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.

This site includes government documents maintained by the U.S. Department of State about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of independent states, some dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty around the world. These documents are part of the Diplomacy in Action webpage maintained by the U.S. Department of State. If you search out other links on this site, you will find a vast resource of information about countries around the world.

The Smithsonian has webpages for students, families, and teachers. The student site has primary sources in the format of pictures and video footage. They are called IdeaLabs on this site. The IdealLab I found interesting was the Walk on the Moon. It included a video footage from the Apollo landing on the moon and President Kennedy's address to the nation.

This site from the Library of Congress provides a vast collection of primary sources for educators. I like the way the site is organized so you can browse the collections by topic. One of the collection highlights is the Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Abraham Lincoln. This is a collection of more than 11,100 items donated to the Library of Congress in 1953. This collections includes Lincoln's life, Presidency, slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Primary sources available from the Lincoln era include newspapers, Lincoln's law papers, sheet music, broadsides, prints, cartoons, maps, drawings, letters, and campaign tickets.

This site may be a valuable resource for information related to United Nations day held on October 24th. The Office of the Historian is found on the U.S. Department of state website. It has historical government documents, information on key milestones in history, and important biographical information on all Secretary of State officeholders in U.S. history. On the site, a link will take you to a guide to all countries that provides historical reference information on all aspects of the United States' relations with the countries of the world dating back to 1776 to the present time.

The World Factbook was produced for U.S. policy makers. The information is fairly easy to read and comprehend, therefore, students can use the documents, especially on the middle and secondary level. The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities. The government documents they have are maps of the major world regions, Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.

The NOAA is the oldest scientific agency in the U.S. The National Weather Service that we know today dates back to 1870. Government documents on this site include meteorological and climate data from all states, maps, and images. The online NOAA Photo Library on this site has over 32,000 images, including hundreds of images of our shores and coastal seas, and thousands of marine species images ranging from the great whales to plankton. This is the homepage to access all of NOAA information and links, but there is an educational outreach link that would lead teachers and students to other valuable webpages sponsored by NOAA.

This website provides a wealth of primary resources for students doing research on Astronomy topics. The student website has the research tools divided by grade levels. There are stories, image galleries, and video footage that allow students to explore space science.

The MedlinePlus website would be very valuable for students in middle and high school grades doing research about diseases and health related topics. MedlinePlus provides health information and documents from the world's largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus is updated daily and has current reliable information on over 800 diseases and conditions. I especially found interesting the video footage of numerous actual surgeries narrated by doctors to treat major medical conditions.

NOAA has primary resource collections on the Gulf oil spill, hurricanes, El Nino, tides and sea turtles. I really like the way they feature current topics of importance in the news right now. This would be a great way to teach media literacy to our students. They also have a feature activity section called "Data in the Classroom" where students can make real world connections with real data related to El Nino, sea level, and water quality.

This website focuses on the study of geology, geography, our natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten us. I believe this site is best suited for secondary level students. Government documents include photos, maps, news releases, and videos about all topics in the earth science area. I especially found the "Science In Your Backyard" tab on the right margin interesting. You select a state and a link will allow you to access real time data, statistics, and new releases related to geology and natural resources in that state.