History on Tap

With inauguration rapidly approaching, here are a few sites that you can use to find activities for your students.

http://www.famouspeoplelessons.com/b/barack_obama.html

http://www.efsmithsonian.com/splash/inaugurationcountdownkit/default.aspx

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=333

http://www.c-span.org/classroom/govt/inauguration.asp

http://inauguration.dc.gov/index.asp

The ceremony begins at 11:30am, and Obama is to be sworn in at noon.

Here’s another interesting election resource.  A participant in the workshop that Sarah and I presented at the Virginia Council for the Social Studies state conference this past weekend shared it with us. 

http://www.270towin.com/

It’s an electoral college map.  It shows the US and the number each state has in the electoral college.  Students can change states from undecided, to red or blue, and come up with different scenarios for the election outcome. 

The site also has historical maps for every election since 1789.  The maps show who ran for President, and how each state voted. 

It’s an interesting site, and students might enjoy creating their own maps for the election outcome.  A big thanks to the workshop participant who pointed this out!

A friend of mine brought these to my attention:

http://www.mibazaar.com/obama_igoogle.html

http://www.mibazaar.com/mccain_igoogle.html

http://www.mibazaar.com/biden_igoogle.html

http://www.mibazaar.com/palin_igoogle.html

They are maps (using Google Earth) of the presidential and vice presidential candidates lives.  Each map begins where the candidate was born and takes you through key points in their life.  (Where they attended school, when they took office, etc.)  Each stop on the map has a blurb with information about that point in time.  They are really interesting!

I also have a few more good sites if you’re looking for election resources:

http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/election08/  (Time for Kids:  includes meet the candidates, kid reporters, inside the issues, path to the presidency, contact your Congressman, and an electionary to define unfamiliar election terms.)

http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/election2008.htm  (Scholastic:  includes student vote, ask the candidates, issues, campaign news, games and quizzes.)

http://www.weeklyreader.com/election/index.asp (Weekly Reader:  includes hot topics, meet the candidates, how it works, election issues, games, and ask us anything.)

All of these sites have great information and resources on the election.  Deinitely check out the Google Map site!  Hope they help!

Here is a great website put together by PBS.  It’s the PBS Teachers Vote 2008:  Access, Analyze, Act:  A Blueprint for 21st Century Civic Engagement. 

The site includes lots of free lesson plans for elementary and secondary, which are organized by topic (such as the campaign trail, political parties, Congress, etc) as well as interactive quizzes and games for students.  (There’s a political personality quiz, and a budget game as well as other web based tools.) 

You can also subscribe to podcasts or watch videos on the lastest issues so that you’ll be up to date.  Take a few minutes to check it out, there’s lots of great things you could use in your classroom.  Especially when the election is only about 43 days away! 

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/vote2008/