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The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History has just announced the release of American History: Elementary School Edition, a multimedia resource kit providing teachers in grades three through eight with a variety of innovative tools that students can use to explore America’s past. American History: Elementary School Edition is the fourth volume of the Institute’s History in a Box series of multimedia resource kits. The American History Box includes ten color-coded units, each featuring an overview of the unit topic, primary source documents with questions, discussion cards featuring individuals both ordinary and famous, classroom activities, and a poster. The box also includes the DVD, An American Sampler: Poems and Songs that Celebrate our Nation’s Past, and a CD-ROM with printable versions of the box contents. The box is available on the Institute’s website at www.gilderlehrmanstore.org. For more information, contact: Sarah Bowman
The next meeting of the Northwest Georgia Archaeology Society will be Thursday, September 11th at the New Echota Historic Site located just northeast of Calhoun, Georgia. Stone Mountain Park is more than a place to go to watch a fabulous laser show. The park also offers many historical field trips to choose from. There is also a large Civil War collection and museum, and an antebellum planation with 18 original buildings from around the state built between 1783 and 1875. Students can tour through 100 years of Georgia history and experience live, interactive demonstrations that depict the daily activities of pioneer life. The park features an Indian Festival and Pow Wow in the fall, Frontier Days in the spring, and several on-going field trips through the school year, including the very popular Hands On History Program led by Peter Bonner. For more information, contact Maureen Slawitschka, Stone Mountain Park Specialty Markets Coordinator. E-mail: mslawitschka@stonemountainpark.com The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) has a new online resource for Georgia teachers and researchers. From Tomochichi to Juliette Gordon Low to Charles Herty, the new online resources highlight past GHS's Georgia Days honorees and feature brief biographical sketches and suggestions for further reading and research. Each entry also provides references to corresponding materials from the collection of the GHS. To view the online educational resources, access www.georgiahistory.com and follow the Georgia Days link. A new GCSS position statement–Teaching and Learning Secondary Social Studies in Georgia–has been added to the GCSS website. Kennesaw State Sponsors Summer 2008 Civil War Workshop for Georgia Educators This summer, Georgia middle and high school educators who teach social studies will get a rare chance to explore up close the great battles that led to the end of the Civil War at a workshop sponsored by Kennesaw State University and the Georgia Humanities Council. The 2008 Summer Workshop for Teachers, hosted by KSU's Center for the Study of the Civil War Era, will take 30 Georgia teachers on visits to historic sites in metro Atlanta and give them access to Civil War scholars. The workshop will be held July 9-11. "Georgia was where the war was decided, and we hope that through the workshop, teachers will be able to stress this when teaching about the Civil War," said Heather Howell, project coordinator for the center. The workshop will take teachers to the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, as well as the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History and the Atlanta History Center, to expose them to primary-source materials that will enrich student learning, Howell said. In teaching history, primary-source materials – from battlefields to letters and first-hand accounts – are valuable, as they give perspectives of what the war was like from the people who experienced it. "Primary sources give a first-hand, authentic look at what happened, which makes history more realistic for both researchers and students, as opposed to relying on materials from those looking back on events from afar," Howell added. The free workshop is supported through a grant from the Georgia Humanities Council. Teachers will be offered $50 stipends to defray travel costs and will also earn two Professional Learning Units. Teachers will be asked to complete a lesson plan to implement in their classrooms based on what they learned. The Center for the Study of the Civil War Era at Kennesaw State serves as a repository of academic resources for this nation-shaping event and its relevance to the present and future. As part of the university's Comprehensive Capital Campaign, KSU expects to raise $4 million to create and maintain the center through scholarships, Civil War collection development, endowed professorships, symposia and community outreach. The workshop is limited to 30 educators. For high school teachers wishing to sign up, please contact Heather Howell at 678-797-2084 or hhowell2@kennesawedu. Preventing Genocide, Promoting Peace: A Podcast Conversation with Arn Chorn Pond Facing History and Ourselves, in partnership with Taking It Global and the Genocide Intervention Network's student division, STAND, presents a free podcast event, Preventing Genocide, Promoting Peace: A Podcast Conversation with Arn Chorn Pond. Tune in with your students this week and hear a special conversation between Cambodian Genocide survivor, Arn Chorn Pond, and Facing History and Ourselves students. Taped on April 11, the podcast features students asking Arn about how his personal history affects the choices he has made. Arn also offer advice on what kids can do to help raise awareness about the current genocide in Darfur. The audio podcast is available now on Facing History's interactive website, Be the Change: Upstanders for Human Rights (www.facinghistory.org/BeTheChange). The podcast makes for a great homework assignment, extra-credit opportunity, or activity in the classroom. After-school clubs will want to listen and discuss, too. Background materials on Arn, and suggested activities, are available on the website. And, you and your students can share your reactions and thoughts in an online discussion. For more information, contact: Beth Healey Now Debate This! Now Debate This! is a national scholarship competition taking place this summer. Sixteen of the best and brightest will be selected to spend their summer studying the lives and legacies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. At the end of their studies, they will debate who the better President was. The winner will receive a full scholarship to the college of their choice. It's the perfect opportunity for NHD participants. Check it out at www.nowdebatethis.com. All sixteen contestants will receive a $3,500 dollar summer stipend, a new laptop and video camera. At the end of their summer, they will travel through time, visiting historic sites throughout the Untied States (Mount Vernon, Springfield, IL, Philadelphia), experiencing firsthand the lives of both of these Presidents. Then, the real debates begin. On August 9, the 16 will go head to head, debating the legacies of both Presidents? The top winners will win scholarships of up to $25,000. (Every one of the 16 earns at least $2,000 in scholarship money!) The Top Two will debate live-online and maybe on television-for a $150,000 scholarship. The "loser" (some loser!) will walk away with a $50,000 scholarship. Become a contestant, and your life could change forever. Learn how to enter at nowdebatethis.com For more information, contact Noah Shaw at noah@nhd.org
Field Trips to Solar Energy Exhibition The Georgia Nature Center is the largest outdoor educational Each month, schools are bringing thousands of students from There are only a few dates still available through the end of Do you know any students who would like an even more in-depth Visit these web pages for more information... SCHOOL FIELD TRIP INFORMATION: http://www.NatureCenter.com/groups ECOCAMP SUMMER DAY CAMP INFORMATION: NATURE CENTER HOME PAGE: =====================================================
2008 Professional Development Workshops Summer Schedule Economics for Leaders $150 Attendance Stipend Available for Economics for Leaders Sites/Dates Austin, TX June 15 - 21 St. Petersburg, FL June 22 - 28 Boulder, CO July 6 - 12 Hillsdale, MI July 13 - 19 Ithaca, NY July 13 - 19 San Francisco, CA July 20 - 26 Williamsburg, VA July 20 - 26 Boston, MA July 27 – Aug. 2 Claremont, CA July 27 – Aug. 2 Vancouver, BC Aug. 3 – 9 One week residential programs for social studies and economics teachers.
Economic Forces in American History Sites/Dates San Diego, CA Williamsburg, VA Gettysburg, PA New York, NY Wooster, OH Las Vegas, NV One week residential programs for social studies and history teachers.
The Foundation for Teaching Economics • 260 Russell Blvd. Suite B · Davis, CA 95616 • Phone: 530-757-4630 • Fax: 530-757-4636 •·information@fte.org New GCSS Elementary Grades Social Studies Position Statement A new GCSS position statement–Teaching and Learning Social Studies in the Elementary Grades in Georgia–has been added to the GCSS website. K-3 GPS Guides Added to GCSS Website GCSS guides for implmenting Georgia Performance Standards for grades K through 3 have been added to the GCSS website. Click here for links to K-3, middle school, and high school GPS guides. C-SPAN Announces Free Classroom Resources for the 2008 Election Cycle C-SPAN Classroom will be providing teachers access to an array of free non-partisan curriculum resources for use during the 2008 election cycle and beyond. The resources are being developed by C-SPAN, a private, non-profit company created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. C-SPAN provides coverage of a variety of public affairs events most notably the Congress, President and Supreme Court. A 2006 study by the Pew Research Center identified CNN, 60 Minutes and C-SPAN as the top three “most trusted sources” of news in the United States. www.c-spanclassroom.org/Registration.aspx teachers will gain access to a searchable database of video clips, student activities, teacher resources, student contests and periodic special offers like free classroom posters. Teachers will also be sent a free DVD of 17 C-SPAN video clips that can be used to teach important and complex concepts in civics and government. For more information, contact: Joe Gotchy (go-chee)
The editors of Social Studies Research and Practice are excited to announce that Issue 1, Volume 1 is online. SSRP is a free, peer-reviewed journal of research, action research, and practice. You are encouraged to share the journal with K-12 educators, administrators, and teacher educators. The editors welcome your submissions and pledge to work with teachers to publish their teaching ideas and their action research and will assist them in writing their manuscripts. To view the first issue of SSRP go to http://www.socstrp.org. For more information, contact editors Cynthia Szymanski Sunal (cvsunal@bamaed.ua.edu) or Janet Smith Strickland (jstrickl@westga.edu).
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New American History Resource for Elementary Educators