Civics ResourcesNBC Cartoon Blog is a website for teachers that contains political cartoon from as far back as October of 2010. This is an important resource because students are exposed to political cartoons, and it is important for children to understand that it is a common mode of expressing political opinions. PBS Kids: The Democracy Project is a website that provides students with an interactive way to learn about American democracy. It also features information about the 2012 candidates, a voting booth with information about the voting process, an activity where students can create their own campaign poster, and finally a game in which students get to be president for a day. Anatomy of a Murder: A Trip Through Our Nation's Legal Justice System is a website that allows students glimpse into a criminal murder trial. The student is able to progress through the process starting from the investigation of the crime scene through the trial. What is great about this website is that there is plenty of background information so that students can read about the process before immersing themselves in an actual case. iCivics is a website for both students and teachers. It features lesson plans, educational games, and a civics news section. Congress For Kids is an easy to navigate website that teaches students all about American government. It features well organized tabs for each branch of the government and also has many fun activities for students to do. Another wonderful feature of this website is that it includes quizzes so that students can monitor their understanding. |
Economics ResourcesPBS Kids is an interactive website that provides students with a variety of resources. It features videos demonstrating how various goods are made, games, songs, and coloring pages.
Fedville is an interactive game in which students can earn, save, and spend their money. The website also has a dictionary with economic terms and a museum in which students can see what money looked like throughout history. Kidsbank is an interactive website for students that contains lessons on how money is made, saving money, writing checks, and interest. The site also features quizzes to check students understanding after each of the lessons. Econedlink is a website that contains resources for both students and teachers. It features lessons for economics and personal finance and also many interactive features such as videos, stories, and fill-in-the-blank activities. Econopolis is an interactive website in which students can learn about various economics topics such as trade, supply and demand, goods and services, and opportunity cost. The website also features quizzes and activities for students to complete as they navigate the website. |
Geography ResourcesVirtual Maps is a website that contains a wide selection of high quality maps. They are organized very well by global region and include political maps as well as topographical maps. This is a great resource for both teachers and students alike.
CIA World Factbook is a website that students can use to learn about any country in the world. Students begin by choosing a continent and they then can pick a country that they want to research. This site contains information about a countries' population, economy, political life, transportation, military, and government. Peace Corps Kids is a website that teaches students all about other cultures and world geography. It features ways to test your geography knowledge, coloring pages, folk tales from around the world, interactive games, and they can even send electronic postcards. It also includes a Peace Corps challenge where students are able to help an African village solve everyday issues such as water contamination. This game is wonderful because it gives students a glimpse into what it is like to be a part of another culture. World Mapper is a website that provides students with an opportunity to view world maps in a new light. What is special about this website is that it's maps have been altered. The countries have been altered in size to illustrate differences between countries in aspects such as population, income, death rate, land area, and religion. Geocaching is a very interesting website that students can go to if they are interested in participating in a geography activity. Geocaching is when students search for hidden objects around the area in which they live. It is great to introduce students to this website because they can become involved in an engaging activity that helps students cultivate their geography skills such as reading maps and following directions. |
History ResourcesAuthentic History is a wonderful history resource for students and teachers because it contains numerous primary sources from pictures to political cartoons. The great thing about this website is the organization which divides the documents by time period in an easy to use drop menu.
Library of Congress is a great website for students and teachers alike. It is an enormous archive of historical information including primary and secondary sources, articles, audio clips, films, and much more. This website will provide tools to go along with any history lesson. Odyssey Online is a very helpful resource for teaching ancient history. This easy to navigate website is divided into ancient civilizations including Egypt, Greece, Rome, Africa, the Near East, and the Ancient Americas. Information about topics such as the people, mythology, and daily life are explored for each civilization. Created by three museums, this website provides students with lots of accurate information. Eyewitness to History is a well organized website that allows students to browse through numerous primary sources from throughout history. Categorized by historic era, Eyewitness to History is a great resource for teachers who want to include primary sources in their lessons so that their students can view the human perspective of history. Go West Across America With Lewis and Clark is an interactive game that allows students to put themselves in the shoes of a private traveling with the Lewis and Clark expedition. Students are able to make authentic decisions as they accompany Lewis and Clark on their journey. The website also provides background information about the expedition and excerpts from the journals of Lewis and Clark. |
General Education ResourcesBrainPOP is an educational website that has resources for all school subjects including health, arts, and music. It offers videos, games, and quizzes for students to use as they explore the various subjects.
Story Starters is a fun interactive activity that teachers and students can use to create story prompts. Four themes are available and there are options to choose the grade level the story is to be written by; K-1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-6th grade. This is a wonderful resource because it is an exciting way for students to spark their imaginations. Wonderopolis is a fun educational website that presents a new "wonder" every day. A "wonder" is an interesting fact or question. As a lover of learning, I enjoy being able to learn something new and exciting every day. Ending the day by sharing a wonder is the perfect way to foster a love of learning in students. |
Technology ResourcesTeacherTube is a great resource for teachers because it features photos, videos, documents, and audio for a variety of subjects. With the use of technology in the classroom growing, TeacherTube makes including technology in lessons easy!
Fakebook is a great educational tool that is modeled after Facebook. Students can create profiles for historical figures, creating a perfect opportunity for a technology based project. FunBrain is great website that offers students a large variety of educational games. It also has a selection of books and comics available for students to read online. Giving students time to play on FunBrain gives them extra practice with using technology and with many of the topics they learn in class. |