Anna Holmgreen's List: Social Studies

Martin Luther King resources

Thousands of stories from individuals who lived during the civil rights era of the 1940’s-60’s.  

Rosa Parks, "The Mother of the Modern-day Civil Rights Movement," describes her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and helps students understand the importance of every individual citizen in a democracy. Read through her story and then express how you would feel if you were in her situation.

Information about the first Thanksgiving.

America's museum of Pilgrim possessions

Links to Thanksgiving activities and lessons

Links to autumn lessons and worksheets

Activities for various holidays

Information discussing how Christmas is celebrated around the world.

Resources for Black History month

All About Explorers was developed by a group of teachers as a means of teaching students about the Internet.

Kids Past has put together an easy-to-read World History "textbook" for kids. Kids Past also offers five history games to which students can apply the knowledge the find in the textbook. The textbook and games correspond to each other.

features one historical event each day; includes what happened, what led up to it, what has happened since, and places the event in today's context including links to the best research on the subject

"More than 10 million Americans moved from one county to another during 2008. The map below visualizes those moves. Click on any county to see comings and goings: black lines indicate net inward movement, red lines net outward movement."

help kids understand government and the campaign and election process. Students are immediately greeted by a newspaper headline “Congressman Retires: who will represent the US on Capitol Hill?”
This is an incredible self-guided learning experience. Students will learn about our democratic system in depth by completing this activity. The Road to the Capitol is really best experienced by individual students in a computer lab setting where they have plenty of time to research and complete each stop along the campaign trail.

"The Living Room Candidate contains more than 300 commercials, from every presidential election since 1952, when Madison Avenue advertising executive Rosser Reeves convinced Dwight Eisenhower that short ads played during such popular TV programs as I Love Lucy would reach more voters than any other form of advertising. This innovation had a permanent effect on the way presidential campaigns are run. "

"Electing a US President in Plain English
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A simple guide to understanding the U.S. election process. Release Date: 7/30/2008. Video Length: 3:31.

* • Electing a US President in Plain English 3:31

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What it Teaches

"Electing a U.S. President" discusses the basic ideas behind the U.S. electoral process. It follows the chronological steps from voting to election day, focusing on each state's role. The video includes:

* Comparisons of popular vote vs. state votes
* Impact of state population on the number of electors
* How electors are counted
* What is required for a president to be elected"

"This unique gallery presents the inaugural addresses of the Presidents of the United States. Along with each speech is a word cloud image which encompasses the key ideas and the agenda of the address, the bigger the word the more frequent its use"

The Miller Center of Public Affairs hosts a very good reference resource about US Presidents. The Miller Center's reference, American President, provides personal and political biographical information about every US President. Each profile links to dozens of essays about various aspects of each President's life and work.