teacher resources

PowerPoint Presentation - Jim Cronin - Types of Maps (MCPS Summer Session)

(use the page down key to negotiate within the presentation)

PowerPoint Presentation - Jim Cronin - Manifest Destiny (MCPS Summer Session)

(use the page down key to negotiate within the presentation)

Teacher's Guide to the Conquistadors

prepared by the Public Broadcasting System

Teacher Resources from the Annenburg Foundation

Click here for a monthly list of free resources gathered by the Foundation.  There is also a drop-down menu for Social Studies and Lesson Plans for Grades 3-5.

Lesson Plans and Resources

A hugely helpful website created by Marty Levine, CalState - Northridge.  This site has MANY links to other web sites with loads of information.  Under Lesson Plans and Strategies are links to sites with lesson plans arranged alphabetically.  Under Other Social Studies Resources are many links to free resources, again arranged alphabetically.

Model Lesson Plans

These have been developed in California to meet their curriculum and the National Standards.

Grade 4 includes

1. California Geography
2. Pre-Columbian Settlements 
3. Exploration and Colonization
 4. California Since 1850  		Grade 5 includes

1. Before Columbus 
 2. Age of Exploration 
 3. Colonists and Indians 
 4. Colonial Institutions 
 5. Causes of the Revolution 
 6. The War for Independence 
 7. The U.S. Constitution 
 8. The Early United States 








Classroom tested handouts and factsheets

These have been prepared by the Digital History website from the University of Houston and cover a variety of American timeperiods.  The Digital History homepage has many additional resources available online.


Lesson Plans for Plymouth colony

These lesson plans are taken from a variety of sources and are linked through the Plymouth website at the University of Virginia:

What Should a House Do? (Edsitement) 
Traces: Historical Archaeology (Edsitement) 
Exploring Historic Cemeteries (Smithsonian)  
New England Gravestone Studies (PrimaryResearch)
Standard of Learning on Early America (U. Virginia) 
Teaching Colonial American History on the Web (JAHC)
England's Colonial Experiments (Pearson Education)
Thanksgiving Resources for Educators (WorkshopQuest)
History Matters (CUNY and GMU) 


Curriculum guides on Colonial Life

This site is prepared by the College of Library and Information Science of the University of South Carolina.  In the index are units for Colonial life, Native Americans, Transportation and Westward Expansion of America.  Each thematic unit includes learning objectives, materials needed, on-line resources links, activities, bibliography, recipes and other fun stuff.

The Role of Religion in America

TeacherServe®, is an interactive curriculum enrichment service of the National Humanities Center, offering teachers practical help in planning courses and presenting rigorous subject matter to students.  The articles in the site are at College reading levels and are more suitable for teachers who want to learn more about religion in early America.

There is also a good site at the Library of Congress which deals with the role of religion in early America.


Jamestown

This site is sponsored by the University of Virginia and gives a number of interpretive essays on a wide variety of topics in Colonial Jamestown..  As on TeacherServe above, the essays are at an adult reading level.  Much of the rest of this site is useful for students.
There is also a good, concise history of Jamestown at the Jamestown website developed by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.  The history has links embedded in it to give further information about each topic covered in the history.  
There is also a curriculum guide for using online primary resources to examine relations between the Native Americans and the European settlers during the Age of Discovery, particularly at Jamestown.


Africans in America
 
America's journey through slavery is presented in four parts.  For each era, you'll find a historical Narrative, a Resource Bank of images, documents, stories, biographies, and commentaries, and a Teacher's Guide.
This link is to part 1, The Terrible Transformation.  In the upper right is the link to the other parts of the site.
The Teacher's Guide is also very useful.  While it is built around seeing the PBS series, it does have useful activities that can be used without viewing the series.


The Coins of Colonial and Early America

This site takes a bit of work but it's worth it.  It contains a good history of money and, particularly, the use of money in America.  Drill down in each topic and search for pictures of coins and bills.  Then click to enlarge the image.  The detail is excellent.


Teachers' Guide to working with the Spy Letters


Teachers' Guide to working with the Paul Revere Ride interactive website.