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
Prequel to Independence

Teach your students about causality with this useful activity.

[...] »
Lewis and Clark: Same Place, Different Perspectives

How geography influenced interactions among Lewis, Clark, & Native [...] »

View All »

English Language Learners

Instructional strategies and resources for ELL
Life, Liberty and Property: What’s the Big Idea?

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

Using Non-Linguistic Representations to Strengthen Historical Thinking

Discover alternatives to writing based student activities. Why not encourage [...] »

View All »

Teaching Guides

Explore new teaching methods and approaches
Writing to Learn History: Annotations and Mini-Writes

A pen or pencil in your student's hand is an excellent tool for teaching [...] »

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

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

Structured Academic Controversy (SAC)

Are classroom discussions about winning the argument or about understanding [...] »

Using Historical Ephemera in the Classroom

Ticket stubs. Report cards. Photographs. All of these things have historical [...] »

Well-behaved Women [and Men] Seldom Make History

Help your elementary school students get more out of historical biographies [...] »

View All »

Ask a Master Teacher

Multiperspectivity: What Is It, and Why Use It?
Photo, Tiree Perspective, August 3, 2008, MacJewell, Flickr

Simply pondering "multiperspectivity" (a European term for "multiple [...] »

Browse Questions »