The National Museum of Natural History, as stated on its website, "inspire[s] curiosity, discovery, and learning about nature and culture through outstanding research, collections, exhibitions, and education."

Natural history. That probably doesn't sound particularly useful to a teacher of history, which is so often centered on humanity, rather than the earth. That said, don't write the NMNH off without giving it some thought. True, many of the offerings are decidedly scientific. However, the museum includes anthropology alongside biology and geology.

Be sure to take a look at the virtual exhibits. More than 30 topics are presented, with highlights including Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge, Camping With the Sioux: Fieldwork Diary of Alice Cunningham Fletcher, Lakota Winter Counts, and Lewis and Clark: Mapping the West.

The museum also provides a variety of lesson plans, for use in the classroom and during field trips. Also, consider looking into the teacher and classroom resources under "Human Culture and Diversity." Resources range from bi-annual anthropological research publications (including teaching activities and methods) to the National Museum of Natural History's anthropological collections.

Speaking of anthropology, the department provides 24 online exhibits and three databases, including the museum collections.

Workshops provide an opportunity for educators to focus on specific topics of interest.

If you live in the DC area, consider planning a field trip. Hands-on learning opportunities are in no short supply!

According to the National Museum of the American Indian's website, the museum strives to advance, "knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western Hemisphere, past, present, and future, through partnership with Native people and others. The museum works to support the continuance of culture, traditional values, and transitions in contemporary Native life."

There are two sections of the NMAI website which are optimal for educational use. First, is the museum's collection of print resources, designed with educators in mind. These include study guides, posters for your classroom, museum guides, and lesson plans. The other must-see section consists of the museum's more than 30 online exhibits, ranging from horses in Native American culture to how native traditions fared after European contact.

If you're specifically interested in planning for the holidays, be sure to check out the museum's study guide, selections of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, poster, and list of activities on Native American perspectives concerning Thanksgiving.

The museum also offers several audio resources. See how something we view as so definite—time—is actually cultural, by exploring Native American chronological perspectives. You can also use the site's list of radio and film networks to help you research available Native American media.

Visit Indigenous Geography for a wide variety of Native American perspectives on the environment. The site also offers introductory lessons in multiculturalism and curriculum guides for each community presented.

Luckily, for teachers who are interested in visiting the museum in person, there are two locations—DC and New York City, with the archives at yet another site, Suitland, MD. School visits are welcome. If you are considering visiting the New York museum, consider arranging a cultural interpreter, to give a tour from a Native American perspective, or take a look at the upcoming student and teacher workshops.

The National Museum of American History, as stated on its website, has amassed more than 3 million artifacts in order to "inspir[e] a broader understanding of our nation and its many peoples."

The main page of the museum's website can be a bit overwhelming, so let's get you to their teacher resources straight away. This section offers an immensely helpful search tool. Choose grade level, resource type, and/or historical era, and see what resources the Smithsonian can offer. Available resource type choices are artifacts, interactives/media, lessons/activities, primary sources, reviewed websites, reference materials, and worksheets.

Pleasantly, the museum didn't stop there in designing useful tools to engage children in learning history. Try, for example, the timeline. This feature lets you view a historical overview or an era's chronology through its material culture. Compare the artifacts of two eras, or use it as a basis to plan lessons within one time period. You can also take a look at the museum's thematic collections of activities and books for young children on topics such as Japanese internment, women's history, and life in sod houses. And who doesn't like games? "Got Ramps? Architectural Barriers Game" is a great way to introduce the Americans with Disabilities Act, comparing the difficulties of navigating life in a wheelchair in 1955 and 2005.

Still other options offered include more than 55 online exhibits, ranging from "¡Azúcar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz" to "Within These Walls . . . ," which discusses the contributions of everyday people to major historical events; a collections search feature; and the museum's blog. Don't overlook the blog, automatically assuming that it's irrelevant to teaching. As a matter of fact, if you scroll down to the category options in the right hand column, you can select "Teaching & Learning." This will tell the blog to only display entries related to teaching. Examples include "Using objects with English language learners" and "My tweenage historical bookshelf."

And, as always, if you're in the area (DC in this case), consider a field trip. The museum has a variety of activities designed for kids.

According to its website, the National Air and Space Museum "maintains the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. It is also a vital center for research into the history, science, and technology of aviation and space flight, as well as planetary science and terrestrial geology and geophysics."

First and foremost, be sure to take a look at the museum's classroom resources. These include teaching resources, such as posters and teaching guides complete with classroom activities, timelines, and more; online activities on geography from outer space, the Wright brothers, African American aviators, and the history of commercial aviation; electronic field trips; distance learning opportunities; and professional development workshops.

Other web resources include online collections and 10 online exhibits on topics from the history of air travel to the U.S.-Soviet space race.

You can also check out the museum's blog if you're interested in the museum's behind-the-scenes stories.

Of course, if you're in the DC area, pay the museum and/or its library a visit. There are two museum locations so be sure to check which houses the artifacts which you want to introduce to your students. There are a wide variety of onsite student activities available—from guided tours to demonstrations. If you're personally interested in aeronautic history, consider attending one of their lectures.

According to the Cooper-Hewitt website, "The Museum presents compelling perspectives on the impact of design on daily life through active educational and curatorial programming." Collections range across 24 centuries.

What is design, and what does it have to do with history? Simply put, design can be considered an intentional solution to a human problem. Want somewhere comfortable to sit? Maybe a chair should have a padded seat. So, again, where does history come into the picture? Back to the chair. Did you know that the average seat is much deeper than they used to be a century ago? What does that tell us? Were people smaller? Do we live in larger homes with more square footage to fill? Is it social, cultural, or biological?

Ok, so design can help us think about the past. What now? Your best bet, created just for teachers, would be the educator resources. This page has a plethora of tools, including 38 pages of lesson plans. These can be searched by subject and/or grade level. Here, you'll also find discussions to which you can contribute, or even begin your own.

So, what else is there? Try browsing the collection highlights. You can always ask students to pick an object, and then research its artistic and functional heritage. When was it made? By whom? When does it look like it was made? Why did the designer choose this "look"? How is it used? How does the design reflect the time it was created? If you're looking for inspiration, you might also look through the museum's YouTube channel for lectures.

Maybe you're in the NYC area. Then, consider a visit. Take a look at their student tours, calendar of events, and professional development opportunities. You may also want to let your students know about the museum's youth programs.

The Anacostia Community Museum is one of the nation's Smithsonian museums. According to the museum website, it exists to "to challenge perceptions, broaden perspectives, generate new knowledge, and deepen understanding about the ever-changing concepts and realities of "community.'" Initial goals focused on African American history. However, as of now, the museum endeavors to represent the concept of community from the local to international levels.

In nearly all cases on the website, content loads at the very bottom of the page, so be sure to scroll down.

For those of you not in the DC area, the museum provides two activities—collections search and online exhibits. The exhibit on Adam Francis Plummer, a slave in Maryland, is particularly of note. The exhibit includes a downloadable PDF file of Plummer's diary; essays on the Plummer family and slavery in Maryland; a glossary; and guided reading and worksheets intended for middle and high school students. "Speak to My Heart: Communities of Faith and Contemporary African American Life" includes a series of oral history transcripts.

Naturally, this being a museum, a field trip would be an optimal way to take advantage of the organization's offerings. Take a look at the museum's group tour information, current programs, and library.

According to the National Museum of African Art's mission statement, the museum ". . . fosters the discovery and appreciation of the visual arts of Africa, the cradle of humanity."

While African art, as differentiated from African American art, is not necessarily directly applicable to teaching American history, it should not be written off as irrelevant. After all, the Middle Passage, slavery, and the Great Migration are major historical U.S. institutions and events which all involved Africans and/or African Americans. This art can be used to discuss the cultures in which today's African American populations originated, and how these cultures played into their lives in the United States—in the past and today.

A good starting point for educators is, naturally, the teacher resources. The page includes five curriculum resources, covering Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and the artist Gavin Jantjes; a contact to help you develop curricula involving African art; VHS loans (by mail); and select artist interviews, among other resources.

Another great destination is the museum's collection of virtual exhibits. These are divided into traditional, contemporary, and combination sections. A quick glance reveals highlights such as "Playful Performers," an exhibit on child play; "The Art of the Personal Object"; "Wrapped in Pride: Ghanian Kente and African American Identity"; and "Transatlantic Dialogue: Contemporary Art in and out of Africa."

Have something specific in mind? You can, of course, always search the collections. Search options include type of artifact, use, imagery depicted, culture of origin, and more.

Finally, if you're in the DC area, consider scheduling a field trip or outreach program.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum consists of the United State's original collection of American art— from paintings and sculpture to photography and folk art. As their website states, "The collection captures the aspirations, character and imagination of the American people throughout three centuries." Key artists represented include Georgia O'Keefe, Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler, Christo, Nam June Paik, and Robert Rauschenberg.

Of course, educational standards are crucial. Therefore, the museum offers more than 25 resources based on national education standards. Topics covered include Civil War photography, Reconstruction, landscapes, George Catlin and the Great Plains Native Americans, Manifest Destiny, the evolution of democracy, community, Latino culture, African American experiences, 20th-century history, Puerto Rico, the West, and the Great Depression. This section also includes two .pdf files intended to help elementary school and middle school students learn to interpret art.

Surprisingly, the resources don't stop there. Other great choices for educational use include online classroom activities; podcasts created by students; Ask Joan of Art, which lets you submit your American art questions for answers by an expert; and a link to the children's section of Save Outdoor Sculpture!, which provides a number of sculpture-related activities.

Of the online activities listed above, be sure to check out Picturing the 1930s, which discusses the time period and lets you make your own movie, and Superhighway Scholars, where your students can submit collages representative of their state.

If you have specific period or artist interests, try looking through the online exhibits. These include everything from installation videos to online scavenger hunts. You might also search the collections for specific artists or subjects. Try using the images to illustrate handouts or presentations, or ask students to compare fine art depictions to historical accounts and/or photographs.

Maybe you're interested in showing students how material culture is preserved? In that case, the best resources offered are the museum's conservation videos and the page of the Lunder Conservation Center. The latter offers information on conservation activities, videos, and before and after examples.

Still other resources include the museum's official podcasts, artist videos, and listings of the museum's upcoming professional development offerings.

Of course, if you're in the DC area, you can also consider planning a field trip, but with all of the materials this museum provides, don't let your geographical location stop you from including American art and artists in your curricula!

The National Postal Museum is a Smithsonian museum dedicated to sharing the United States' mail communications history.

In the days of e-mail, facebook, Skype, and AOL messaging, the "snail mail" may seem obsolete to many of your students, short of receiving orders purchased online. However, if you can get them to consider what it may have been like to wait weeks, months, or years for the tiniest bits of information from another place, you will be appealing to their historical imagination.

Luckily for those not near DC, the postal museum has a strong online presence, so you don't have to visit to reap the benefits of the institution's offerings. For example, the site offers more than 15 online exhibits, ranging in topic from experimental delivery of mail by missile or stamp art to original war letters or the postal clerks aboard the Titanic. The museum's physical exhibits are also highlighted online, displaying major artifacts and primary sources from the Washington, DC, exhibits. These cover the early mail system, mail and the expanding population, postal transportation, personal communications, and stamps.

Similar resources include an Object of the Month feature and the online collections database, which can conveniently be divided into stamps and other postal artifacts.

The museum provides more than nine free curriculum guides, one of which is even designed for use specifically in ESL (English as a Second Language) classrooms.

Other resources easily adaptable to class activities are a "how to" guide for stamp collecting and a site on stamps from ancestral homelands. The latter encourages users to share their own family and stamp stories. Consider asking students to find a stamp from one of their ancestral countries in the collections, and to discover how the image on it relates to that country's history and to that of the U.S.

Other options worth your time include the museum's videos, state-by-state contact information for postal history experts, finding guides for specific collections, online games, and a feature for creating your own stationary.

Of course, if you live in the DC area, you might be able to take your students on a field trip. The museum also offers a library, if your interest is piqued.

The Hirshhorn is the U.S. Smithsonian museum dedicated to preserving and sharing modern (late 1800s to c. 1950) and contemporary (1970-present) art—two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and video.

So, you may be asking yourself, how can I fit art into my curriculum? Try exploring how the American Abstract Expressionist or Pop Art movements reflected their time periods. If you're discussing WWI, pull in the Futurists or Dada, art movements which students will love for their irony—Dada as anti-art art and the Futurist's love for violence, speed, and modern technology, which ended with nearly all of the artists involved volunteering as soldiers and dying on the front. Art movements tell us what people were experiencing, and how it made them feel. Not only are they an excellent bridge to the humanity of history, they also let you introduce students to art history, so rarely offered at a high school (or lower) level.

Art and Artists provides short biographies and examples of the works of 18 artists, including such greats as Alexander Calder, Henri Matisse, Willem de Kooning, Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti, Auguste Rodin, and Man Ray. Ask students to read the bios, pick an image, and write a report on the how the image reflects the time period in which it was made. Perhaps they could make videos instead of writing reports, or they could even create and present their own artwork depicting the original work and its period.

You can also use the collections search to find other works which haven't been highlighted on the site.

Naturally, this being a museum, if you are in the DC area, a field trip would be optimal. The museum is singularly well-designed for avoiding bottle necking. You'll never have to worry that your class is preventing other visitors from moving through the galleries.

You can also attend lectures to increase your knowledge, and potentially strike gold for lesson creation ideas. If you can't attend the talks, you can still listen to many as podcasts.

Let your local students know about the Art Labs for teens and youths. You may just spark a life long interest.