LibGuides: Social Studies Education Resources: Lesson Plans and Teaching Activities

Lesson Plan resources

American Experience (PBS): This website accompanies the long-running PBS series. The educational resources can be browsed or searched. The browse function opens up a page divided into time periods and events. After selecting a time period, you can refine your results by type, such as primary source, map, bibliography, teacher's guide, etc. The types can also be further refined by selecting the media type, such as text, image, video, audio, etc.
Grades: 9 - 12

American Memory from the Library of Congress: The American Memory Project is a digital record of American history, containing documents, maps, photographs, moving images, sound recordings and memorabilia from American life. The collection of over 5 million items chronicles daily life as well as major events. Searchable by broad subjects or keywords. The Teachers section includes sample lesson plans and other teaching suggestions.
Grades: 3 - 12

Association of American Geographers: Education: The Association of American Geographers (AAG) has a number of resources on their Education webpage which are intended to help educators teach geography, earth science, and climate change to their students.
Grades: K - 12

CountryReports: While CountryReports is a subscription database it provides a significant amount of information to the visitor. The Country reports section gives the capital, populations, GDP, area, currency and some basic information without logging in. Subscribers can access more extensive information about culture, history, government and demographics. The Activities section has geography games, data comparisons, and other teacher resources.
Grades: 3 - 12

EconomicsAmerica: National Standards: Sponsored by the Council for Economic Education, this website enables you to search for online lessons by National Economic Standard, grade level, and economic concept.
Grades: K - 12

Education Place: Provided by textbook publisher, Houghton Mifflin, this website provides online support for their textbook series, as well as lesson plans (for a variety of topics), graphic organizers, handouts and activities for themes, outline maps, and links current event websites for kids.
Grades: K - 8

Environmental Literacy Council: A virtual library of information about a variety of environmental topics. The teacher section includes lesson plans and labs, as well as reviews of teaching resources. The student portion includes background information, additional resources and links to web resources and Ask an Expert websites.
Grades: 6 - 12

ESRI: EdCommunity Resource Collections- Schools: This website provides educational resources call GeoInquiries, which are "short, standards-based inquiry activities for teaching map-based concepts found in commonly used textbooks." According to the website, the activities "can be delivered in a classroom with as little as a tablet and a projector. Any teacher can use a GeoInquiry, regardless of their prior experience with digital mapping tools." Additionally, the EdCommunity webpage features lesson plans and other instructional resources for educators.
Grades: 4 - 12

Food Timeline: Links to ancient recipes, descriptions of ancient foods, and explanations of the development of various popular food items are listed and linked to further information in this timeline that covers from 17,000 BC to the present.
Grades: 3 - 12

Garbology: An interactive game that asks, "Where should my waste go?" The website includes lesson plans and handouts. Developed by NatureBridge, and environmental science education group that is a partner of the National Park Service.
Grades: K - 8

iEARN, International Education and Resource Network: Using the theme, Learning with the world, not just about it, iEARN helps teachers and students from over 140 countries work together. Use the Project Collaboration Centre link to identify projects, find project partners, or join a teacher or youth forum. Search Impact for testimonials about projects. Available in over 80 languages.
Grades: K - 12

In the Mix- Financial Literacy: On the Money!: Produced by PBS, this website includes information for teens about financial literacy, such as budgeting, credit cards and more.
Grades: 6 - 12

Investopedia: Dictionary: This dictionary provides explanations of financial terminology.
Grades: 9 - 12

Money Smart Week: Money Smart Week was originally a collaboration of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and other organizations to increase consumer knowledge of finance. It is now a national program with events in all 50 states. Money Smart Week is usually held the last week in April, and includes workshops and presentation sponsored by local organizations. This website includes information about activities throughout the country, as well as links to online resources for kids, teachers and others.
Grades: 3 - 12

MyMoney.gov: this website, which is a product of the Federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission, aims to educate young people about financial literacy. It includes activities for children, resources for educators, and more.
Grades: 4 - 12

National Geographic Education: Covering a variety of subject areas National Geographic Education tries to inspire the spirit of adventure. Videos, games, lesson plans, unit plans and other learning activities are searchable by grade level and subject area.
Grades: K - 12

National Geographic Society: Education: The National Geographic Society's website features an Education section which includes resources for educators, such as lesson plans, units, activities, and educational games. These resources can all be filtered by age group and/or subject.
Grades: K - 12

Native Knowledge 360: A project of the National Museum of the American Indian (part of the Smithsonian) this website provides resources that teach about Native American history and cultures from the Native American perspective. Lesson plans and units of study can be searched by subject, grade level, geographic region and/or tribal nation. It provides insight into that past as well as the life of Native peoples today.
Grades: PreK - 12

NewseumED: EdTools: NewseumED: EdTools is the Newseum's website for educational resources relating to history, civics, and media literacy. It includes lesson plans that align with teaching standards, case studies, primary sources, videos, digital collections, and more. Some of the content is copyright-protected and requires the user to create a free Newseum account to access it.
Grades: 6 - 12

People, Occupations, Jobs, and Community: Crafts, games, worksheets and other teaching activities from Enchanted Learning. While some materials are accessible only by subscription, many materials are freely available online.
Grades: PreK - 3

Practical Money Skills for Life: Sponsored by VISA this website has an extensive collection of resources for teaching financial literacy. "For Educators" has lesson plans with comparisons to state standards. The website includes games, apps, calculators, videos and other resources. The section called Personal Finance is divided into Credit & Debt, Savings & Spending, and Life Events.
Grades: K - 12

Read to Feed: Heifer International: Using the "teach a man to fish" philosophy Heifer International has been working to end hunger and poverty since 1944. Available in both English and Spanish "Read to Feed" is a collection of lesson plans that focus primarily on the environment and world cultures while also integrating language arts, mathematics and the arts. The Global Study Guides are written for middle school through high school.
Grades: PreK - 12

Smithsonian Learning Lab: There are over a million resources available in the Learning Lab representing the Smithsonian's 19 museums, 9 research center and the National Zoo. Educators can use the content and collections for free.
Grades: 3 - 12

Teachable Moment: Developed by the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility this website gives sample lessons for teaching students about social issues. Lessons are divided by elementary, middle school and high school. Ideas and essays provide additional insight on many topics.
Grades: K - 12

Teaching with Primary Sources: Inquiry kits for Social Studies and History Units: Part of Thinkport.org (a project of Maryland Public Television) the Inquiry kits include links to five primary sources (usually from the Library of Congress) and a secondary source from U.S. History. Each topic includes thinking questions, links to educational standards and additional suggestions to help teach students how to work with primary sources.
Grades: 6 - 12

TeachingHistory.org: This website provides history educators with a variety of resources, such as lesson plans, teaching guides and other teaching materials, history content, quizzes, and best practices.
Grades: K - 12

TheMint.org: TheMint.org has resources for both students and educators. Under the Teenstab, there are tabs for earning, saving, spending, owing, giving, investing, and safeguarding. The Teachers tab includes several lesson plans. Additionally, there are also resources for parents and younger children.
Grades: 6 - 12

Walters Art Museum: Many of the lesson plans from the Education Department of The Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, MD) integrate visual art with social studies, language arts, science and math. Most content is aligned with the Common Core Standards. The Teacher Resources section includes lessons that align with the Common Core Standards.
Grades: K - 12

Welcoming Schools: A project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Welcoming Schools provides resources to help schools provide a welcoming environment for all types of families, discourage gender stereotyping, and prevent bullying and name calling. Resources include lesson plans, links to other websites and resources, bibliographies, and handouts.
Grades: K - 6

WorldAtlas.com: This atlas website can be browsed by country or continent. Each continent and country includes interactive maps, and information about famous natives, flags, time zones, geography and more. The downside of the website is that it contains many ads.
Grades: 6 - 9

Bibliographies and Research Guides

Arabs and Muslims: Their Culture Through Literature: This is a selected list of juvenile books available in the Curriculum Materials Center at the Cheng Library that can be helpful when teaching about the culture of Arabs and Muslims in Grades K-12.
Grades: K - 12

Celebrating America: Teaching about Patriotic Holidays: A selection of resources available from the Cheng Library's Curriculum Materials Center. These can be useful for teaching about patriotic holidays, symbols and history in Preschool through grade 8 classrooms.
Grades: K - 12

Character Education: This is a selected list of curriculum resources that can be used for character education in the K-12 classroom. These resources are available in the Curriculum Materials Center of the Cheng Library.
Grades: K - 12; Community Resources; This bibliography suggests resources for educators to use for lesson plans in the PreK-12 classroom.; Exploring the Environment; A selected list of resources about environmental issues for K-8 teachers. All materials are available in the Cheng Library's Curriculum Materials Center.
Grades: PreK - 8

Family Literature: Resources about families, intergenerational
Grades: PreK - 6

Financial Literacy: Books for Children: This is a selected list of books to aid in the teaching of financial literacy and economics in PreK-6. All titles are available in the Curriculum Materials Center of the Cheng Library.
Grades: PreK - 6

Immigration Resources; This is a selected list of materials that can be used for teaching about immigration in the K-12 classroom.
Latin America & the Caribbean: A selected list of materials about Latin America and the Caribbean for PreK through Grade 12. Titles identified include picture books,novels, folklore, poetry and biography. All are available in the Curriculum Materials Center of the Cheng Library. Additional factual materials about these countries are also available.,
Grades: PreK - 12

Social Justice Literature; One definition of Social Justice is the effort to challenge injustice and work towards equality and fairness for all, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, or economic status.
This is a selected list of books available in the Curriculum Materials Center that can be used in the PreK-8 classroom.
Social Studies Resources: Textbook and other resources for teaching social studies from Preschool through high school. All are available from the Curriculum Materials Center of the Cheng Library.
Grades: K - 12

Teaching Asia: A Selected List of Books & Videos: A selected list of resources available in the Curriculum Materials Center of the Cheng Library that can be helpful for developing units to teach about Asia in Grades K-12.
Grades: K - 12

Thanksgiving Literature: Here is a selected list of books about the American holiday, Thanksgiving, for grades K-8. Available from the Curriculum Materials Center of the Cheng Library.
Grades: K - 8; Women's History; This is a selected list of resources for grades K – 12 about women who have made a difference throughout the centuries.

Databases

Points of View Reference Center: Full-text database that provides multiple viewpoints on a variety of contemporary issues. Each topic section features an overview along with point and counterpoint essays drawn from a variety of sources, plus supplementary information including primary source documents and guides to critical thinking.
Grades: 9 - 12