Welcome to Teaching Materials

Go forth, and contextualize! Give students the opportunity for solo connection to historical places.

Tramping Through History: Crafting Individual Field Trips
In Teaching Guides
Photo, Flowers for soldier in a tank, 1945, Nationaal Archief, Flickr Commons

Whichever lesson you pick, make sure it meets your learning goals.

Setting the Tone: Introducing Students to World War II
In Ask a Master Teacher

Make the Lewis and Clark expedition and life on the Oregon Trail come alive with these suggestions!

Exploring Historical Fiction
In Ask a Master Teacher

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
Declaration of Independence: Rough Draft to Proclamation

How did the final version of the Declaration differ from Jefferson's draft [...] »

American Presidents

Analyze letters written by America's presidents to learn more about these [...] »

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English Language Learners

Instructional strategies and resources for ELL
Targeting Content and English Language Objectives
Photo, English club First meeting Dover Library, Sept. 13, 2010, RTLibrary

Build your students' language skills and historical understanding by using [...] »

Using Visuals to Build Interest and Understanding

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

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Teaching Guides

Explore new teaching methods and approaches
1916 Children's Code of Morality: A Guide for Pre-Service Teachers

Primary sources from the Library of Congress help students explore a [...] »

Incorporating 20th Century US Environmental History in the K-5 Classroom

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

Stop Action and Assess Alternatives

Teach students to explore contingency with this great lesson plan idea.

[...] »
Using Blogs in a History Classroom

Setting up and maintaining a blog for your classroom is easy (and typically [...] »

Document-Based Whole-Class Discussion

Classroom discussions need not be argumentative and unproductive. Discover a [...] »

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Ask a Master Teacher

Historic Stories, Fictional Accounts: Achieving Multiperspectivity
Photography, Guy Reads, 29 March 2010, Flickr CC

Nonfiction texts are great sources for learning about historical events and [...] »

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