachers can use to help instruct students on the literature (criticism, interpretations, etc).

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.

Site includes maps, pictures, thematic packets for teachers and more. Teachers are able to navagate throughout the site to access all aspects of history. Site also provides sources for professional training and outside resources. Site provides training on how to use primary sources.

Library of Congress Teachers Page, with links to using primary sources, etc. The LOC has created "Themed Resources" that include specific, common topics into easy to use sets. The combined resources include grouped primary source sets, lessson plans, exhibitions, etc. Love IT! Also provides user with pre-made LOC professional development sessions called "Teaching with Primary Sources."

Facts about states presented in kid friendly format, information is up-to-date, would be a nice companion piece for states research done in fourth grade. Consider pulling data from this site to use in making charts and graphs (fifth grade). Lincoln Public Schools - social studies - U.S. Regions - grade 4 * Regions are composed of states with capitals * Each region has unique characteristics: geography, climate, food sources; plants and animals; people and culture, landmarks

This site, sponsored by the US Census Bureau, introduces elementary students to basic information gathered in the US Census. The student clicks on a state and is given information about that specific state, including population, age of residents, the number of households, and the urban and rural populations. Information is offered for the 1990 and 2000 census, so students can compare figures.

Great site to build skills in math. This tool is easy to access and have kids use. It is easy to show skills such as probability and graphing.

National Center for Education Statistics Dare to Compare allows students to check what they know about subjects (social studies, math, science) compared with other US and international students from a 600+ question database. The "Create A Graph" page is a useful interactive tool for teaching ways to communicate statistics.

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.

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.

Kathy Schrock provides information about using primary and secondary sources to make them easier to find and use with students. The wide assortment of subjects are grouped into easy to navigate categories to easily find a resource/link. Connections to Lewis and Clark would be a great resource for 4th grade.

Another fun game to play to learn the states and where they are located. I would use this site in Social Studies to study the states and where they are located.

This site is a great place to learn the states and their location in the U.S. I will use this with the 5th graders I tutor and pass it on to their teachers as well.

This site has a lot of activities that can be used in the classroom while using the SmartBoard. The activities are grouped by the content area they would support.

A fantastic site that has interactive videos and a written history of the Apollo missions. This site could be used in science with the study of rockets, planets, the moon, etc. It could also be used during History class with the study of the cold war and the space race.

On a note of local interest for all OPS teachers, the Media Technology Center Library and the Joslyn Art Museum have worked together to provide classroom access to these historical, informational traveling exhibits. From Douglas County History to Native American History, call 557-2500 and have the trunks delivered to your classrooms to use for two full weeks. I work in this department one day a week -- and was totally thrilled to be introduced to these marvelous sets of get-your-hands-on primary sources. They can be used in primary grades through high school.

This seems to be a good site for U.S. history. It separates lessons by ERA. It incluseds worksheets for each ERA as well as documents which are related to the ERA. There are pictures from each of the ERAS and various teaching activities. I would use this site for the 9-12 grade student with the possibility of use with middle school students.

This site uses primary images along with videos about topics like the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. Having videos of individual's remembering these specific historical events related to Nebraska history from would be a powerful resource for students. This would be a great resource to use along with other primary documents.

This site has an abundance of information related to most classroom uses. It has information on English, math, science, geography, history, art etc. There are short power points to show to students, worksheets and many other ways to use this site. It will be helpful to teacher in more than one area.

This site describes how and why the US census is taken. It includes state and US facts as well as quizzes for kids to take. This site would fit well into 4th or 5th grade social studies units, but I think 3rd graders might enjoy it too.

A richly interactive site where visitors can design and create varied genres of art. A virtual tour through the NGA has an accompanying guide in 5 languages. Extensive information on artists from all eras. Lots of activities at the teacher's site. A good instructional site. Grades 3-12.

This art site allows children to explore American Folk art, landscapes, abstract art, still life, and digital photography. Children are able to manipulate art to create their own pieces. Students can also create a tropical jungle. There are additional online resources for teachers, as well as a link to exhibits from the National Art Gallery.

This page contains several art activities for children, including interactive art programs that allow students to create portraits or still life pictures. There is a link that allows students to search for specific artists or works. This site would be a good resource for art teachers, but English teachers could also use it to find different works of art that appeal to kids and could be used for descriptive writing assignments.

This is one example of a lesson created using primary source docs and the organizational tools provided by docsteach. It was accessed from the National Archives website as a means to organize the data gathered there. I would use this idea as a springboard for fourth grade westward expansion activities.