UNORef10

This website from the Immigration History Research Center and the University of Minnesota has collections of digitized letters written by immigrants and to immigrants. It contains original images of the letters as well as translations, since most letters are in languages other than English. This website allows students a first person perspective of the challenges faced by immigrants to the U.S.

This PBS site has a ton of information about the Holocaust teachers can use to create lessons about the Holocaust.

This website is a database devoted to historical spoken-word materials. The search engine is still underdevelopment but there is a "galleries" link to find resources. This is an amazing site for students to explore and hear the actual words spoken by historical figures they read about in textbooks. Historical Voice is supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A project of Emory University, this website contains database information for slave ship voyages across the Atlantic. It has tables, timelines, essays, maps and images related to the slave trade plus an African names database. There is a section with lesson plans for middle/high school level students and additional web resources. This website humanizes the transportation history of slavery in the Americas.

Discover the world of musical instruments of the orchestra. Animated with bright colors and designed specifically for kids. Listen to each instrument's sound and learn details about each one. Visit the Music Lab to learn music theory, perform and compose your own music.Great for any music teacher to use as well as any classsroom teacher or students to compose music to incorporate into a project or lesson. I used to teach piano lessons and I absolutely fell in love this with this website.

This gov doc focuses on the experiences of two families as they settled on the Nebraska prairie between 1886 and 1912. Through primary source letters and photographs it documents the joys and challenges of homesteading in Nebraska.

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.

This website is for kid's weather research. There is a breath-taking photo gallery along with a video gallery, games and activities, Science Fair project ideas, a picture of the day and cool facts. My 10 year old daughter was simply fascinated at the photographs! This could definitly supplement the second grade weather unit in Lincoln.

This collaboration between NASA and NOAA provides educators and children (K-12) resources (

This site gives complete explanations on some commonly asked questions about weather. It includes video, images, and experiments. Great site for kids to use when doing research.

Thousands of narrative excerpts giving first person accounts of slavery and the individuals it affected. These are accounts of the cruelty and plantation life. There are also hundreds of photos of former slaves.

This site contains narratives of past slaves that were created in the late 1930's. This site, which is a part of the Library of Congress, provides excellent primary sources that respresent a group of people whose voice was often not heard. Teachers and students could use this site when studying the Civil War and slavery, the Civil Rights movement, writing using dialect, to partner with an historical fiction novel that touches on the subject of slavery, and more.

The official kid's portal for the U.S. Government. Countless of varieties of sites and links to choose from. Wow! What a tremendous wealth of free, fun and fabulous information. To top it off. a search box is included. This site is definitely one for all kids to use for research of all kinds as well as teachers to search and utilize.

Kids.gov links over 2,000 web pages for kids. There are sites from government agencies, schools, and educational organizations, all geared to the learning level and interest of kids.

The site has separate areas for grades K-5, 6-8 and educators. Links to many school subjects. Fun stuff lists activities on many government web sites-NGA, NASA, NOAA, Smithsonian. Links to state government web sites for kids.

Great site for environmental topics for kids. Interactive activities and a career exploration tab for information on varied environmental jobs.

This site offers many primary sources and documents from the Holocaust. It also provides teacher resources teachers can use to teach their classes about the Holocaust.

This site has information on tribes from the United States, primary sources. and lesson plans teachers can use when teaching about the Native Americans.

This site is a large collection of documents relating to the Presidency. There are documents such as election debates, party platforms, Inaugural Addresses, and press conferences.  This would be a great site for a history teacher or for a language arts teacher who might be teaching how speeches are constructed or given.  

The WorldWildlifeFund has long been a reliable and strong force in global efforts to protect some of our worlds most vulnerable animals. Though the site solicits donations, the articles on animals and facts about endangerment are great resources for students doing animal research. Beautiful photos and facts.

This site contains original works of poetry from 19th century American authors, including John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and James Whitcomb Riley. It may be useful in American Literature classes if the student is seeking examples of a poet's work different from the standard poems found in anthologies and textbooks.

This patent drawing by Eli Whitney for his cotton gin could be used at the elementary level when taking about the impact of Whitney's invention, or at the senior high level when discussing patent applications.

This site has almost anything one would want having to do with the United States government. It is one of the most extensive sites relating to the U.S. government. It has information for students as low as kindergarten and as high as seniors. It seems rare to find a site that truely covers this range of ages as well as this one does. For the elementary teacher and the high school history teacher this will be a helpful site to use.

Though sponsored by Random House publishers, this site has a lot of primary source information on popular middle school author Gary Paulsen. Live video clip interviews, biographical information, book list, and synopsis of selected books too. If your Language Arts students are doing author letters or research, this is one site to access for some facts about Paulsen.

This site is a wonderful one for studying women in history. It details everywhere around the world. It is not just about the United States, but all around the world. It does not just talk about the queens and leaders but other women who were important to history such as the leaders in getting women the right to vote in the United States. It covers all areas of the world.