Social Studies Resources




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Path of the Elders
- An amazing website about First Nations culture and heritage as 
  described by the Mushkegowuk Cree and Anishinaabe Ojibway Elders.
- Teachers can access primary source videos, letters, photos and audio clips, as well
  as detailed lesson plans.
- Very user friendly and great for students!!
- Bonus points for being so close to home (Ontario-based)
http://www.pathoftheelders.com/
** This website has been under my Fav Websites page since I started my blog but I wanted to share it again because it is such a good resource!

Sir John A Day
- A website celebrating the first Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A MacDonald.
- Teachers can access historical timelines, video lectures and teacher/student
  resource packages.
- Great website to use with your students.
- http://www.sirjohnaday.com/

Canada's First Peoples
- An interactive website about Canadian history.
- Teachers can use this to obtain sources for your classroom or use it with your
  students.
- Yay for Canadian material!
- http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/index.html

What Was There?
- A website featuring an interactive map of the world featuring historic photographs
  organized by location and year. Their goal is to provide a photographic history of
  the world!
- Teacher can use this website to provide primary visuals during Social Studies,
  Geography and History lessons specifically but the possibilities are endless!
- Users can upload pictures and some locations have more photos than others
   so make sure to do your research before class!
- http://www.whatwasthere.com/

Resources for History Teachers
- A wiki summarizing educational resources for teachers and students looking to
  learn more about various history, geography, politics, economics and much more. 
- Teachers can use this website to gather resources for a lesson or have their
  students explore certain pages for information.
- A 2011 Edublog Award winner!
- http://resourcesforhistoryteachers.wikispaces.com/

Roadmap to Harmony
 - An article from the "Good" network that visually summarizes important
   concepts such as sustainable development, education, globalization and
   relationships between humans and the earth.
- Teachers could use this as an activating strategy for many social studies
   units.
- Great for visual learners!
- http://awesome.good.is/ecosystem/index.html#/home

Manitobia
- This website provides a detailed archive of Manitoba-based archives
  including photos, videos, newspapers, letters, public documents, etc.
- Teachers can use this website to gather primary sources for their
  lessons plans and students can use this website to research reliable
  material for projects.
- Yay for local information!
- http://www.manitobia.ca/

Topogropa
- This a great interactive website all about the geography of Europe.
- Teachers could use this website to discuss geography, politics, history or
  economics and it is all summarized in colourful and fun graphics!
- http://www.toporopa.eu/

ChronoZoom
- This website hosts an amazing timeline that has pretty much sums up all timelines
  ever created! It includes information from humanities and science and provides
   information in text, video, audio and images.
- I found it a bit difficult to navigate but after some playing around I was able to
  get it all figured out.
- http://www.chronozoomproject.org/

Standford Primary Document History Lessons
- This websites allows access to 70+ free history lesson plans that use
   primary documents ONLY.
- The purpose? Getting our students thinking like historians!
- http://sheg.stanford.edu/?q=node/21

World War II Database
- This website has put together a great compilation of World War II resources
   including topics such as important people, events, equipment, countries and
   sources such as pictures, video, text, and primary documents.
- http://ww2db.com/index.php

Alliance Outline and Thematic Maps
- The Arizona Geographic Alliance and ASU’s School of Geographical
  Sciences has put together a FREE online resource of printable maps.
- Includes different maps of the world, countries, regions, grade specific
  maps and historical maps.
- http://alliance.la.asu.edu/maps/maps.htm

PowerPoint Palooza
- How many times have we sat at the computer wishing that we had a
  quick PowerPoint to accompany a lesson. PowerPoint Palooza is
  a great collection of social studies pre-made PowerPoints covering
  American History, European History, Global Studies and student
  projects.
- Can be used in a pinch or modified if you are stuck for ideas, just give
  credit where credit is due!
- A great example of teacher collaboration!
- http://www.pptpalooza.net/

CIA: The World Factbook
- A great website for researching a country's history, people, geography
  and much more!
- This website is extremely user-friendly and clearly laid out for student
  use.
- Takes a while to load and countries may show up as "undefined" until
  proper loading time takes place. 
- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

X Timeline
- Maybe it is just because I am specialized in social studies but I love this website! It
  not only provides the option to search timelines on various subjects such as
  biographies, organizations and history (plus more) but it gives users the option to
  create their own timelines!
- Perfect tool for projects, introducing topics or as an assessment strategy.  
- www.xtimeline.com/index.aspx

National Geographic Kids: Countries
- This website provides information on different countries around the world.
   Students can explore information about geography, nature, history, culture
   and more! It provides textual information and multiple pictures as well.
- It does not have EVERY country, but still provides valuable information.
- http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/

I Witness: Holocaust Video Archives
- I Witness is the perfect resource to bring history to life!
- This website is an archive of 1,000+ one-on-one interviews with
   Holocaust survivors and other witnesses.
- This website is specifically designed for educators, allowing users to
   not only watch videos but edit their own video projects, browse the
   encyclopedia and create secure accounts for students.
- http://iwitness.usc.edu/SFI/Default.aspx

Smart History: Khan Academy
- This website is a video website meant to add to many art history textbooks
   that are being used today. Users can pick a time period on the left hand side
   menu and scroll through short videos about prominent pieces of art from that
   time.
- Not only can it be used for art, but we know that art is a reflection of what was
   happening during the time so it can be great for showing different interpretations
   of major events.
- Maybe it is just the History major in me but I love this website!
- http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/videos.html

ORBIS
 - This website can be described as a "Google map" of the Roman
    Empire, it is so neat! Users can pick locations in the Roman
    Empire (at it's height)  and calculate the time and cost of various
    methods of travel that would have been used at the time.
- You can even calculate how much it would cost to travel by donkey,
   including the costs of feeding your donkey's along the way!
- ORBIS is perfect to accompany a history lesson, geography lesson,
   or math lesson. You could even use this to map out the setting of
   novels such as Spartacus.
- http://orbis.stanford.edu/%20

Women in World History
- Created by The Center for History & New Media (CHNM), this website houses
   a collection of primary documents, support materials and lesson plans centered
   around women and women's issues throughout world history.
- The CHNM has a strong focus on comparing women in different societies, the
   contact different societies have had with one another and how global issues such
   as technology have impacted women.
- Well this is obviously perfect for a history classroom this website could also provide
   valuable insight if you are studying a novel such as Lives of Girls and Women by
   Alice Munroe.
- http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules.php

Google World Wonders Project
- This Google endeavour is currently a virtual encyclopedia of 132 historic sites
   from five different continents. Not only do users have imagery from Google
   Streetview and Google Earth but they also have information from UNESCO
   World Heritage, pictures and videos!
- World Wonders has a specific tab for Education where teachers can download
   resource packages that have some pretty interesting project ideas that could
   work with math, English, social studies or science curriculums.
- Google will continually be adding more sites to the list which I think is good
   because I was disappointed that entire continents were left out and they didn't
   have the pyramids of Egypt.
- http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/worldwonders/

World History For Us All
- Put together by San Diego University, this is a complete online World
  History course that includes readings, worksheets, and maps!
  Documents are in PDF form and can be accessed by anyone. 
- Teachers could use portions of this website or the entire thing if they
   wanted to!
- http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/

Creswell Crags: Virtually The Ice Age
- The Creswell Crags Museum & Education Center has put together 
   an online learning resource to help students learn more about
   The Ice Age and the Creswell Crags archeological site in Northern
   Britain. This resources covers everything from virtual survival tests 
   and geological timelines to excavation techniques and cave art.
- This website could be a great subject to include as a specific case
   study about the Ice Age or even as supplementary material. 
   Designed with education in mind, the website offers a lot of great
   learning resources that can easily be implemented in the classroom!
- http://www.creswell-crags.org.uk/Explore/virtually-the-ice-age.aspx

Go Social Studies Go
- G.S.S.G is a website that has content organized and developed by
  actual Social Studies teachers as a means of engaging the different
  types of learners we find in a 21st Century classroom.
- Information is broadly organized into topics such as World Religions,
  Geography, World History, etc. Each topic features various images,
  maps, videos, text, and activities. As this website was designed by
  teachers, it can be used to find info for your class or you can send your
  students right to it and they can explore individually.
* I found this website took quite a while to load, but it may have just
   been my connection.

- http://www.gosocialstudiesgo.com/homepage


Ancient Egypt Review
- If you ever teach about Ancient Civilizations, this website is a good
  resource and you don't HAVE to use it as a review! It takes students
  through a list of questions that are more than just the basic recall questions
  that you often find on many webquests. In addition to questions, there is
  also a mapping activity and video clips from National Geographic.
* The website asks students to use "their textbook" as one of their resources
   but doesn't specifiy what textbook they used so you would have to read over
   the questions beforehand and make sure they are appropriate for the resources
   you have been using.

- http://ecplatz.wix.com/ancientegypt 

Crash Course!
- If you haven't already subscribed to the Crash Course! YouTube Channel
  you should go do so right now! John and Hank Green have created short
  (14 minutes or less, approximately) videos to teach about World History
  (John's specialty) and Biology (Hank's specialty). So far there are 81 videos!
- These videos give a breakdown of all of the important information on a topic
  through easy-to-understand lecture, videos, images, maps, neat graphics, etc.
  I like the fact that these videos explain the how and why and not just "this is
  how it is" explanation that you often find on the internet.
- These videos are definitely something that I am going to use in my class as a
  review tool or even as an activating strategy!
- http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse?feature=watch

Intercontinental Cry
- Intercontinental Cry features important information about the many
  Indigenous groups around the world including current news, biographies,
  videos, maps, and more.
- This website is very comprehensive and features information on over 470
  groups from every part of the world! I am impressed with the variety of
  information they have on SO many Indigenous groups and am using this 
  website as a starting point for an inquiry project in our Grade 11 World
  Issues class.

Canada 1812 - Forged in Fire
- This website features film clips, informational articles, images, and an
   incredibly detailed (over 100 pages) graphic novel all about the War
   of 1812 and the inspiring people who took part in it.
- This website really pays attention to detail and I used to multiple times
   when I covered the War of 1812 with my Grade 11 students. We
   even used the graphic novel as inspiration to create our own to use to
   teach the younger grades about what we learned!
http://canada-1812.ca/

Raven Tales Episode Guide & DVDS
- Raven Tales is an award winning television program that centers on the Raven,
  who is seen as a mischievousness trouble-maker in First Nations folklore. The
  episodes themselves depict stories from various First Nations cultures across North
  America. While this website is only an episode guide, many of the full episodes are
  now available on YouTube to watch at your convenience.
- These funny videos could be the perfect addition to your class if you are teaching
  about First Nations people including customs, world view, spirituality, day-to-day
  life, etc.
http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?series=731#episode-guide
* You can also buy DVD sets of the episodes, books and teacher guides from the
  official Raven Tales website: http://www.raventales.com/

History Detectives
- History Detectives is a television series on PBS that explores, "historical
  mysteries that connect local folklore, family legends and interesting objects."
  It is also a great online resource for the classroom! If you are interested in
  spicing up one of your history lessons this is definitely a site to visit for
  inspiration! Users can learn more about historical investigations and even
  watch full length episodes.
- They even have a specifically designated "For Educators" section that
  includes detailed lesson plans and suggestions on how to use History
  Detectives in the classroom!
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/

Manifest Destiny: The Story Of The US Told In 141 Maps
- As you can probably guess, this website shares the expansion of the US with
  141 different interactive maps.  By clicking on a specific map, users can hover
  over the different territories and read about what changes happened during that
  specific time period.
- Whether you are covering manifest destiny, teaching an American history
   course or covering the evolution of settlement, this website is definitely
   useful! Think of how helpful it could be for our visual learners.
http://michaelporath.com/projects/manifest-destiny/#overview

Out of Eden
- "About 60,000 years ago, our ancestors took the first steps out of their
  prehistoric African "Eden" to begin exploring the Earth. In early 2013,
  reporter Paul Salopek will follow in their footsteps during an epic on-foot
  journey that will take seven years."
- Sponsored by National Geographic, this project will explore several 
  different countries, languages, ethnic groups and landscapes as Paul makes
  his way up through Africa, across Asia, up to Russia, across to North 
  America and down through to the tip of South America.
- I can't imagine undertaking a journey of this magnitude! There are so many
  different learning experiences that could come of a project like this. Students
  could follow his walk and do case study projects based on his location.
http://www.outofedenwalk.com

Social Studies Writing Prompts
- I think the traditional essay is so overused in History classrooms so this
   resource got me really excited! Through images and text, these writing
   prompts provide interesting and creative ways for students to begin
   writing. They are actually entertaining which makes it easy and fun for
   your students to begin writing from a historical perspective.
- Even if the specific prompt doesn't match what your class is doing at
   a certain time, they provide a great example for you to make your own!
- I came across this Tumblr account through one of my favourite Social
  Studies blogs, World History Teachers Blog, I definitely recommend
  you check them out too.

HipHughes History 
- If you haven't already subscribed to the HipHughes YouTube Channel
  you should go do so right now! Keith Hughes, a YouTube Next EDU Guru,
  has created hundreds of videos (approximately 30 minutes or less) to 
  teach about World History, US History, Politics and more!
- Keith seems like an awesome teacher and his videos are very engaging!
  He uses a lot of different music, backgrounds and eye-catching intro clips
  to catch your attention quickly. I really like that Keith's explanations really
  seem like he is talking to a class, not a robotic scripted speech like some
  edu-videos I've watched.
- I like that he has created playlists so that videos are easily searchable by
  topic!
http://www.youtube.com/user/hughesDV?feature=watch

Good Video Sources for ________
- I love to include video clips when I'm teaching. It is a great
  way to differentiate your instructional method and can be really
  engaging for our students who have essentially grown up around
  a television screen.
- Richard Byrne at, Free Technology for Teachers, has been posting
  an awesome series of great video sources by subject area. Each post
  is subject specific and features about ten online resources to check
  out to find educational videos to include in the classroom. The great
  part is that, in the comments section of the post, visitors have also
  been sharing their favourite video sources too!
* If you want to learn more about using video in the classroom,
  check out my previous article, More Than Just Bill Nye... Using
  Video in the Classroom
Social Studies Video Sources
Science Video Sources
Math Video Sources


The Story of Stuff Project
- The "Story of Stuff" is an awesome animated short feature about the
  amount of trash that is created in the world and touches on a lot of
  environmental and consumerism themes.
- This accompanying website features a blog, other movies by the author,
  podcasts, classroom resources, and various downloads. The videos and
  podcasts can easily be used to incorportate a "flipped classroom" lesson
  and the resources and blog has a lot of great project ideas to build on the
  themes brought up in the video.
*The "Story of Stuff" video can be found on YouTube, I've embedded it
  below!
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Resources For History Teachers Wiki
- This wiki, created by education students at the University of Massachusetts,
  features hundreds of great resources for social studies teachers! Resources
  are organized by grade level and topic area and are specifically organized
  by specific learning outcomes. Each outcome features textual information,
  video clips, maps, images and/or sound clips that can utilized in the classroom.
- These resources align with the Massachusetts, United States curriculum but can
  be utilized to fit the needs of any classroom. I can't imagine how useful this would
  be if I was actually in Massachusetts; all of the work is done for you!
* Thank you University of Masachusetts!
http://resourcesforhistoryteachers.wikispaces.com

Ted ED Lesson: How Do You Decide Where To Go In A Zombie Apocalypse?
- Whats an awesome way to make your Geography lesson relevant &
   meaningful for your students? Use zombies! Zombies are everywhere in
   movies, books, TV, video games, etc and this Ted ED lesson plays into this
   popularity.
- Using the zombie apocalypse as a storyline, this lesson teaches push and pull
   factors in geography. Like all Ted ED lessons it features a video, multiple
   choice questions, long answer questions, and a discussion option.

Harvest History: The Farmers Museum
- The Harvest of History is an interactive learning opportunity that takes
  students back in time to learn about the history of agriculture. While it
  is centered on the state of New York, it has a lot of important themes
  that I think would carry forward to many agricultural areas.
- Students can explore a colonial village to learn about the importance
  of agricultural development. There is also a teacher resource center
  featuring curriculum connections, lesson plans, resources, and extension
  questions.
http://www.harvestofhistory.org/explore.html




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