NJPEP: Virtual Academy

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Social Studies - Lessons

Virtual World
• FREE. Food Force simulation game, from the United Nations, helps students to understand how international aid organizations work to help starving people.
• Making History: The Calm and the Storm covers the causes and consequences of World War II.
• A Force More Powerful simulation game based on a PBS documentary, uses nonviolent strategic actions.
• Coverdell Worldwise Schools provides K–12 students with free cross-cultural classroom materials, literature, videos, lessons, ideas, and services.

Social Studies Skills
Social Studies	A collection of social studies lesson plans where teachers share and exchange their ideas and activities, grades K-12
Civics
The Bill of Rights Institute	The Bill of Rights Institute is a major supplier of civics education materials and training.
Black History	Information on interesting dates, events, and people in Black History
First Amendment Schools	First Amendment Schools project is a national initiative designed to transform how schools model and teach the rights and responsibilities of citizenship that frame civic life in our democracy.
Houghton Mifflin	This site includes textbook support, an interactive geography game, outline maps, a discussion forum, history update, and current events with activities and lesson plan links.
Social Studies	A collection of social studies lesson plans where teachers share and exchange their ideas and activities, grades K-12
USA.gov	USA.gov is the U.S. government's official web portal.
World History
Cleopatra	Cleopatra is an interactive guide to the Ancient Art Collection of The Art Institute of Chicago. To see the "close-up" views of the Ancient Art objects, their "stories" and listen to the glossary pronunciations, you will need QuickTime. Includes printable lesson plans for grades 4-12
History of Nations	Each country is covered by a brief essay which gives the highlights of each nation's history. All information is based on content from the U.S. State Department with new material added.
Social Studies	A collection of social studies lesson plans where teachers share and exchange their ideas and activities, grades K-12
Women in History Resources	Brief biographies of women from a variety of fields past and present
United States/New Jersey History
America's Story from America's Library	For stories about America's past from the Library of Congress, visit the following sites: Meet Amazing Americans, Jump Back in Time, Explore the States, Join America at Play, See, Hear, and Sing.
Black History	Information on interesting dates, events, and people in Black History
Class Brain	"Classbrain has assembled state report resources for all those students (and parents) doing reports on U.S. states. Templates, clipart and other resources are available here. The websites gathered for each state include the official state websites, so this will be a place to start for many students."
Cultural Maps	The American Historical Atlas section includes information on the Territorial Expansion as well as "The South." The map links are a great resource for further exploration.
Ellis Island	Students can check their family history and passenger records from ships that brought immigrants into the country.
Hike New Jersey's Revolutionary War Trail	This site features: events leading up to the war, battles and Around NJ, time line of NJ events: 1774-1787, the British advantage and more!
H.I.P. Pocket Change	The Web site, History In Your Pocket (H.I.P.) Pocket Change, was created by the U.S. Mint. The site shows the connection between this country's coins and its people, through games, stories, and other activities. Extensive teacher resources are available. The site is good for Elementary and Middle School grade levels.
History as Time, Geography	U.S. Department of Education activities and ideas
History Channel	This site highlights important historical events occurring on the current date. Scroll just below "Today's News From Yesterday's Past," enter a month and a day, and then click on "Submit Query" to find famous people born and newsworthy events.
Jamestown Online Adventure	Have your students travel back in time for the landing in the New World and make all the decisions needed to found a colony. This simulation lets them decide where to land, what to do when they get there, and even how many will be required to do hard labor. There are online helpers in the form of the London Company's Instruction and a Native American neighbor. Players will be scored as to how well they fared given the choices made, and will review what actually happened in Jamestown. This activity requires Flash version 5 or higher.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.	From the Seattle Times - History, images, classroom support and videos
Monticello	Explore the home of Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States (house, gardens, and plantation). Also included are: biographic information, "A Day in the Life" with images, Jefferson's West (Thomas Jefferson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition), an interactive floor plan, biographies of people who lived and worked at Monticello, an exhibit on Oral Histories, a narrative on slavery, pictures and descriptions of plants and gardens, recipes, and more.
Mt. Rushmore: American Experience	"This online exhibit chronicles the planning, design, implementation and minutiae of Mount Rushmore, the US monument commemorating four presidents. Activities in civics, history, economics, and geography can be found under Teacher's Guide."
New Jersey History Kids	The New Jersey History Kids multimedia website is intended to instruct New Jersey students in grades K through 4 in New Jersey history and social studies and is aligned to the 2004 New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Social Studies.
Presidential Speeches	This website developed George M. Welling of the University of Groningen in The Netherlands features speeches of U.S. presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush and other presidential information.
Social Studies	A collection of social studies lesson plans where teachers share and exchange their ideas and activities, grades K-12
Through The Lens of Time	This site contains images of African Americans from the Cook Collection of Photographs and provides an interesting combination of examples of African American life and the white photographers' perceptions of that life. Appropriate for all grade levels
Underground Railroad	This Web site supports the mission of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. The section on Slavery's Past is interesting. One feature (Places) is a clickable map showing locations of railroad stops. Another is the People section that contains stories of the work of people involved in the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad. Students can add locations or stories to these areas. Freedom Today will pose various questions to visitors of this Web site and allow them to respond.
USS Constitution Museum	"USS Constitution is America's most treasured ship. Now, she can come to life for your students as never before through All Hands on Deck: Learning Adventures Aboard 'Old Ironsides'! This interdisciplinary curriculum comes with an accompanying video tape and integrates geography, math, social studies, arts and crafts, history, science, language arts and more in 14 lessons for grades K-12."
Women in History Resources	Brief biographies of women from a variety of fields past and present
Economics
Houghton Mifflin	This site includes textbook support, an interactive geography game, outline maps, a discussion forum, history update, and current events with activities and lesson plan links.
Geography
Class Brain	"Classbrain has assembled state report resources for all those students (and parents) doing reports on U.S. states. Templates, clipart and other resources are available here. The websites gathered for each state include the official state websites, so this will be a place to start for many students."
Cultural Maps	The American Historical Atlas section includes information on the Territorial Expansion as well as "The South." The map links are a great resource for further exploration.
Geography Game	Game of United States geography - All of the questions for each game will be about one country or region.
Maps	A large library of electronic maps including 300 U.S. maps
National Geographic EdNet - EdNet, from National Geographic, provides many resources and "classroom companions." Online Magazine - The magazine is online with links for kids, parents and teachers. With features articles and lists of virtual sites. A great site. Xpeditions - A fantastic Web site from National Geographic with lesson plans, great activities for children and more. Check out the Interactive Learning Museum.
Social Studies	A collection of social studies lesson plans where teachers share and exchange their ideas and activities, grades K-12
General
About.com - Top 10 Ways To Monitor World News	Suggestions and resources for use with current events programs or lessons.
EDSITEment - History & Social Studies	Lesson plans covering various social studies standards - Some lessons are cross-curricular.
The Franklin Institute Online	Museum hot list
Teach Net	Social studies lesson plans plus an add your own social studies lesson plan feature
TeachersFirst - Content Matrix	Links to social studies resources by grade level
United Nations	Information and resources.
World Book Student Resource Center	Comprehensive resource site for students from World Book, Inc. - Information on world history, natural disasters, the environment and more