Gadsden Purchase & Jimmy Fallon

One of our new teachers, Doug Zywiol, asked me if I had heard of the video above.  Of course I had, but it made me think I hadn't put it up in a while.  It is a bit from Jimmy Fallon that covers the the Gadsden Purchase perfectly and is a lot of fun for your kids. 

Google Drive Templates

My son is working on an assignment on Jamestown (4th grade history in VA is VA history) and is writing a newspaper account about 1619.   So we found this link to Google Drive documents' templates.  But it also has links to Presentations (PowerPoints), excel spreadsheets, forms and drawings (see below).

To use the templates, simply open up Google Drive and then go to the page.  Click on "use this template" (see below) and it will appear in your Google Drive under "Recent" which is on the left side of your page.

Make Your Students Real Historians

One of the benefits to living near DC is the access to so many places to highlight what we are learning.  Last year, for example, my students got to meet the US Secretary of Education and two days ago we had Robert Costello of the Smithsonian Institute come to my History Honors' Society meeting as we want our kids to actually do some historical writing.  The Smithsonian Institute has literally millions of items they have digitized - so many in fact that they do not even know what everything is yet.  But one thing they have done is make public their numerous journals, letters, etc.  But they need amateur historians to transcribe them which take a little work and sleuthing (nothing new for teachers since we are so used to different handwriting).  But if you go to their Beta site, your students can literally try their hand at reading historical documents and writing out the text which will help other historians who are doing research and make a database which will allow more analysis.  What is great is that you can create an account if you want on the site or if you do not want to you can just let your students do it anonymously.   Robert cautioned our students to not change the spelling as many of the items were written before spelling had been standardized and to remind the students that they may read something with different viewpoints and sensitivities that theirs.  But WOW what a great chance to actually let your students actively be historians.  If you want to help go to the Smithsonian Institute's Transcription Center.   Here are the projects that need transcribing. 

Virtual Tours of Antietam

Here and here are virtual tours of the Battle of Antietam.  The former includes both images, battlefield as well as troop movements. 

Scripts for Google Drive

Unlike apps that are added to something like Google Drive, scripts just help Google Drive further an application it already has.  For example, WeVideo is an app that one can use to collaboratively make videos in Google Drive.  But we have already discussed a script such as Doctopus that allows you to put your students' assignments in folders.  Well, here are eight other scripts that you might want to use in your classroom along with Google Drive.

The video above is one example of the scripts on the link which is called Flubaroo which makes grading exams easier in Google Drive forms.

I found the scripts on Synergyse.

Virtual Tour of Gettysburg

Dickinson College professor Matthew Pinsker has four virtual tours of Gettysburg that are all under five minutes.  While they do not off the insights of the Ken Burns' series they are pretty good and show both images as well as what the battlefield actually looks like.  Pinsker also narrates the entire four videos.  Above is one of his videos. 

Jamestown Settlement Images

I am working with my son on a project and we just found a great site with lots of pictures of the Jamestown settlement.  It is broken into categories such as the church, glassblower, stable, homes, etc. 

Inkling and Searching Online Textbooks

Inkling has partnered with Google to let readers search all of their online textbooks.  So for example if you write "Inkling + US Civil War" into a Google search engine you will find an entire chapter on the US Civil War.  Here is the next chapter on the Reconstruction.  Thus you could reconstruct an entire US history book (not that you can't find others by looking at my links). 

Another Civil War Site

If you are looking to have your students go on a webquest for the Civil War, this is a good site to use as it has all the battles, leaders, causes and even food and music. 

US History Interactive Site

Mr Nusbaum has created a very nice site for US history teachers.  He is an elementary teacher, but don't be mislead by that as there is plenty for you to use especially if you have ESOL or special education teams.  It has pictures, interactive maps, summaries, etc.  Here for example is a great site on the cause and effects of the Civil War. 

QR Generator for Google Drive

You can use a QR code generator for any of your Google Drive documents to use in your classroom, but if you want to keep a list of them, then you need to go to the Google site that will shrink your link and give you a QR code which it will keep for you as long as you want. 

Kennedy's Last Days: Presidential Library & Musuem

Here are four clips about the last days of President Kennedy from the Kennedy Presidential library.

They include“Special Release: President Assassinated” by Universal Newsreel; “The World Mourns: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1917-1963” by Universal Newsreel; “The Last Two Days” covering President Kennedy’s trip to Texas; and the funeral services of President John F. Kennedy.

My thanks to my colleague Jeff Feinstein for sending me the link.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Thanksgiving

For those of you who are planning out next week the video above is what I play for my students the last day I see them before Thanksgiving.  It talks about the first real Thanksgiving, how it because a holiday and how it landed on its current day.  It is a "feast" of facts in 150 seconds!  I hope you have a great Thanksgiving next week. 

The Gettysburg Address

Thanks to my colleague Doug Zywiol for this rendition of the Gettysburg Address.  Forty years ago I learned it as part of my 4th grade US history class and proudly this year my almost ten year old son recited it on his school television news this morning. 

More on JFK & Primary Resources

The picture you see above was taken the moment JFK was first shot and includes the "grassy knoll" that has been the fodder of conspiracy theorists for so many years.  This three minute clip is good for many reasons 1) it shows how close people used to be able to get to a president 2) why the picture was every taken 3) how primary documents (a picture in this case and an interview) can color our history 4) a very interesting interview on the 50th anniversary of JFK's death.   I follow PBS on Google+ which is where I found the video.  Also, here is another interesting (for a history geek, perhaps not for your students) NYTimes story on where Jackie's pink dress now is being stored.