Welcome to Teaching Materials

Spotlight on Elementary Education

History is made by those who are unafraid to push the envelope and redefine the society in which they live. Encourage your students to examine the men and women who worked to make America what it is today with this creative activity. FIND OUT MORE »

Lesson Plan Reviews

Evaluate key elements of effective teaching Watch the INTRODUCTORY VIDEO
The Road to Pearl Harbor

Explore the rise of animosity between the U.S. and Japan through primary [...] »

Tenement Life

Students examine primary sources related to the life of an immigrant girl [...] »

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English Language Learners

Instructional strategies and resources for ELL
Using Visuals to Build Interest and Understanding

Using primary source images to help English Language Learners build [...] »

Google Translate
Screen shot, Languages supported by google translate, 1 april 2011

Looking to translate documents or text? Google Translate can help.

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Teaching Guides

Explore new teaching methods and approaches
Incorporating 20th Century US Environmental History in the K-5 Classroom

This guide consists of curated primary and secondary sources to help [...] »

Applying KWL Guides to Sources with Elementary Students

To engage with a source, ask, "What do I know, what do I want [...] »

Tramping Through History: Crafting Individual Field Trips

Go forth, and contextualize! Give students the opportunity for solo [...] »

Internationalizing History

Discover the resources you need to "globalize" your U.S. history lesson [...] »

Truth in Transit: Crafting Meaningful Field Trips

Leave your students with intellectually and emotionally significant memories [...] »

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Ask a Master Teacher

Realizing the Value of Primary Sources
Lithograph, "Charles Frohman presents. . . ," 1900, Metropolitan Printing, LoC

When you just can't get your students to care what the Founders, or anyone [...] »

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