Quicklinks for Middle School Teachers

Middle School Intro Video >>

Teacher's Pick

Teaching with Textbooks

Allow students to see that history as we know it is interpretation, perspective[...] »
I have used this activity with Native Americans and slavery with great success. I have worked over the years to collect a variety of old textbooks from different time periods.
—Anonymous

6-8 Resources

Pre-1865

Charters of Freedom
Declaration of Independence, 1776, National Archives and Records Adminstration

Explore documents that helped to shape the history of our nation.


[...] »
Founding Mothers
wood engraving, Mrs. William S. Smith (Abigail Adams), Thomas Addis Emmet, NYPL

Sharp quills did the bidding of the even sharper intellects of the[...] »

Post-1865

Mexican-American War and the Media
Watercolor, Sam in a knife-fight, 1840s, S Chamberlain, U.S.-Mexican War.

More than 5,500 transcribed newspaper articles related to the Mexican-[...] »

20th-century Jewish Immigration
Dry plate negative, approx. 1920-1930, Jewish colonies and settlements, LOC

Divided into two waves of immigration by textbooks, the continuity of[...] »

Classroom Tools

Historical Thinking & Literacy

Four Reads: Learning to Read Primary Documents

Teach your students to read like a historian with this guided four-step[...] »

Using Technology

History Hitting Home: Children's History, Local History, and Digital Storytelling
Photo, Four black boys sitting on a cannon by a waterfront, W Jackson, 1902, LoC

Children's history, local history, and digital media—combine the three to[...] »