Online Tribute to Nelson Mandela

Information on the Nelson Mandela Memorial is available at mashable.com, where you can also see many world leaders who paid tribute to Mandela.

Time-Traveling App

Back in Time, an IOS app that can be used with all ages, is described as best for Grades 6-12. The site TeachThought calls in an innovative educational app, and although it comes at a high ($7.99) price as apps go, it is sure to capture your interest and that of your students. It includes all subject areas. With a clock as a time-machine, it takes the user on a journey through history. TeachThought says that it “visualizes the mind-numbing scale of history.” There’s a trailer you can watch to determine if you want to purchase Back in Time and then travel with your students through time whenever you want.

Hispanic Culture & History Resources

In its latest newsletter, PBS LearningMedia features resources related to Hispanic culture and history. The content is designed to help students gain a deep appreciation of the Hispanic culture and history while building Spanish language skills. Some of the digital resources include salsa music, bilingual science discussions, Hispanic names like Nevada and Montana in the United States, Latino family ancestry, gender, and race as part of an understanding of history, and revolutionary art featuring the Mexican Muralist Movement.

Fun With Language Arts

The Children's University of Manchester in the United Kingdom hosts a very nice language arts site for students and parents. On the site, you'll find an introduction to words, a world language map, jigsaw puzzles, and fun with nouns, adjectives, pairs, and much more. There's even a timeline of the English language. —And, if you don’t know what an EPONYM is, you should head to this very nice site, which also includes fun with history, science, and art and design.

Colonial Dames Washington Seminar Essay Competition

The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in cooperation with the Washington Workshops Foundation offer a seven-day (June 21-27, 2014) seminar to high school essay winners. To enter, students must write an original essay on the topic, “To what degree can it be said that the decisions of John Marshall’s Supreme Court laid the essential groundwork for establishing a strong federal government?”

Highlights of the experience include interaction with guest speakers from the three branches of government, visits to Washington D.C. landmarks, housing at Marymount University, exposure to career opportunities, and much more.  Online submissions are due by November 28, 2013, and written submissions by December 1, 2013.

Big History Project—13.7 Billion Years

The Big History Project starts with the Big Bang and continues today. Its purpose is to help students ‘better understand people, civilizations and our place in the universe” through 13.7 billion years of historical themes and patterns. If you’d like to try this “world class curriculum and online experience” with your students, you can register for the Beta version. When the project is complete, it will be free for all schools to use.

The Battle of Gettysburg—150 Years Ago

To get ready for its 150^th (Sesquicentennial) Anniversary, Gettysburg National Military Park has opened a new Visitor Center, which is a perfect launching point for field trip experiences. For those schools, which are close enough to bring students to the park, The New York Times recommends that in addition to touring the Center, the Battlefield, and the Cemetery, visitors (until 12/13/13) take in the exhibit “Slaves, Soldiers, Citizens: African-American Artifacts of the Civil War Era”, which is housed at Gettysburg College’s Musselman Library and was created by Gettysburg college students.

If it’s not geographically convenient for you and your students to visit Gettysburg this coming school year, you’ll find excellent information about the Anniversary and the Park on the National Park Service site. The site features an abundance of photos and multimedia about the Battle of Gettysburg, information for teachers and students, and a very nice section on related history and culture of the period.

A Look at Ed-Tech Tools of the Past

It hasn’t been that long since we used filmstrip projectors, overhead projectors, 16 mm projectors, and cassette recorders in our classrooms.  Some of us may even remember the old mimeograph machines we used for making copies of worksheets. eSchool News offers us a backward glance to the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s to see how far we’ve come with ed-tech resources in just over 40 years. 

Take yourself back to the days of Lemonade Stand and Oregon Trail to see the forerunners of today’s digital games, and to floppy disks, Nano Pets, and the search engines, “Ask Jeeves” and “Ask Jeeves for Kids.”  Younger teachers may not have heard of the popular devices and software of the past, but as we enjoy our interactive whiteboards, educational apps, and mobile technologies, it’s good to remember that not that many years ago, we were working with games that were animated with little squares put together to resemble pictures.  Maybe we don’t have all the educational tech tools we want, but at least we don’t have to struggle with broken film when showing a 16 mm movie, fighting mimeograph machines in an effort to print out decent copies, or breathing in the dust from chalkboards and dry erase boards.

Historical Scene Investigation

Help students, ages 10-18, learn to use primary sources through investigation with H.S.I. (Historical Scene Investigation). Created by the College of William and Mary, the University of Kentucky School of Education, and the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program, this free learning tool encourages students to seek solid evidence through primary sources and to go beyond textbook information in their search for knowledge. The four steps in the H.S.I. model of learning are: Becoming a Detective, Investigating the Evidence, Searching for Clues, and Cracking a Case. Examples of investigations students may take on include: Jamestown Starving Time, The Boston “Massacre”, Constitution Controversy, Dropping the Bomb, Children in the Civil War, March on Frankfort, and the Case of Sam Smiley. In the Jamestown Starving Case, for example, evidence features accounts by Captain John Smith, drawings of Indian villages, interviews with an archeologist and a pathologist, lists of settlers and supplies, and excerpts from  ‘The Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia Since Their First Beginning (1612)”.

Make a Wall-sized Map or ....?

With National Geographic’s MapMaker Kits you and your students can download, print, and assemble wall-sized maps of the world, United States, Asia, Europe, American, Africa, Australia & Oceania, and the Polar Regions. What are called “Mega” maps can be assembled by your students on the floor or tabletop. There are also one-page outline maps for individual use.  MapMaker Kit Activities such as Mapping Watersheds, Mapping Blue Whale Migration, and Explorers of the Americas are available to give you suggestions for use of the MapMaker Kits. The free kits come with directions for assembly, but the maps can be assembled by students in minutes.