Exploring Primary Sources Website

For those of you with older children who are studying civics, I wanted to be sure to share with you the new site from iCivics. 

Exploring Primary Sources gives educators free, high-quality primary source teaching tools. And it allows students to research and examine primary resources directly rather than reading textbook accounts or narratives. 

This site gives students a chance to:

• Discover innovative, free products from iCivics and their partners that offer interactive, engaging learning experiences with primary sources
• Build their knowledge, skills and confidence to teach with primary sources with this collection of professional development videos
• Simplify lesson planning with this curated collection of high-quality primary source tools

This site is really important for teachers and students in middle school and high school. But there are sections dedicated to students in K through 5th.

The cool thing is that the materials and lessons appear to be presented in an engaging format using games and other interactives to teach kids.

AP teachers (homeschool & traditional) should especially find this site of interest because there is a tool devoted to DBQs (Document Based Questions), which are part of AP U.S. History exams. The tool takes students through these 4 steps:

1. Rate the document for usefulness and determine perspective.
2. Identify and analyze the text and visual elements that assist with answering the questions.
3. Address the supporting questions in your own words.
4. Summarize your findings as a response to the Big Question.

I love this resource because as the mother of a rising sophomore, this is a tool that I can use in our civics and history lessons for the next three years. 

And the fact that this is published by iCivics (who I've been using for a couple of years now) has my complete trust.

This whole site is packed full of teaching resources. I encourage you to go and check out the new Primary Sources website for yourself.

Free January 6 2021 Writing Pages

 

As I type this, the news has been on in our home most of the afternoon and evening. Today has been historic, and not in a good way. And it has been a teachable moment of gigantic proportions.

My teenagers have been asking all sorts of questions. My oldest is taking AP US history and my middle kid is taking civics. So what happened at the Capitol today held their attention. 

Today, we talked about the Constitution and ethics. We talked about peaceful transfer of power. We talked about the right to protest...and the federal offence of entering the Capitol by force. 

I think this is a really important opportunity for kids to think critically and deeply about government and power and laws. So I created some writing pages for my son to use tomorrow during our civics lesson. 

And I thought, well, maybe some of you would like to use them in your classrooms, too. They are FREE and very versatile. 

You can use them to have your students write down their thoughts about what happened today. They can write about how they felt or how the attack on Congress relates to what they have learned about how our government works. Or they can write about the events leading up to it. Or the events they witnessed on the television. 

The file comes in English and Spanish. And it has several formats for a variety of ages and skill levels. 

Click here to download these writing pages

Wishing for peace for our country.

Resources About Voting for Children

Tomorrow is a powerful day in our country. We hold in our hands the ability to change our country's history. So much is a terrible mess right now. And only we can make it better. How?

Vote.

The only thing you can do that would be more important is to take your children with you when you vote. I took my boys with me to vote on Friday (early voting). The baby was a disaster, but it was an important lesson for my older son anyway. :)

Can you believe that less than 100 years ago, women and blacks didn't have the right to vote? LESS THAN 100 YEARS. That's not a lot of time. And people worked and suffered to change that. People risked their lives to earn that right for themselves and others.

Here are some excellent history lessons on voting that I found online. Use them this week with your students:

• Voting & Election Lessons Plans :: Growing Voters (K-12)
• Voting Lesson Plans :: BrainPOP (3-12 grade)
• Voting and the Constitution :: Scholastic (6-8th grade)
• Lesson Plan: To Vote or Not to Vote :: PBS Newshour Extra  (7-12 grade)
• Who Can Vote in the United States? :: civiced.org (9-12 grade)
• Teach the Vote: A Unit Plan for Teachers :: closeup.org (9-12 grade)

Other awesome (and bilingual!) resources

If you are looking for bilingual materials, check out these MommyMaestra favorites:

• icivics.org - This is a really awesome site with interactive games that teach children valuable lessons. And several of them are available in Spanish, such as Do I have a Right?/¿Tengo un derecho? and Immigration Nation/Nación de Inmigración. To play the games in Spanish, start the game and then click on "jugar en español" in the upper right corner. 

• MomsRising.org has free coloring pages in English and Spanish for kids waiting in voting lines! Teach them while keeping them entertained at the same time.

• Here's an excellent article by the New York Times: How Do You Talk to Children About Politics These Days? Try These Books.

• And finally, my favorite bilingual resource comes from the talented author, Mariana Llanos. A few years ago she wrote a book, A Superpower for Me. It is lovely. I wrote about it here. And the best part is that it is also available in Spanish: Un Superpoder para mi (aff link). Here's the book trailer: