Students Go Back in Time for a Week
Wearing long skirts and straw hats, third graders from Woodstock Elementary School spend a week learning in a
one-room schoolhouse the way youngsters did in the mid-1800s. From using quill pens to rolling hoops, it's quite
an education.
Hail to the Chief(s)!: Lessons from Presidential Libraries
Presidential libraries hold the papers and memorabilia of former U.S. presidents, making them available to the
general public, and preserving them for future generations. Discover how you can use online resources from presidential
libraries to teach students about U.S. presidents.
You'e Got E-Mail -- But Can You Make
It Really Deliver?
So you want to do a classroom project on-line? Don't even think about
hitting that Send button until you read this article in which author
and educator Judi Harris shares what it takes to create a valuable on-line
project.
Strategies That Work: Timelines
Across the grades and curriculum, teachers treasure the value of timelines;
the ultimate graphic organizers. Timelines provide visual tools for studying
brief periods of time -- a day, a year, an individual's life -- or for examining
a topic across centuries.
Strategies That Work: Creating ABC Books
Have you ever had your students write ABC books? Creating ABC books reinforces language skills and develops research skills. The activity also is a unique tool for turning students into teachers, as they share what they learn about a curriculum-related topic.
Strategies That Work: Teaching About Current Events
The statistics we read about students' awareness of world events are frightening. Every teacher must play a role in building students' current-events knowledge. A strong current events program can also teach essential skills related to writing, geography, and history.
Voice of Experience: Video Time Machine Engages Students, Energizes Curriculum
Teacher Max Fischer uses his video time machine -- a VCR with snippets of movies that offer teachable moments -- to bring Ancient Rome and other parts of his history curriculum to life. Included: Guidelines for selecting video clips.
Strategies That Work: Debates in the Classroom
There's no debate about it! Debates are a great tool for engaging students. They can help students develop skills in critical thinking, public speaking, organization, persuasion, research, teamwork and cooperation, and etiquette. And that's just the beginning!
Put the "Memory" Back in Memorial Day
Some teachers, concerned about students' ignorance of the origin and meaning of Memorial Day, have created programs that stress the importance of remembering and honoring U.S. war veterans on that day.
Wire Side Chat: Lessons of the Holocaust
To help you provide your students with the information and insights they need to understand the events and implications of the Holocaust, Education World interviews Warren Marcus, a teacher educator for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Lessons
in Life: Connecting Kids and Soldiers
Many teachers are finding that both they and their students want
to do something to help U.S. troops abroad. Education World
has compiled a list of organizations that link classes with deployed
servicemen and women.
Lessons
for War
As the war in Iraq heads into its third week, teachers at every
grade level are struggling for ways to help students deal with
the war and with issues related to the war. To aid you in that
effort, Education World has collected some age-appropriate online
lesson plans.
Voice of Experience: Teaching
Religion in Public Schools: Removing the Angst
Do you run from any mention of religion in your public school
classroom? How do you escape that during this month of holy celebrations?
Educator Max Fischer has been thinking about this issue, and his
thoughts might help relieve some of your angst.
Latin Makes a Comeback
In danger of disappearing just a few years ago, Latin is now making
a comeback in American classrooms. Read what both teachers and
students have to say about the benefits of studying this ancient
language.
Move Over Halloween -- Here
Comes Historical Figure Day!
Historical Figure Day, a celebration held at a middle school in
Moorpark, California, serves as an alternative to the traditional
Halloween hoopla. Bringing together a unique collection of such
personalities as Socrates, King Tut, Napoléon, Sacagawea, and
Levi Strauss, this school-wide event takes on epic proportions!
Find out how Mesa Verde middle schoolers get into character and
bring the past to life! Teacher Mike Winters shares project details,
and students voice their reactions to a great learning experience!
Award-Winning History Series
Takes Students by Storm!
History isn't always high on a student's list of favorite things.
Too often they see history as memorizing a long list of dates
they'll forget soon after they leave the classroom. Author Joy
Hakim and the Oxford University Press have changed all that with
their award-winning 11-book series A History of US. This
series won the 1997 James A. Michener Prize in Writing. More importantly,
kids who use the series seem to love it. They discover history
isn't really so boring after all! This week, Education World writer
Sherril Steele-Carlin talks to the author of this trend-setting
series, Joy Hakim. Included: Hakim's ideas on getting students
more involved in history!
Remembering D-Day: Great
Sites on the Web
June 6 is the 56th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion. To mark
the occasion, Education World looks at some of the more interesting
D-Day Web sites.
Wax Museum Biographies Teach
and Entertain!
For the second year, Cheryl Anderson's fifth-graders are performing
the "Wax Museum Biographies." The students mentally leave their
small South Dakota town -- population 913 -- for such places as
the moon, a street in Montgomery, Alabama, or the steps of the
White House. Donations for their performances go to charitable
activities within the state.
Kids Fill the Gap in Women's
History!
Education World talks with the students and teachers behind three
award-winning, student-created Web sites. Children's Encyclopedia
of Women, Herstory, and Women in Science help fill curricular
gaps in women's studies. Learn how these sites can beef up your
curriculum as you and your students celebrate Women's History
Month in the classroom.
Climb Aboard the Underground
Railroad T.O.U.R.!
Now in its third year, a project that assists teachers and students
who are studying the Underground Railroad has gone global with
its own Web site. This growing endeavor is looking for new members,
and what better time could there be to join than during this February,
Black History Month? The coordinators of this project say, "Climb
aboard!" You will share, learn, and uncover a bit of America's
lost past.
Days and Days of Knights:
A Unit on the Middle Ages
You've tried an activity or two on the Middle Ages -- and your
students are begging for more. This is the kind of topic cross-curricular
units are made of. Don't miss your chance! Included: A teacher-created
unit on the Middle Ages!
Kids in the Castle: Lessons,
Activities, and Virtual Tours!
Provide students with some pure fun as they explore life in the
Middle Ages. Send them on a castle tour or a medieval adventure!
Included: Five great interactive sites about the Middle Ages.
TIME 100: The Teaching Resource
of the Century!
Celebrate the 100th issue of Education World by introducing your
students to 100 individuals who shaped the world we live in. We
provide Web resources to help your students get to know the men
and women (and others!) who made TIME magazine's "100 Most Important
People of the 20th Century" list! Included: Suggested activities
to help your students get to know some of the "most important
people."
Beyond Columbus: Teaching
the Lessons of 1492
The voyages of Christopher Columbus provide unlimited teaching
opportunities -- opportunities that can be pursued without glorifying
the man or denigrating his achievements. This year, observe Columbus
Day by helping your students explore Web sites that put the controversial
explorer's achievements into historical perspective. Included:
Links to on-line lesson plans for teaching about Columbus across
the grades!
Women's History Gets its
Due on the Web
Often overlooked by historians, women have contributed to the
development of national and international societies just as men
have. Education World celebrates women's achievements during March,
National Women's History Month. Why should you turn your attention
to women of the past? Their stories may encourage young girls
in your classes to make their mark on the history of tomorrow!
Across the Sea: Europeans
Explore the New World
Looking for information and activities about the intrepid adventurers
who first voyaged to the New World? Check out these Internet sites
and help your students explore the earliest explorers.
Put a Stamp On History!
Let your students vote online for the subjects of some soon-to-be
released stamps! And that's just part of the fun with the United
States Postal Service's "Celebrate the Century" program, a program
that comes complete with valuable cross-curriculum teaching tools
to highlight the people, places, events, and trends of each decade
of the 20th century. Check out this program and other stamp-related
resources online. Let your students "put their stamp on history"!
Included: News of free stamp-related teaching materials from the
USPS!
March Into Women's History
Month!
Planning a March project to celebrate Women's History Month? Join
us as we explore some of the best Web sites for and about women.
Black History on the Internet
Explore the best Black History sites for primary, middle, and
high school level students. Activity and lesson ideas included!
U.S. Presidents on the Internet!
The presidents have a huge presence on the Internet. Biographical,
historical, and political resources abound. Looking for photos,
autographs, lists, trivia? It's all there!
So You Want to Teach About
the Amistad?
Students of all ages might not be able to view the movie Amistad,
but rich curriculum materials are available for teaching across
the grades about this pivotal event in American history.
| 
Ed
World Columnists
Strategies
More Resources
