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
What Do You Mean?: How Language Changes Over Time

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

A Look at Slavery through Posters and Broadsides

How to identify the author, audience, date, and message of historical [...] »

English Language Learners

Instructional strategies and resources for ELL
Supporting Text Comprehension and Vocabulary Development Using WordSift
screen shot-wordshift home page

Help English learners understand basic concepts with this interactive tool [...] »

Life, Liberty and Property: What’s the Big Idea?

Explore a lesson, designed especially for English Language Learners, that [...] »

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 [...] »

Native Women and Suffrage - Beyond the 19th Amendment: A Guide for Pre-Service Teachers

Using primary sources from the Library of Congress, help students reconsider [...] »

Tramping Through History: Crafting Individual Field Trips

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

9/11 and Commemoration: A Guide for Pre-Service Teachers

Help students understand the events of 9/11 and how such events are [...] »

Ask a Master Teacher

Using Visual Fine Arts to Enrich Understanding
Poster, Clough, S.T., 1938, 4300 Euclid, Library of Congress

The socio-cultural impact of historic events or time periods and the [...] »