The Renaissance July 7, 2009
Posted by anne marie in art, history/social studies.Tags: art, history
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I was asked by a history teacher if I knew of any interactive websites to support a lesson on The Renaissance. I was reminded of a site by the Allentown Art Museum called The Renaissance Connection. In their own words-”With the simple click of a mouse button, travel 500 years into the past to discover many Renaissance innovations revealed through the Allentown Art Museum’s Samuel H. Kress Collection of European art.” This site does require Flash. All of the activities including Inventions 1400-2020, Art Explorer, etc. present very well on the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!
Legendary Coins and Currency July 4, 2009
Posted by anne marie in history/social studies.Tags: HIstory of money, Money
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I learned of this wonderful site that presents an amazing interactive history of money from Larry Ferlazzo on Twitter. The site was designed by the National Museum of American History and is called Legendary Coins and Currency. There are many features to this site including the Online Exhibition and the Legends Game (that is quite fun!). All of these features present and work well on the SMART Board. ENJOY!
BBC Schools Primary History July 3, 2009
Posted by anne marie in history/social studies.Tags: histroy
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There has been lots of tweets today over on Twitter about the new BBC Schools Primary History site, and rightfully so, it’s awesome! Larry Ferlazzo also mentioned it on his blog today. The site focuses on six primary history subjects ranging from Ancient Greeks to Children of World War 2. When you click on a specific subject you are brought to a page that is filled with information including photos, timelines. fund facts, etc. This site would present well on the SMARTBoard- especially the timelines(click launch timelines from the main page). Don’t forget to check out the Teacher’s Resources pages (links found on each subject page) where you will find pre-made, down loadable worksheets and quizzes to supplement and reinforce the lesson. This is definitely a site worth checking out- ENJOY!
The Miniature Earth July 3, 2009
Posted by anne marie in ELA, General, history/social studies.add a comment
I learned of this very powerful, thought provoking video on Twitter from Naomi Harm called The Miniature Earth. Click on the language you would like to view it in– English, French, Spanish, etc.– and watch. The premise of the movie is to demonstrate what the world would look like if the population was reduced to only 1oo people. The statistics are very eye opening. This would be a wonderful video to share with middle and highs school studentsvto elicit conversation about world hunger and poverty and the need to accept differences in our cultures and beliefs. Also a great video to share with staff. The video is very powerful. It would present well on the SMARTBoard and could easily be incorporated into a variety of lessons. ENJOY!
Eye Witness to History June 21, 2009
Posted by anne marie in history/social studies.add a comment
I stumbled across this wonderful history site as I was searching for information on World War I- funny how one mission can lead to an unexpected treasure! EyeWitness to History is a site that has a myriad of history resources through the perspective of those who actually lived it – from the ancient world through the 20th century. The site also offers film clips from the past, voices (recordings) of the 20th Century, photos of the week, etc. This a true treasure for all history teachers who want to expose their students to a “ringside seat to history”. ENJOY!
Visual Geography June 20, 2009
Posted by anne marie in history/social studies.Tags: geography
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Visual Geography is a wonderful site that some of the foreign language and social studies teachers are using to introduce students to the culture and people of various continents/countries. This site offers a wonderful visual impression of many places around the world. Visual Geography also offers quizzes in 4 levels to test your knowledge of continents and countries. In a ddition, Visual Geography also offers an option to listen to the language of the country. ENJOY!
Archiving Early America March 29, 2009
Posted by anne marie in history/social studies.Tags: Early America Resources
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I was helping a history teacher locate some resources for her SMART Notebok lessons on early America and the colonists and I was reminded of the Archiving Early America website. This site is filled with some marvelous resources including several short movies, copies of documents, potraits, examples of early newspapers, maps, etc. All of this information can easily be integrated into a SMART Notebook Lesson- kind of like one stop shopping! So if you are creating lessons that incorporate information regarding early America this site might be an invaluable resource. ENJOY!
Black History Month February 12, 2009
Posted by anne marie in Websites, history/social studies.Tags: Black History Month
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For any teachers who might be creating lessons/projects to highlight Black History Month I wanted to share this link to a short story/essay “Imagine If There Were No Black People in the World”. This is story about a young boy names Theo who asks his mother the question “Mom, what if there were no Black people in the world?” His mother takes him on a journey to discover the contributions that Black people have made in the world. ENJOY!
Presidential Activities January 18, 2009
Posted by anne marie in ELA, General, history/social studies.1 comment so far
Last week I had the pleasure of spending time with the 5th grade Social Studies students as we learned about U.S. Presidents, Presidential Inaugurations, President-Elect Obama, etc. I created a SMART Notebook lesson (attempted to post it here, with no luck) about the President-Elect’s journey to the White House. We also visited the PBS site President for A Day.
One interesting side note, in all three classes not one student could tell me who the Vice President-Elect was, but 80% knew that Senator McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate was Sarah Palin. HMMMMMM, and who says that the press/media doesn’t influence us. OK, back to the original post.
We spoke about the Boston teacher who quit his job to walk across the country collecting comments from Americans about their hopes and dreams for the future of America. He will deliver his book to the President. We discussed how one person, or a group of people, can make a difference. From that, emerged an open discussion about how the students could voice their hopes and expectations to the new President. Since we knew that President-Elect Obama enjoys reading and had learned that he had written two books, they decided to create a book to send to the President. I gave them a few options of how we could achieve this goal and they decided to use MakeBelifsComix.com to create cartoons expressing their ideas (I had used this website last week at a different school to describe landmarks). And so this would not be just any book, it would be a book of comics, expressing issues they want the President to address. We would put each comic strip in a book, design a cover, etc. and send it to President Obama.
The students were very excited and motivated and spoke about some very important and relevant issues that will face the new President such as lowering taxes, saving the environment, ending starvation, ending the wars, etc. I was very impressed not only with the actual comic strips, but with the insights they demonstrated. Here are some links to a few of the comics created by these amazing students: Hopes for the Future, Hopes for Change with President Obama, To Bring Home the Troops, Recycling.
So this weekend I am creating the “Comics for President Obama” book! Each student will add his/her signature to their comic, a cover page will be chosen, I will then bring the book to Staples to have it professionally bound, before sending off to the White House! Onward to the Inauguration. ENJOY!
Inauguration Sites January 8, 2009
Posted by anne marie in Websites, history/social studies.Tags: Inauguration
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On January 20th President Elect Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. I have received requests from several teachers regarding Inaugural websites that help support this :history in the making” moment. So here are some of the sites that I have found to particularly worthwhile. ENJOY!
As I mentioned in my previous post, HotChalk is offering 25 free video clips about past inaugurations including the very first inauguration of President Washington. These video clips are from NBC News, PBS, The History Channel and more.
Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies- a comprehensive resource of Inaugural information including a historical perspective complete with a slide show. In addition there also is a very nice section about this year’s theme “A New Birth of Freedom“.
Scholastic has a wonderful interactive timeline beginning with President Washington’s Inauguration and ending with President Bush’s 2nd Inauguration in 2005. Other interactive Presidential activities can be found at Scholastic’s Democracy at Work page.
PBS Online News Hour- a page with the history of Inaugurations. This site also has links (to the right side) that will display the text of Inaugural Poems written by Maya Angelous and Robert Frost. Also provided is an interactive multiple choice Inaugural quiz that offers two versions, novice and expert.
EL Civics fro ESL Students- a nice overview of the history of Inaugurations. There is a five question quiz at the bottom of the page.
Washington Post Inauguration Central- update information regarding the 2009 events. The Washington Post also offers a slideshow of the History of Inaugural Balls.
The NY Times- an article about the role and history of Poets in Inaugural ceremonies. The article offers several links to information regarding the three Inaugural Poets and the woman who will have the honor of being the fourth, Elizabeth Alexander.
About.com Washington DC- gives an extensive guide to the 2009 Inaugural Events.
Inauguration SMART Notebook lesson-created by Franes Newsom-Lang Office of Instructional Technology, Queens, NY. A SMART Notebook lesson designed for students K-6. I found this lesson posted on SMARTBoard Revoltion Ning.
