This site focuses on literature-based curricula for instruction of U.S. history, civics, social studies and language arts. Resources include lesson plans, video seminars, and primary resources.
This comprehensive site contains Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids, which features information about all aspects of government, citizenship, elections and voting. It also provides links to kids’ sites for most government agencies. Activities include print games, interactive games and activities; information pages; links to other government agencies’ curriculum; and a glossary.
This government site focuses on court literacy, featuring free, downloadable in-depth resources to help students understand how the courts work, key amendments to the Constitution, federal court basics and fast facts, legal concepts, legal landmarks and Supreme Court cases. Classrooms to Courtrooms provides real-life teen-related scenarios to stage in-class or in-court simulations of trials with accompanying scripts.
Street Law and the Supreme Court Historical Society partnered to create Landmark Cases of the U.S. Supreme Court. In-depth information about each case, related activities that involve interactive teaching strategies and external resources are provided. Scotus in the Classroom is a project in which Street Law selects the most classroom-relevant, student-friendly cases argued at the Supreme Court. Teachers receive support to conduct moot courts based on each case. A Resource Library has compiled hundreds of teaching activities, case summaries, mock trials and articles. Street Law also offers a Supreme Court Summer Institute for teachers.
Teachers share their learning materials covering a range of subjects for all grade levels. The resources may be downloaded for free. An online forum lets teachers exchange ideas and advice and share best practices. Share My Lesson also provides a resource bank for the Common Core State Standards, which has advice and guides for teachers.
This PBS site for teachers covers all subject areas, including civics participation, community, the three branches of government, politics, economics, current events, the courts and history. Lesson plans are free, with some material downloadable. Videos and audio recordings supplement lesson plans; interactive activities for younger children are available in the Democracy Project. Teachers have access to discussion forums, online professional developments courses, and an archive of webinars.
A free, online multimedia database of the U.S. Supreme Court, Oyez.org and its mobile apps offer plain-English case summaries, decision information, opinions, and transcript-synchronized audio for every recorded case in Supreme Court history. The transcript-synchronized audio allows users to hear what it’s like to be present at the Court for arguments or opinion announcements, and to catch the subtleties and emotion unavailable simply from reading the transcript. Users can also clip and download segments of audio or entire arguments as MP3s. Oyez engages a non-legal audience, primarily students, with the judicial branch to promote public understanding in a historical and contemporary context.
This PBS site uses current events as the basis for educational content revolving around news categories such as health, science, U.S. and history. Lesson plans based on current events contain videos, audio and photo essays; a forum for students to post essays, articles or comments on issues in the news. The material is free.
This organization’s NewseumED website contains free learning tools on media literacy and First Amendment rights. Find lesson plans, primary sources, activities and more. Get ideas for teaching the latest news topics and trends. Connect with other educators in the EDCommunity. Explore the EDCollections on topics such as media literacy, women’s rights, the First Amendment and the Civil Rights Movement, and Decoding Elections.
The New York Times’ content, current and historical, is the basis for teacher and student resources on this site. The Teaching Topics page is a living index page of links to resources on frequently taught subjects. For each topic, collected resources include lesson plans, related articles, multimedia, themed crosswords and archival material. Lesson plans cover numerous topics, including social studies, current events, civics and American history.
The goal of this website is to make the complex federal budget process easier to understand and more accessible so individuals can better understand how their tax dollars are spent and how they can participate in the budget process. For teachers and students, Federal Budget 101 provides a plain English guide to the federal budget process. The Educator Toolkit offers activities for middle school, high school and college learners. A Federal Budget Timeline shows major milestones of the federal budget process.
National History Day makes history come alive for students by engaging them in the discovery of the historical, cultural and social experiences of the past. Through hands-on experiences and presentations, today’s students are better able to inform the present and shape the future. NHD inspires children through exciting competitions and transforms teaching through project-based curriculum and instruction.
The Census Bureau’s website offers far more than its up-to-the-second clocks with estimates of the U.S. and world populations. There is, of course, a general summary of the most recent census. A link from the home page brings up the American FactFinder, which allows the user to retrieve complete census breakdowns of the U.S. population by age, race, home ownership status and many other categories within cities, counties, states or even ZIP codes.
Brookings is the oldest and one of the best-known of the Washington-based think tanks, tracing its origins back to 1916 and founder Robert Somers Brookings, a wealthy St. Louis businessman. Its scholars generally have very strong academic credentials.Reports from the institution and its scholars can be viewed by research programs, policy centers and research projects. They fall mainly into the categories of competitiveness, education, migration, health care or energy security.
The Urban Institute says it is a “nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization” focusing on “the social, economic, and governance problems facing the nation.” It has its roots in the Great Society era of government anti-poverty programs. The institute was chartered by a blue-ribbon commission assembled by President Lyndon Johnson to examine problems and issues faced by the nation’s urban populations.
The organization’s EDSITEment project provides comprehensive lesson plans on American history, social studies and civics, government and society, among others. Its Introduction to Advanced Placement U.S. History Lessons contains scholar-reviewed website and primary sources; lesson plans focused on the Document Based Questions in the AP exam; and lesson plans based on active learning, mastery of content and engaging the student. Under Student Resources are interactive activities collected from around the web that can be used to support related lesson plans or as standalone activities in the classroom.
The National Constitution Center site provides classroom resources related to the Constitution as well as civic participation and responsibility, and the executive branch. Online resources include interactive games, videos, webcasts, primary and secondary sources, Constitution Fast Facts, biographies of Constitutional Convention delegates, and the Interactive Constitution guide.
The National Center for State Courts is an independent, nonprofit court improvement organization founded at the recommendation of Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. The center has created a series of graphic novels called Justice Case Files to educate the public and students about how the courts work and their role in a democratic society
The National Archives and the Center for Civic Education partnered to create DocsTeach, a series of lesson plans that use primary sources to teach about different periods of U.S. history and the Constitution. eBooks illustrate American history and government through National Archives documents. The website contains numerous links to state and regional primary sources and presidential libraries as well as professional development for teachers.
America’s Library provides classroom materials from a vast array of primary sources- documents, photos, objects-about events and significant figures in U.S. history. Two sections are particularly relevant for educators: America’s Story from America’s Library and a page of resources for teachers.
The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation offers $24,000 James Madison Graduate Fellowships to individuals desiring to become outstanding teachers of the American Constitution at the secondary school level. Fellowship applicants compete only against other applicants from the states of their legal residence. The James Madison Fellows have created lesson plans on the Constitution available on the website.
An initiative of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, this site features online lessons covering the three branches of government and interactive games that cover citizenship and participation, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, separation of powers, budgeting, and the executive, judicial and legislative branches. Online discussion forums allow teachers and students to give feedback on various topics. Teacher resources include curricula that complement the games, webquests, lessons and activities.
Founded in 1824, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a provider of education and information about America’s history for the people of Philadelphia and beyond. Its collection of manuscripts, graphics, and ephemera encompass more than 350 years of U.S. history, from the stories of its 17th-century settlers to those of its most recent immigrants. Students can find help with homework or research projects. Teachers can find unit plans with primary sources from HSP. Learn about Digital History Projects and other online tools as well as professional development opportunities.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a nonprofit organization devoted to the improvement of history education. The Institute has developed an array of programs for schools, teachers, and students that now operate in all fifty states, including a website that features more than 60,000 unique historical documents.