Social Science section of Good Sites for Kids!

Follow us on Facebook

Look for to see what's been added lately!

Geography Sites

History Sites

Miscellaneous Sites

**************************************************************************************

GEOGRAPHY & Maps & Mapping

The Geographer ("De Geograff"), by Johannes Vermeer, painted 1668-69.

Click on the painting to learn more about Vermeer and the 17th century Netherlands.

This site covers cultural, historical, and political Geography. Physical Geography sites concerned with earthforms, mountains, oceans, etc., are most likely to be Science & Nature > Earth Science, and not here.

50 States Basic facts on all 50 states of the USA.

50 States in 10 Minutes Can you type in the correctly spelled names of all 50 US states in 10 minutes? Type them in any order, can even be all lowercase, but must be correctly spelled. "Helpful" countdown timer tells you how much time is left.

360° Panorama of London "The 320 gigapixel image - taken by expert photography firm 360Cities – comprises 48,640 individual frames which have been collated into a single panorama by a supercomputer." Taken from atop a very tall skyscraper, you see everything for many kilometres (or miles) in all directions! There are about eight million people in London, and you probably see most of them.

Around the World - Holidays from Yahoo! Kids - all about holidays from around the year and the world, 277 Christmas sites!

AskAsia "An educational web site for students and teachers covering some thirty countries that comprise Asia today, and featuring materials that stem from early civilizations to current events." We used this with teenagers, seemed to go well.

Atlapedia Like an online almanac, with country info and stats, political and regional maps, and downloadable maps.

A brief history of time zones is a brief history of time zones via interactive globe. This BBC site shows every time zone all around the world. GMT is explained, International Date Line, times zones in different countries, daylight saving time, and more. Kids can slide the horizontal scrollbar to move to other time zones and read more articles.

'Black Marble' satellite images of Earth unveiled - in pictures "Scientists have unveiled a new image of Earth at night. A global composite image, dubbed Black Marble, was constructed using cloud-free night images from a new Nasa and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite. It shows the glow of natural and human-built phenomena across the planet in greater detail than ever before." Ten images show pretty much all of Earth at night. Geography classes could work on identifying continents, countries, cities and towns, lakes, oceans, highways, oil fields, fishing fleets, etc. Credit: This slideshow is posted in the Science section of theguardian.

CIA World Factbook Excellent information source for any country in the world. Well laid out site. It's now a secure site. Well, it is the CIA.

Australian flag Continents: A Student's Resource This great Australian page was suggested to us by a lady in Utah! Isn't the Internet great? Lists all continents, links to facts about all of them, list of all past supercontinents and their times, continental drift & tectonics, populations, other facts. also has history of continents, supercontinents of the future, much more. Links to a ton of information, all on one page! Thanks Liz Curtis, who suggested this link & said nice things about our Social Studies section!

Cyberkidz "is an educational platform for boys and girls in the age of 4 till 12 years. By playing the educational games, children will practise subjects they learn in elementary school (PK-5)." The games are sorted by year from age 4 to 12, using a sliding bar. There are dozens of fun, playable games in every curriculum category, with new ones being added. This is an excellent site from the Netherlands.

NASA has a free e-book titled "Earth As Art". It's full of stunning photographs and fascinating information, download the pdf here: http://1.usa.gov/TSIGYL Freeware such as Calibre will convert the pdf to various e-book formats

Earth's Seasons from Enchanted Learning. Find out about the Equinox, the Solstice, and the seasons of the year at this fine offering.

Famous Canadians "The infographic is a virtual Canadian Hall of Fame and showcases influential Canadians who have contributed to scientific and social development, economic security and prosperity, and the creative arts. The infographic was designed to show visitors that Canada is home to great people who were visionaries and history-makers." This very informative page is from CanadaFaq, a site devoted to "Everything You Need to Know About Canada"; geography, history, people, finance, education, economy, immigrating, jobs, etc. Kudos to Vera Johnes at CanadaFaq, for the email telling us about this fine web site.

Flags of the World is the world's oldest and largest site about flags. "Here you can read more than 49,000 pages about flags and view more than 91,000 images of flags of countries, organizations, states, territories, districts and cities, both past and present." There are several ways to look up flags, too.

Flu Trends from Google. Use this interactive Google world map to see, country by country, where the flu is bad, where it's absent, and anything in between. Not just countries, either: for many countries you can check by state or province! If you want to check on Alberta, Aragon, Arequipa, Buenos Aires Province, Franche-Compte, Hessen, Illinois, Kwazulu-Natal, Minas Gerais, or Western Australia, and lots more. This was a Kim Komando Cool Site of the Day.

GIS Resources "Resource for GIS Welcome to the World of Global Information Systems" Lots of valuable links to maps sites, GIS lesson plans & education sites, geography links, and much more! Along with its sister GPS site, this is part of an Illinois-based ed initiative.

GPS Resources "Welcome to the World of Global Positioning Systems. The following links will hopefully give the participants a resource to obtain information about GPS, sources to companies related to GPS, projects that are using GPS, and educational sites that have a wealth of information." A wealth of information about, and links to, GPS lesson plans and activities, Geocaching activities, the Travel Bug project, more. Along with its sister GIS site, this is part of an Illinois-based ed initiative.

Geography Maps : Atlas of Europe and World Atlas Two separate sections highlight all the countries, rivers, and mountain ranges of Europe and of the entire world. Great geography resource.

Geonet from Houghton-Mifflin. Upper level (US high school) geography drills. Students will have to dig for answers and will have to read and think.

Geography Dictionary & Glossary - The ABC of Geography "Welcome to possibly the most comprehensive geographic related dictionary on the internet for students... Over 1400 terms defined. This dictionary is primarily aimed at supporting secondary/senior/high school and early tertiary students who are studying Geography or related subjects such as Earth Sciences." Everything A to Z, from Abiotic to Zonal Soil. This excellent site from Hong Kong will become your fast reference for geographical terms. We want to thank Danny Harrington (BA Hons. Oxon), for this great addition to these pages.

Geography Quiz Online point and click interactive quizzes on US states, Canada, China, Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, Middle East, Central and South America, Caribbean, Oceania, and Continents and Oceans. (Try saying that fast.) We used these with teenagers, and the quizzes are very good.

Geography Quiz from Learning Planet. Fast interactive USA political geography for 4th grade and up.

Geography Quizzes from JetPunk. Big list of good online quizzes.

Go Social Studies Go "Go Social Studies Go integrates fun content with the coolest links, videos, and games found on the net. In addition, we’ve teamed with with Cramstoppers, a free quiz making site that allows students to take their education one step further. " This site constantly adds new things to read and do. American and World History, World Geography, Global Religions, Choose Your Own Adventure, links, more. Oodles of subcategories in each! We ran on the Underground Railroad, read about Archduke Ferdinand's assassination, checked out the Silk Road, learned about African geography ("Place is huge!"). This is middle school through high school level, maybe first year college - anyway, excellent site! Shout out to "veteran social studies teacher" Ken Uhde, of Groves High School, Birmingham, Michigan, its creator!

Google Streets in the Deep The Instructify site wrote: "The good people at Google Street View have recently partnered with The Catlin Seaview Survey to provide underwater street views (italics ours) of several breathtaking reefs around the world. You can take your students on a fieldtrip to swim with sea turtles and manta rays without having to be scuba-certified. From identifying the variety of aquatic life forms depicted in and around the reefs to writing short stories set in the reefs; the possibilities for classroom use are as wide as the ocean and as deep as the sea. You can explore the complete collection here."

Grand Canyon Street View from Google. Explore the Grand Canyon, Colorado River, Phantom Ranch, and Meteor Crater! This wonderful grouping is FREE and you can look at these landmarks from anywhere! There's even music if you want it.

Kids Web Japan is a great site about Japan for kids. Everything kids would want to know is here, including anime and manga. Also history, culture, folk tales, interactive things to make and do, etc.

Lakota Culture Links to pages about Lakota language, origins, prayers, beliefs, and the reservations. Good information from the Acta Lakota Museum at St. Joseph's Indian School on the Missouri River in Chamberlain, South Dakota. We have visited the Acta Lakota Museum and we recommend it to you.

Lakota Legends Links to 17 Native American/First Nations legends, or folk tales if you prefer. You won't see these anywhere else online. From the Acta Lakota Museum at St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, South Dakota. We have visited the Acta Lakota Museum and we recommend it to you.

Language Guide Want to learn alphabets and vocabulary words from other languages? "LanguageGuide.org offers free sound integrated resources for learning languages." The site features pictures of various things with written and spoken names in several languages. Words are pronounced by volunteer native speakers. Current languages are English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. Sponsored by Language Guide, a registered non-profit organization, the site is free to use but they do ask for donations. Uses QuickTime.

Lat-Long.com "Search More Than 2 million U.S. Locations in an Instant! Search More than 2 Million Places: Parks, cemeteries, bridges and post offices. Find these and more on Lat-Long.com." This site is a list of all 50 US states. You can click on a state and check out its features by category (did you know South Dakota has 91 canals?) or you can search by item and a state pulldown menu from the main page (example: glaciers in Alaska.) Google Maps display each item. Latitudes and longitudes are given in tradish degrees, minutes, and seconds; also in decimal degrees.

Maps4Kids "Data is available on every State in the US, as well as for every Country in the world ! Maps4Kids.com is a great resource for fast facts about places in our world. The Top 10 page shows you the highest, longest, most populous."

Medieval Map "This website illustrates the historical changes that occurred in the Medieval Era (400 - 1500) with an interactive map." Understatement! Move back and forth through time in 10 to 50 year intervals. Click on one button to show cities, another to show decisive battles. Click the ? button to see a modern map. For battles, there is a brief synopsis in a popup window, with the option to go to Wikipedia. Clicking on a city icon sends you directly to Wikipedia. The map shows all the contemporary peoples and states for the period you choose. Clicking on any label (example: "Balts") brings up a three-section pie graph. One section - the "W", sends you to Wikipedia. Clicking the folder" icon opens up a book or article, if there is one (in this case an e-book called "The Balts", by Marija Gimbutas). Clicking on the "film" icon will open a video, if there is one. The site is constantly being improved. It's quite a trip through time for middle school and older. Visual learners may finally grasp the idea of huge groups of peoples moving across Europe. See empires and kingdoms rise and disappear. Wonder at names like the Umayyads, the White Sheep Turks, the Principality of Polotsk, Navarre, Swabia, Trebizond, and all the rest.

Mount Everest Gigapan This is an amazing jaw dropping zoom WAY in wide angle pan of Mount Everest and the area around it. The views are absolutely astounding. You can zoom in on people! It's mountain and glacier time! Anyway, just go there and zoom around.

Multicultural Education through Miniatures from the College of Education, University of South Florida. "Multicultural Education through Miniatures includes photos, maps, stories, and games of handmade dolls and puppets from all over the world. This website can increase global awareness for children and adults. Explore by clicking Select a Photo, See Entire List, or Click a Map. Cultural games are also available at Go to Activity. Students and teachers can use the pictures, stories, and games for educational purposes." This site will increase geographical awareness. It is at an upper elementary reading level, also the dolls are amazing!

My Wonderful World "Geography is more than places on a map. It's global connections and incredible creatures. It's people and cultures, economics and politics. And it's essential to understanding our interconnected world." Thanks, Tessia.

National Geographic Kids "Features different people, animals, and places each month with facts, games, activities, and related links." Well, hey, it's National Geographic. Very educational, and the games are fun, too.

National Geographic Map Machine Zoom in on locations worldwide.

National Geographic Xpeditions Atlas Maps made for printing and copying.

Native Words Native Warriors. The story of the Code Talkers in World Wars One and Two, from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. Well done site tells the story of these good, brave men, as told by the Code Talkers themselves. Plenty of photos and explanations.

Netstate "Learn About the 50 States! Armadillos to Yellowhammers!" (What about Zap, North Dakota?) Kinda like 50States but different. Besides having a Visit the States window listing all 50 states, this site has a menu of categories on the left side of the main screen that offers tons of information about each state.

Oglala Lakota College logo Oglala Lakota College A tribally controlled institution serving the educational needs of the Lakota Oyate, focused on the Pine Ridge reservation. Use their History and Culture menu to access their excellent Oglala culture site, Lakota Archives, their large collection of Lakota language audio files, and much more.

Ology from the American Museum of Natural History. We love this site! It covers "Ologies" such as Archaeology, Astronomy, Biodiversity, Earth, Einstein, Genetics, Marine Biology, Paleontology, and Water. The bottom half of the page has links to around 20 activities, experiments, and interviews. Then there's the Highlights section, Ask a Scientist, an Advanced section, and At the Museum. Click on the blue buttons in the At the Museum box. Only part of this great site is shown at a time. Be sure to use the Search box and enter a term like "horse" to find a ton of other information.

Screenshot from the old Apple 2 series MECC Oregon Trail game - 1980s Oregon Trail for Elementary Schools Arguably the best Oregon Trail site. Plenty of information and links. Comprehensive overview of life on the Trail. William has a broken arm. You have died of desentery.

Oregon Trail - End of the Oregon Trail (NEW URL) Anything you would ever want to know about the Oregon Trail, and much more. This huge site could and should be the source of many K-12 lesson plans. You should have bought more ~~baking soda~~ saleratus. You do not have an extra wagon wheel, so you must trade for one.

Oregon Trail Links A large list of links to other OT sites. If you continue hunting in this area, game will become scarce.

Panwapa - Where Kids Shape the World. "Panwapa is an imaginary floating island with characters, stories, and global explorations for kids ages 5-9. Panwapa characters introduce kids to concepts of learning about and accepting other cultures. Educators who use Panwapa can create a group on Curriki to extend and comment on the curricular questions which go along with the Panwapa videos, playalong games, and lessons." This site is great! Talking animated characters engage kids and help them choose from a variety of wonderful things to do. You have to check it out, it is great! From the Sesame Street people.

Quizzes.cc - Online Quizzes, Tests, Trivia, Worksheets, and Free Games "... provides math quizzes for teachers and students. You can create a quiz and select the range of numbers you'd like to use. Students can grade the quiz online and generate new problems for more practice." Quizzes for all four elementary operations, plus times table quizzes and a nice metric conversion chart. There are also children's literature, science, and geography quizzes. Secondary students can practice metric conversions, some middle school science, and world geography. Thanks to John @ Quizzes.cc for the email!

SCORE History/Social Science "Over 5000 websites aligned to California's History/Social Science Curriculum." Explore Resources and Lessons by Standard, Grade Level Topic, or Keyword. Explore Children's Literature lesson plans/thematic units by Grades K-5 and 6-8. Help for Teachers includes - help! Also useful links such as the California Learning Resource Network ("A Guide to Standards-Aligned Electronic Learning Resources and Assessments for Teachers, Administrators, and Parents"), a whole section on Technology and Social Science - with its own lesson plans and ideas, lots more!

Seterra - Learn Geography. "Seterra is a challenging educational geography program with 70 different exercises. Learn about states, provinces, countries, capitals, flags and cities in Africa, Europe, South America, North America, Asia and Australia, using outline map exercises!" Quick, what's the capital of Slovenia? Of Texas? Where in Sweden is Uppland? Find Burkina Faso! Find West Virginia! This is wonderful freeware that really works with kids ages 9 and up - we've used it! Great for high school and college geography, too. From the talented lady in Sweden who brought you Sebran!

State and County Quick Facts from the US Census Bureau. Tons of facts about US states and their counties.

Dragon's Blood Tree of Socotra - a source of myrrh Strange plants of Socotra Island "It is like being on a different planet... These pictures and information are excellent viewing and reading. Socotra Island: You have to see it to believe it. This island simply blows away any notion about what is considered 'normal' for a landscape on Earth." Lots of photos of these unearthly, yet strangely beautiful plants! Also photos of people, buildings, beaches, some rare birds, more. Good explanations for it all. Go find Socotra on a map, people! Going in Science & Nature > Biomes and > Living Things, and in Social Studies > Geography.

What's my latitude and longitude? Go to this site and it will show you your latitude and longitude, based on your IP address. This could be useful as an introduction/attention step for a lesson on lat & long. Credit to David Stoline and reddit

World Atlas Huge site of geography facts, maps of everywhere! You should check it out. If it has to do with geography, it's in here!

World atlas dot com Huge list of trivia about the world, continents, countries, languages, money, oceans... even gives the weight of continents (how can they tell?)

to top of page to Good Sites!

**************************************************************************************************************

HISTORY (and Government)

Ancient History and other special history sites!

Ancient History

Civil Rights

Doolittle Raid

Midway

Titanic

Women's History

War of 1812

Abraham Lincoln Research Site Valuable source since 1996! "I am not an author or an historian; rather I am a former American history teacher who enjoys researching Abraham Lincoln's life and accomplishments. If you have a specific Lincoln question that you would like me to research for you, please e-mail me. NOTE: The three main sections of this website are the Abraham Lincoln Research Site, Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination, and the Mary Todd Lincoln Research Site. For additional Lincoln information, please see my page titled Abraham Lincoln Links." Kudos to Roger Norton, Webmaster!

American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Amazing research tool! "The Papers of the Presidents. The American Presidency Project is the only online resource that has consolidated, coded, and organized into a single searchable database:

• The Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Washington - Taft (1789-1913)
• The Public Papers of the Presidents: Hoover to G.W. Bush (1929-2007) & Obama (2009)
• The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents: Carter - G.W. Bush (1977-2009)
• The Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents: Obama (2009-2012)
• Our archives also contain thousands of other documents such as party platforms, candidates' remarks, Statements of Administration Policy, documents released by the Office of the Press Secretary, and election debates" (a total of 103,251 documents)

Their State of the Union Index has every State of the Union speech ever given since President Washington. Going in Social Studies > History.

(The) American Revolution from American Flag Works. This is a well organized collection of links that cover (1) events leading up to the rebellion, (2) battles of the Revolution, and (3) the important people of the Revolution. This site draws on established sites like the History Channel and PBS. Thanks to Nancy Ward for the email!

Animated Biographies from Mr. Nussbaum! "These animated biographies will bring the stories of famous Americans to life! Click on a story below to learn more. Please e-mail me to send feedback about these applications or to suggest subjects for future animated biographies." Biographies on Harriet Tubman, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, and Christopher Columbus. More are sure to come!

Archiving Early America "Here at Archiving Early America, you will discover a wealth of resources — a unique array of primary source material from 18th Century America. Scenes and portraits from original newspapers, maps and writings come to life on your screen just as they appeared to this country's forebears more than two centuries ago." Excellent.

Aztec Sun Stone Templo Mayor

THE AZTECS - One of 27 similar activities from Snaith Primary School. Good graphics. Learn all about the Aztecs! Then try out the story starters, quizzes, printables, Sunstone Puzzle, and coloring pages!

Battle of Antietam September 17, 1862. It's the 150th Anniversary of this important Civil War battle, the bloodiest one-day fight ever in North America, the results of which led President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. This site from the Civil War Trust does a fine job of discussing the battle, and includes a good video (Antietam Animated Map), 360 panoramas of the area, many articles, and links to most other Civil War battles.

Battle of Midway Learn about this pivotal battle that decided World War II in the Pacific, even though the war went on for three more years. Special sections about Torpedo Squadron 8 and links to the US Navy collection of World War II art.

1942 - 2012 The 70th anniversary.

Bison Buffalo (Bison) Education from the InterTribal Bison Cooperative. From the original people of the bison comes this excellent educational resource. Learn the Traditional Uses of the Buffalo with a comprehensive printable .pdf chart. Learn why Buffalo Are Sacred. Learn buffalo facts and the Historical and Cultural Connection to the Buffalo. Find out about buffalo Meat & Nutrition. Play the Buffalo Brain Busters game.

Castles on the Web "offers an extensive database of all things Castle related including a castle photo gallery, free castle web pages, hundreds of castle links, castle site of the day, castles for kids and more!" For our favorite trio of 11 year old castle freaks, and a few hundred thousand more like them.

The Civil War for Kids "The students in Mrs. Huber's class at Pocantico Hills School in Sleepy Hollow, New York have been learning about the Civil War. We read about this important time in our nation's history and wrote about it. We made a timeline of important events from 1860 to 1865. Our bar graphs contain data about the North and the South in 1861 when the Civil War began. Each graph compares the resources of the two regions. We looked at Civil War battle victories, used our mapping skills to examine the nation in detail, and made both Confederate and Union flags. We have drawings of Civil War uniforms, short biographies of Civil War leaders, images of other leaders, links to other Civil War Sites, and activity sheets for you to do. We hope you enjoy our work!"

Note about American Civil War Battle names: Some names differ from North to South. 1st and 2nd Bull Run (the creek) are called 1st and 2nd Manassas (nearby town) in the South. Same for Antietam (the creek) called Sharpsburg (nearby town).

Could you pass a US citizenship test? Here is a 96 question test covering what you would need to know in order to pass the citizenship test. OK, American citizens, let's see how you do! Useful for civics and government classes.

D-Day There are so many resources on the web about this pivotal event in world history, the Allied invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944. This one is a very good resource from the BBC, with graphics.

The Doolittle Raid Our page of links about this famous World War 2 incident. Learn the history, learn about the heroes.

Ellis Island Learn about your ancestors at THE site to learn about immigration. Records of ships and people!

George Washington George Washington Quotes from Notable Quotes. Nine pages of quotes, around 25 to a page. Also has a good biography and a trivia quiz. Great for American history among other things. The man wrote quite well and knew his grammar.

Winslow Homer "Prisoners at the Front" 1863. Union Brigadier General Francis Barlow, Medal of Honor, seven Purple Hearts, talks to Confederate prisoners. Painting by Winslow Homer, "Prisoners at the Front" (1863) Union Brigadier General Francis C. Barlow talks with Confederate prisoners of war at Gettysburg. Badly wounded several times, Barlow ended the war as a Major General. Later in life, as Attorney General of the State of New York, Barlow successfully prosecuted Boss Tweed and broke the Tammany Hall gang.

A famous American painter, Winslow Homer was a combat artist during the war. This is one of many paintings he drew from sketches he made during the action.

Gettysburg Civil War site for kids, from the National Park Service. Investigates the causes of the war and the larger conflict, too.

Go Social Studies Go "Go Social Studies Go integrates fun content with the coolest links, videos, and games found on the net. In addition, we’ve teamed with with Cramstoppers, a free quiz making site that allows students to take their education one step further. " This site constantly adds new things to read and do. American and World History, World Geography, Global Religions, Choose Your Own Adventure, links, more. Oodles of subcategories in each! We ran on the Underground Railroad, read about Archduke Ferdinand's assassination, checked out the Silk Road, learned about African geography ("Place is huge!"). This is middle school through high school level, maybe first year college - anyway, excellent site! Shout out to "veteran social studies teacher" Ken Uhde, of Groves High School, Birmingham, Michigan, its creator!

Historical Atlas of Europe from Year 1 to 2000 ..."shows the history of Europe through a sequence of 21 historical maps, every map depicting the political situation at the end of each century." Great history resource.

History of Labor Day From the US Department of Labor. Find out the history of the holiday, learn why it is more than just another Monday off.

HMS Victory at dockside HMS Victory official site. Learn about the world's oldest warship, in service since 1765! The only surviving "First Rate" wooden battleship in the world, HMS Victory was Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar back in 1805, and is still on duty with the Royal Navy today! Use the menu across the top of the screen. Interactive views of different decks. Photos of the interior and famous paintings. The various stats would be good for mathematics classes.

I Was Wondering.org Introducing women's adventures in science! Bios and timeline of 25 women scientists who have made this a better world. Ten of them their own pages on this site! There are games and an Ask It section for your questions. Girls can too do science! Thanks, Terri.

(The) Ice Trade In this history game set in the 1800s, students send 10 ships loaded with ice from New England to Florida, Brazil, or India. Can you turn a profit in 10 turns?

Jamestown Settlement "In 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, a group of 104 English men and boys began a settlement on the banks of Virginia's James River..." Well done site explores the history, the different peoples - native, European, and African - and the world of 1607. YouTube videos greatly enhance learning.

Kathi Mitchell's Civil War links. A big list of links to sites about the American Civil War, 1861-65. A good place to go for links.

Kathi Mitchell's Social Studies links A big collection of links to sites, arranged in sections. Her list of Native American links is superb!

Khan Academy "is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) with the mission of providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere...We are complementing Salman (Khan's) ever-growing library with user-paced exercises--developed as an open source project--allowing the Khan Academy to become the free classroom for the World." 1800+ videos cover math from 1 + 1 up through differential equations; Science: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Organic Chem, Cosmology, Astronomy; History; Finance (BIG section!); Test Prep: SAT, GMAT, CAHSEE, IIT JEE. The videos are wonderful! This is amazing and FREE!

Kids Past from KidsKnowIt. "KidPast.com is the fun way to explore our history. We are who we are today, because of those who have gone before us. " The Online History Textbook does a good job of covering elementary and middle school history. The History Games are pretty good. The Historical Quotes are over the top, and every child should know of them.

Kids' View of World War II and the 1940s Era from the Spring Hill Elementary School in Kansas, this older site (2000-2001) works to bring the World War II era to life for contemporary kids. Made by 5th graders and their teachers. Interviews with veterans and civilians alike brings a unique touch. Also covers fashions, entertainment, toys and games, and has a timeline. Thanks, Mrs. Vopat and Mrs. Jones, and the Jr. Ikes Teams.

KidsKonnect Civil War links. More links to sites about the American Civil War, 1861-65. Good page layout sets the mood, too.

Lewis and Clark- The PBS site. Includes teacher resources.

National Geographic's Lewis and Clark site, with interactive map. NG also has an (even more) kid-focused L & C site.

Liberty! Includes the Road to Revolution activity. From PBS.

Liberty's Kids! Great companion site for the TV series shown on PBS.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Black History Month 2013 Black History Month from Chiff.com. Comprehensive explanation of BHM, with links to bios of famous Afro-Americans

Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute of Stanford University. Arguably the best MLK resource site, this one has everything.

Martin Luther King Speeches - Excerpts from King's most famous addresses. From infoplease

MLK I Have A Dream "I Have a Dream" speech, text and audio, from American Rhetoric.

"I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, text and audio, from American Rhetoric.

Here are three links to information about Rosa Parks

Biography for kids from Ducksters (great series of sites, BTW

Rosa Parks from Wikipedia - harder for kids to read, good

Remembering Rosa Parks on Her 100th Birthday Excellent bio video from Biography.com.

--------------------------------------------------------

The Montgomery Bus Boycott - a BBC video on YouTube 7:13 long. Pretty much sums up how things were.

Mavis Staples "Eyes On The Prize" - Similar video with a song from the era. Racial violence is shown.

Mavis Staples - "Down In Mississippi" - Blues video - actually an oral history - describes growing up black and female in the bad old days. Also praises Dr. King.

partial Norman Rockwell painting of Ruby Bridges with Ms. Bridges posing Ruby Bridges from Biography.com. "Ruby Bridges was born on September 8, 1954, in Tylertown, Mississippi. In 1960, when she was 6 years old, her parents responded to a call from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and volunteered her to participate in the integration of the New Orleans school system. Bridges is best known as the first African-American child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South." This bio site features a video of President Obama and Ruby Bridges discussing the events shown in this famous Norman Rockwell painting. There is a four page biography, and plenty of links to other Black History and Civil Rights sites.

United States Black History Month Coloring Pages from Daily Coloring Pages. Lots of printable coloring pages of famous black Americans, including brief bios.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Birdman: Give Me That Old Time Religion MOUNDBUILDERS Teacher's Guide for Native American Heritage Month. From the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum (AICCM) of Oklahoma. Excellent self-contained teaching unit ready to go! Amazing art, artifacts, in-depth discussion of various moundbuilding Native American cultures over 11,000 years, from prehistoric times to the 1500s. Lots and lots of art! Plenty of activities.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial This is the new in 2012 multimedia site from CyArk. It is fantastic. This presentation starts with a slideshow. Other sections off of the horizontally scrolling main section cover the Black Hills, Gutzom Borglum, carving the sculpture, preservation, how CyArk digitally documented the Memorial for posterity, laser scanning, photography, the Virtual Tour, videos (including the Tom Brokaw intro that you watch at the Memorial), and 2D & 3D perspectives. Marvelous job. Our fave is the very cool Virtual Tour, showing everywhere you can go. If you cannot visit Rushmore then this is the way to go! Visualize someone taking the virtual tour while standing on the same spot!

National Archives "The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever... Those valuable records are preserved and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family’s history, need to prove a veteran’s military service, or are researching an historical topic that interests you." This is a treasure trove of original, primary source documents. Click here to see them. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Emancipation Proclamation, Civil War records, World War 2, FBI, CIA, and OSS films on DVD, military service records, it is all there. They also have branches all over the US.

US Flag National Student Mock Election "Welcome to the nation’s largest civic education project. Student voice is an essential part of a vital and vibrant society. That’s why the My Voice™ National Student Mock Election aspires to create more paths for young people to express their views and participate in the democratic process. Join this historic initiative because It’s Your Democracy." Teachers can enroll their class(es), view demos, and get ready to vote!

Native Americans and the U.S. Military Gives the history of Native Americans in all branches of service during the past century. Also lists the eight Native American Medal of Honor winners from World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam. Information about Code Talkers of different nations.

Native Americans in the US Army Lots of links, videos, biographies, a Comanche Code Talker, and more. Includes Willing to Serve, a cross section of Native veterans and active-duty.

Native Americans in the US Navy Primarily about World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Biographies of famous Native sailors, including Commander Ernest Edwin Evans, Medal of Honor. Also a nice PowerPoint about Native sailors past and present, including a Navy Seal Medal of Honor winner from Vietnam.

Oregon Trail MECC Apple 2 game screenshot Oregon Trail for Elementary Schools Arguably the best Oregon Trail site. Plenty of information and links. Comprehensive overview of life on the Trail. William has a broken arm. You have died of desentery.

Oregon Trail - End of the Oregon Trail (NEW URL!) Anything you would ever want to know about the Oregon Trail, and much more. This huge site could and should be the source of many K-12 lesson plans. You should have bought more ~~baking soda~~ saleratus. You do not have an extra wagon wheel, so you must trade for one.

Oregon Trail Links A large list of links to other OT sites. If you continue hunting in this area, game will become scarce.

Pearl Harbor Lesson Plans US Navy official site. "Since the attacks on September 11, 2001, we all have been drawn to examine similar events in our past. The lesson plans provided for you will help you and your students to understand what happened on December 7, 1941. Beginning with the first American treaty with Japan in 1854 though the attacks in 1941, students will use primary sources to synthesize information and draw conclusions about the role of the U.S. Navy in foreign policy and to understand how people in 1941 reacted to the tragic bombing of Pearl Harbor. These lesson plans are geared towards upper middle and high school students. You may download and reproduce everything available. We encourage you to use these lesson plans as pre-museum visit materials."

Pigments through the Ages "Pigments are the basis of all paints, and have been used for millennia. They are ground colored material. Early pigments were simply as ground earth or clay, and were made into paint with spit or fat. Modern pigments are often sophisticated masterpieces of chemical engineering. This exhibit includes most important pigments used through the early 20th century." Explore timelines, a pigment catalog, history of different colors, different artist paints, how to mix paint, make your own painting, etc. One of many sites at WebExhibits.

Pups of Liberty: The Boston Tea-Bone Party
is a teaching DVD from izzit.org, makers of creative educational DVDs covering a wide subject area. The people of izzit asked GSFK to review the DVD, and this is our take on it: Pups of Liberty is a 17:30 long, very well done, professionally voice acted video about the events culminating in the Boston Tea Party. "The Boston Tea-Bone Party tells the story of the founding of the Sons of Liberty and the Boston Tea Party, but with the real people of history portrayed by cats and dogs." The colonials ("Spaniel Adams", "Paul Ruffere"), and the British ("Royal Tomcat") come across as believable characters. "No Taxation Without Representation" becomes "No Laws Without Paws".

This video will hold elementary students' attention and keep them interested in the dramatic events of the times. A little girl dog is the heroine and the "kid focus", but she's definitely an active member of the group. Dogs and cats portraying actual characters speak and act as the real people did. Obviously it's a bit simplified but the events and ideas are covered and explained. There is a pretty good companion web page for kids here. It covers the historical people, places, and events; has a coloring page, and a section on the making of the video.

We all thought the DVD well worth the price. It makes a valuable supplement to any elementary classroom and school multimedia resources. We liked it a lot!

Primary Documents in American History From the Library of Congress, this site covers the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Federalist Papers, documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789, and has a Guide to American Historical Documents Online. There is nothing like reading the original documents!

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: Birth Of A Nation "Welcome to Historycentral's Revolutionary War site.This is the most complete site on the web on the Revolutionary War. The section on the 'Causes of the War' traces the events that led to the American Declaration of Independence. The 'Battle' and 'Main Event' sections tell the story of all the major battles of the war. Many battle entries come with a narrated multimedia presentation that last up to three minutes. A NEW SECTION chronicles many of the major legends and myths of the war. Each story comes with the written text as well as a multimedia presentation; perfect for students of all ages. For those who want to learn more, we have added sections on the Economics, Daily Life and Arts of the period. Our site includes extensive first-hand accounts of battles, along with many other primary source documents. Our Student Guide lists the important terms from this period. Our Teacher's Guide includes many lesson plans with resource materials and ideas on how to teach the American Revolution."

Sid Lapidus '59 Collection on Liberty and the American Revolution from the Princeton University Digital Library. (High school AP and college-level, mostly.) Over 150 original documents from the Revolutionary and Early Republic eras, that you can read online! Thomas Paine is in here among many others. Great for secondary history teachers, research, and for the truly scholarly, the joy of reading from the primary source!

South Dakota History for kids. This is the official South Dakota 4th Grade state history unit. Covers prehistory to modern times.

Technology and Social Science from SCORE History/Social Science is a whole section on technology integrated into Social Science - with its own lesson plans and ideas for teachers!

TimeMaps The TimeMap of World History. Interactive! "Explore world history with this FREE, award winning World History Atlas. The TimeMap of World History is an all inclusive look at world history. It combines maps, timelines and chronological narratives that work together to enhance historical understanding. New content added daily." History of the world from 4500BC to 2005AD, coverers all continents. You can click on icons for detailed information about any region, any culture. Special section for teachers! Free, detailed history lesson plans as well as well as neat Topic TimeMaps (units) for sale. A lot of effort went into this site!

Titanic - Titanic Centennial 1912 - 2012. Our page of links about the history of the tragic 1912 voyage of the RMS Titanic.

Tradesmen in Colonial America from Pocantico Hills School. "...the Colonists had little to export as trading partners with England so they had to make what they needed to survive. Eventually they had enough money to pay those skilled craftsmen to make what they needed. You are about to meet some of these tradesmen. We hope you enjoy visiting this period in our history." What did these tradesmen and craftsmen (& women) make? Find out about 15 different trades, from shoemakers to doctors to milliners. Check out the Activities and Links as well. Learn about even more tradesmen, such as brickmakers, gunsmiths, apothecaries, weavers, and more at the Colonial Williamsburg site. What did a cooper make, anyway?

Traitors, Seamstresses, and Generals: Voices of the American Revolution American Revolution ThinkQuest site. Well organized, tons of information. Fits very well with any classroom study of the Revolution. Packed with resources and activities. Succinctly stated: One of the best ThinkQuests we have ever seen.

U.S. Constitution for kids, from usconstitution.net. Separate explanations of the Constitution for: Kindergarten - 3rd Grade, for 4th - 7th Grade, and for 8th - 12th Grade. There is also a Teacher Guide to the material.

US Presidents List Lists all US Presidents and Vice Presidents (wow) with links to tons of facts about them. A good gotta-have source of information.

Victorian Britain from BBC Primary History. Be a kid in the time of Victoria! Rich kids were warmly dressed, well fed, and went to school. Poor kids wore rags, were half starved, and went to work as coal miners and factory workers. See their toys and how kids lived in this split society. Check out the Activities and the Fun Facts, too.

Uss Constitution vs HMS Java USS Constitution official home page. Learn about this famous frigate's history, and take a Virtual Tour of the recently restored ship. Living history.

USS Constitution fights HMS Java off the coast of Brazil. War of 1812, one of several spinoffs of the Napoleonic Wars.

Ultimate History Quiz History Channel's excellent American History Quiz! Play single player, multi player, or against friends. Ten questions, choose your level of difficulty. May be addicting. Best for 4th grade and up.

War of 1812 Our new and very special section about the War of 1812! It's a big page! Click here to start the adventure!

We Choose The Moon is an interactive experience recreating the historic Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in real time. Once where only three men made the trip, now millions can. Live event begins 8:02 AM EDT July 16, 2009, with launch at 9:32 a.m., exactly 40 years after Apollo 11 lifted off. Going in Astronomy, Social Studies, and Technology.

White House Kids' Page Improved, spiffed-up and modernized. Kids' section of the official site.

Women's Suffrage from about.com has a good timeline and many links to more information. In the USA, women could not vote until 1920 (Native Americans could not vote until 1924!)

World War 2 from BBC Primary History. Be a British kid in the time of World War 2 in Britain. Very good, concise, fact-filled, great to explore this site. Be a history detective checking out time capsules. Shop for food in 1943 with a ration book. Explore a wartime home with bomb shelters. Read letters. Find out what it was like to be evacuated on a train. What was The Blitz?

World War II - The Home Front This is an excellent British site about what it was like to be a child in the UK during World War 2. WW 2 lasted six hard years for the UK, 1939-45. Covers evacuations, The Blitz, bomb shelters, rationing (with Excel game,) what women did, propaganda, music of the era. A section for teachers explains the language arts lessons. We need a site like this for American kids, too. This is from the Snaith Primary School in East Yorkshire, UK, and is one small part of their BIG academic site! One downside - links to other UK WW 2 sites are broken.

Yorktown Victory Center "On October 19, 1781, the decisive military campaign of the American Revolution culminated with the British surrender to combined American and French forces under the command of George Washington. The Siege of Yorktown effectively ended the six-year struggle of the Revolutionary War and set the stage for a new government and nation." The best parts for online learning are the Yorktown Victory chronology, Yorktown and American Independence, and Militia in the Revolutionary War.

to top of page to Good Sites!

**************************************************************************************

MISCELLANEOUS SOCIAL STUDIES SITES

Castles on the Web "offers an extensive database of all things castle related including a castle photo gallery, free castle web pages, hundreds of castle links, castle site of the day, castles for kids and more!" For our favorite trio of then-10 year old castle freaks, and a few hundred thousand more like them.

H.I.P. Pocket Change is the US Mint's kid site. Very lively, features games, fun online activities, and cartoons, all of which is to teach children about coins and coinage.

Kathi Mitchell's Social Studies links A big collection of links to sites, arranged in sections. Her list of Native American links is superb!

Sampler of Social Studies for gr6-8/11-13yr From Curriki! "The curriculum resources contained in this folder represent a selection of high-quality materials from the Curriki repository for grades 6-8/ages 11-13 in Social Studies." Everything from a Middle Ages webquest to traditional Indian music to Westward Expansion to Japanese culture, and more, is in this selection.

to top of page to Good Sites!

Social Studies sites