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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 Short-Handled Hoe

History is imbedded in the smallest objects. In this lesson, students [...] »

What Do You Mean?: How Language Changes Over Time

This creative lesson transforms language into a historic artifact and [...] »

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English Language Learners

Instructional strategies and resources for ELL
Bracero History Archive
Bracero History Archive

Explore resources on the Bracero guest worker program from the mid-20th [...] »

Using Primary Sources with English Language Learners

Primary source analysis activities can help include English Language [...] »

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Teaching Guides

Explore new teaching methods and approaches
What Is an "Inquiry Lesson"?

Hypothesize, test, and acknowledge how sources form different "pictures of [...] »

Interpreting Political Cartoons in the History Classroom

Political cartoons are often conceptually complex, but offer valuable [...] »

The Research Paper: Developing Historical Questions

Research papers are not an archaic form of assessment. Learn how to help [...] »

Four Reads: Learning to Read Primary Documents

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

Historical Agency in History Book Sets (HBS)

Looking for ways to use fiction in your elementary history curriculum? Read [...] »

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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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