Social Studies Resources

This page is dedicated to providing resources for k-12 classroom teachers looking to enrich their students opportunities in Social Studies. (Please note that these are teacher resources. If you plan to have students establish accounts on these sites, please see Terms of Service for that specific site with regard to student privacy settings, age restrictions, and COPPA guidelines. If you have questions about a certain site, please contact your school’s Library Media Specialist.)

Differentiation Ideas for Students

• • Learning Menus and Learning Plates

  • Tic-Tac-Toe Boards - Civil Rights Sample, Democracy Sample

  • Think Dots - Template 1,

  • RAFTS - Template, Democracy Judicial Decisions Sample

  • Anchor/Choice Charts - Elementary Non-Fiction Sample, Reading Sample

  • Cubing - Template 1, Template 2

  • Tiered Instruction

    • Newsela - Tiered Readings based on Lexile Levels

    • Commonlit - Fiction and Non-Fiction Readings grouped by Grade Levels and Lexiles

    • Tween Tribune - News Articles from the Smithsonian Institute based on Grade Levels

Project Base Learning Resources

• My Party Election (Middle/High School)

• Social Studies Project Ideas for PBL in History, Geography and Civics (All Grade Levels)

  • National History Day (Middle/High School)

  • The Learning Network - Lessons and Activities from The New York Times (Middle/High School)

Lesson Ideas and Activity Tools

• Student Voice.org- Where students get to vote on issues that matter to them.

• Student Voice Collaborative - A group established to inspire student change in New York City - applicable projects in our own community.

• Google Transformation Center - Connect with educators trying new ideas and lessons with technology and innovation

  • Arts Edge - The Kennedy Center's free digital resource for teaching and learning in, through and about the arts.

• Worldometers - Real time, world statistics: Population, Economics, Government

  • Izzit.org - This site lists the title, publication, and publication date for past articles posted to izzit.org, along with the full text of the accompanying discussion questions.

  • Room for Debate - a site created by the New York Times. The Times invites knowledgeable outside contributors to discuss news events and other timely issues. They welcome feedback from readers. Reader comments are moderated Monday through Friday. This site provides multiple perspectives on a single issue.

• TheWeek.com-This is an online magazine that explores weekly events in politics, science, entertainment and education. Some articles pull from multiple sources, providing students with multiple perspectives on a single issue. Articles are often short and easily digestible for audiences new to informational text.

• Ted.com - Sharing ideas worth spreading. Bringing together technology, entertainment, design. Multi -media meets informational texts.

  • The Daily Beast - Curated to avoid information overload, the site is dedicated to providing timely news and sharp commentary.

• Lessons and Games for learning Civics

  • American Museum of Natural History - Exhibits and more!

  • Google Arts and Culture - Explore the world, news, history, exhibits and more.

Tools for Students and Teachers

• FlipGrid - Empower Student Voice with this tool, while they capture short videos to share ideas with classmates on topics you define.

• RecapThat - A free student response and reflection app to allow parents and teachers insight on how students learn and think.

• Movenote - Narrate an existing Powerpoint or Google presentation to document directions or to present and reflect.

• Explain Everything - Collaborative and Interactive White Board

• Nearpod - Interactive Lesson plan tool for sharing and collaborating in groups

• Padlet - collaborative resource for students and teachers

• GoogleKeep - Project Management tool for teachers and students

• Go Soap Box - Backchanneling tool and real time quizzes and feedback