Creator: National History Education Clearinghouse | visit site
Grade Range: 2 - 6
Think like a historian using this interactive poster! Consider how your life would have been different if you were born as a slave, an immigrant, living in the city, etc.. Think about how your wardrobe would be different. All you have to do is hover your mouse over one of the quadrants and click. More information, activities, and links will appear. Each of the quadrants also has additional teaching resources. On the far left column you will find links to "What Is Historical Thinking?" a video, "What are primary sources?" and "What are secondary sources?" This site is content RICH and definitely worthy of your time. Some of the video clips require Flash.
In the Classroom
Use your interactive whiteboard or projector and teach your students how to think like a historian. There are some interesting links here for you and your students to investigate. For instance, there is a link to discover how different the lives of kids were in the past. View the primary sources to look at what nineteenth century kids read, what their toys were, and how the clothes looked. There are also links for using primary sources, and surfing the net successfully. You may want to go through each quadrant with the entire class, or you might want to assign groups to become "specialists" in a quadrant and have them present it to your class. Have students create online posters on paper using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard (<a href="/single.cfm?id=7332">reviewed here</a>) or PicLits (<a href="/single.cfm?id=9822">reviewed here</a>.
At Home
There are some interesting links here for you and your family to investigate. For instance, there is a link to discover how different the lives of kids were in the past, or to look at what nineteenth century kids read, what their toys were, and how the clothes looked. Talk about how life was different when grandma (or great grandma) was born. Give the grandparents a call and have your student ask pertinent questions about "the good old days."
Tags
Subjects
American History, ESL/ELL, History & Culture: The Americas, History & Culture: World, Social Studies, Social Studies, Special Education,