Founding Documents
Bill of Rights Institute - Exploring the true primary sources of our Nation, this website provides those sources along with lessons and activities connected to each source.
Congress.gov - US Congress website with live links to current legislative actions, proposed bills, calendar of scheduled actions and committees, and roll call votes.
Docs Teach - Sponsored by the National Archive, website includes links to lesson plans and activities connected to countless primary sources collected by the National Archive.
50 Core Documents - Website includes links to 50 Core Documents in American History, as well as educator resources and professional learning opportunities.
Documents of Freedom - This website allows the viewer to create an account and develop an online "textbook" of primary source documents and other related readings. (NOTE: Has free AND paid account options)
Our Documents - Sponsored by organizations like National History Day, the History Channel, and the National Archives and Records Administration, this website contains 100 primary source documents and well as links to educational tools such as connecting the sources to the Standards and how to integrate these documents into your classroom.
General
Academic Word Finder - Website sponsored by Achieve the Core, it allows the user to paste in a selection of text to search by grade level for academic vocabulary (Tier 2 vocab) within that text. NOTE: User must have a free account to utilize the website.
AP Central - AP College Board website with several links to teacher and AP Class resources.
American Archive of Public Broadcasting - Website created in a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH, user can search for historic programs from publicly-funded radio and television outlets.
C3 Teachers - Website explains and hosts resources related to the Inquiry Design Model based on the idea of developing inquiry based lessons and activities for students. Also as a part of the website is a IDM Generator to help educators create online-based IDM lessons. (NOTE: Must have a free account to access)
California History-Social Science Project - The California History-Social Science Project strives to teach the highest quality of history instruction with a special focus on English learners, native speakers with low literacy and students from low economic backgrounds. It provides lesson plans, instructional resources for educators, an informational magazine, a blog and more.
Chronicling America - Chronicling America provides information on historic newspapers and digitized newspaper pages.
Digital History - This website includes an interactive timeline of American history, resources sorted out by era and by topic, primary sources, lesson plans and quizzes.
Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips - This website allows you to take your students beyond the classroom walls and see some of the world's most iconic locations through virtual field trips.
EDSITEment - Offers high-quality resources for teachers, students and parents in the subject areas of literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and culture, and history and social studies.
HipHughes History - Over 300 instructional videos for Social Studies students, teachers trying to flip their class and life long learners. Videos topics include history, politics, and current events.
HippoCampus - A free, core academic website that delivers rich multimedia content--videos, animations, and simulations--on general education subjects to middle-school and high-school teachers and college professors, and their students, free of charge.
Knight Lab - Develops prototypes, projects and services that help make meaningful information and promote quality storytelling, journalism, and content on the internet. It provides an open, collaborative environment for interdisciplinary exploration and conversation, where students and professionals learn together and from one another.
Library of Congress - The largest Library in the world, the Library of Congress offers millions of books, recordings, photos, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections.
Library of Congress Teachers - The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching. Find lesson plans and more that meet Common Core standards, state content standards and the standards of national organizations.
Matters of Education - Provides links to K-12 curriculum on a variety of social studies topics.
National Archives - Provides the public with the nations records of historical materials.
National Archives Education Resources - Besides their vast records, the National Archives provide educator resources like professional development, lesson plans, worksheets and more.
National History Day - National History Day is a year-long academic program focused on interpretation and creative expression and historical research for 6th to 12th grade students.
National History Day in Iowa - To participate in the National History Day in Iowa, students must chose a topic related to the annual them, conduct research using primary and secondary sources, apply critical thinking skills, analyze sources and create a project to present. There are district, state and national contests.
National Humanities Center - Strives to create new knowledge through their scholarly programs, strengthen teaching through their education programs, engage the public through their public programs, and support the humanities.
National Park Service - Plan a trip to a National Park, learn and explore National Parks through stories and articles, and get involved with the National Park Service to help preserve and maintain the National Parks.
New Visions for Public Schools - Curricular frameworks designed for the Global History, Geography I and II, and U.S. History courses. The curriculum integrates primary and secondary texts, maps, images, videos, and other online sources into materials that meet the New York State K-12 Social Studies Framework’s objectives. It provide students with an opportunity to improve literacy skills by focusing on critical thinking while reading, writing, and speaking like historians.
New York Times - The Learning Network - Provides features for students including Article of the Day and News Quiz. For free, educators can read up to five lesson plans a month.
News Literacy Project - A national education nonprofit offering nonpartisan, independent programs that teach students how to know what to believe in the digital age.
Newsela - Provides numerous articles, text sets, and photo collections based on topic or subject. Narrow your search by choosing grade level, text level, reading skill and language.
OER Commons - Create, explore and collaborate with educators around the world. Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials that you may freely use and reuse at no cost, without needing permission.
PBS Frontline - Investigative journalism that questions, explains and changes our world. View films and podcasts of a variety of topics on this website.
PBS Learning Media - Created by IPTV and PBS to have curated free, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more for educators.
PBS NewsHour Extra - Offers news for students and teachers grades 7-12 through videos, lesson plans and articles on a variety of subjects.
PBS POV - Showcases 14-16 non-fiction film programs every year on PBS. Watch past films, browse lesson plans, discussion guides, and reading lists.
ProCon - A 501(c)(3) nonprofit nonpartisan public charity, provides professionally-researched pro, con, and related information on more than 50 controversial issues from gun control and death penalty to illegal immigration and alternative energy.
Project Look Sharp - A media literacy initiative that develops and provides lesson plans, media materials, training and support for effective integration of media literacy with critical thinking into classrooms at all education levels.
Read Works - Provides free content, curriculum and tools to power teaching and learning from K-12th grade. Assignments, grading, printable content and curriculum guides, and articles within.
Read Write Think - Provides educators, parents, and afterschool professionals with access to the highest quality practices in reading and language arts instruction by offering the very best in free materials.
Reading Like a Historian - Find lesson plans that teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading.
Smithsonian Learning Lab - A free, interactive platform for discovering millions of authentic digital resources, creating content with online tools, and sharing in the Smithsonian's expansive community of knowledge and learning.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - Dedicated to K-12 history education and the general public .They promote knowledge and understanding of US history through their educational programs and resources.
ThinkCERCA - A flexible literacy framework that helps students engage in critical thinking by constructing a cohesive argument and strengthen argumentation skills.
Writelike - Learn how to write in any style or genre, teach with WriteLike's lesson plans, play interactive games, browse through resources and create your own lesson or course with Writelike.