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Social Studies

General
History
Geography
Politics and Government
Current Events
World Cultures
Social Issues

General

Council of State Social Studies Specialists
The CS4 site provides a variety of links for Social Studies educators including a gateway to state social studies homepages, Social Studies education and technology.

History/Social Studies Web Site for K-12 Teachers
A good resource for social studies sites on the web.

Social Studies
Lesson plans and resources for social studies teachers.

Social Studies Sources
Links to resources in all content areas.

History

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Under the Education link are Teachers Resources and information about how a museum visit relates to the Illinois Learning Standards.

American Memory
This site helps bring primary documents, videos, manuscripts, photographs and sound recordings from the Library of Congress to the classroom. Corresponding lesson plans and research tools are also available.

America's Story from America's Library
The Library of Congress puts the story back in history through primary source documents and other materials.

Architectural Design Images History, 3D Models and More
Architecture around the world and across history.

Biography Classroom
Over 25,000 biographies with related educational resources.

Biography of America
A companion website to the video series.

California's Untold Stories-Gold Rush
An interactive learning experience for all ages to educate about an important period in America's History.

Digital History
This Web site was designed and developed to support the teaching of American History in K-12 schools and colleges, and includes an online U.S. History Textbook, over 400 primary source documents, and a variety of teaching resources.

Eyewitness to History
Using personal letters and essays, Eyewitness to History takes a look at major events in history from the perspectives of eyewitnesses

Food Timeline
K-12 Teaching resources on the history of food. Includes state foods, food inventions, and lesson plans.

The History Channel
Includes study guides, speeches, "This Day in History" and lots more.

History Link 101
A resource site for world history classes, divided into the categories of art, biographies, daily life, maps, pictures, and research for a variety of cultures, including ancient Egyptian, African, Chines, Greek, Roman, Mayan, Aztec and Native American.

The History of Today
Daily historical facts and events, famous birthdays, world, and music history.

History Place
Great online history exhibits include World Wars, Lincoln, Kennedy and more.

HyperHistory
Navigates through 3.000 years of world history

Illinois History: A Magazine for Young People
A publication written by and for students in grades 6 through 12. Each issue is thematically based and includes original essays by students.

Illinois History Teacher
Poems, stories, plays, and non-fictional writings dealing with the history of Illinois. Includes lessons plans for history teachers.

National Archives
The Digital Classroom Primary sources, activities and training for educators and students.

People's Century
PBS's People's Century discusses the history of the people, for the people, as told by the people who lived it.

Presidential Timeline
The Presidential Timeline provides a single point of access to a selection of digitized assets from the collections of the twelve Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.

Top 100 Speeches
Contains the text and .mp3 audio of 100 speeches from American History. Included are Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" and FDR's "Pearl Harbor" speeches.

USHistory.org
American history with a focus on colonial and Revolutionary Philadelphia.

The Virtual Study Tour
With this architectural virtual tour, you can visit the Knossos Labyrinth or the Palace of Rameses III.

Geography

50States.com
State information resource links to state homepages, symbols, flags, maps, songs, birds, etc.

CityPopulation
Site contains the principal cities, nations, and agglomerations of the world, with tables and maps.

Flags of the World
Claims to be the Internet's largest site devoted to the study of flags, with 34,000 pages about flags and over 64,000 images of flags.

Florida Geographic Alliance Lesson Plan Collections
These geographic lesson plans are made available by year of creation, free of cost. Registration is required.

Geographia
In depth destination guides to over 75 countries, online tourist offices, travel stories, and more.

Map Collection
An extensive collection of online maps.

Map Collections
Map collections from 1544.1996, organized according to seven major categories.

National Geographic Society
Interactive adventures, virtual expeditions, lesson plans, printable maps, and an online atlas. Coordinated with national geography standards

USGS Learning Web
A site from the U.S. Geological Survey, containing study units, activities, lessons, and lists of materials in the areas of geography, biology, hydrology, and geology.

World Factbook Reference Maps
Maps of continents and large political regions.

Politics and Government

Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government for Kids
From Ben Franklin and the U.S. Government Printing Office, this site provides resources on how the government works, links to U.S. government web sites for kids, and learning tools for students, parents, teachers.

The Dirksen Congressional Center
Provides educators with resources for teaching about congress, politics, and government.

Teachers Guide to Editorial Cartoons
An interesting site with lessons and activities using editorial cartoons with elementary, middle and high school students.

Current Events

CNN Student News
A free instructional program for teachers to bring the world into their classrooms with in-depth news stories, as well as world and regional events designed exclusively for students.

New York Times Learning Network
Part of the Newspapers in Education initiative, lesson plans and activities are based on the daily New York Times and current events. The lesson plan archive is searchable by subject.

Newsweek Education Program
A site to help teachers build bridges to real world issues.

World Cultures

The Boomerang Box
Students learn about geography, trade, cities and countries, and the history of products that are traded around the world as they follow "The Boomerang Box", a cargo container, on its travels around the world.

Let's Go Around the World
A fun and very informative global exploration site.

Country Studies
Description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world, sponsored by the Library of Congress.

United Nations CyberSchoolBus
Provides information on current global issues, and also offers lesson plans, teaching modules, and classroom activities

Social Issues

Population Reference Bureau
Education activities related to population growth and overpopulation.

Voices for Illinois Children
Issues of concern to those who work with the children of Illinois.

ESR Presents Conflict Resolution
Educators for Social Responsibility's mission is to make teaching social responsibility a core practice in education so that young people develop the convictions and skills needed to shape a safe, sustainable, democratic, and just world. Several lesson plans and other activities are offered for all grade levels. You may have to register (free) to get to this page.