Dr. David Childs, D.D., Ph.D.
Northern Kentucky University
In a recent post we highlighted US History teaching resources for middle and secondary educators; a part of PBS Learning’s new US History Collection. Many people struggle to find resources for the younger grades, there is no need to fret because in this post we are sharing social studies resources specifically for elementary teachers. PBS Learning Media’s website that focuses on elementary social studies states:
“Discover exciting resources and methods for teaching social studies to students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Elementary Social Studies. Students can practice making inferences as they explore animal shelters, research using the Great States series, or complete a graphic organizer to compare holidays with the All About the Holidays series. Topics ranging from the leadership of Abraham Lincoln to Neil Armstrong’s first mission to the moon are covered in Elementary Social Studies.”
With teachers needing content everyday it is of the utmost importance that they have quality resources and activities to pull from. We are asking elementary teachers to take a look at these resources below that can enhance your classroom teaching. Please devote some time to explore the wide variety of links and categories, there are a whole host of resources embedded within this site.
Lincoln’s Mother | Lincoln: “I, Too, Am a Kentuckian.”
Molly & Elizabeth | MOLLY OF DENALI
The White House: Inside Story | First Ladies
The White House: Inside Story | First Children
Living History Farms | Young Explorers
Lewis and Clark Pathways | Fort Union
Lewis and Clark Pathways | Smallpox
Ohio’s Steel Legacy | Know Ohio
The Bozeman Trail | Experiencing the Bozeman Trail
Bent’s Fort | Colorado Experience
North Dakota | Activity 5.6: Homesteading – Railroad Land Grants
Orlando and Ray Charles l Central Florida Roadtrip
Orlando History I Central Florida Roadtrip
Orlando Greenwood Cemetery | Central Florida Roadtrip
Walt Disney l Central Florida Roadtrip
Please share what resources you find useful for your teaching.
We are open to feedback and discussion. If you see any typos or grammatical errors please feel free to email the author and editor at the address below:
Dr. David Childs
childsd1@nku.edu
The article I chose is More Resources for Elementary Teachers! I chose this article because I am an elementary education major. I’m not a huge fan of social studies in general, so being provided with resources that also entail diversity is very inciteful. One of the resources linked to the article is on Abraham Lincoln’s mother. After watching this video, I learned how she was a huge influence of her son, Abraham Lincoln. She deserves to acquire some recognition for her son’s success as president as she raised him. Shining light on the intelligence of women who were not recognized during their own time will be inspiring to young female students in my class. This video will also help children learn about history. Another resource linked to the article that I enjoyed is Molly of Denali. My son loves this show. It would be educational in the sense that students could learn about Alaska Native values. The show is entertaining for young children, making it even more useful to helping students absorb the educational aspect of the show.
The Democracy and me post that I chose is More Resources for Elementary Teachers. I chose this post because I plan to be an elementary education teacher and I want to have the most amount of resources that I possibly can. I also chose this post because I don’t have a lot of experience with social studies, especially because it was one of my least favorite subjects growing up. The lesson plans linked to this post are fun and interactive ways I can get my future students involved and excited to learn about history. History is extremely important especially when we include others stories and not just the history taught in textbooks. The untold stories that really make up the foundation of America and how people were living in areas we know today. I really enjoyed looking at these links, and they inspired me to look up more ways of teaching social studies than just reading a textbook. I really want to teach my students that learning can be fun especially when looking at new things we haven’t seen before. This is a great resource for my future in teaching and I am excited to use some of these in my future career.
The article that I selected was More Resources for Elementary Teachers! This article provides resources for Elementary teachers because it can be hard. This is a part of PBS Learning’s New collection. The collection is comprised of “exciting resources and methods for teaching social studies to students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.” One resource that was given was about Abraham Lincoln’s mother and how her death impacted him. Having materials readily available will make learning history for these students more fun and engaging.