Social Studies Lessons

Lesson Plans For A Variety Of Social Studies Topics

Search for Lesson Plans,Set II. Search by grade level a database for a wealth of social studies lesson plans and activities.

K-12 Lesson Plans on Japan. More than one dozen lesson plans suitable for K-6.

Teachers Helping Teachers: Social Studies. A collection of social studies lesson plans where teachers share and exchange their ideas and activities.

Thematic Lesson Plans. Scroll past the section "Search Activities Database" until you reach a list of activities organized by theme. Includes lesson plans and activities such as Family and World Outside My Door.

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Teaching Strategies For Social Studies

Activities:History as Story. U.S. Department of Education's activities and ideas to enliven the teaching of history.

Activities:History as Time. U.S. Department of Education's activities and ideas to make the teaching of past events in history more exciting.

The American President. Click on the "Enter White House" button to take a tour. During your tour of the White House, you can vote in an "Online Poll", participate in a "Press Conference", complete a self-correcting "Crossword Puzzle", and take a "Constitution Quiz" with answers given. Try to find the hidden "White House keycard" so that you can enter the "Situation Room".

George Washington Project. Historically accurate information, including poems, prose, paintings, and a picture of George Washington for kids to color. You are invited to write three words describing our first President, submit them, and see what others wrote.

Things Latino. Bilingual links to Chicano and Latin American centers and resources.

Kids Did This: Hotlist: History. Examples of kids' work in social studies.

American Thanksgiving on the Internet. A variety of activities, historical documents, and pictures for teaching about Thanksgiving.

Civnet. Includes a wealth of information for civics teaching in grades 5-12. The link "Civics Teaching Resource Library" contains useful resources and activities for teaching about the U.S. Constitution and government.

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Ideas And Activities For Teaching Geography

Helping Your Child Learn Geography. U.S. Department of Education's activities and ideas for teaching geography.

What Do Maps Show. Contains a poster and four detailed lesson plans for teaching about maps for grades 5-8.

The GeoNet Game:United States. To start the game, click on the "United States" or the "Northeast". All of the questions for each game will be about one country or region. You'll have two hours to complete the game. Click on "End Game" when you're done to see if you have become a GeoAdvisor, a GeoExpert, or a GeoChampion.

A Color Landform Atlas of United States. Click on a state to find loads of geographical information about it.

Virtual Tourist II. Obtain all sorts of useful information about any city or region worldwide that you would like to visit.

World Flags. Brief information about countries and a collection of flags worldwide.

European Home Page. Click on a flag to visit an European country. For a tour of some famous European cities, go to "Beautiful Cultural European".

PCL MAP Collection. A large library of electronic maps including 300 U.S. maps.

Ardmadillo's Resources for Geography. Links to many geographical references around the world.

GeoSense. Test your knowledge of world geography alone or against another online player. No ads or fees.

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Other Resources For Teaching Social Studies

The Creative Connections Project links classrooms from around the world through E-mail, the Internet, art/music exchanges and Study Partnerships -- with components in the Amazon Rain Forest, Africa, the Galapagos Islands, the Arctic and China. Over 740 classes have participated since 1999.

History Channel's "This Day in History". Highlights important historical events ocurring on this day. Scroll just below "Today's News From Yesterday's Past", enter a month and a day, and then click on "Submit Query" to find famous people born and newsworthy events on this day.

Cinco de Mayo. Celebrates victory of Mexican forces over the French in the 19th century.

Black History. Information on interesting dates, events, and people in Black History.

Social Studies Resources. A collection of sites for teaching social studies.

Distinguished Women of Past and Present. Brief biographies of women from a variety of fields.

Women's Resources on the Web. A catalog of various sites about and by women.

Social Studies Internet Directory. A listing of social studies resources that are available on the Internet.

U.S. Treasury Department. Includes a history of paper money, how new bills are created, and counterfeiting among its many topics.

CIA Publications. Six references on all the countries around the world.

Social Studies School Service. One of the leading suppliers of commerical social studies materials and resources for teachers.

New England College EdLinks. EdLinks is a resource for pre-service teachers and other educators. It includes annotated links to educational web sites containing lesson plans, curriculum resource materials, teaching tools, assessment strategies, publications, publishers and vendors of educational materials, as well as state and national standards and frameworks.

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Multimedia Resources For Social Studies

The White House. Tour the White House and email President Clinton a message.

United Nations. Loads of resources about the U.N.

Native American Indian. A collection of resources such as history, culture, and many others.

African Studies. Provides detailed information for each African country.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Home Page. Contains links to resources for the King papers and other related links.

American Studies Web. A comprehensive collection of Internet resources for teaching and learning about muticulturalism and diversity in American society.

American History: from Revolution to Reconstruction. Covers American history from colonial times to World War I with text, photos, and resources.

Library of Congress' Collection of Civil War Photographs. Contains photos and references to the American Civil War period.

Social Studies Resources. Contains a variety of resources including world flags, documents on Benjamin Franklin, U.S. House and Senate information.

Social Studies Web Sites for K-12 Teachers. Provides a general collection of web sites useful to teachers.

Speeches of the U.S. Presidents Listen to RealAudio clips of speeches of U.S. Presidents from Grover Cleveland to Bill Clinton. You can download a free RealAudio Player from this site.

History Happens. Stories from American history video.

World War I Document Archives. Presents primary documents arranged by year concerning the Great War: Pre-1914 through Post-1918.

FAMOUS HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

Documents: Set II Contains famous documents, including the Magna Carta and Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

Yahoo News. Index of hot links to news sources.

CNN Multimedia Resources. Daily lesson plans for CNN'S TV newsprogram for kids. Tape programs (1:30 A.M.-2:00 A.M) while you sleep.

Discovery Channel. Current program listings and lesson ideas from the Discovery Channel . Requires Netscape.

The History Channel. Current program listings, accompanying lesson plans, and a weekly kid's quiz from the The History Channel.

PBS. Ideas for using educational television programs in teaching social studies.

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Online Resources For The Ancient World

Mystery of Maya. Information and pictures about the Mayan civilization including related links.

Maya Civilization. Various links to sites about Mayan culture, language, math, and other resources.

Exploring Ancient World Cultures. Explores eight cultures from the Near East to Medieval Europe.

Archaelogy for Kids. An online discussion showing the work of archaelogists.

Ancient City of Athens. A photo tour of the historical moments of ancient Athens.

Roman Archives. An alphabetical index for you to learn all about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.

Ancient Civilizations. Visit these ancient places shown on a world map located over four continents.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Can you name any of these seven Wonders? Presents a pictorial history about them.

Egypt Page from Penn's African Studies. A collection of sites covering ancient Egypt.

The University of Memphis Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology. Links to an exhibit of Egyptian artifacts and a color tour of Egypt.

Name in Hieroglyphics. Enter your name as you would pronounce it and see it in Egyptian hieroglphics.

Digital Mummies. Presents photo recreations of famous Egyptian pharaohs (mummies) including a link where you can create your own ideal mummy.

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Online Museums And Exhibits For Social Studies

Library of Congress Home Page. Contains lists of exhibits, events, and tells you how to find information in the Library of Congress.

1492: An Ongoing Voyage. A Library of Congress exhibit of photos and discussions about Columbus' discovery of America.

Vatican Exhibit. An exhibit of the Library of Congress.

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Includes a teacher's guide and related material for teaching about the Holocaust.

Slave Voices. An illustrated exhibit from the Perkins Library of Duke University that examines the lives of American slaves from the late 18th to the 19th century .Includes displays about the slave trade, plantation life, work of the slaves, and the problem of freedom after slavery was abolished.

Maya Adventure. Online exhibits of the major Mayan ruins, including classroom activities and photos.

The Smithsonian Institute. An exhaustive collection of museums and exhibits.

Benjamin Franklin; Glimpses of the Man. Franklin Institute's online exhibit of the multi-talented Ben Franklin.

George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens. Features a Visitor's Guide, Library and Collections, Tour, Educational Resources and Archeology at Mount Vernon.

Monticello: The Home of Thomas Jefferson. Follow Jefferson through his day or browse a clickable index to find information on a variety of matters relating to the third President of the United States.

Abraham Lincoln Online. Historic Lincoln sites, resources and pictures, speeches and writings, and a Lincoln Quiz of the Month. You can also add your views to an online discussion.

Social Science Museums. Visit three museums to learn more about social studies.

Old Sturbridge Village. Visit this site and soak up New England rural history of the1830's.

A Walking Tour of Plimoth Plantation. A virtual tour of the first permanent European settlement in southern New England, including pictures and descriptions of how these settlers lived 1n 1620.

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Major Social Studies Education Organizations

NCCS Online. The National Council for Social Studies is the leading professional organization for improving the teaching of social studies education at all grade levels.

National Clearinghouse for U.S.-Japan Studies. This national clearinghouse provides educational information, lesson plans, and other resources for the teaching about Japan.

ERIC/ChESS Clearinghouse. This national clearinghouse provides educational information, research, and materials for the teaching of social studies/social sciences.