Online Social Studies Resources for Elementary School Teachers

One of the things that I have observed in teachers is how some educators are very closely connected with their TE's (Teacher Editions) and student textbooks, and others like the freedom to create and explore and develop their own lessons.  Regardless of which style you embrace, there are multiple resources available for free online which allow you to incorporate primary source information and media to any lesson.

In my pursuit to find these resources, I turned to my online PLN.  Thank you to Cindy Minnich, Cynthia Alaniz, Donalyn Miller, Margie Myers, Shawn Weisser, and Susan Dee for your contributions to this list. 

Here are several resources that I have uncovered and I have included the websites below.  I am planning on sharing these with teachers this week. 

AASL’s 2013 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning

http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards-guidelines/best-websites/2013

Avalon Project

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/

iCivics

http://www.icivics.org/

Edutopia

http://www.edutopia.org/

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/online-resources-primary-source-documents-monica-burns

Fordham University

http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/modsbookfull.asp

Kidsites.com – History (listing of multiple sites to explore)

http://www.kidsites.com/sites-edu/history.htm

Library of Congress: Teaching with Primary Sources

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/elementary/

Life Photo Archive

http://images.google.com/hosted/life

National Archives Teachers’ Resources

http://www.archives.gov/education/

National Geographic Kids

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

PBS Learning Media

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/

Smithsonian’s History Explorer

 http://historyexplorer.si.edu/home/

Spartacus Educational

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/

TED Talks (variety of topics)

http://www.ted.com/

Time for Kids

http://timeforkids.com/

Thinkfinity Resources

http://www.thinkfinity.org/community/thinkfinity-resources

Wonderopolis

http://wonderopolis.org/

YouTube EDU

http://www.youtube.com/t/education