New & Noteworthy

Exploring African American History

In honor of Black History Month, check out our blog full of lesson plans, primary source materials, and classroom ideas to help you expand your students’ understanding of African American history. Learn more.

Elementary

Picturing the American Revolution

Everyone knows of Paul Revere’s famous ride, but what about Sybil Ludington’s? And what really happened at Valley Forge? How might a child have experienced life during the American Revolution? In “Ask a Master Teacher,” learn answers to these questions thanks to a picture booklist with ideas for incorporating new books in your next lesson. Read more.

Middle

What Does It Mean to Be an American?

Watch as 8th graders and their teacher, Jessica Cruz, analyze photographs and other primary sources related to the immigrant experience. Together, they address larger questions of what it means to be an American. Get ideas on how to create successful group discussions and learn ways to humanize the story of immigration. Watch here.

High

Dr. Seuss Went to War: A Catalogue of Political Cartoons

Did you know that Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), the author of the childhood classic Green Eggs and Ham, also created political cartoons? Explore this UC San Diego collection of more than 400 Seuss cartoons, drawn for the magazine PM between 1941 and 1943. The cartoons address a range of issues related to World War II. Learn more.

Primary Sources

Tech for Teachers

Lakota Winter Counts

“The Year the Stars Fell” is how the winter count described 1833, the year the Leonid meteor shower passed through the November night sky. Winter counts, or waniyetu wowapi, are Lakota pictorial histories or calendars, with one picture representing each year. According to the Smithsonian, waniyetu means a “year, which is measured from first snowfall to first snowfall…Wowapi means anything that is marked on a flat surface and can be read or counted, such as a book, a letter, or a drawing.” Search the winter count image database and learn about the Lakota culture through accompanying videos. Explore here.

Wild for Wikis!

Wikis are perfect for collaborative projects— just think of Wikipedia, the best-known wiki, which is a giant online encyclopedia that anyone can add to or edit. Wikis are simply websites that allow multiple users to create and edit any number of interlinked web pages. Users can add, edit, and share their own text, images and files. In the history classroom, wikis can help build teamwork and promote writing and historical thinking skills. Post your syllabus and assignments, have students work on a group project, create student portfolios and more. Learn how to get started and find examples of classroom use here.