OurStory – American History stories and activities

A project of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, OurStory is designed to help children and adults enjoy exploring history together through children’s literature, everyday objects, and hands-on activities. The National Museum of American History and the National Center for Family Literacy are teaming up on OurStory projects. They are working together to help [...]

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History at the varsity level

It’s ironic, and just a little bit sad, but I thought twice about posting the following article. It’s too long. No one will read it all the way through. But I have faith. And you’ll thank me when you’re done. Jim does a great job of articulating the problem and consequence of history without reading [...]

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Tip of the Week – 25 Sweet Social Studies Resources

I spent most of the day listening to Don Gifford, Social Studies Consultant from the Kansas Department of Education, and classroom teachers discussing this year’s state assessment and the Common Core. Part of the day was spent sharing online resources to help teachers prepare for the assessment. The guiding question was simple: What are resources [...]

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Tip of the Week – EDSITEment reading list (and a few others)

A couple of days ago I posted my annual Summer Reading List. Of course, I never actually finish the list. There’s always something that ends up changing my direction – usually it’s because a book sounds a lot better than it actually is. But there’s hope. There are tons of lists lurking out there ready [...]

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Books and a “scholary culture”

Okay. I used to do it. You probably do too. And I’m not saying it was accurate 100% of the time but after the first few days of school, I could look across the classroom and have a pretty good idea of which kids would struggle and which would do well in my class. Call [...]

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